Knowing exactly where she was coming from, he nodded emphatically. “I do, and you’re hired.”
Head popping up, a breathtaking smile making her even more beautiful, Lucy’s eyes widened to the size of saucers right before she jumped. Springing from her five-foot-five height all the way up to his six-foot-seven, she’d hugged him tightly around the neck.
Lost to the feel of her body against his, Beau’s arms instinctively closed around her waist and pulled her closer. Inhaling deeply, taking in as much of her intoxicating scent as he could, his bear growled for more.
Mine!
The deal was sealed. She was theirs. There was no going back.
And then she pulled away, and it was all Beau could do to keep his bear in check.
Cheeks blushing a gorgeous pink, gaze downturned, Lucy took a quick step backward. Clapping the knuckles of one hand into the palm of the other, she gave a half-hearted chuckle. “Yeah, well, can I start right now?” Eyes shooting up to his, her hands flying out in front of her, she hurried to backpedal. “I mean if you’re serious. If I really have the job.”
Shaking her head in time with the wave of her hands, her words came so quickly, it took Beau a second to catch up. “You don’t have to pay me. I don’t need any special treatment. I’ll be here as soon as the sun comes up and won’t leave until it goes down. I’ll give you a hundred percent and then some. I just love horses.” Shrugging at the same time that she self-consciously wrinkled her nose and tilted her head to the side, she just kept right on going. “And they love me. I can feel it.” His bear grumbled and Beau had to bite back a laugh. No one would love her like they would, especially an animal that couldn’t even shift.
Hand going to her chest, drawing his eyes to her voluptuous breasts, she gained speed. “I’ve taken some of the wildest stallions, the ones my dad said would never be ridden, and turned them into the sweetest mounts this side of the Pacific Coast.” Her words brought the images of her riding him, and it was all he could do to not drag her back into his arms.
Nervous energy instantly changing to excitement, Lucy bounced on her toes. “And, I admit, I’ve been watching you and your crew forever. Your love for animals, not just horses, all animals is so amazing. I just know this is the place I want to be. But if it won’t work for you, I totally…”
“Whoa.” It was Beau’s turn to put up his hands, only for him, it was in surrender. His mind was spinning, and his heart was racing. “Hold on.” Instantly unable to breathe as Lucy’s face fell and tears filled her eyes, he damn near shouted. “No, not like that. Not, ‘whoa, get outta here.’ That’s not what I mean. Stop. Don’t do that. Don’t you dare cry. I wasn’t… I mean, I meant… I… Aww, shit.”
Running his hands through this hair, he blew out an exasperated breath then began again. “You’re hired. You will be paid. I know you’re the best, and I would be honored to have you train my horses.”
That was two years ago, and still, he watched her from afar like a lovesick teenager with a stupid crush.
“Dammit, Beau, are you even listening?” Amelia’s frustrated roar yanked the grizzly bear from his daydreams a split-second before something hit him in the back of the head.
Spinning and bending at the waist in one fluid motion, Beau scooped his sister’s shoe off the ground and tossed it back so it would fly right by her ear. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he damn sure wanted her attention. “Never, ever, throw your shoe at me again.”
Hands on her hips, green eyes blazing, one of the younger females of their clan, and by far the sassiest, took a feisty step forward. “Then listen to me. I know you’re so important. And have so much to think about, but I need your help.”
Barely holding his temper, as Amelia rolled her eyes and made a show of pretending to be put out, Beau bit his tongue. He’d never snapped at his baby sister before, not even when she’d been young and reckless or acting like she was a teenager again.
Raising her after the sudden death of their parents, he saw to her every need, even braiding her long dark curls that were just a touch lighter than his own unruly locks. Overnight, tea parties and playing Barbies had become a way of life, and he’d loved every minute.
Amelia was the apple of Beau’s eye. She was an amazing woman with a great head on her shoulders and a grizzly female he was very proud of. Best of all, she and Lucy were already as close as sisters.
So why, after all these years, was he losing his cool over one of her typical pranks?
‘Cause you’re in love, bro. And it’s with the Big Bad Wolf’s little girl…
Chapter Three
“It’s okay, Goldie,” Lucy cooed, stroking the mare’s neck. “Sounds like they’re at it again. Wish I was at it with that big, hunky grizzly,” she said under her breath with a chuckle.
No truer words were ever spoken. No man had ever made her feel the way Beau Sampson did. Defying her father was easy compared to being close to the man she loved and doing nothing about it.
“Two years,” she groaned. “Can you believe it, Goldie? Two years and I still haven’t gotten up the nerve to…”
“I am so mad,” Amelia, Beau’s outspoken and very sweet sister spat. Throwing her hands into the air as she stomped across the paddock, her boots kicking up clouds of dust with every step, she growled through gritted teeth, “He never listens to me.”
Hands still over her head, they suddenly shifted directions, taking the short, thin, wisp of a woman right along with them in a wild spin. Pointing at the window of her brother’s office, Amelia yelled so everyone—especially her brother—could hear, “He’s such a dickhead!”
Trying hard not to laugh out loud at the young bear’s colorful outburst, Lucy nodded.
“I figured it was something like that. But did you have to take it out on the door? Is it still on the hinges?”
“Yeah,” Amelia groaned, digging the toe of her boot in the dirt. “I know, I’m acting like a brat. He just makes me so mad. I don’t understand why he has to be like that.”
“Because he has a lot of responsibility and tons of people counting on him every minute of every day.” Trying to reassure one of her dearest friends, when all she wanted to do was run into the house and throw herself into Beau’s big bear arms, Lucy went on. “You know he loves you more than anything.”
Reaching out, she patted Amelia’s arm. “Just give him a minute or two, maybe wait until tonight, then approach him again. When he’s had time to relax. When things are a little less hectic.”
“You think that’ll work?” Her big, brown bear eyes, so much like her brother’s, were suddenly round and full of hope. “All I want to do is go to the bonfire at the panther pride. I’ll even take a chaperone. Is that what you’d do? Wait till after dinner? Or maybe in the morning?”
No, I’d strip naked and lay across the bed, but…
Pulling her thoughts out of the gutter—well, more like Beau’s bed—Lucy reinforced, “For sure. That’s what I do with my dad.”
And that was about half right. She did always walk away and give the old alpha time to cool off. But instead of going back and trying to work things out, Lucy stayed as far away as possible. If there was one thing she’d always been able to count on, it was her father being stuck in his ways. And those ways would be in direct opposition to Lucy’s wants and desires.