Page 36 of Burn the Wild

“You and Grady?” I love my little brother, but goddamn if for one second, I don’t hate him.

She laughs. The first light and twinkly sound I’ve heard from her.

“No, he’s a friend.” Her smile fades, and her shoulders slump. “I wish I had more of those.”

The video of Reese crying on stage flashes in front of my eyes. And I’m pretty sure she was crying last night when I brought her dinner, too.

I harden my heart. It’s not the time to get sentimental.

“I think it was a bad idea to run,” she goes on, pausing as I dip to grab a piece of trash from the grass and toss it in a trash can.

I arch a brow, hearing the unsaid. “But?”

She gives me a sad smile. “But I had to.” She walks faster, shaking off whatever’s in her head. “Now I’m fucked. I need money. My manager cut off my credit cards. I don’t know how to access any of my accounts. I feel like an idiot.”

I should tease her for being a spoiled princess, but the soft resignation, the desperation in her voice, fills me with unease.

She has to have money, right? She’s a fucking superstar. For a second, I want to hunt down her manager and have words.

“Maybe you’re not an idiot and he’s an asshole,” I grunt.

“He is.” She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “He thinks I owe him because he made me.”

I think of Jim Donovan. “A lot of people like that in the world.”

“Yeah,” she says quietly. “Unfortunately.”

“Gotta be honest, honey. I’ve never heard of you before.”

Reese gasps, but she doesn’t look insulted, she looks pleased. “Good. My songs suck.” A half-smile crosses her face. “They’re all as fake as my hair.”

That pulls a chuckle out of me.

Curious green eyes flick to mine. “I’ve never heard of you either, Ford ‘Flamethrower’ Montgomery.” The way she drags it out, soft and teasing, has my cock twitching.

I give a dry laugh and shrug. “Once upon a time, I played ball.”

“Why’d you stop?”

“Bad knees. Bad shoulders.”Bad life.

She arches a brow. “And you retired to Montana?”

“Something like that,” I rasp and leave it at that. I don’t want to get into Savannah. The kid.

I slow my stride when we reach the barn. Newly built after the fire that hurt Ruby, it’s even better and bigger than our last one.

“In here,” I say with a flick of my chin.

We step inside to ice-cold air-conditioning. My tennis shoes sink into the hay and grit covering the floor. The smell of horse and manure waft from the stalls. I glance at Reese and find her standing in the doorway, arms crossed tight over her body.

I toss her a grin. “They don’t bite.”

Slowly, she struts inside and wrinkles her nose at the smell, lifting her sunglasses.

“These are the horses,” I tell her, slapping Big Red’s rump. “Spoiled as hell. We use them for trail rides, ranch work…” I pause, waiting for her to approach a stall. Most guests freak the fuck out when they see a horse. Instead, Reese hangs back, nerves all over her beautiful face.

A visible shudder wracks her thin frame. “I have a thing about horses.”

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