Tangled in Divine(Divine Creek Ranch 14)(121)

For a less experienced rider, Chris knew there was no way her scenario would work and produce a championship, but if anyone could make it work, Gwen could. The McIntyres must’ve thought an awful lot of Gwen to agree to loan her a horse for her use.

A short while later, they were perched on the now-solid framework inside the trailer, nailing in the new boards. Chris glanced up as a shadow passed in front of him. Gwen stood nearby ogling him like he was lunch, and he smiled at her as he brought the hammer down right on his thumb. White-hot pain exploded and shot through his entire body.

“Ow-ow-ow! Motherfucker! Shit! Damn it!”

Gwen jumped in surprise and ran to the end of the trailer, flapping her hands and making distressed noises.

“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have distracted you while you were hammering!”

Chris wrung his hand, biting his lip to muffle more cursing. He embarrassed himself by losing his balance and falling through the floor framework, tangling up his legs. “Shit!” His thumb throbbed like a son of a bitch and he squinted at it, still all tangled up, expecting to see blood. He held it out farther, trying to focus.

Gwen climbed right in the trailer with them and Julián reached out to her from where he squatted with his boots perched on the sides of two boards. “Gwen, careful. You’re going to get hurt too.”

Gwen disregarded the warning and stepped over to him carefully as he extricated himself from his embarrassing predicament. She took his hand and pulled his finger close so she could see it and gently stroked it. He felt a little silly, but it was comforting to have her holding his hand, seeing to his injury, especially since he couldn’t see it very clearly.

She looked up at him and said, “You’ll have a blood blister under the nail later, baby. And I think it’s time you went to the doctor.”

Chris smirked. “I smashed my thumb. Why do I need to see the doctor for that? I can fix my thumb later.” It wouldn’t be a pleasant task but it didn’t warrant a doctor’s visit, or doctor’s bill.

Being a smarty-pants, she squinted up at him. “Nope, the eye doctor. You need glasses.”

“His distance vision isn’t any better,” Julián offered with a chuckle when he saw Chris’s reaction to her statement.

“Shut the hell up. I can just hear my brothers now, teasing me for needing spectacles.”

Gwen scoffed. “They better not. I’ll kick their butts. Besides, Angelo and Salvatore both needed reading glasses when we were looking at Lorenzo’s tablet. Lots of people wear glasses and your brothers can all kiss my lily white ass if they don’t like it.”

Her last statement got both of her men’s attention and Chris forgot all about his thumb. “Oh, yeah?” he asked suggestively, raising an eyebrow.

Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Gwen nodded brazenly. “Yeah. Every inch. All of it. All up in there.” She smacked her hind end with her free hand just for good measure.

Chris chuckled and said, “That’s our job.”

Winking at him, she said, “You know what you’re doing better than they would too. I have our picnic supper ready whenever you’re finished.”

They climbed from the trailer and surveyed the progress. The new floorboards were already cut to the right lengths and just needed to be installed. “We need another hour.”

Nodding, she stroked both their biceps admiringly and said, “That’s fine. Guess who I talked to just a few minutes ago?”

Chris was afraid to say Roger Bedford. He was tired of hearing about the man. “I don’t know. Who?”

“Wilbur! And guess what he told me!” Her eyes were animated with excitement and Chris couldn’t help but smile back at her. “He said he was just calling to check on me and told me that he’d been doing some thinking. He offered to let me take Tutti with me on the road, to use as my barrel racing horse.”

“Really?” Julián said, but didn’t seem surprised.

“Yes! So I won’t need to borrow from Caughlin. This improves my chances too, because I’ve already been working with her for the last six weeks. She knows me and trusts me.”

That much was true. He’d seen it in the arena. Gwen was consistent in her care of the horse and Tutti was one hundred percent willing when Gwen asked her to be, fast as lightning rounding those barrels and in the straightaway. Even though it reminded him of her leaving, he was happy for her that her chances of success had just improved.

“Wilbur said that by training her like I have, and giving her experience in competition, it would increase her value and make her worth more when he sells her.” Her eyes dimmed a little at the notion but she continued, still excited. “He said that if I chose to take her that I should use her trailer too. I’m not too sure about that because he can get more for it if it has less wear and tear on it. I told him that you were working on my trailer for me.”