Page 45 of Wildest Dreams
The sweet breeze dances across my skin, my head tips back slightly and I inhale.
When I let my eyes open, I see Riggs walking towards me. Cockiness painted all over his face.
“At least you're early,” he tips his hat and I roll my eyes.
“Where do you want me?” I ask, placing my own hat on my head and walking down the steps of the porch to stand in front of my boss, hands on my hips.
“The stables need to be cleaned, the vet and farrier are coming at noon. You'll need to help them. I'll come and check on you around two. We're just about to go down and fix the fence line and then the sign that some out of towner crashed into...” his lips twitch and I can't fight the smile that spreads across my lips.
“Yea, sorry about that,” I shrug, fisting my hands into the back pockets of my jeans. “What happened to the fence?” I find myself asking, eyes on Riggs.
“Not sure, seems tampered with but can't work out for what reason,” he shrugs back at me, turning and leading me towards the stables. “You ride?” he asks as I try to keep up with his long strides.
“No,” I admit, feeling a little shameful really. A pink blush crept onto my cheeks.
He stops in his tracks, turning to face me. Dressed in a long sleeved black crew neck, dirty Levi’s and heavy black boots.
“You fuckin' kidding me?” he smirks, but his eyes are dark and thunderous.
“No,” I say again but this time it comes out in a squeak.
“Fuck,” he scrubs his face, exasperation leaving him as the seconds tick by. On a groan, he turns on his heel and continues walking down the dusty trail towards the stables.
Stepping over the metal threshold, my eyes glance at the large stables in front of me.
“How many horses do you have?”
“At the moment,” his voice is low, as he picks up a broom and continues walking down the concrete path between stalls, “fifteen.”
“You want more?”
“We have a couple of mares that we want to put for foaling this year, so hoping to get a few more,” he smiles, twisting and handing me the broom.
“Start here in Travis’ stall,” he hooks the stall door back, “then work your way down on the left side. That should keep you going until Harlow and Conrad arrive.”
I knew of Harlow.
But I never met her.
She's the same age as Aspen. Always seemed nice enough in school.
“Right,” I nod, wrapping my fingers a little tighter around the broom handle.
“Obviously, if you need to erm...” he pauses for a moment, cheeks a little crimson as he wraps his hand around the back of his neck. He feels awkward and I am relishing in this.
“What?” I goad.
“You know, if you need to attend to...”
“Lainey,” I smile. I could easily drop the conversation.
“Lainey, then you can just go. You don't need to ask my permission and shit.”
“Noted,” I give a firm nod but inside happiness blooms in my chest. Makes me wonder if Tripp said something to him.
“Okay, any problems then come find one of us. We'll be down the bottom field. Takes a while on a horse... will take even longer walking,” he tilts his hat towards me then disappears towards the exit of the stables.
The stables are large, shaped like an L. The stalls are all pretty big and the hay store is next door, but the stables have a built-in archway so you can slip in there from here.