Fire was breathing fast when she urged him into a canter once around the arena, then turned him back onto the course. Reyes fisted his hands at the obvious discourse between the two. They were fighting each other instead of working together as a team. Raine didn’t trust herself, and Fire was losing his trust in her. Anything else today would do more damage than good.
“That’s enough,” he called out before they reached the final turn. He had to figure out a new tactic before their bond was permanently broken. “We’re done for now.”
She reined up in surprise, her long braid flipping over her shoulder as her head whipped toward him. “What?”
“Take the rest of the day off,” he said.
“I don’t understand.”
He waved his arm toward the guest house. “Go workout, swim, relax, whatever you want to do. But you’re done riding for today.”
When he headed back to the barn, she cantered Fire past and whirled him around to block Reyes’ path. “Why?”
“Because I said so. We do this my way, remember?”
She glared at him for a long moment, her hazel eyes flashing fire.
“How can I forget?” She backed her horse three quick paces before spinning him toward the barn. “Apparently everything is your way.”
Yeah, and sometimes his way sucked.
The thing was, when it came to the everything she referred to, not sleeping with her wasn’t only about respecting his boss and friend. He’d realized half-way through the night that was really nothing more than a lucky excuse he was holding onto for self-preservation.
He’d felt a pull toward her from the first moment he’d set eyes on her years ago, and each time they met, it only grew stronger. Casual hook-ups had never appealed to him, and if he let himself get too close to her, what the hell was he going to do when she went home to Texas?
Because there was no question she would be going home in three weeks.
He went into the office to finish filing the paperwork for Morning Glory, all the while hyper-aware of the sound of Raine’s movements out by the stalls. When it had been quiet for at least fifteen minutes, he figured she’d left and gone back to the guest house.
With nothing else to keep himself busy, he broke down and called Jessica Wills over at Retired Racers. A bump of his elbow knocked over his bottled water just as she answered. He hit the speaker phone button and scrambled for some napkins.
“Good morning, Reyes,” the older woman greeted as he wiped up his mess. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you guys until Estefan was back.”
They hadn’t brought in any more horses for training the past few weeks in anticipation of being shorthanded while his dad was gone. It was supposed to afford Reyes his own semi-vacation. Problem was, he had no desire for extra time on his hands today, or the next three weeks. While he did have the unexpected last minute addition of training Raine and Fire to fill some time, she was the exact reason he was desperate for the distraction of a much busier schedule.
“Morning Glory just left with the Hamiltons,” he told Jessica. “I’m going to need something challenging to work with over here or I’ll be bored out of my mind.”
“Tell me why a nice guy like you doesn’t have a girlfriend to keep him busy?”
“Horses like me better than women do.”
“Quit yanking my chain, Rey,” she admonished with a laugh. “We both know that’s not true. You know, my cousin’s daughter is still single. I’m happy to give you her number.”
He made a face at the phone but forced a smile into his voice. “I appreciate the thought, Jess, but I’ll be sticking with horses for now. Please tell me you can help me out on that front.”
“Well, you know I’ve always got horses for ya’ll. There’s two here in particular I’ve been holding for you if you want to pop on over.”
“Perfect. I’ll bring the trailer.”
Reyes hung up and tossed the soggy napkins in the garbage. Then he swiped his keys off the desk on his way out the door to hook up the horse trailer. His pulse jolted at the sight of Raine leaning against the wall outside the office door, and he jerked to a stop with a muttered curse.
“Fire and I aren’t challenging enough for you?” she accused.
Realizing she heard everything from the speaker phone, he shot back, “You hang around just to eavesdrop?”
Guilt flickered before she pushed away from the wall. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“Well, that’s a switch.” He angled past her to head outside to his Jeep.