“Okay,” she said.
“What? No arguments?”
“Maybe later, when I feel a little better?” she answered honestly.
He laughed out loud at that. “Ky, you sure are always you, no matter what the circumstances. I love that about you, little girl.”
“You do?”
His brows drew together, and he was quiet for a few seconds. “Yeah, I do. I love a lot of things about you.”
“Like what?” she asked, eager to know. Needing to know.
“Let’s get these horses back to the stable and get you cleaned up and attended to, then maybe we can talk about it.”
She sighed. “If we have to.”
“We do. See if you can hang on to that ‘no arguing’ thing for a while.”
“It’s going to be a battle, but I can try, just for you.”
He shook his head, then put her back up on Jett’s back and grabbed Starling’s lead rope before mounting behind her, and they walked slowly back down the trail. She loved being on the horse with him, with both of his strong arms wrapped around her. Having been tall all her life, she loved how small she felt with Brock, and safe in a way she’d never felt with anyone before.
She thought about that as they drew closer to the stables, about how he’d always been there for her, looked out for her. How he allowed her to be her sassy Big self, or her sassy, needy Little self. He had confidence in her and respected her abilities, but at the same time he was always right there if anything came up she couldn’t handle on her own. All of that was pretty amazing, and maybe, just maybe, this was what she deserved, instead of the constant subtle and not-so-subtle caustic comments Richard always made. He’d made her feel small, but not in a good way. Richard made her feel like she didn’t deserve all the good things: her career, friendships, even his caring and devotion. Now that she’d spent a little time at the Ranch seeing what a real Daddy looked like, she understood what a poor excuse of a Daddy Richard had always been. Heck, he was a poor excuse for a man, period.
But she had Brock, didn’t she? She wasn’t sure exactly what that was going to mean now, but she really, really wanted to find out.