Page 54 of A Reckless Memory

None of her points could be argued with. “Did you think I was trying to control you?”

She looked over her shoulder. “Like I told you, I would’ve let you. I don’t want to train horses for a living. I never did. I want them in my life, but not to breed like Knight’s Arabians.”

She’d been so excited. I thought she wanted it as much as I did. Shocked, I pulled back and coaxed her to turn toward me. “You didn’t want to start the horse-training business?”

“I could watch you work with horses forever.” Her gaze went liquid, and I rubbed a thumb over the crest of her cheek. The blush I put there was still visible. Goddamn right it was. I put it there. “I’m red, aren’t I? Meg compared me to last year’s beets when I’d get flushed.”

I hated to think ill of the dead, but fucking Meg. She’d looked through me the few times she’d grudgingly gone to the ranch with Cody, and I hadn’t liked the way she’d treated Aggie like a pet project. “When you’re red like this, it means I did something right.”

Her light chuckle was intended to play it off, but her gaze softened. “Anyway, that’s what I was wrapped up in. You—not what I wanted to do with my life.”

I understood what she was saying, but I couldn’t pair it with where she was now. “Working in an office is what you wanted?”

“It gives me the freedom to run AKA.” She poked me in the chest, then spread her hand on a pec. “Which reminds me, I have to run the numbers for the cases Dr. Jake talked to me about.”

“Every time you say his name, I want to put my dick inside you to make sure you only think about him as a veterinarian.”

She mock frowned. “Wouldn’t that make me think of sex when I said his name?” I narrowed my eyes and she laughed—carefree like she used to. “He’s good-looking, but I saw his womanizing tendencies as soon as he drove that Dodge dually into the yard.”

“That’s my girl.” I mulled over what she’d said about running the numbers. “How tight is the rescue?”

Her playfulness faded. “I can handle a few more animals. Thankfully, the horses were mostly healthy and vet bills were a minimum, but I have a full winter of feeding them. The nonprofit paperwork is complete. I’ll brainstorm some fundraising activities.”

“The sales from the horses will help.” I’d make sure they went to the best homes. Especially Shelby. She was burrowing her way into my heart. It’d be hard to see the mare go.

“Yeah,” she said almost regretfully. She’d probably miss the mornings she’d walk down to the horse pasture to let Tex stretch his legs. Aggie was popular with her herd, and they always moseyed to the fence when she appeared. If it wasn’t winter, she could probably get on Morrow, but I wanted more predictable footing when we went riding. “When they’re ready to sell.” She draped a sheet over us and stared at the ceiling. “I can funnel some income from my job into the rescue. Mama’s life insurance covered the property and the down payment on the house.” Her smile was sheepish. “I wasn’t prepared for five horses at once.”

“Or me.”

“I only took them because I could hire you.”

Shit, she was serious. “You wouldn’t have opened the rescue?”

“I could’ve taken one or two. Not five.”

The decision came easily. “Pay me half my wage.”

Her brow crinkled and the green in her eyes shone from the kitchen lights we left on filtering in under the door. “You’re already getting paid less than what you should.”

“It’s not a forty-hour-a-week job.”

“Only because it’s too cold to do half the projects. I’m not paying you less. It’s been hard enough keeping my guilt at bay.”

I stroked my hand over her belly. Now that she was next to me again, I couldn’t quit touching her. I didn’t care about the pay if I was with her. I’d figure the rest out later. I wanted her to quit worrying about her rescue. “Call it temporary. I’d rather earn a little less and make room for more animals.”

The startling truth of what I said rang in my ears. Years of clawing my way up the training ladder, taking one pay jump at a time, having my dream dangled in front of me twice as long as I danced to their tune—and I realized I needed the same as Aggie. Freedom.

“You’re really good with them.”

I crunched the pillow under my head and traced circles on her abdomen with my fingers. “I like animals better than people. They don’t expect me to do anything other than try to listen to them.”

“They don’t manipulate.”

I smirked. “Some of the really smart ones do. But not like humans.”

“Not like my dad.”

I continued tracing circles on her skin, grateful we could talk over the hurt. Glad I could finally say my piece. “You were off-limits. It’s why I didn’t seem interested until...I was.”

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