Cowboy Up (Coming Home #3)

“You look good in my hat, darlin’.”

I shrug, the movement making his hat fall down over my forehead.

“Though I should probably get you one that fits better,” he jokes.

I lift my hand back off his shoulders to adjust the too-large hat. Not wanting the anticipation to get thicker, I ignore his joke. Mentally, I take one last swing at the walls I had used to protect me for my whole life and give the man holding me everything. I know he sees the enormity of my feelings written all over my face when his whole body jolts and his eyes darken. “You’ve got me now, handsome. Time to give me the rest.”

He starts walking, not looking away from me and me not looking away from him. When he turns us from the house and toward the stables, I frown in confusion.

“Trust me?” he questions, not missing a beat, knowing me well.

“Always,” I answer emphatically.

His chest expands with my answer like that one word was everything to him. He enters the stable that houses his personal horses. I don’t ever make it my mission to come in here with all the black-eyed beasts, but I know enough about this place that when he stops at the last stall, chills break out.

Onyx.

I know very little about him, but I heard Clayton and Drew talking about him and what I discovered broke my heart. He’s a pure black Arabian horse that Clayton saved. I don’t know all the details, but something along the lines of Onyx’s old owners sold him for meat in exchange for cash. When a shipment of horses was stopped on its way to Canada, one of Clayton’s old friends called him for help in placing the fifteen horses on their way to slaughter. No one wanted Onyx, so Clayton loaded him up and brought him back to the ranch.

That was about three months ago, and according to what I’ve overheard, Clayton spends every spare second he isn’t needed elsewhere working with Onyx. When I first came here I remember seeing Onyx from a distance as he bucked and bucked, going wild in his desire to be left alone and even though I feared him immensely, I felt drawn to the beast.

I feel the horse’s eyes on me as Clayton brings us farther in, and I shiver in his arms.

“You doin’ all right, darlin’?”

I nod, not trusting myself to verbally answer without fear in my voice.

“I wouldn’t bring you in here if I didn’t think Onyx was ready to finally meet you.”

I jerk my wide eyes from the black beast and look at Clayton. “What?”

“Knew the second I saw Onyx he was meant for you. He’s a fighter. Hell, he’d fight the wind if he thought it was tryin’ to get in his way. He’s beyond loyal to those he lets close though. You earn that from him and he’ll protect you from everything and anything. Includin’ that damn wind. I knew the second I found him that there was only one person a warrior like Onyx was built for.”

Shocked by his words, I can’t do anything but drink in my handsome man’s serious expression. When I feel something nudge my back, I jump in Clayton’s arms. His whole face grows soft and full of affection.

“Told you,” he grunts, tipping his chin in the direction behind me.

I turn, finding Onyx close to my back, his eyes focusing completely on me. When I don’t move, he bumps me again with his nose and makes a show of blowing air through his nostrils. Clayton turns us so that his back is to Onyx, allowing me to study the beast without turning my neck so harshly. Something in the way the horse is looking at me sends a rightness-filled calm through me. I lift one hand and slowly move it toward Onyx. His tail swishes, and before I have a second to let myself fear him, he bumps the tip of his nose against my palm. He does this twice more before I find myself smiling at his antics and rubbing my hand against the slope of his head. If he was a cat, I imagine he’d be purring loudly.

“He likes you,” Clayton says softly, kissing me against my neck. “I’ve been waitin’ for this moment, and darlin’, I had no doubts that you two would click instantly. You haven’t been around horses enough to understand, but you’ve just become the most important person to him and all you did was give him your trust. Onyx and myself . . . we’ve got that in common. All it took was one touch from you and you became our everything.”

I keep caressing Onyx, but feel emotion grow into a thick ball in my throat. “Honey,” I breathe, not capable of more.

“It sounds like a pile of shit, but I promise you Linney, I mean everything I just said.”

“He’s just a horse. A horse that just wanted to be petted.”

Clayton laughs, his hilarity jolting my body. “Darlin’, in the time that Onyx has been here, he hasn’t willingly let a soul touch him. He tolerates what’s needed to cool him down after a ride, and that’s usually done with a lot of bullshit from him. I can feel him itchin’ to buck even me, someone he likes slightly more than toleratin’, right off when I’m walkin’ him.”

I lift my hand from Onyx and frown at Clayton. “You’re basin’ this all on the fact that he nose-bumped me a few times?”

“No, I’m basin’ this on the fact that he came to you, asked for you, and even now is tryin’ to get closer to you.”

I turn to glance at the horse and see that Clayton wasn’t lying. He’s pushing himself as far into the opening in his stall door as he can get. When he realizes that isn’t working, he becomes agitated. I reach out to press my hand against his nose again, gasping when he stills instantly and presses gently against my hand.

“Trust me?” Clayton questions again.

I look away from Onyx and nod, feeling a rightness click into place.

“I’m goin’ to let you go so I can get the horses ready. You okay with that?”

My heart warms, knowing that he’s kept me in his arms for the past five minutes because he knew I was fearful of being this close to an animal I don’t understand well enough to not fear. I press my lips to his before nodding.

“Then let’s get ready for our first ride together, darlin’. Those roads collided and it’s time we check out the new path before us.”