Page 58 of Perfect Enough

Josh looked up. “Rose redesigned and decorated the whole barn. She thought it added a special touch…and claimed the horses would like it.”

“Rose is one hell of a designer.”

“Yeah, she really is.”

I walked closer to the stalls and reached out, running my hand down the neck of a beautiful bay horse. “Stunning,” I whispered, as he or she gave a small whinny.

“She agrees with you.”

Petting the mare a little more, I smiled.

We kept walking and passed by a paint, a buckskin, and a roan. All of which made sure to give us some sort of greeting.

“Why are they in the barn and not out to pasture?” I asked.

“Two are under care from a vet and have to be stalled for the time being, while they heal up. The paint is about to give birth, so she’s in here so we can keep an eye on her. The bay you were loving on is new to the ranch. She’s only been here a few days.” Josh stopped. “Here’s the grooming stall.”

“Do their feeders swivel in and out of the stall?”

“They do. Makes feeding them easier.”

I was starting to get an unmistakable picture of just how wealthy the Shaw family was, simply by the barn alone. The stalls were top-of-the-line, from what I could tell.

“And here’s the tack room.”

We walked into a large room with the same dark-stained wood paneling. At least a dozen saddles hung on one wall, and across from them was a large built-in that held helmets andother riding gear. There was a big table in the middle with three stools on either side of it. Above the table was the most stunning light fixture I’d ever seen. It was a massive, carved wood beam with metal fittings sticking down from each side at even intervals, each holding LED bulbs.

Josh placed his hand on my lower back and guided me out of the tack room and down another hall. “Some stalls we can open up from outside, and let the horses out the back into smaller outdoor paddocks.”

“That’s a nice feature,” I said, as we turned a corner and walked a bit more before Josh motioned for me to enter a room.

A man was sitting at a desk, his head bent as he read something on a computer.

“Blayze?”

When he lifted his head, I gasped the tiniest bit. The man sitting there was older than us, with blue eyes and a smile that could weaken any woman’s knees.

“Josh, how’s it going?” He stood and reached across the desk to shake Josh’s hand.

“Sophia, this is my oldest cousin, Blayze. He and my cousin Hunter pretty much keep this place running.”

Blayze rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to him. The only thing I do is make sure he gets paid.”

I smiled and glanced at Josh, who was grinning back at me.

“I heard you’re going for a ride?” Blayze asked Josh, looking between us.

“We are. I called Hunter and asked about getting a couple of horses ready to ride out.”

Blayze nodded. “He’s got Charlie and Lou Lou ready.”

“Lou Lou?” I asked with a chuckle.

“She’s a paint, one of our best mares,” Josh explained. “Gentle as all get out, but she likes an adventure if given the chance.”

“Sounds like my kind of horse,” I replied.

Josh winked at me, and I tried to ignore the way that made my pulse race.