Second Chance with the Billionaire - Ava Storm

1

Cassie

It was a particularly beautiful morning as I rode the horse trail that flowed through the woods behind Blakes Corner. It was a simple pleasure I liked to indulge in.

I was out exercising Reggie, a gorgeous chestnut gelding. We were walking at a gentle pace, and I was just taking in the beauty of a forest I had seen so many times over my life, and yet never failed to appreciate.

There was a certain beauty about Blakes Corner, the town where I was born and raised and, post-college and veterinary school, I eventually came back to. Blakes Corner I could not imagine living anywhere else.

Our farmer’s markets were legendary, and in certain months I didn’t have to go to a grocery store for my produce at all. But ultimately, Blakes Corner was known for its horse farms. We loved breeding them, riding them, competing with them. I had grown up loving horses, so that morning seemed like any other morning. Me. Reggie. The beautiful woods that I knew like that back of my hand.

In Blakes Corner, autumn came early but lingered a while before giving way to the harsh Northeastern winter. It was the middle of September, and yet the leaves had begun to change from their summer green into a rainbow of colors, with a few oranges and yellows already making an appearance. Reggie made a sighing noise under me as we peacefully walked down the trail. I could tell the sweet boy wanted to make a run for it. Reggie loved to run, but I didn’t want to tax him by adding to the weight on his back while he did it. He was an older horse, still strong, but I simply did not want to risk it.

“Wait until we get back, big guy,” I whispered to him. “Then you can do all the running in the field that you want, okay?”

Reggie made a snorting noise in reply that I took to mean that he understood. I rubbed his neck and smiled.

Growing up, I knew that I was going to do something with horses, even if I didn’t exactly come from a family that could own them. My father was a trainer, though, and he would bring me to the stables, and I would watch the majestic creatures as they worked. When I was eight years old however, he left.

I continued my love for animals, especially horses, long after my father left. I went to veterinary school and came home to Blakes Corner to open a practice with a fried from school. I had harbored the illusion that I would walk right back into town and my practice would be wildly successful.

But as much as Blakes Corner stayed the same, it also changed in ways I couldn’t have predicted. Blakes Corner

While I had gone to college and then veterinary school, the demographics of the town changed. The wealthy learned about this gem of a town, and those passionate about horses decided to set up an outpost there. Soon Blakes Corner was ringed by wealthy mansions with sprawling, manicured lawns. Freshly painted fences cut these lawns into perfect squares for each horse to run. When I set up my practice at the Blakes Corner Veterinary Center, I learned that I may have to cater to those people sometime soon. In fact, I looked forward to that boost in income, given the fact that since they were taking up most of the land, they could at least spend their obscene amounts of money on my talents. What I didn’t realize is that they usually came with their own vets.

Reggie neighed, knocking me out of my musings and pulling me into the moment. I needed to enjoy the time I had with him, so I closed my eyes and savored the wind as it rippled through my hair. I smiled. I was twenty-eight. I had my dream job…

I was single.

This opened my eyes again, focusing on the path in front of me. Okay, so I was single. Veterinary school was not exactly the best time to date, and none of the entanglements in college had really shaken out to anything lasting. A part of me wished I could be as fun and carefree as my best friend and co-worker Stella Jane. She could find a new guy every week, love them as fiercely as if they were meant to be together forever, and then forget them by Monday morning.

I was just not like that, unfortunately. Taking stock of my love life, I’d