Chapter 5
TAYLOR
It had been a long day with both a morning and afternoon riding tour at Wild Wild Wilderness, one of the places I worked as a guide.
One of the horses, Karl, had gone lame and I’d switched with a customer and let Amber lead the group along the rest of the ride while I walked him down the trail back to the stable.
Then, I volunteered for extra hours tending to the horses and getting them set for the night.
The company offered a variety of guided tours in the hills around Devil’s Ditch.
Hikes, mountain bike rides, and horseback riding.
I led the horseback riding tours. But it was September and all of those would taper off in the next few weeks as the weather turned consistently cold and the last summer vacations were replaced with back-to-school.
Once the snow fell, snowmobile, cross country skiing, and snowshoe tours would start up, except that wasn’t until close to the New Year, and that was if we got early snow.
Because my job was tourist dependent, I also worked part time at the Feed and Seed.
Everyone had left for the day, the main office closed. I was in the stable behind the main building. I’d turned the radio on and I was brushing down Jerry, a fifteen hand Tennessee Walking Horse. My mind wandered as I worked, as it had all week, to Cam Wilder.
I didn’t know.
I didn’t know the hot guy from the bar Saturday night was a Wilder.
I knew them. There were nine siblings. I’d gone to school with Shep and had seen him and his younger brother, Zeb, back in the day at high school events.
I knew Shep was a mechanic now, his own shop was across from the fire station on Main.
I heard Zeb was at college in Missoula and played football.
The rest of the Wilder siblings were much older than me, including Cam.
I, of course, knew Lainey since we both competed in barrel racing competitions.
The rest of the guys, I didn’t know.
Like, I didn’t even know what they looked like.
Obviously, since I’d walked right up to Cam Wilder and I literally melted for him like a pat of butter on an oven-hot biscuit.
I groaned, remembering and Jerry knickered. I had the worst luck ever.
Rod Severs had been a shitty boyfriend, a complete user and gaslighter. He’d tricked me for months and strung me along. Lied. After I learned all that he’d done, I’d been upset for weeks. I still was.
But last Saturday? With Cam Wilder?
I felt worse–like I’d had a glimpse of something real and pure but it’d been snatched away, and I’d only known him for about fifteen minutes.
Sure, he’d had his mouth on my pussy on the side of The Roadside where anyone could have seen us, which meant there was a shit ton more connection and chemistry with Cam than the entire few months I’d sorta dated Rod.
But why did the perfect man have to be a Wilder?
It’d been my fault that his father had almost died.
I paused, my brush on Jerry’s flank as I took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling.
Rod had wanted the prize money I could make as a competitive barrel racer…
if I won. Back in July, he’d ensured that happened at great expense to the Wilder family.
Lainey, my biggest competitor, had been kidnapped and her horse drugged…
orchestrated or done by Rod personally. Her father, Mr. Wilder, had been hurt because of it.
Really hurt. He’d been in a medically induced coma for three days.
I asked around–which was easy to do in a town as small as Devil’s Ditch–about how he was doing after I visited him the one time in the hospital, admitted what Rod had done and how I’d been involved to all of the Wilders who’d been in his room, including Colt, the town sheriff.
Thank God, he’d responded well to the treatment and was home. After two months, I heard he was back to his old self. No thanks to me.
Needless to say, I’d steered clear of the Wilders since.
I set my forehead on Jerry’s flank, the closest thing I was going to get to a hug these days.
“The fucker,” I muttered, but Jerry didn’t do anything but turn his head and give me the side eye. “I’m ashamed, Jer. Hurt. Embarrassed. Guilty.”
Now, I avoided the Wilders as best I could. I saw Lainey at the grocery store once and I’d ducked into the cleaning aisle to avoid her. I hadn’t competed since the rodeo at the county fair where Rod had drugged her horse and hit Mr. Wilder on the head so she could feel safe after what happened.
If I returned, which was a big if, I’d have to go out of state where I knew she didn’t sign up.
Dropping the brush into a bucket, I untied Jerry’s lead and led him back to his stall. He was the last to be brushed down. It was time to fill their hay nets for the night.
I checked my watch. Six-fifteen. I’d probably be out of here by seven, which meant by the time I got home, around seven-thirty, Dad would be in his recliner watching either a ball game or a game show.
He’d, hopefully, have had enough to drink to forget that I hadn’t made him any dinner.
I worked more than full time to pay the bills, but also as a reason to stay away from the house. I didn’t like it there.
Dad was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, alternating between nice and asshole depending on the day or how much liquor was in his system.
I was stashing money away inside a tampon box to eventually move out, but it was slow going.
Everything was so expensive and… well, Rod had only validated what Dad said, that I was pretty expendable and useless.
Besides Avoid the Wilders, my latest motto was keep your head down and try not to get anyone killed.
It had worked for the past two months since the county fair and Rod had disappeared.
Until my vagina and my nipples took control and I said “Yes” to a stranger who turned out to be CAM WILDER. Rugged. Virile. Ridiculously talented with his mouth and fingers. He’d looked good. Smelled good. Felt good. Felt… safe.
It had taken this whole week for my pussy to stop aching. I’d never been fingered, or had anything else attached to a man, inside me before. He’d shoved that finger in deep and holy crap, it had hurt for a few seconds. But then, it had felt really good. Better than really good. Unforgettable.
“Yo, Micah!”
A man called from the open stable doors. The sun had set behind the mountains a little while ago, but twilight would linger for a while yet. I stuck my head out of Jerry’s stall, not expecting anyone.
And I definitely wasn’t expecting him.
It was Cam, making his way down the length of the stalls, a leather bag in hand. Jeans. Sturdy leather boots. A blue button-up that probably made his eyes of the same shade pop.
“I was on my way home and thought–”
He saw me.
Stopped talking. Stopped walking.
“You.”
It was too late to stick my head back in Jerry’s stall and hide.
What was Cam doing here?
He rushed over, came into the stall, took in the fact that there wasn’t much room with Jerry eyeing us, then took my hand and pulled me out into the central corridor that ran the entire length of the stable. He shut the stall’s half door without looking away from me.
“Red, what the hell? Why’d you leave like that? Are you okay?”
I looked up at him, saw that I’d been right, his eyes were even bluer with that shirt on. Even with the tang of manure and horse, I picked up his clean scent.
I wasn’t sure how it was possible, but he was even more attractive than I remembered. Because all the time we were outside behind the bar, I barely got to see him, it had been that dark. And his face had been between my thighs.
“What are you doing here?” I asked instead of answering his peppered questions.
“Micah called about a lame horse. I’m here to take a look.”
“Micah’s not here. His in-laws are in town and I’m covering for him so they can go out to dinner,” I said, explaining my boss’s absence. “Wait… you’re the vet?”
He nodded, his gaze roving over my face as if cataloging every inch. His hand came up and cupped my jaw. I felt the callouses, the heat of his touch. God, it felt good. My nipples hardened at the innocent contact.
Wait. WAIT. As if Jerry had back kicked me into a water trough, I realized something.
He didn’t know who I was.
Reaching up, I took hold of his wrist and pulled it away.
He frowned. “What’s the matter?”
“I… um, didn’t know who you were the other night,” I admitted.
He smiled. Fuck, he smiled. “That’s okay. I think we can say there’s a connection that goes beyond names.” He laughed. “Hell, that sounds corny, doesn’t it?”
My lips twitched, but it was a sad smile. He wanted me. Me!
Except he didn’t know the whole truth. Women had found Ted Bundy a really attractive man, but once they learned he was a serial killer, they had a completely different opinion. I wasn’t a mass murderer, but well, I got pretty close enough.
“I made a mistake.”
“Oh?”
“Had I known who you were, I’d have left you alone. Let Amber or even Jenna kiss you.”
His gaze narrowed. “The other women at the bar? I’m not interested in them.”
I sighed, glanced down at the buttons on his shirt. “You’re not going to be interested in me, either.”
“Why?”
I swallowed, tipped my chin up and looked him in the eye. I was going to own this like I owned what happened over the summer. “I’m Taylor Reeves.”
“Taylor–” He figured it out. It took him two seconds.
His smile fell. His body went tense. He tugged his hand away as if I was poisonous. Stepped back.
“You almost killed my father.”
A lump of tears clogged my throat, “I know. I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry? You fucked with my sister’s horse. Do you have any idea what could have happened to her with an animal hyped up like that?”
We stood in a stable. I’d worked in them for years, took care of others’ horses like they were my own. Rode one competing right alongside his sister.
“Yes.”
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, as if trying to wipe away what he’d done to me on Saturday night.
“Jesus, my mother–Pops was…” He was so upset he couldn’t articulate his words. His chest heaved, face red, veins in his neck distended.
“It’s my fault. I’m to blame.” There was nothing else to say. I’d told that to his family in the ICU back in July–although Cam hadn’t been there. If I hadn’t gotten mixed up with Rod, nothing would have happened to anyone in the Wilder family.
He pointed toward the stable entrance. “Get out of my fucking sight.”
I stared at him for a moment as he settled his hands on his hips and looked away.
I expected this. I deserved this.
I nodded and willed back the tears that were threatening to fall until I got to my car. He was a vet. He’d take care of the horses.
It took a few tries for my car to start, again.
It was old and I was hoping it would keep struggling for a while longer.
I didn’t have the money for a repair. Plus, the only mechanic in Devil’s Ditch was Shep Wilder.
The last thing I wanted was another face-to-face with someone else in that family. Cam made it very clear where I stood.
As I drove home to a father who was going to either be passed out or an angry drunk wanting dinner. Tears slid down my cheeks as I wondered, who would ever take care of me?