Beau
eight
(Then)
It’s not yet dawn, and Daisy’s pulling on her boots while I hunt around our room for the coffee cup I had in my hand a minute ago.
Daisy stands, then stomps to settle her shoes on her feet. “It’s in the bathroom.”
I uncurl from my crouch, failing to find what I’m looking for under the bed. “My coffee cup?”
“Yes.”
“Seriously?”
She laughs. “Yep.”
I push to my feet with disappointment. That last mouthful of cold coffee will be undrinkable now that it’s spent time in a communal bathroom.
“Why didn’t you get it for me?” I ask as I pull on my boots.
She grins impishly. “I live for the moment you realize it’s lost. Your forehead gets all wrinkly and you stare off into space like you’re the star in a nineties soap opera. It’s adorable.”
Our bedroom is small, so I don’t have to reach far to yank her close and kiss her.
Six months with this woman, and it still feels like the first six weeks.
The first six days. Six minutes. The only thing that’s different is that I know I love her.
I was almost sure that day I chased her to the airport, but now, I’m positive.
Our kiss deepens to the point that we have to stop or risk being late, and one late morning is enough to get both of us fired.
This dream job in Southern Spain is closer to a nightmare.
The horses are solid and looked after well enough, but they’re overworked.
The staff is quiet, and nobody’s interested in making friends.
We barely see the owners, who leave the operations to their youngest son, and there’s something off about the guy.
If Daisy and I hadn’t blown every cent we had on the trip to Fiji and then earned next to nothing in South America, I would’ve ditched this ranch the second we set foot on it. Instead, we’re stuck for another month.
Daisy’s the one to break our kiss. “We have to go,” she says, sliding out of my embrace, but I catch her before she’s gone two steps, hooking an arm around her waist and not letting go.
“I don’t like it here,” I say for the hundredth time.
Her head tips to the side, and she rolls her lips. “I know,” she says. “Neither do I. But we’ve made it this far. Four weeks down. Another four to go.”
Daisy slips free again, and I push my hair back from my face, then put on my hat. “I can’t believe we’ve put up with this shit for a whole month already.”
“Yep.” I notice the pinched lines around her eyes and wish I could smooth them away. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”
I grunt. “And drags when you’re counting the minutes.”
“Come on.” She takes my hand and tugs me out of the bedroom, one of six in our communal farmhouse accommodation. “Let’s get another day over and done with.”
To my frustration, Javier is at the stable when we walk in. I glare when I spot him halfway down the aisle, and a growl rolls through my chest.
Daisy shoves me to the side and into the tack room.
“You need to hide your revulsion a little better,” she hisses.
“Why? The guy’s a dick.”
“I know, which is why he’ll kick us out at the first sign of trouble.” She takes my hands and waits until I give her the eye contact she wants. “You want to be without room and board for the next month?”
My eyebrows draw in. I hear what she’s saying, but the words bounce right out of my head. “I don’t like the way he looks at you.”
She exhales loudly, but when my jaw stays hard, she rolls her shoulders back and grips my fingers tight. “I’ve handled worse than Javier.”
Her words come slowly, like that’ll help me understand, but the inference that she’s been subjected to harassment in the past sharpens the instinct to protect her now. And the way she stands, defensive but small, doesn’t reassure me. If anything, I’m more agitated than before.
“You know I did this for eight years before I met you, right?” Her tone has turned playful, but it’ll take more than forced levity to lighten the mood. “And I grew up with three big brothers. I can take care of myself.”
“This isn’t funny,” I tell her. “You can’t expect me to do nothing.”
Her shoulders drop and she shakes her head.
“No, but you’re overreacting. The women here talk about his bad vibes, but he’s never acted out.
Sure, he throws his weight around, and he likes to feel powerful, but that’s it.
The world is crawling with men like Javier, and he’s not going to risk the reputation of his ranch by trying anything. ”
I scowl. Daisy has no idea how untrue that is.
The door handle jiggles before the door to the tack room swings open. One of the other stable hands, an Irish woman named Lucy, sticks her head in.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she says. “I need a bridle.”
“You’re not interrupting,” Daisy says. “We’re done.”
“Hey, Lucy?” I ask as she picks through the tack for the items she needs.
“Yeah?”
“What do you think of Javier?”
She blinks, perhaps caught off guard by my question or weighing up the wisdom of being honest, but then she glances at Daisy, and her posture softens.
“I wouldn’t want to be alone with him,” she says quietly.
Daisy releases a breath as Lucy disappears into the stable, and I shoot the woman I love an expectant look. “Well?”
“I get it,” she says. “And I’ll be careful, but I’m not going to let Javier intimidate me, and none of it changes the fact that we’ve got jobs to do. So… can we go do them?”
I grind my teeth and try not to scowl. “I’ll be so fucking relieved when this is over.”
I avoid the jerk all morning, mucking out the stalls and feeding the horses and preparing them for trail rides in a way that keeps Daisy always in my sight, until midday, when Javier approaches.
“I need you out in the north fields,” he orders without so much as a hello. His boots are too clean, his shirt is too smooth, and his cologne is too strong for someone who’s supposed to be running a ranch.
I stop sweeping and lean on the broom handle, adding an insolent lift of my chin because it feels good. “Why?”
At the other end of the stable, Daisy steps out of a stall to watch. She’s too far past Javier’s shoulder for me to make out her expression, but I don’t have to. I can sense her telepathic plea to shut up, and I ignore it.
Javier scoffs like this whole thing is funny, but there’s an undercurrent of frustration to his energy. “Because you go where I tell you to go.” He meets my glare, then serves me an arrogant smirk. “There’s a fence that needs to be fixed.”
“I’m busy. Thomas can do it.”
Javier’s cheeks darken, and his jaw feathers. “Thomas doesn’t work here anymore.”
“Since when?”
“Since now. He’s fired. You want to be next?”
Daisy creeps a few steps closer, and Javier’s head shifts toward the sound of her feet, but he doesn’t need to turn to know who’s behind him. He can read it on my face as I meet her eyes, which silently will me to rein it in.
I take a quick measure of the stable. We’re not the only ones here. Lucy’s around, and Andy, Kirk, and Monica have been in and out all day. Daisy won’t be alone if I let Javier have his way, which is the only reason I can make myself back down.
“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth. “I’ll do it.”
Javier’s eyes are small and smug. “I thought you might.”
He swaggers down the aisle, ignoring Daisy in a way that makes my hackles rise as she closes the distance between us.
“Thank you for being practical,” she says.
I scowl at Javier’s back as he disappears into the yard. “I really can’t stand that guy.”
“Four weeks,” she reminds me, as if that’ll make me feel better. “Then we’re out of here.”
The fence in the north paddock requires more than an afternoon’s worth of work, but for the entire hour I’m out there sweating under the sun, I berate myself for leaving Daisy behind.
I talk myself in and out of insanity, debating whether it’s meat-headed misogyny to assume she needs my protection twenty-four hours a day or my job to keep her safe.
My stomach churns, and eventually, when every muscle quivers with nervous tension, I decide Daisy was wrong about being practical.
I don’t even bother packing up my tools before mounting up and pushing my horse to a gallop.
The stable is unusually still, the only activity Lucy taking care of a mare in the yard.
“Hey,” I say as I fling myself out of the saddle. “Have you seen Daisy?”
“She was here a minute ago,” Lucy says. “Oh! I think Javier sent her to the grain shed.”
“And where is Javier now?”
I’m already moving, tossing the reins of my mount to Lucy as I head in that direction.
Her face drains of color, and my pulse spikes. “I… I don’t know.”
“Fuck.”
Sour fear rises in my throat as I race through the outdoor arena and past the covered pen to the food storage shed.
The door is almost closed, and I smash it open with a flat palm, letting light flood into the darkened space.
Daisy’s here, and she’s not alone. She’s against a wall, eyes wide and body trembling.
Javier is crowding her, his hand slipped possessively around her neck.
My blood surges. Javier spins, shock and irritation on his face, and Daisy ducks away the moment he’s distracted. She darts to hide behind me, but I can’t stop moving. I close the distance to Javier and land a fist square in his face.
My knuckles blaze as he shakes it off and lunges for me, throwing his arms around my middle. I shove him off, and he swings. His punch connects, and wet heat explodes from my nose. I grunt and deliver a blow to his gut, hard enough to make him double over with a wheeze.
Voices filter through the red haze, shouts and shrieks.
I don’t care. I won’t stop until I’ve beaten this monster to a fucking pulp.
I trip him and lay a boot in before someone grabs me from behind.
I wrestle against the constraint, trying to break free, but this guy is strong, and when I slow my struggle, Daisy’s terrified expression is like water on fire.