“Morning, peaches,” he said as he made his way over to me. He leaned down and brushed a soft kiss on my cheek.
“Morning, handsome.” I wrapped my good arm around his waist, relishing the feel of his warm body against mine.
“How are you feeling? You shouldn’t be out of bed.” His forehead creased, and the corners of his mouth turned down.
I grinned sheepishly. “I woke up and ripped Ty a new one for taking me away from here. I should be chewing you out as well.”
His smile dropped, and he slowly nodded. He knew I was upset.
I let out a long sigh and looked around the stall. I didn’t see anything besides a content horse and a generous cowboy.
“How can I be mad at you guys when you do things like this?” I gestured to Storm.
“Love, we only want what’s best for you. We know you want to take care of Storm all by yourself, but you don’t have to. We’re here for you.”
“I know that. I think I’ve been so used to doing things on my own I forgot for a bit. Thank you for taking such good care of him last night.” I placed my palm on his cheek and lifted on my toes and kissed him. Scott wrapped his arm around my back and brought me flush against him.
“She bites my head off and you get the kiss. That’s not right,” Ty said behind us with a chuckle. I knew he had been following me.
“I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you.” I turned and kissed him, too. “Thank you for taking care of me last night. It was very sweet of you.”
“Anything for you, beautiful.” Ty peppered my face with kisses.
“You still didn’t answer my question of how you were feeling,” Scott said.
I pulled my hands up over my head, twisted left to right, and rocked my head from side to side. My muscles were sore, but I’d felt worse after other falls I’d had. Nothing a little stretching and maybe a hot bath wouldn’t cure.
“Surprisingly, not too bad.”
“That’s good to hear. Shall we?” Scott asked. He had Storm ready to walk his lap around the barn. I fell in step beside him and Ty, and we all made the slow walk together. Scott told me about my horse’s progress over night and Storm was looking good, considering what happened the day before, but we didn’t want to push it. We cut the lap short and walked through the middle entry way into the barn.
Ty jogged off to the tack room and emerged with a fresh ice boot in his hand. I reached out to grab it and realized I wasn’t going to be able to put it on with the brace. Ugh. Stupid wrist.
Ty kissed my forehead before he knelt down and wrapped the boot on Storm’s leg. I leaned against the outside of the door watching. I didn’t want to get in the way.
After the gelding was settled and munching away at his breakfast, Scott and Ty went to work on me. Scott stepped up behind me and ran his hands down my back, gently massaging my muscles. Ty took over my front and worked the muscles in my arms and shoulders.
“My turn with the big guy.” Blake rounded the corner of the barn and stopped in her tracks.
“What are you doing here?” we said at the same time. Leave it to sisters to say the same thing. Ty and Scott took a step back.
“I’m here to take care of my horse,” I said with a wry smile.
“Well, I’m here to take care of your horse. You shouldn’t be out here. You need to be resting.” Blake turned an evil eye on my guys.
I let out a little sigh. My guys.
“I’m fine, Blake. I can be out here. I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want to see you until, at the very earliest, Monday.”
“That’s two days. What about getting food?” I teased her.
“The guys can go get it for you. Or better yet, they can make you food.” She lifted an eyebrow at them.
I stifled a laugh. It would be fun to watch them cater to me, but they had other things they had to do. I shook my head at Blake.
She let out a long-suffering sigh. “I will take care of Storm today. If you really need to see him, come back tomorrow morning.” She gestured at me. “You scared me, Grace. I want you to relax and recoup. You have to be as sore as fuck, and I need to know you’re okay.”