I brushed her bare shoulder with my fingers as I stood and made my way to the bar. One touch shouldn’t affect me this much, but it felt like pure electricity. I only looked back once I reached the bar. The sun was underneath the mountains now, the artificial lights of the tent taking over instead of the sun.
Was it my imagination? From here, it looked as if Cori’s skin was actually shimmering. As if she glowed from within. It had to be my imagination, and yet I couldn’t seem to drag my eyes away from her. The bartender had to tap me on the arm to get my attention.
One drink. That’s all I was having tonight. I needed to drive us home later, and I didn’t want to be muddled at all. One white wine and one whiskey in hand, I returned to the table.
“Thank you,” she said. I was distracted by her lips on the rim of the glass and took a sip of my own drink to concentrate.
“Maybe the wedding isn’t the time,” I said with a laugh. “But I was wondering about the patient you had. The one where I’m going to go with you.”
Cori frowned. “Yeah. It’s kind of a mystery that I can’t seem to figure out. On the surface, the horse—Sunrise—is fine. There’s nothing wrong with her. No injuries, no symptoms of illness or stress. But when I saw her yesterday—” she glanced at me quickly “—before anything else happened, she was struggling to breathe. I need to get her into the clinic for testing, but Mr. Pearson won’t let me.”
“Did he say why?”
She shook her head. “I called him, and he just wasn’t interested. The first time I examined her, he said no too. There’s clearly something wrong with her, but I need to be able to run more tests than I can in a stable. I gave her a steroid shot, and I hope I can convince him to let me bring her next time I—we—go out there.”
“That does seem odd.” I wasn’t a vet, but I took care of enough horses that it was strange.
“Yeah.” She looked at me, passion coming from every inch of her. “I can’t imagine what would possess an owner to ignore what’s clearly a sick animal.”
I smiled. “You’ll figure it out.”
“I hope so. I don’t like unsolved puzzles. The only things I like less than those are sick animals.”
“Well,” I said. “If I can help in other ways besides just making sure you’re safe while you’re there, let me know.”
“I will.”
We’d never really talked about this before. “Do you have any favorite clients?”
Cori grinned. “Animal or human?”
“Either.”
“Hmm.” Her body was so much more at ease now. This was her comfort zone. Her work. “Human? Probably Jerry. A rancher who loves his animals. I delivered a calf for him a little over a week ago. He trusts me, and he’s never fought me on treatment or thought he knew better, like some people.”
I fought a smile and failed. “Always a good thing.”
“Animal clients, I have a few. Banana is a good one.”
“Banana?”
She laughed, and I absorbed the sound like a plant soaking up the sun. “Banana is a sassy orange cat. He’s hilarious. A ball of energy and mischief. It’s always an interesting day in the office when he has an appointment.
“Oh, and Geo. She’s a sweet old golden retriever. The kind of dog that will just erase any worries you’ve ever had. No matter how bad the day has been, even if it’s been a great day, Geo makes it better.”
I took a small sip of my drink, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to put my arm over the back of her chair. She noticed, and she didn’t move away. If anything, she moved closer. “How come you don’t have any pets of your own?”
Cori looked away and finished her glass of wine. “It always seemed self-indulgent, when I could help other animals. I don’t need to have my own.”
My instincts didn’t buy that for a second. “What’s the real reason, Cori?”
She huffed out a breath. “Nothing gets by you Resting Warrior guys, does it?”
“No, not really.” I grinned. “But it’s good, in a way. It means that you don’t ever have to worry about lying because we’ll already know.”
“None of you are human lie detectors, even if you think you are.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Jude is pretty close.”
“What?” From my other side, he looked over. “What about me?”
Lifting my drink in a cheer, I winked. “Just telling Cori that you’re as close to a human lie detector as we have at Resting Warrior.”
The big man chuckled. “Lie detector, huh? Maybe.”
Cori’s eyebrows rose into her hairline. “Okay.”
“Seriously,” I said. “You should try it sometime. Say three things in the same tone of voice, and he’ll always be able to tell which one is the lie. He hasn’t lost yet. Not from what I’ve tried.”
“Don’t scare her, Grant.”
“I’m not scared,” Cori said quickly. “But maybe I’ll try that another time. Right now, I’m going to get myself another glass of wine.”
“I can get it.”
“That’s okay. I want to.”
I stood anyway and pulled back her chair.
“Opening doors and helping with chairs? I didn’t realize you were such a gentleman.”
She turned and walked away before I could answer, and Jude nudged me with an elbow. “Gentleman?”
“Shut up,” I said. “I am.”
“To a point,” he said under his breath.
Jude was one of the only people who knew that my activities in the bedroom weren’t always strictly vanilla. Because neither were his. Though it had been years since he’d played. “I will be a gentleman until the moment she asks me not to be,” I said. “But we’re taking it slow.”
“Nothing about the chemistry between you says slow.”
Looking over, I intentionally let my gaze drift to Lena and back. “You were saying?”
“It’s not the same, and you know it.”
I sighed. “Look, Jude. I don’t know where this is going with Cori. I like her. You know that—everyone knows that. And I want to explore it as far as we can take it. But neither Cori nor I are the only ones who deserve to be happy. You deserve that, too. So does Lena.” I added in a whisper.
“I don’t want to hurt her,” Jude said.
“Not a chance in hell you’ll hurt that woman.” Speaking of his lie detector abilities, he could tell that I wasn’t lying. “Just think about it,” I said. “Because trust me, she is. And so is the entire town.”
Cori was crossing the room back to the table, and the first notes of one of my favorite songs came over the speakers. Perfect. Another sip of whiskey and I stood, moving and meeting Cori at the front of the table. I took her glass of wine and set it at her place. “Dance with me?”
She froze for a second. Then her face broke into a smile that I could live on more than oxygen, and she took my outstretched hand.