In a Bind(Plaything #3)(10)

I reached the barn and walked into the breezeway. Raini had just finished saddling up the second of two horses.

"There you are. I didn't ask but something told me you might need a beginner horse. Jumbly is slow and dependable."

I looked at the two horses and then at Raini. She was wearing skin tight jeans tucked into a pair of cowboy boots, a wardrobe choice that sent my pulse racing. But then it seemed everything she did sent blood surging through my veins.

"You actually meant a real ride . . . on horses."

She patted the side of a speckled gray horse and smiled. "Uh huh. What kind of ride did you think I meant?" Her coy smile, one that I already knew too damn well, made its appearance. She knew exactly what I meant and exactly why I'd thought it.

"Never mind. So, which horse is the slow and dependable one?"

She walked back to the chestnut brown horse. "This is Jumbly. I also picked him because his coat sort of matches your hair."

"Great, then we won't clash."

She lowered the ropes that held the horses in place in the barn aisle. Then she pulled the reins over Jumbly's head and handed me the end. She took her horse's reins, and Jumbly and I walked behind her out of the barn.

Raini gave me a quick lesson on how to get up in the saddle and then hopped onto her horse.

"Where are we heading?" I asked.

She smiled. "You'll see. Jumbly will pretty much follow Pepper so you won't have to do much except not fall off. How often have you ridden on a horse?"

"That depends, does it count when you're strapped in by a belt as a pony goes around a little circle?"

"Hey, ponies are horses. Trust me, they'd be the first to tell you that."

"Then once. I've been on a horse once at a county fair, and I only remember it because my mom kept the humiliating picture of my ride up in the hallway with the words Cowboy Zane written in glitter gel on the dusty frame. Aidan must have seen that picture a thousand times when we were growing up, but it never stopped him from curling over into a laughing fit."

"Aidan is the massively built guy with the dark blond hair and tattoo sleeves, right?"

Raini hadn't exaggerated about Jumbly following her horse. I basically just sat upright in the saddle as my horse followed obediently along next to hers. "Yep and Trey is the guy who looks like he belongs at the head of the table in a boardroom and on the front cover of a high end magazine. Chase didn't show. He's our fourth partner. We all grew up together."

"That's cool that you all stayed close and that you get along in business. That's not always easy."

"Yeah, we all went through rough times growing up, so we've always had each other's backs."

"Do you know how amazing that is? Most people go through life feeling lucky if they have at least one friend they can count on. You guys have three." Raini turned Pepper toward a grassy hillside and Jumbly followed.

"I have to admit the green pastures, country landscape and blue skies all look pretty amazing from the top of a horse. Maybe I should have followed my mom's dream and become Cowboy Zane."

She glanced over at me. "I personally think a black Stetson would look dashing on you."

"Have to agree. What about you? Have you found that one true friend you can count on? Or maybe it's your sister."

A laugh spurted from her mouth. Pepper lifted his head and stuck his ears back as if he was listening for a command. "As you might have noticed, Mindy and I are far from best friends. We're just too different." She pushed her legs against her horse, and he picked up his pace up the hill. Jumbly followed suit but only after releasing a grumpy snort first.

"I had a lot of friends growing up but none that I can pinpoint as that special person I could count on. That was my mom. She had been the friend I'd always counted on."

"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.





Chapter Fifteen





Raini





Admittedly, when I'd started out of the house this morning, I had only one goal in mind. A short ride around the ranch. At that point I had figured it was probably best just to leave the fun with Zane where it had ended, which was no real ending at all. After all, we'd both be leaving today, going our separate ways. But then I saw him sleeping on the lounge and the same physical urges returned. I wanted him. It might just have been the long build up and the abrupt letdown from the night before, but I still wanted him. It was like working on a piece of art and never getting to put the final strokes on the canvas.

I took care of the horses while Zane explored the area on foot. Most of the ranch was really just rugged untouched landscape with an abundance of trees, shrubs and even the occasional pond. Mom had chosen this location because it had a great view from every angle. There was enough grass surrounding the cottage to keep two horses happy for hours. There was a hitching post for tying horses but Pepper and Jumbly weren't the type to go anywhere when not prodded to do so. I took off their bridles so they could graze.

Zane had wandered out of sight. I decided to leave him a few bread crumbs so he could find me. I pulled off my boots and stuck them on the porch steps. Then I dropped my jeans on the landing. I piled my shirt a few steps away and hung my bra over the doorknob. I went inside.