Chapter 7
Nina felt her muscles slowly slacken as her body adjusted to the odd rocking motion of the horse beneath her. Her hands gradually loosened on the reins, and for the first time since the attack, she felt truly relaxed.
Maverick walked at her side, close enough to intercede if he needed to.
She had been so embarrassed when she’d startled awake, and then again when she’d been overcome with the pain from her injured ribs, but there was something so kind and non-judgemental about Maverick Hunt, and it had quelled her humiliation almost as soon as it had arisen.
He didn’t hover, or give her pretty, empty sentiments.
He just trusted her to make her own decisions and silently helped when she needed it. She liked that.
He wasn’t hard to look at either.
Nina peeked down at him, taking in his broad shoulders and tapered waist, and while she wouldn’t ever admit it to Markus, he had been right about the stretch in those blue jeans. Overall, the hulking frame was a beautiful contradiction to the quiet, gentle temperament.
When he’d stroked her calf earlier, trying – she knew – to soothe, Nina had been taken aback by the contact. Because she’d been acutely aware of his big palm running over her leg, and she hadn’t wanted him to stop.
She might not have considered herself a prude, but she wasn’t exactly experienced either.
Living with her mother had made her mistrustful of men, so that when she’d been younger, she’d avoided them completely.
Then she’d been so busy working that she’d only had time for occasional dates, and though she’d had sex, she’d only really done it to see if it would make her feel something more for the men she’d been dating.
And it hadn’t. Instead, it had only left her feeling more disappointed and alone than before.
And then once she’d started to become better known, time had been the least of her concerns, because then she had also had to sort through men who were interested in her and those who were only interested in the perks of dating Nina Keller.
The last date she’d been on had been over a year ago.
She had met Alexander Cane, a well-known and respected producer, while auditioning for Shadowlands, the movie she was currently working on.
Nina had liked him well enough, but not enough for anything serious, so she’d balked when he’d started to press for sex.
The memory left a bitter taste in her mouth now.
But not even an inexperienced woman could have missed that zap of awareness she’d felt when Maverick had touched her. It had shocked her, that little zing. But not more than the sense of calm that had quickly followed.
She wondered why that was, wondered what it was about this particular man that was so grounding.
As they walked, Maverick didn’t ask her about acting like most people did.
In fact, he didn’t seem to feel the need to make small talk at all.
It was Nina who opened the conversation, and not, she realized with some surprise, because the silence was awkward – it wasn’t.
She was genuinely curious. ‘Do you ever get tired of this?’ she asked.
‘Teaching city slickers how to ride horses day in and day out?’
He didn’t reply right away; rather he seemed to think about it for a long moment.
‘It depends on the city slicker,’ he said finally, making her smile.
His blue eyes, made more intense beneath the blue Dodgers cap, glinted with humour.
‘But no. Watching peoples’ faces the moment they take those first steps on a horse is magical.
Especially the kids – they don’t regulate their joy like adults do. They just feel it.’
‘You said you have kids?’ she remembered and glanced down at his ring finger. No ring. Though she wondered what the story was there, she didn’t ask.
‘Just one. A little girl – Poppy.’
‘I bet she’s the happiest kid in the world.’
Maverick laughed at that. ‘Kids don’t tend to notice how lucky they are. They’re just in the moment, but Poppy … I really hope she looks back one day and realizes how extraordinary her childhood was.’
Nina noted the unashamed love in his voice, told herself that, regardless of how young his daughter was, Poppy already knew she was lucky.
As someone who was raised – if you could call it that – by someone so uninterested, Nina could barely fathom what it was like to have a parent who was so shamelessly attached to her.
‘She will,’ Nina said with vindication. She looked out over the pasture, towards the resort. ‘How could she not?’
‘Yeah.’ Maverick followed her gaze. ‘It took a lot out of us – opening the resort when we did. We had to sell some land to cover the start-up costs,’ he explained. ‘It hurt some, selling our legacy to guarantee that we could keep the rest of it afloat.’
‘You didn’t always do this – the resort?’
‘No. We started construction on the resort about a decade ago but have only been fully operational for about eight years now.’ He laughed. ‘Turning a profit for less, maybe six years.’
‘What was it before? A farm?’
‘Ranch,’ he corrected. ‘Cattle.’
‘That’s a big change.’ But she could see it, could envision the rolling hills dotted with fat cows, could easily picture Maverick on the back of a horse, rounding them up.
‘It was.’
‘Why did you do it?’
His smile softened, turning sad. ‘My dad and I had been talking about it for a while. California’s regulatory environment is getting increasingly difficult to navigate, especially if you’re keeping animals on valuable land. And God forbid you have access to water.’
‘I didn’t realize.’
He shrugged. ‘It’s become a hard life. Even the cows we have now are more to lend the resort authenticity than to turn any significant profit.
’ He stepped out in front of the horse to open the pasture gate.
‘Once my dad passed, it seemed like the right time to diversify. He was the last true cowboy in the family.’
‘You’re not a cowboy?’ She pointedly looked him over, from his scuffed cowboy boots, up jean-clad legs and his long-sleeved work shirt, to his ratty baseball cap. The man had a rope attached to his saddle – and not for aesthetics, but because he genuinely used it. ‘Coulda fooled me.’
Maverick grinned. ‘Not really. I mean, I know how the ranch works, and I can keep it going. But I’ve always been more invested in the horses.
My dad … He knew we had to make some changes, but I think he didn’t want to be the first Hunt in over a hundred years to sell.
He was too proud. Me … I’d rather keep a smaller slice of it forever than lose all of it, no matter how much money I could get for it. ’
‘I’m sorry – about your dad.’
‘Yeah, me too.’ He let her urge Zephyr through the gate before closing it behind them. ‘But he and my mom died together, just like they always said they would. So that’s something.’
It felt too personal to ask how it had happened, so she didn’t.
But Nina wouldn’t deny that she was curious.
Instead she said, ‘They would be really proud of what you’ve built.
’ Because how could they not have been? She didn’t need to have stayed more than one night on the Hunt Ranch – in a bathroom, nonetheless – to know that it was one hell of an operation.
It said something about his parents that Maverick didn’t deny it. He said, ‘Yeah, they would have been. Absolutely.’
They started down the dirt road in the direction of the barn in silence. Nina, who hadn’t been able to go out in public for years without being recognized and stopped for an autograph or picture, loved that he didn’t seem to care about the fact that she was actually quite famous.
She hadn’t forgotten what it was like to just be normal, to be treated like a regular person, to be spoken to and to speak back without any veneers, without having to guard her every word and action in case it ended up in print.
But she did miss it. Markus and Luigi’s gang were the only ones who knew the Nina Keller she was behind closed doors.
Every other person she interacted with knew her as a movie star and treated her as such.
When they came to the barn, Maverick took over, leading Zephyr to one of three concrete mounting blocks. He patted the horse’s neck. ‘Coffee time?’
‘Amen,’ Nina replied.
‘You’re going to dismount the exact opposite way you mounted. Right foot out of the stirrup first, right leg over the saddle to the mounting block, and then left leg last. Try to focus more on rotating your hips and keeping your torso as still as possible to help with those ribs.’
Nina gripped the saddle and followed his instructions until she stood on the mounting block.
‘All good?’ He held out one hand to help her down.
Nina took it, tried to ignore how aware she was of that huge, rough palm against hers. ‘Yup.’ She craned her neck back to look up at him as she stepped off the mounting block. ‘That was amazing. Thank you.’
‘Anytime.’
‘What now? Do I unsaddle her? Or groom her?’
‘Not with broken ribs you don’t,’ he responded immediately. He tipped his head in the direction of a closed door that read: STAFF ONLY. ‘Get yourself some coffee – we have the full set-up in there. Wander around, check in on Barbie. Relax. Get breakfast up at the resort. You’re on vacation.’
‘Mr Hunt—’
‘Maverick,’ he corrected.
‘Only if you stop calling me Ms Keller. Or ma’am. One makes me feel like a spinster, the other like an old lady.’
He tipped his head at that. ‘Seems fair.’
‘I have some questions.’
‘Shoot.’
Nina checked them off her fingers. ‘Are you saying the coffee is behind the door clearly labelled: STAFF ONLY? Will anyone mind me going in there and helping myself? And will I get in the way if I stay down here?’ She looked towards the resort, where the early risers might just be starting to wake.
‘I’m in a stage of life where I prefer animals to people. ’