Savor Me(5)

I reach the stairs and open the door to the barn. Surely there has to be a phone in there. My cell phone died at some point last night. If I were smart, I would have plugged it into Hunter’s charger, but I was a little too preoccupied to worry about my early morning escape. It’s such a rookie mistake that I’m even disappointed in myself.

I slide the door open and squeeze inside. I step into the wide stable, complete with at least ten stalls on each side. At the very end of the concrete walkway, a horse is standing with a rope tied on each side of its halter. Thank god. Someone must be here, and they can point me in the direction of the closet phone and hopefully the number to a cab company.

I turn back to slide the door closed behind me when it lets out a ridiculously loud creak, scaring every animal in the room—including me.

A deep jagged voice growls, "Whoa! Easy girl," as the spooked horse struggles to break free. Thinking maybe I should just leave before I get trampled by an angry horse, I slide the barn door open again and try to make another escape. Once again, the door lets out a loud creak, sending the already scared horse into a complete panic. She manages to break her ties and bolts straight toward me.

I have to say that I have been in some crazy situations over the years. Avoiding guys the morning after isn't always the easiest thing to do, but I've never had a twelve-hundred-pound horse charging at me before. Fat, ugly, pissed-off girlfriend? Sure. Horse? Never.

Unable to get out the door, I quickly step to the side, pressing my back flat against the wall as the horse barrels past me. Just as she makes it out the door, I hear a loud, "What the f*ck!" yelled from behind me. "Jose, get out here. Salty just took off. Grab a bucket of feed and see if you can catch her." He turns his attention to me. "Who the hell are you?"

"Jesus, I almost just died. Can you tone it down a bit?!" I snap at him.

"You didn't almost just die. That horse would have broken her own leg before running you over. She just got spooked because you opened that damn door. Didn't you see the sign?"

"What sign?"

"Okay, so you didn't see the sign. It's pretty hard to miss," he says, clearly annoyed.

"What sign?" I shout again.

"The one on the damn door. Who are you and what do you need? We aren't buying anything right now. The barn manager is Hunter Coy. Just call up here and talk to him next time instead of showing up and scaring the shit out of my pregnant mare." He stops long enough to drag his eyes down my body, finally noticing my low-cut shirt and the bra I never bothered to put back on hanging out of my back pocket. Well, I guess since he is checking me out, I can do the same.

This angry man is beautiful. He's not sexy in the same way Hunter is. His good looks are much more subtle. He has brown hair that is slightly overgrown. The ends are feathered out under his tattered baseball cap. His icy blue eyes divert attention from his slightly crooked nose, which has obviously been broken once or twice in his life. His grey Henley is pulled tight across his defined chest and washed-out jeans ride low on his hips.

I do the mandatory slide over his left hand to check for a wedding ring before flipping on the sex appeal.

"I'm Lacey, and I was just looking for a phone to call a cab."

His eyes rake back up my body until they meet my eyes. "How'd you get here if you don't have a car? This isn't exactly off the main road."

"I caught a ride back with Hunter last night." My words cause him to openly laugh, and his laugh causes me to instantly go wet. Shit, this guy is way more than beautiful. He's cranky as f*ck, but when he smiles, it’s panty drenching.

"With Hunter, huh? You trying to escape before he wakes up?" He goes right back to his stoic exterior, but the glimmer in his eyes give him away. He's still laughing on the inside, and it’s still stunning.

"Exactly. Now do you have a phone I could use?"

"If he doesn't, I do." I look over to see Hunter standing with his arms crossed, leaning against the barn door. "Where you running off to, Lacey?"

"Oh, I um... I just needed to get home. That's all." I bite my lip to keep myself from smiling. I never was any good at lying under pressure.

"You didn't think to wake me up to take you home? I used four condoms on you last night, sugar. The least you could do is wake me up."

I'm not shy by anyone’s stretch of the imagination. But listening to Hunter so blatantly talk about our—figurative and literal—romp in the hay last night in front of Sexy Horse Guy makes my eyes go wide.

"What's wrong, Lacey? Already moving on?" He moves forward a few steps, looping one arm around waist while the other squeezes my breast. I should back away, but seriously, sex-on-legs Hunter ‘money bags’ Coy is squeezing my boob. Like I'm going to stop him. Let’s be realistic here. I may have wanted to run this morning, but he really was an amazing f*ck last night. This whole little show now is even hotter.

"I see you met Mason. Mason Wynn, this is Lacey Hamilton," he says, pulling me hard against his body.

"We met. He was just yelling at me for scaring one of his horses," I tattle. Sure, I had every intention of letting this horse guy get me off once or twelve times a few minutes ago, but come on, this little testosterone show Hunter is giving right now is well worth passing it up.

"Mason, is this true?" He never looks away from me.