Page 18 of In a Bind

"I'm sorry to hear that you lost her."

"Did you four always know that you'd eventually be running a company like Plaything?"

"Not exactly. When we were kids we were too obsessed with things like watching the girls in the pool during gym and deciding who we would dance with at school events to worry about the subtle nuances of sex."

She leaned her head over. "Um, I've seen a few of your monthly boxes. They are hardly subtle."

"Says the woman who is anything but subtle."

"Touché."

The conversation brought me back to my childhood. I rarely talked about the terrible turn my life took in my teens, but Raini and I had somehow connected, and it wasn't just the sexual attraction. I felt comfortable with her, almost as if we'd known each other for a long time instead of just one long eventful day.

I patted Jumbly's neck. "Believe it or not, I had my sights set on studying law. I earned the grades for it too."

"That's not surprising to hear. Why'd you change your mind?"

A small flock of birds fluttered up from the tall grass startling Raini's horse. Jumbly, who had decided to mirror everything Pepper did, took a sharp step sideways too. Raini glanced over to make sure I was still sitting upright.

"I didn't change my mind but something happened that sort of changed it for me."

She looked over at me, waiting and listening. It was one of the first civilized conversations we'd had that wasn't dripping with sexual innuendo or teasing. It was nice.

"After my dad died, my mom raised my sister and me alone for many years. Then she met this guy. I don't even like to say his name. He fucked up my whole life. They got married, and eventually his true monster personality emerged. One day I walked into the house and he had his hand around my mom's throat. He was a big guy, and I was a skinny, gangly teen. I grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the asshole in the back. He didn't die, and the police hauled him off for attempted murder. I was thrown into a foster home about fifty miles away. My grades went to shit after that, and all my chances for a much needed scholarship went with them."

"But you saved your mom's life."

I nodded and my throat tightened as it always did when I thought about how close I'd come to losing her that day.

"Maybe it was meant to be. Maybe law wasn't your path anyhow. Do you like your job now?"

"Shit, are you kidding? I wake up every morning and think, damn, how the hell did I get so lucky?"

"See, it all played out for the best. It's nice when you get to do the something that makes you happy. I just wish my dad would see the world that way."

"What do you mean?"

"He doesn't see any value in me studying art."

I looked over at her, a luxury I had because my horse was on autopilot and I didn't need to watch the road. "I think his mind might have changed last night."

"What do you mean?" Raini turned the horse down a dirt path where a small cottage, built to look like it was sitting in the English countryside, sat in the middle of nowhere.

"Carter Bonneville is a gruff old guy who wears no emotions on his sleeve, at least none visible to the naked eye. But that picture you painted of your mom choked him up. I watched him open dozens of gifts, but the only gift that had any impact on him was that painting."

I caught a blush on Raini's cheeks. A smile titled her lips. "I think it was the subject matter more than the actual art that had him choked up."

"Bullshit. You're not giving yourself credit." I squinted ahead into the sun. "Am I imaging that English cottage at the end of this path?"

"No you are not. My dad had it built for my mom. She used to like to ride out here and paint. That's where I got it from. There's no electricity or plumbing. It's basically just a cute box, a quiet place to sit away from the house."

Raini faced me and seemed to be assessing the way I was sitting in the saddle and whether or not my feet were secure in the stirrups. "Are you ready to go faster? If I kick Pepper into a lope, Jumbly will follow. But I won't do it if you're not comfortable."

I raised a brow at her. "Are you seriously asking me if I'm afraid to ride this horse?"

"That's what I thought." Her leg pushed against Pepper's side and with a snort he took off. Jumbly followed right behind.

---