Page 29 of For the Love of the Lawyer

It was time to reassess his life's ambitions and make some plans for the future. He could move forward if he set goals for himself, and he had some things he'd been considering of late as possibilities to pursue. Mickey thought about getting his GED and maybe taking some night classes or something. He'd seen stuff on TV touting the benefits of bettering oneself, and he'dpretty much squandered the last few years of his life without giving much consideration to what he wanted versus what he needed to do to get by. It was time to start planning a life and not just reacting to what came at him. He was an adult, after all.

Chapter Twelve

Jon was studiously checking his work email on his laptop when he heard a rumbling noise passing the main house. He looked out the window of his parents’ office to see a white pickup pulling a one-horse trailer headed toward the barn. He remembered his parents discussing something about a barn stall when they'd come into the house for lunch.

He hurried to the kitchen, which was thankfully empty, looking out the window facing the barn. The truck door opened, and a very handsome figure stepped out. The view started with the boots, well-worn and saddle tan. Then the jeans, which encased mile-long legs and a very good-looking ass. The waist was slender, but the body flared into a broad back and nice shoulders, Jon noted as his gaze continued upward. There was a straw cowboy hat on the cowboy’s head, tipped back so the guy could see, he assumed.

Jon saw his parents walk out of the barn, his mother warmly greeting their guest with a hearty handshake while Jon admired the way the muscles in the cowboy's back moved under the formfitting T-shirt. "Not a muscle head, but not a flabby weakling. Not bad. That ass is a work of art," Jon mumbled to himself as he continued to gawk. Jon saw Ham shake the man's hand, and the three of them stood together, appearing to be in a deep discussion.

"You know, you could go out there with them and then you wouldn't have to crane your neck so." Jon quickly turned to see Ursula carrying shopping bags. He must have been pretty damn engrossed in the sights to miss hearing her come into the room.

Jon laughed a bit. "You caught me. Do you know what's going on?" He started helping her unload the groceries to put away their contents.

"Your mother mentioned she'd found a stud to breed Jazzy and Rosie. Apparently, a friend of hers sent a video from the internet and your mother was excited to see him. She offered to drive to the owner’s ranch, but the owner was nice enough to offer to bring the horse here so Ally could get a good look at him. That must be them.” Ursula glanced toward the barn.

Jon was a bit concerned. His mother wasn't old… only fifty-four. She had changed her schedule, scaling back to work part-time for the city of Richmond, when needed, but offering totrain her replacement in preparation for the inevitable event of Allison’s retirement.

His mother hadn’t told Jon why she’d decided to cut back, but he was hoping to hear a more detailed excuse over the weekend. He knew she still loved to ride, though she wasn't showing her horses any longer. He prayed it had nothing to do with her health.

"Ursula, why's she breeding those mares? I mean, I know after Bernie was put down, she decided not to compete any longer. Has she changed her mind?" he asked the woman, who had more intel than she ever let on.

Ursula gazed at him with a gentle smile. "I'd say those are questions for you to ask your mother, sweet boy. Now, get out of my kitchen. I believe your parents will ask the cowboy to stay for dinner, so I'm going to make steaks and potatoes. If you can work it into the conversation without the drool slipping out of your mouth, ask him how he likes his steak, will you?"

Jon laughed as she pushed him toward the back door. He grabbed a pair of muck boots and slipped them on his bare feet before he headed to the barn. Suddenly, he heard a laugh that made him stop in his tracks.

It can’t be…

"So, y'all want me to get him out?"

Jon's spine tingled, and he wondered just how much of it was dumb luck or was it orchestrated between his meddling mother and the equally meddling Matt Collins and Timothy Moran?

Jon was certain the bull rider had been watching him when he visited Holloway for the long weekend when Cindy Whipple passed. He guessed Tim wasn't as naïve as he led others to believe.

The interaction Jon had with Mickey Warren had been friendly, and there was mutual interest he was sure Matt or Tim picked up on, but Jon and the cowboy? There was chemistry,but it was only sexual in nature, he had believed. The two men walked vastly different paths in life, and Jon had believed they’d never diverge for any longer than one night.

Ursula's words from that morning circled his brain. "There are many ways to find something in common if you look hard enough, Jon. Always remember that." If she was right, then it seemed as if Jon had been thrown a cosmic bone by Mickey Warren’s arrival with a majestic steed.

John hurried down to the barn to hear Mickey's lyrical laugh. Jon’s heart skipped several beats as he listened to his parents join the man in laughter at whatever joke Mickey had tossed out. He knew for a fact the cowboy was funny as hell, so it was no wonder the Wells’ warmed to him. Hell, Jon had too, even without his own consent.

The stallion pawed at the padded floor of the trailer, so without interrupting the discussion, Jon walked to the back and opened the door, seeing the huge horse was antsy to get out of the confined space. "Hey, fella. Remember me?”

He placed his hand on Charlie's ass and eased up alongside him to untie the lead in the front. He brushed his hand over the beautiful creature's nose as he gently backed him out of the trailer without hesitation from the animal.

Jon walked him around the side of the trailer to stand next to Mickey. The stud horse, however, nudged the cowboy hat from his head causing the handsome man to quickly glance over his shoulder and offer a look of surprise. "What the fu—fudge?"

Jon stepped forward so Mickey could see the animal hadn't developed magical powers to release himself from the trailer to join the conversation. "Hello, Michael. I had no idea Mom had picked Charlie to stud her mares," Jon said, as calmly as possible. He didn't want to freak the guy out, but he definitely smelled a setup he was certain Mickey knew nothing about.

"Well, I haven't picked him yet. I'd like to see him work and maybe ride him," Allison said, leaving no room for argument.

"Mother, I rode him. He's an exemplary animal," Jon told her.

"Yes, and that's a bone I have to pick with you, Jonathon. I got an email from Ronni Turnberry recommending him as prime breeding stock, and she mentioned she'd met you the same weekend she first saw this stallion. You didn't bother to call about this horse, even though you know I'm always looking for a good stud to breed my mares. How the hell did you end up at the ranch that weekend?" His mother’s scolding took him right back to his childhood. Jon laughed, unable to hold back. All credit to the Collins-Moran’s; they knew how to work a lead.

"I'm confused, Jon," Mickey said.

"Oh, you know each other?" Allison observed.

"Mom, Matt Collins is a client of mine, as I’m sure you remember, but how do you know Ronni Turnberry? She's from Philly.” His mother gave him a look that told him he was going first.

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