Chapter 9 Tully
NINE
TULLY
“My God,” I breathe out the words under my breath.
Dean offloads the three he purchased for the ranch first. The eye candy before me has my mouth salivating and my core dripping with wetness.
JW might be doing the same as his brother, but my gaze is firmly planted on Dean.
His grey cotton shirt stretches across his broad muscular back, his tapered waist and firm thighs encased in a pair of well-worn blue jeans.
Honestly, his arms are the piece de resistance, literal chef’s fucking kiss, and watching the entire show as he guides each horse at a time, damn, am I here for the show. No popcorn is necessary either.
“Hey, there, Tully,” JW tosses over his shoulder as he walks toward Dean, grabbing the lead rope on the last of the, shall we say, healthy horses.
“Hi, JW.” I give him a finger wave and move closer to the trailer.
It’s taking entirely too long for me to stand back and wait.
I’m an anxious mess. Having no idea what to expect, I made sure to bring the clinic vehicle that’s fully equipped.
No red flags were raised either, considering we all take one of them when we go out on calls.
I just so happened to take the one that has all of the triage stocked, just in case.
“Tallulah, this is a pleasant surprise,” Mrs. Catherine says next to me. I’m on the tips of my toes looking into the trailer. My stomach bottoms out, and I’m filled with disgust on how or why someone would treat an animal this way or why’d they have them to begin with.
“Hey, Mrs. Catherine. Yeah, Dean called and asked if I’d take a look at a few horses.
” Dean makes an appearance in the trailer, whispering sweet nothings to each of the horses.
He’s got a hand on the colt, another under-nourished sweetheart who shouldn’t be scared, who should be with his mom judging by the size of him alone.
He’s skittish at first, but Dean soothes all his worries away.
Same, boy, same. Only this time, I get to watch him do it as an outsider looking in.
“Oh, my heavens.” Mrs. Catherine is much taller than me and is able to look between the slates without being on the tips of her toes.
“Yeah.” Words are hard when I’m in work mode while also watching the object of all my affections look as hot as Dean while he’s also in work mode, “Where’s Case?” I ask quietly. Usually when Ryland is working on the ranch during the day, Mrs. Catherine watches her grandson.
“I’m not jinxing it, so we’re not talking about the S-word.
” I pick up on her clue as sleeping. They have a sweet setup down here at the barn as well as at the main house, which I’m sure will still be the same way once Ry’s house is done and will still be used.
It’s then I notice the baby monitor on her hip, and I watch Case quietly sleeping.
“Ah, we shall not say said a word, then.” I drop back to my feet, attempting to stay light on my feet.
“I appreciate that. Should have known Dean would pick up a few extras that needed a home. He always was my boy with a sensitive side when it came to animals,” Catherine drops that little bombshell of information.
It shouldn’t surprise me, yet somehow it does.
We back away from the trailer, my eyes on Dean’s body the entire time, mentally making a note to come out to the ranch more often and watch him train the horses.
My god, the man is making more than my insides quiver.
It’s a good thing I’m in dark scrubs and a padded bra, or everyone could see what watching him does to me.
“Yeah,” I reply.
“Tully, where do you want him?” Dean asks, saving me, which is probably for the better. I need to get my head in the game and, you know, do the whole vet thing.
“Do you have available stalls? I’d suggest quarantining them off from the others and to themselves while I evaluate each of them.”
“I can do that. I’ll stall him then work on getting the other two out.” I nod, words not coming when he grins. Of course, the icing on the cake is when he shoots me a wink before turning on his booted heel and leaving me to watch as each muscle flexes and pulls as he takes a step.
“You’ve got it bad.” Catherine comes up behind me, knocking me out of my daydream.
“I do not, nope, not at all.” I do. I really, really do, but nobody needs to know.
“Sure, and I was born at night, but not last night. I’m guessing this thing between you and my son has been happening for a while now,” she surmises. I can’t lie to save my life. Remaining silent is the only thing I can do. “You go do your thing. Your secret is safe with me.”
I give her a two-finger wave over my shoulder as I follow Dean only to veer off to my vehicle and grab my medical bag.
My stethoscope is already around my neck, phone in my pocket in case I need to take any notes, and then I’m walking through the long walkway of the barn.
Stalls are on either side, there are lots of overhead lights, and from what I can see, all of the usuals are out in the pasture minus the healthy horses.
“Do you need me to look over the first three, or are they all good to go?” I ask Dean a few steps away from the stall.
“They’re good for now. Their Coggins was just done. Still, they’ll be on the other side. Once you take care of the worrisome ones, I’ll have you take a look at them, too.” He opens the stall door for me to enter. He’s still got the colt in a rope halter and the lead rope in his hand.
“Sounds good. This won’t take long. He seems to be okay in my presence if you want to bring the other two out.
They looked to be sweating, and who knows when they drank or ate the last time before you loaded them into the trailer?
” I hold my hand out, allowing the young male horse to sniff me.
I don’t want him to see me as a threat. I’d much rather be his friend than his foe.
“Alright. We didn’t give them a whole lot in case you needed to run some tests.” He ties the leads to the hook on the wall, and then it’s me and this baby.
“Hey, baby, it’s just you and me,” I tell him as I listen to his heart, his stomach, run my hands along his ligaments and tendons.
Then I check his teeth. I shouldn’t be surprised, not in the least, but this baby is barely two months old.
I’m disgusted. Sadly, I know this happens more often than not, and I’m sure this won’t be my last time witnessing it.
It doesn’t take me long to finish with the first assessment.
Bloodwork still needs to be drawn, and in order to do that, I’ve got to figure out how the Johnsons would like to proceed.
My head lifts up as I hear hooves making their way toward where I am.
“Oh, honey,” I breathe out, watching as the pregnant mare makes her way into the stall across from the colt with Dean.
She’s worse than I ever could have expected.
Her head is down, her belly is much smaller than it should be, and you can see the muscle mass depreciation.
It’s a good thing Dean and JW rescued them when they did.
I can’t imagine what they’d be like in the next month or so.
“Yeah, she’s not in the best shape,” Dean says.
“Do you want me to do bloodwork? I only ask because they’re technically not on the schedule today, and I can’t necessarily send it out to the labs without it being documented. Also, little man is going to need to be bottle fed for the next month at the very least.”
“I think we’re going to have to. Can you put the three rescued under my name and not the ranch’s? I’ll be paying for them.” My damn heart. This man is always doing the most when I least expect it. Which is ridiculous on my part. He’s never once given me a reason to doubt he’d do anything less.
“Okay, let me go wash my hands and grab what I need to, then I’ll work on the sweetheart. Do you have names for them yet?” I ask, wondering what Dean plans on doing with them.
“JW wants the stallion, and Mom has googly eyes over the baby, which means the mare will be mine if I’m lucky.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. She’s real pretty, Dean,” I tease. She needs a lot of work, but it’d sure be pretty to see her become the horse she’s meant to be.
“Woman, you trying to take my horse from me?”
“No. Well, maybe.” I think about it for a moment. “Actually, probably not. My hours at the clinic wouldn’t really be conducive to having a pet right now, much less a horse that deserves the love and devotion she needs.”
“Sunshine, let’s see what you have to say about her and what comes back bloodwork-wise.
Everything comes back normal and you want her, she’s yours.
I’m with the horses most days. One more won’t be a hardship.
Especially knowing you’ll be here every chance you get.
” Am I thinking about running toward him and jumping into his arms?
Damn right I am. The one thing holding me back is the fact we’ve got horses between us, and I’ll be damned if I add more to her already full plate.
“Dean,” I say his name instead, seeing what I’m sure is the same look on my face reciprocated.
“We’ll figure it out. Go do your thing. I’m going to sit back and enjoy watching you, Tully.
” He shoots me a wink, in doing so making my knees weak.
Dean knows what he’s doing, too. That man, he’s making me rethink everything, especially keeping this relationship under wraps.
His mom already knows, and I’m pretty sure so does JW.
I was an idiot for ever believing we could keep this relationship a secret, and each day I want to kiss him whenever I want.