Chapter Four
“I’M JUST GOING to listen to your heart,” Juliette said to the three-month-old colt she was examining. She’d taken a part-time veterinary position working for Jade Braden, a well-established veterinarian in Weston, so she’d have time for Lucas while they settled into their new home and town. Lucas had signed on with a bull-riding coach when they’d first moved, and he’d started his sophomore year of high school last week. He hadn’t been thrilled about moving, but he’d connected with a group of friends and was finding his way.
She pressed the stethoscope against the colt’s rib cage and closed her eyes, listening to the steady lub-dub of its heartbeat. Pleased with what she heard, she pulled the earpieces out and petted him. “You’re a sturdy little guy.”
As she continued the exam, she was reminded of a palomino colt the Whiskeys had rescued and allowed her to name the summer she’d interned there. The neglected colt had a white face, white legs from the knee down, and a blond mane and tail. He’d been far too thin, and she’d chosen the name Romeo, which was what she’d secretly called Seeley. She and Seeley had spent weeks taking care of him and nurturing him, hoping to give him all the love he’d missed out on. Memories of that summer were a constant struggle, even after all these years. Those memories had almost kept her from pursuing her dreams of working in veterinary medicine. But she’d vowed not to let Seeley take that from her, too.
Juliette’s mind tiptoed back to that fateful summer again, when she’d willingly and wantingly given him her virginity and her heart.
She’d always stayed with her grandmother for a few weeks during the summers to help her with her horses. Staying with her grandmother had offered distance from her overbearing father, as they lived in different towns, but it didn’t offer freedom. Her father had still kept a tight rein on her. That summer she’d needed veterinary experience to put on college applications, and her father had agreed she could intern at the ranch.
Much to her father’s dismay, the week before leaving for her internship she’d ended her relationship with Josh Chambers, her boyfriend of two years and the son of her father’s attorney. She had loved Josh only as a trusted friend, while he’d been in love with her. He was devastated by the breakup, but she was excited to finally get out from under her father’s thumb and to learn from the ranch’s vet. Her grandmother had taught her to ride horses when she was a little girl, and she’d wanted to be a veterinary technician for as long as she could remember. She wasn’t expecting to meet a guy there, much less a guy who was in college and made her body come alive from the very first time she saw him.
Her friends at school were a year older and more experienced than she was, as she’d skipped a grade. They’d talked about feeling sparks and getting hot and bothered with certain boys, but she’d never felt anything like the gust of prickling-hot wind that had engulfed her when Seeley had come around the side of the barn her first day on the ranch. He was tall, tanned, and broad-shouldered, with piercing dark eyes that made her pulse race and a chiseled, scruffy jaw. He didn’t just walk, like the boys she knew. He strode , rugged and powerful, thick legs eating up the space between them, until their eyes had locked like metal to magnet, and he’d stopped cold. She hadn’t been sure she’d be able to find her voice when Wynnie introduced them, but Seeley had made a playful comment, and for the first time in her life, she’d felt like she was being seen as something more than her father’s daughter, and she’d flirted right back. The sizzle and burn that had chased up her arm when they shook hands should have warned her away, but it only made him more intriguing.
She tried to push those memories away now, focusing on the colt, but laughter drew her attention as the farm owner’s twentysomething grandson and his girlfriend walked by holding hands, sending her mind reeling back to the steamy afternoon when she and Seeley had shared their first kiss.
They’d been working together every day for nearly a week, getting to know each other and sharing secret glances and playful flirtations that kept her in a heightened state of hopeful anticipation from the moment they saw each other at breakfast until she fell into bed at night, shamelessly fantasizing about all the things she wanted to do with him. Things she’d heard all about from her friends but had never done, or wanted to do, with Josh.
But every time she and Seeley got close enough that she thought he’d kiss her, he’d clench his jaw, his entire body tensing up, and he’d put distance between them.
He was making her crazy, playing some kind of emotional tug-of-war, like she was forbidden fruit.
That sunny afternoon, she’d had enough of being treated like she was only the governor’s daughter. She and Seeley were rinsing off the horses they’d taken on a muddy trail ride with Cowboy, Dare, and two kids her age who were going through the ranch’s program for troubled teens. She and Seeley were the last two down at the barn.
“Damn, it’s hot out here.” Seeley took off his cowboy hat and hung it on the handle of a pitchfork that was leaning against the side of the barn.
It was all she could do to watch him as he took off his shirt and used it to wipe his face, his body glistening in the sun, muscles flexing as he tossed the shirt aside. She wanted to feel those hot muscles against her. He raked a hand through his wavy brown hair, and she drank him in as he strode back to his horse.
“You gonna share that hose or stare at me all day?”
Embarrassed that he’d caught her staring, she lifted the hose and sprayed him.
His eyes narrowed. “Oh, you want to play, Peaches?”
He called her Peaches because she always carried a package of peach candies. Little did he know she sucked on them throughout the day in case he kissed her.
“Heck yeah, I want to play.” She sprayed him again, laughing.
He ran toward her, and she squealed, sprinting away. She turned to spray him, but he caught her around her waist, tugging her back against his chest, both of them laughing as they wrestled for the hose. He ripped it from her hand, his other arm still belted across her stomach, keeping her pressed to him.
“Seeley, don’t!” She grabbed his wrist, pushing away as they cracked up.
He tore his wrist free and turned the hose on her, dousing her with cold water. She shrieked, squirming to get free from his other arm, but he held her too tight, both of them laughing hysterically.
“How do you like that, Peaches?” He sprayed her again.
She shriek-laughed. “Stop! I’m already wet enough!”
His body went rigid against her, and he gritted out, “Jesus Christ.”
“What’s—” She realized what she’d said and heated from the inside out at the way he’d taken it, her laughter silencing as she realized this was her chance to strip away his restraint. She turned in his arms, their wet bodies pressed together. “What’s the matter? Don’t you like knowing you get me wet?”
His eyes drilled into hers, a stormy mix of restraint and desire. “Fuck.”
“What’s wrong?” She pressed her breasts against his bare, muscular chest, grinding her hips against him, and felt him get hard. “Am I too close?”
“Juliette,” he warned.
“Don’t you like the way I feel?” She gathered all her courage and said, “Because it sure feels like you do.”
“You’re driving me fucking insane.” His voice was rough as gravel, his words dripping with desire. “You know I want to get my hands on you, but I’m trying to do the right thing, and you’re making it too damn hard.”
“I can feel that.” Heart racing, she whispered, “And I like it.” She went up on her toes and kissed him!
His arm tightened around her middle, and she thought he’d kiss her back, but he tore his mouth away, his volcanic eyes searching hers for only a second, before he gritted out, “Fuck it,” dropped the hose, and crushed his mouth to hers, kissing her harder, his tongue sweeping hungrily over hers. His scruff abraded her skin, setting her entire body aflame. He grabbed her hair, angling her mouth beneath his, taking the kiss deeper. He held her tighter, his erection pressing into her belly. She clung to him, returning his efforts with everything she had, kissing him harder, rubbing against him, and wanting so much more. She’d never been kissed so intensely, had never wanted anyone so badly.
When he tore his mouth away, gritting out a curse, stormy eyes scanning the area around them, she worried he’d never kiss her again. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded. “I want you to kiss me.”
He grabbed her hand, hurrying into the barn, and reclaimed her mouth, thoroughly devouring her. Her knees buckled, and her body begged for more. She knew she’d never be the same again.
The colt bobbed his head, startling her out of the memory.
Her heart raced. What am I doing? Seeley hadn’t even looked back when he’d stalked off the other day. He hadn’t given her a single glance.
It had been three days, and anger still bubbled up inside her.
She shouldn’t be surprised by his behavior, considering how fast and easily he’d moved on that summer. She knew her father would have followed through on his threats, and she didn’t blame Seeley for not wanting to go to jail, but she’d expected him to at least fight for them after learning she was pregnant. Instead, he’d finally answered her letters and had severed all ties.
Over the years she’d come to understand that she was only sixteen, too naive to see past the hearts in her eyes, and she must have romanticized that summer.
But that was a long time ago, and she was surprised by the way he treated her last weekend. They weren’t kids anymore. Wasn’t he even curious about his son?
She stewed on that as she finished examining the colt and reported back to her client. When she pulled out of their driveway, she was still too keyed up about Seeley to run the errands she’d planned to take care of before Lucas got home from school. She couldn’t go on like this. She needed to clear the air with Seeley once and for all.
DOC GAVE STORMY, a ten-year-old gelding rescue, some extra love as he finished his afternoon rounds. Stormy came to them with squamous cell carcinoma in his eye that had been unresponsive to conventional treatments. Doc had excised the tumor and performed cryotherapy, and he was glad Stormy was recovering comfortably.
He saw Sasha heading his way. She was an equine rehabilitation therapist, and excellent at her job, but his family had been hovering since Saturday, trying to get him to talk about Juliette, and he was sick of it. Even Birdie had been texting to check up on him. She’d pick a scab until it bled.
He quickly finished writing up his notes, hoping to escape before Sasha reached him, but as he put Stormy’s chart in the rack beside the stall, Sasha sidled up to him.
“He looks good, doesn’t he?” Sasha said.
“Yeah.” He headed out of the barn at a fast clip, waking Mighty, who’d been sleeping in the sun.
Sasha stuck by his side. “Cowboy and Hyde are on their way back with two rescue horses. One is in critical condition.”
“I got the text. Hannah is setting up the OR.” Hannah was one of their temporary veterinary technicians. Doc had always used temporary on-call assistants and interns from a local service, but the rescue had grown over the last couple of years, and he’d recently started thinking about hiring a permanent employee.
Hurrying to keep up, Sasha said, “ Doc , can you stop walking for a second?”
Gritting his teeth, he stopped, and Mighty followed suit. “Sure, as long as it’s not to talk about Juliette.” Why the fuck did it still hurt to say her name? He had a club meeting tonight, and he couldn’t fucking wait to get there. Being around the brotherhood, hitting up the Roadhouse bar afterward with the guys, and maybe getting lost in a willing woman was exactly what he needed to take his mind off this bullshit.
Sasha’s brow wrinkled. “I know you don’t want to talk about her, but if you change your mind, I’m a good listener.”
“I won’t.” He took a step away, but she grabbed his arm. He glowered at her.
“Sorry.” She let go of him. “But I’m worried about you, and about her. Birdie said you were brutal to her.”
“Look, I know you think you know what went down between us, but—”
“No, I don’t ,” she snapped. “Nobody talks about it. All I know is that you fell for her, and it ended so badly, Mom and Dad put that no-intracompany-dating policy into place.”
“I was a fucking fool, okay? End of story.” He headed for his veterinary clinic, but she and Mighty hurried after him.
“What does that mean?”
He turned on her. “It means, unlike her , I’m honest with the women I’m with just to get my rocks off.”
Sasha’s eyes widened. “You mean she was using you ?”
“Let it go,” he fumed as a red pickup came over the hill. “Who the hell is that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mighty, sit .” The dog sat. “Stay.” Doc took a few steps forward, watching the truck slowly approaching. It stopped on the side of the road. The door flung open, and Juliette climbed out. His chest constricted, hurt and anger gnawing at him like a feral beast. “What the fuck does she want?”
Juliette stalked toward him with her chin held high, her brown hair bouncing over the shoulders of a T-shirt that clung to her perfect fucking tits, jeans hugging every goddamn curve.
“That’s far enough,” he warned when she was about ten feet away. She was his kryptonite. He didn’t trust himself to be any closer to her. She’d gotten even more beautiful, which he’d thought impossible, and the blue eyes that had haunted him for a decade and a half still held him captive. He didn’t want to look at her, much less be close enough to smell or touch her, but he was powerless to look away.
“ Doc ,” Sasha chided.
“It’s okay, Sasha,” Juliette said confidently, her eyes never leaving his. “Hello, Seeley. I’m sure I’m the last person you want to see.”
“You’re right, so you can go back the way you came.”
“Seeley…?” she said a little pleadingly. “We—”
“We what , Juliette? Knew each other a lifetime ago?” He scoffed. “I barely remember a second of it, and I have no interest in reliving it. Go back to your family. You have no business here.” He stalked toward his office.
Sasha hurried after him, speaking hushed and angry. “ Doc! Why are you being such a dick?”
“Hey, Romeo !” Juliette shouted after him.
He stopped walking, the nickname cutting him to his core. Grinding his teeth and with his hands curled into fists, he fought the urge to turn around because seeing her was too painful.
“It must be nice having a selective memory for all these years,” she shouted over the sound of an approaching truck. “While I’ve been raising our son!”
The earth tilted beneath his feet. He was vaguely aware of Sasha saying, “Ohmygod, Doc . You have a son?” as he tried to process what Juliette had said. Was that kid at the hospital his son? He’d been so shocked to see Juliette, he’d barely noticed the kid.
He turned in disbelief, seeing everything through a haze as Juliette climbed into her vehicle and Cowboy’s truck pulled up beside him, towing the horse trailer.
“Let’s go, Doc! This horse is critical!” Cowboy shouted, but he sounded far away.
Juliette was leaving, and Doc’s mind was stuck in a loop. I have a son? Was that my kid? He ran after her truck, shouting, “Was that my son?” but she was already turning onto the main road that led off the ranch.