Bad Boy Romance: Nick (Romantic Suspense Alpha Male Romance) (New Adult Rock Star Contemporary Short Stories) (Hard Rock Star Series Book 2) (10 page)

~Bonus Stories From Red Lily Publishing~

Vanessa shielded her eyes and squinted
at the weathered “Wolff Equine Center” sign. It was so bright that her
sunglasses did nothing to reduce the glare bouncing off the old roadway.
Nervous and excited, Vanessa mentally ran through the various professional
greetings she'd developed on the drive over; she was going to meet her first
client.

She’d only moved to Ridge Creek
a few days before to work with veterinary legend Hank Mueller and had yet to
unpack her bags. The job offer had come out of the blue, and while the prospect
of leaving her familiar Los Angeles stomping grounds had not been enticing at
first, the cold honest answer was that she needed to break away from her old
life and start over. Seven months of wretched existence on the tail end of a
breakup had beaten her into a rut—she needed a fresh start. What better way to
start over than to move across the country to a small farming town where no one
knew her business? The thought made her smile.

Vanessa drove up a winding
driveway that dipped and rose through lush pasture. Hank said that a good
client, Gabriel, had a problem with his newest intake of horses. Hank had
prompted her to check the facility, specifically mentioning to not make
‘girlie-eyes’ at the client; in his gruff kind of way, Hank was a reassuring
presence. As for the case, colic was a common equine problem; Vanessa imagined
this would be a quick stop-over with pain killers, and then onto the next job.

She bounced in her seat as she
rolled further down the driveway, instinctively slamming the brakes when a
stunning wood and stone-clad lodge broke through the tree line. Looking like a
set prop from a frontier movie, the house sat on a hill of lush lawn and had a
sweeping porch that overlooked the rolling valleys that surrounded the
property. Further back, Vanessa saw a gigantic barn which seemed like it could
house the stables and training area.
Wow! This place must have cost a
fortune,
she thought as she brought the car to a halt.

She parked in front of the house
and took a deep breath, addressing her steering wheel as if it were a piece of
her, “There is no reason to be nervous. I’m trained for this, and while it’s
been a few years since my last equine patient, I know what I'm doing…
I
think.”

Vanessa got out of her car,
pulling her medical bag with her. The tinkling of glass and rustling of plastic
spoke of a newly-stocked bag of vials, syringes and tools. She also grabbed her
laptop bag and slung the strap over her shoulder. She was in no way afraid to
admit if she needed to research symptoms, and with one of the largest
veterinary databases just a click away, it seemed silly to not use it.

Slamming the door shut, she
pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and made her way up the path toward
the house. A large, rugged man opened the door before she even made it up the
porch stairs.

“You’re the vet?” he asked,
calling down to her. Vanessa looked up at the man’s broad flannel-clad chest;
she was too short to quite make it to his eyes without stepping back off the
steps.

“I am. Sorry I’m a bit late.”
She didn’t like being late, especially to her first job in a new town.

He waved a hand at her. “Ah, no
big deal; it always happens to people the first time they come here. I reckon
the driveway puts another 10 minutes on the clock,” he said as he jogged down
the stairs, reaching for her laptop bag as a gesture of goodwill. “Let me get
that for you Miss—?”

Relieved of the cumbersome bag,
Vanessa smiled. “Thanks. My name's Dr. Vanessa Burke, but please—call me
Vanessa.”

He nodded. “It’s nice to meet
you, Vanessa. I’m Gabriel Wolff, but you can call me Gabe.” He motioned to the
barn, “Let’s get straight to business. I’ve recently accepted a new batch of
former racehorses from Benny Diamond for retraining—”

“Benny Diamond? As in,
the
Benny Diamond who bred the most successful two-year-old racer, Whisper Free?”

Gabe chuckled, “Yes, as a matter
of fact, it is. I’ve been retraining his horses for a while now. The only thing
is, three days ago, they all started getting lethargic. Yesterday, one of them
looked really unsteady on her feet. I haven’t seen this before.”

“Is your core business
retraining ex-racehorses?”

“Yes, mostly. Even though
racehorses are often then most unflappable because of their exposure to loud
and unusual environments, a lot of trainers don’t have the time or patience to
reschool horses to become showjumpers, dressage horses, trail horses, even pony
clubbers, and there are lots of people and parents who will fork out good money
for a decent horse. I pick them up from the auctions, or trainers send them to
me directly. I’d love to fill my pastures with every broken horse I ever find.”

Vanessa had never seen a man so
endeared by horses before. Without thinking she placed her small hand on his
arm and squeezed, her hand cupping Gabe’s workman’s bicep by accident. He tensed
under her touch, but didn’t say anything. “I’ll do my best to figure this out.
But you’re going to have to fill me in on their routines, and you can’t leave
anything out. The tiniest thing can be the cause.”

A rare grin cracked Gabe’s
sullen face, “Hank picked well; I wouldn’t expect anything less. I have a few
ranch hands that you can talk to as well. Jimmy is my number two, but today’s
his day off. You know, I can grab his number for you before you leave if you
need more information—that is, if you don’t need to come back later or
tomorrow.” His eyes trailed down Vanessa’s body and she blushed. “But I’m
around most of the time.”

Vanessa wasn’t sure if it was
the shadow of the barn in the heat, or the way Gabe’s eyes lingered on her
curves, but her skin rippled with goosebumps. A man hadn’t looked at her like
that in a long time—hell, she wasn’t even sure if her ex ever had in the five
years they were together. Gabe held the door to the barn open and motioned for
Vanessa to go in first.

They stepped into what looked
like the administration area of the barn. The large barn doors were closed and
a huge sign was propped on the lock:
Closed for Quarantine
. Vanessa
nodded; Gabe took his business very seriously. Gabe closed the side door and
led the way into the stables.

Following his body was hypnotic.
Even under his thick shirt and jeans, she could tell he was a walking slab of
muscle—even his scent of a hard morning’s work was damn sexy. Better still, he
hadn’t merely deemed her as a walking pair of boobs, which was more than she
could ever say about her ex and his friends.

****

The stables were large and
stunning. The barn had been divided internally with walls to create a complex
of stables, store rooms and staff facilities. Ten stables ran along one long
outer wall of the barn, like a traditional set-up, with another identical line
of ten stables facing them. The stables along the barn’s outer wall provided
access to individual small yards.
Gabe had to be making a freakin’ mint to
afford all of this!
Vanessa thought.

“Wow, this is beautiful! How
many horses do you have now?”

Gabe continued walking and said,
“I could probably run about 70 in all my pastures and stables, but for
practical purposes, I work with up to 25 in retraining. Five of those are well
into their retirement, so they won’t leave this ranch.”

His voice changed on his last
words and Vanessa’s heart panged. “Wow, that’s so—amazing of you to do that.
I’m sure these horses couldn’t have asked for a better retirement!”

He stopped at a stable and
turned toward her, running his hand through his wavy brown hair. “Here’s the
horse that I’m worried about the most, Jezzy. She started to get unsteady, and
in the last 24 hours, she hasn’t moved much.” Under the lights, Jezzy was a
brilliant glossy chestnut with two white socks on her hind legs, but despite
her incredible athleticism, the mare hung her head down between her front legs
and sighed heavily into the soft bedding.

Vanessa peeked over the stall
and clicked her tongue, the universal horse-speak for “Hey buddy, take a look
at this,” but Jezzy didn’t even lift her head. “Do you mind if I step in?”

Gabe stood aside and Vanessa
unbolted the door. She popped her medical bag on the bedding and plucked a
stethoscope from its pocket.

“Any other symptoms?” she asked
as she surveyed the stable for scratch marks and signs of struggle. Unless
someone had swept the sawdust before she got there, Vanessa was of the opinion
that Jezzy stopped moving the moment she had been put to bed the night before.

“Well, loss of appetite,
disorientation, and sensitivity to touch…that’s about it. It came on so
suddenly; I have no idea what else I may have missed.”

Vanessa spoke softly to the mare
as she gently approached its shoulder. The mare trembled under her touch, which
sent a strange ripple down the horse’s side and flank. She took the stethoscope
and wiggled the eartips into her ears, holding the cool metal disc against the
horse’s ribs. After several long moments of silent counting, she moved the
stethoscope over a vein, counted again, and then finally walked down the length
of the horse to hear its digestive tract.

Taking off the instrument, she
examined the mare’s gums and teeth, as well as her nostrils and eyes before
checking her temperature. Murmuring gently to the horse, she swept her hands
over the animal to check for bites and stings. Taking a final sweep of the
mare’s glossy neck, her fingers picked up a thickened ridge. “Hey Gabe, take a
look at this.” He slipped into the stall and sidled up behind her, his radiant
heat burning her back and neck. She guided his hand over the neck, focusing on
a hard nub of flesh. “You feel that?” she kept her voice low.

“Yeah,” he whispered as his
fingers circled the mound. Vanessa moved her hand off of his and waved him
back.

“I need to get on my laptop and
see what I can find. Her temperature is normal and her stomach is making the
usual noises for a hungry girl, but her breathing and heart rate are
languishing. It’s too soon to say what I’m looking for. Do you mind if I take a
look at the food and medicinal supplies?”

Gabe clenched his jaw, “Why?
What are you suggesting?”

Vanessa nibbled her lip,
“Nothing yet, but I need to eliminate some question marks. I can’t diagnose
until I know for sure.”

He nodded, his composure falling
under the realization that this was a much more serious illness than he'd first
suspected “Fair enough. I just want to get this figured out as soon as we can.
These horses mean the world to me.”

Vanessa wasn’t sure what to
think, but it was getting a little hot being so close to a man like Gabe, and
she needed a breather. His presence alone was distracting. His solid gaze was
making her face flush; she hoped he didn’t notice. The last thing she wanted
was a romance; she didn’t move to Ridge Creek to meet a man, but to work—
only
.
Gabe led her to the feed room, grabbing a set of keys that opened the medicine
cabinet from under a fake brick.

“Who else knows about the keys?”

“Jimmy and me, I—” he paused,
the color draining from his face, “you don’t suppose that someone…” He rushed
to the cupboard, unlocked it and flung the doors open.

Vanessa could see the usual set
of ointments, drops, pastes, supplements and washes that a person with
livestock would need. A pile of syringes and their packaged needles were
sitting neatly on a higher shelf.

“I can’t see anything here that
a horse would happily ingest and cause the same symptoms we're seeing, and I
don’t see any injectable items. You missing anything?”

Gabe shook his head, and after
several more minutes of reviewing the contents, they closed the cabinet and
locked the door.

“Let me have a look around. It
shouldn’t take me more than 10 to 15 minutes.” Vanessa began rummaging through
the feed bins and checking empty sacks. Gabe’s cell phone started to ring; he
walked down to the stables to take the call.

The barn was pristine, and
everything had its place. The bins filled with chaff and feed were dry and free
from mold, and the bales of hay were off the floor on pallets. She was bending
over a pile of buckets trying to smell any tell-tale signs of rot when Gabe’s
voice brought her spiraling back.

“You see anything interesting?”

“Actually, I’m not sure,” she
responded, although she knew well enough that Gabe was reviewing her assets.

Vanessa had spotted a paper
strip scrunched up in the corner; she grabbed it, but couldn’t read it
properly—it was torn and water-damaged. She tucked it into her pocket to
examine later.

“No, don’t think so,” she said
as she stood up, fixing her clothes.

Gabe was reclining against a
wall, his thick muscular arms crossed lightly over his chest. Vanessa walked
straight past him to gather some composure.

Looking over her shoulder she
said, “I think I’m gonna go back to the office for a bit to do some research
and grab some extra sample tubes. I’ll come back tonight to do a blood test on
all the horses.”

He followed behind her and
smirked as if he could sense her discomfort. He was too tall, too muscular, too
big—too everything. Vanessa felt like she could suffocate in his maleness, and
damn, he knew how to fill out a pair of tight blue jeans. She stopped at the
barn door, letting Gabe open it. She was so absorbed watching his body flex and
twist under his clothes that she licked her lips; Gabe caught the movement and
his eyes tracked the ridge of her mouth. In that moment, she knew the chemistry
was real; passion was bubbling hot to the surface. Her stomach flipped on
itself, and Vanessa wasn’t sure whether she could run away or ride it out.

Gabe was mesmerized by the fluid
motions of his new, shapely vet; she was a tiny little thing, but had some
wicked curves. Unfortunately, she was obviously a city girl; he had learned to
steer clear of them. But now, watching Vanessa’s face flush and her eyes widen
when she looked at him made him restlessly hot. It was almost too much when she
licked her pouty bottom lip; it had him thinking he might have to make an
exception for his new vet.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” he
said. He
was
a gentleman, after all.

She shook her head. “It’s okay,
I can find my way back.”

“I insist.”

Her shoulders slumped as if she
knew he wasn’t giving in and she nodded. He walked beside her, carrying her
laptop bag in one hand, his other hand on her lower back; he couldn’t resist
touching her. He could feel the sway of her hips and wondered what it would be
like to have her underneath him. It was then that he realized he was
overstepping even his personal fantasy, so he dropped his hand. If he wanted to
win her over, it would take more than a few looks. Normally he didn’t have to
try hard; women would fling themselves at him, but he had a feeling Vanessa was
going to make him work.

He kept his stride slow to stay
near her and he drew a mental blank. He wanted to talk to her, to get to know
her; but for the first time in a long time, Gabe found himself at a loss for
words, his charm evaporated. “So, where did you move from?”

She glanced up at him, “Los
Angeles.”

“Ah, so this is a big change for
you then.”

“Yep, but I really like it so
far. I haven’t been here long, so I’m really hoping to make a good impression.”

“I’m sure everyone is going to
love you—eventually. But I’ll be honest, small towns are hard to fit into. When
you first arrive, everyone seems real helpful—almost too helpful. They have
their own ideas about city folk, so I would suggest you play that card low for
a while. The townsfolk can be fickle.”

“Sounds like you’ve went through
this...
initiation
before.”

“Yep, about six years ago, but
I’ve never looked back. It was a walk in the park compared to the rubbish I
dealt with before I came here.”

Vanessa relaxed at their easy
conversation and stopped by her car. “Where are you from originally? I would
have thought you were born and raised here.”

“Originally from Philly. Believe
it or not, I worked in a high-rise downtown, overseeing a huge investment firm.
I just couldn’t deal with the hustle of it all anymore, so I got out of the
business. My investments allowed me to build this ranch;
this
is home
now.”

She graced him with a small
smile. “Maybe one day I’ll feel that way about Ridge Creek, too.” She opened
her door and slid her bag and laptop onto the passenger seat before climbing
into the driver’s side. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Hopefully I’ll have
something for you by then. Can I go straight to the stables, or do you want me
to let you know I’m here first?”

“I’ll be in the stables grooming
the horses, so come around back when you get here.”

She nodded and started her car.
With a small wave, she made her way around his circular driveway and he watched
her go. She may have been a city girl, but he could see she was made for the
country life. He decided the best way to get to know her was to show her the
ropes. She would make an excellent contribution to the community—
and his bed
.
She was stunning, intelligent and held her own; a frightening mix that excited
him like no other woman had before. He was completely and utterly under her
charm.