Page 14 of Wild Eyes
“Please, no one calls him Weston. And while we’re at it, call me Rosie.”
“Okay, well, I don’t want you to blackmail someone into helping me, and I don’t want to impose on West?—”
“Take the bunkhouse. It’s no imposition. No one is getting blackmailed here. It’s more that Rosie shit-talks just as well as your bird. I’m not worried about her threat.”
“See?” Rosie says brightly. “Told you it would be fine.”
I force a smile.Fine. Yeah, it’ll be fine. That’s what I keep telling myself.
“Just make sure you give her some privacy, yeah?” Rosie tells her brother.
She gets an eye roll in return. “Please, you know I barely have time to keep up with my kids.”
“Okay, great. I was going to grab bedding for Skylar, but can you do that for me? I’ll get Emmy and Oliver.”
West nods at his sister. “Thanks.”
“It’s great to have you here, Skylar. I promise this will just be a placeholder until we can get you set up somewhere else.”
“No, it’s perfect, really,” I lie as I smile and shake her hand once more. I’m so good at this.Toogood at this.
I should be, considering my entire life has been built on lying to people.
When I turn back to West and meet his eyes, it feels an awful lot like he sees right through the charade.
And I can’t have that.
CHAPTER FOUR
WEST
Skylar is standingin front of me a lot sooner than I expected. Sure, I knew we’d cross paths, but I didn’t imagine we’d be sharing my property.
Judging by the defiant glint in her eye and the proud lift to her chin, she didn’t expect it either.
Hell, she might not even like it.
“Just give me a sec to get some of the water off her, and I’ll help you out.”
“Great,” she says, her voice a little icier than earlier.
With a shake of my head, I turn and pick up the sweat scraper to remove any excess liquid from the filly. I lead her back to her pasture and Skylar follows, propping herself against the fence with a curious expression on her face.
The minute I remove her halter, the horse drops and rolls in the dirt.
I smile, but Skylar’s gasp draws away my attention. She looks on with a hand thrown daintily over her chest as the horse wiggles and slathers her wet coat in dust and dirt.
“Youjustbathed her.”
“Oh shit, right. One sec, I’ll tell her she shouldn’t have done that.” I turn back to the filly. “Hey, Meli. Don’t get dirty, ok?—”
“All right, I get it. You don’t need to mock me.” She’s back to having that sour expression on her face.
“I’m not mocking you. I’m cracking a joke. Plus, there’s no stopping it. I’ll be back out here tomorrow to brush her clean. And if she’s too warm after working, then I’ll hose her down. Rinse, repeat. It’s like I’m her bitch, if you think about it.”
I can see Skylar working that out in her head. “Don’t you get annoyed? You just spent all that time making her clean.”
Now I’m the one quirking my head and looking confused. “No. I spent all that time making her feel good. Cooling her down. She’s a horse, doing horse things. See how happy she is?” I glance at the filly, who is grunting and rolling.
