23. CT
23
ct
I woke up with a sense of peace and calm surrounding me. Instead of yesterday, when Dani ran off before I woke up, she was cuddled up against me nice and snug.
I run my hand over her hair, and she sighs in her sleep.
Hell, if I could do this for the rest of my life, I would, happily. Traveling with Dani, kissing her before we fall asleep together, waking up with her cuddled up close to me.
Even if that was all we did for the rest of our lives, I would die a happy man.
She moves, stretching, and as she comes back to the land of the living, she seems to realize where she is.
Her head tilts up, and I smile down at her. “Good morning, hon.”
Thankfully, instead of freaking out, tensing with worry, or getting mad, she smiles up at me and a blush touches her cheeks. “Good morning.”
“How did you sleep?” I ask as she sits up in the bed, being mindful of hitting her head.
She stretches her arms out in front of her. “Actually, I slept great.”
I run my hand absently over her back, enjoying the quiet inside the trailer and the slow morning feel.
Yup, rest of my life.
She turns to face me, and that contented feeling flees, replaced by a rush of anger at the sight of the bruises, which look way worse this morning.
Dani frowns and says, “What’s wrong?”
I sit up and gently rest a hand on the side of her face, tilting her chin up to me. Sure enough, the bruises are perfect finger marks.
“Your bruises are worse today,” I tell her in a low, controlled voice.
She sighs softly and touches them, poking harder than I’d like. “They barely hurt.” Her comment makes my anger worse.
“That’s not the fucking point,” I reply, not allowing my voice to rise. “The point is, he put his hands on you and left a mark. No real man would ever do this to a woman. ”
For whatever reason, her eyes soften, and she takes my hand in hers, gripping it tightly. “I’m sorry, I?—”
“Don’t you dare apologize for a thing,” I tell her, pulling her down on top of me. “I’ll handle this. But I always want someone with you while we’re here.” She opens her mouth, likely to protest, and I cut her off. “I know you’re independent, but he was more than willing to physically hurt you to get your attention, Dani, in public, no less.” I rub my knuckle over her cheek. “I’m not risking you.”
She turns, resting her chin on my chest and smiling at me like I hold the world in my hands. She looks at me like she used to look at me. Like I was still the one person in her orbit who always belonged. I never wanted her to look at me any other way. “So, you’re going to be my bodyguard, huh?”
I lean up, slowly taking her lips with my own and pull away only enough to whisper, “If that’s what it takes.”
“CT! Hey!” I turn to see Viviana Capello, or Viv as she’s told me to call her, entering our aisle of stalls.
“Hey.” I nod my head at her and rise to hang the bridle I was polishing. She gives me a quick, friendly hug and looks around the barn.
“This is cool!” I smile at her enthusiasm. She’s admitted to not knowing anything about horses, but she’s a very hands-on person with her clients and has asked multiple times to come and see me ride. I figured, why not make it easy and have her come when I was showing where she lives?
Viv was hired by Quinn last year to promote the festival, and I figured, why not hire her to do work for the ranch, allowing it to all tie together? She is brilliant at what she does, and according to Quinn, she is the reason the festival is as big as it’s becoming.
“Yeah, it’s not bad. Glad you could swing by for a bit.”
Dani enters the other end of the aisle, and Hank walks by her side at my request. She is checking to see where her run is falling as far as time and judging by her clipped pace, it’s coming up sooner than she thought.
“Honey, come here real fast,” I call out to her, the familiar term of endearment falling off my lips so easily her eyes warm at my words, and her smile brightens, making my chest tighten with pleasure.
Of course, when she’s close enough, my eyes dart to her chin, where I can barely see the bruises, my anger simmering at the surface at the evidence of something I couldn’t let go.
She spent a good twenty minutes in front of the bathroom mirror covering them up.
I watched.
Mostly because she had been standing in front of it with a towel wrapped around her hair and body, and I couldn’t not look. But also because watching her have to cover bruises made by that asshole fueled the fire that was burning inside of me.
He was going to pay for what he did. I just had to find the right time to make that happen.
“Viv, this is Dani,” I introduce, watching the girls smile brightly at each other and shake hands. “Dani, this is Viv, our marketing person.”
Dani’s eyes alight with recognition. “Right! Three Rivers. That is such a great name for the ranch.”
Viv smiles. “I’m glad you think so. I think it’s just the right touch to skyrocket the ranch into this century.”
Dani laughs, and I roll my eyes at the jab.
“Oh, here.” Viv pulls a large tote bag from her shoulder and reaches in, pulling out a shirt. “I had these made up, just a few for now until I get final approval from you.”
She hands me the navy-blue shirt, and I unfold it, seeing the brand-new logo on the front. It has the TRTR brand with the old-school river brand underneath. Rounded out above and below, it says, Three Rivers Trevors Ranch.
“Oh wow,” Dani says, moving my hand slightly so she can see. “This is fantastic.”
“Thanks. I think these will be great for some advertising.” She waves her hand around. “What better time than now to start wearing them?” She reaches into the bag, pulls another one out and checks the size. “Here, this one should fit you.”
Dani takes the shirt from her outstretched hand, smiling at her. “This is great, thank you.” She turns to me. “I have to get Lady ready.”
I nod and say, “I’ll help, then we’ll follow you.”
Viv offers to just stand back and watch and take some photos for the website she’s building.
We work fluidly, Hank hanging back to chat with Viv. She gives him a polite smile, but he quickly gets the hint and takes a step away, watching us get ready. He didn’t have to stick around, but he knew what was going on with Tommy and had kept close to us since. I asked about his sisters, wondering if they knew to stay away from him, and he assured me they did, not to mention they weren’t exactly on his radar.
Dani was. She was who he wanted to scare.
We get Lady ready, and then I help Dani get her chaps on after she dresses in a shiny blue button-down and straw hat, her blonde hair is nestled into a bun at the back of her neck, and she looks fucking stunning. I wish we weren’t in a hurry because all I want to do is show her how hard my heart is beating, to let her see what she does to me without even trying.
But we had no time, and I watched as she marched out of the tack room and up to her mare.
Once she’s on Lady and walking, I hang back with Viv and Hank, and we follow her to the warm-up arena.
“She looks amazing,” Viv says, watching Dani’s straight-backed form walk into the warm-up pen.
“She does,” I agree, looking around for signs of the shithead who was definitely going to be talked to…or not. I haven’t decided on what to do just yet.
But no one gets away with putting their hands on a woman.
“This whole thing is so out of my element that it’s shocking,” Viv says. “I mean, I guess I knew it existed, obviously, but I had no idea it was so intense. ”
I nod, and Hank offers an explanation. “This is a lifestyle, not a hobby. My sisters and I travel around the country just showing. We don’t have normal jobs, we show our horses, and during the offseason, we work for our family’s company.”
“Where does the offseason take place?”
“Minnesota,” he answers. “We have a long winter, so we earn our traveling time by working it.”
Viv nods and lifts her camera up again, aiming it at Dani and taking some shots. I nod to the camera. “Will those go on the site?”
“I’m not sure about all the photos I want on there yet, but she looks so perfect, and I want to get them just in case. I’d also love to come up for the festival and shoot some stuff.”
“I thought you were advertising for the festival, too.”
“Oh, I am. Your dad hired me months ago for that,” she says, knowing that I would have nothing to do with that. The festival was Dad and Quinn’s thing. I just did what I was told for it. “But if I have photos of it, I can make a whole page dedicated to showcasing what it’s all about.”
I nod at her, keeping an eye on Dani.
Soon enough, Dani’s name is called, and we walk down the tunnel to the other arena.
And off to the side stands Tommy Smith. There are several people around him, talking and looking at him like he’s hot shit.
When we lock eyes, he smirks like he knows I know, and I keep my face completely void of emotion.
He may think he got away with what he did, and I don’t mind him thinking that. It will make it that much more satisfying when I show him that he messed with the wrong people.