she damn near threw me over two fences. It was thrilling to break her, though. She’s a damn good horse, and there’s something special about it being the two of us.”
“The two of you?”
“Yeah, I’m the only person who’s ever ridden her. She throws off anyone but me.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“So even though your job has you on a horse all the time, you still enjoy working with them?” I asked.
“It honestly doesn’t feel like roping is a job. I know I’m blessed to feel that way. I have friends who utterly hate their lives because they’re miserable at work. I don’t ever want that. When I start to lose the love of it, I’ll step away.”
I nodded and looked down at my hands. “I know how that feels.”
I felt his gaze on me. “You don’t like your job?”
“No, not really.”
“What would you like to do, instead?” His voice sounded genuinely interested.
“Train horses and set up a stable for rescue horses.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw his head snap. “What? Are you serious?”
I chuckled and looked directly into those baby blues of his. We were at a stop sign and he stared at me, in no hurry to keep driving. “What, you don’t think I know enough about horses?”
“That’s not it at all. I knew from the way you handled the horse the other day that you knew exactly what you were doing. How long have you been around horses?”
The smile on my face couldn’t be helped.
“For as long as I can remember. After my mother died, my father didn’t know what to do with me because I all but stopped talking. A therapist suggested horses. From the moment I walked into that barn, I felt a peace that I couldn’t explain. Even as little as I was, I knew I was safe. Happy. Being with the horses helped me forget for a little awhile. I guess it’s always been my escape, and there were plenty of moments in my life growing up that I needed an escape.”
My voice trailed off and Tanner took my hand in his as he started to drive again. The way his fingers seamlessly intertwined with mine felt so right. I didn’t even bother to pull it away, even though that tiny voice in my head told me to. The contact made me feel…content.
“I’m sorry you had those moments in your life, Timber. I can’t even begin to imagine what it was like.”
A sense of warmth rushed through my body as I stole a glance at Tanner. I knew with all my heart he meant every word he said. I looked back out the window and let my mind wander. All the times I tried to explain to my father why I spent so much time at the stables, he had never let a word of it sink in. Or at least that was how it had seemed.
I shook the thought away.
“You seem to enjoy being around horses as well,” I said.
Tanner smiled. “I love it. Always have. I’m pretty sure my mom had all of us boys on a horse before we were even able to sit up on our own.”
We both laughed.
“Horses really do make you happy, don’t they?”
He nodded and smiled again. I could stare at him all day when he smiled like that. So carefree and beautiful. And that dimple. Lord, that dimple.
“Yeah. Her folks raised and trained horses mostly for barrel racing. My mama won her fair share of buckles herself.”
My grin widened on my face. “I can totally see that.”
“Yeah, she did it all through high school and college. Probably could have taken it as far as she wanted to, but she longed to be a rancher’s wife.”
“Did your father rope or bull ride?”
Tanner pulled into a parking spot in front of a store on Main Street. “He did both. Gave it all up, though, to run the ranch. That was his one and only dream—to be a rancher like his daddy and his granddaddy before that. He always said the other stuff was just for fun, but it somehow got passed down to his three sons.”
After Tanner shut off the Jeep, we both got out and met at the front of it. “Did your father’s dad pressure him to be on the ranch working?” I asked.
Tanner gazed down at me. “Nah, not at all. He was my granddad’s only living son. He lost his older son in a car accident.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I didn’t know him, and I don’t think