The Virgin Next Door (Stud Ranch)

He hadn’t known her dad was even sick. Then he realized exactly how little he actually knew about her. Which made him feel like a selfish scumbag. It was an uncomfortable sensation. He wasn’t used to all these… feelings.

Wanting to shag a girl, sure. But, like, comforting someone with a sick da? He’d considered staying up to see Calla when she got back. But then he tried to imagine how that would go.

Sucks about your da… So, wanna go up to my room and let me make you feel better?

That was something the old Liam might have done. And now that he was trying to be a better version of himself?

Staring at Calla now, trucker’s hat on her head, in a loose tank-top and jeans—obviously not concerned with primping or showing off her figure to its best advantage to lure him in—well, he still didn’t have any fucking idea what to say to her. In the circles he’d lived in most his life, appearance and status were everything. Calla broke every rule he’d always lived by.

Calla just smiled and leaned over to slide through the fence posts and into the pen with him and the mustang. “I’ve been watching a little while. You’ve been really patient.”

“Oh.” He lifted his hand to the back of his neck again. The last thing he’d expected was a compliment. He felt like a huge fuck up. “Thanks.” And then he blurted, “I heard about your dad yesterday. I’m really sorry.”

The smile faded from Calla’s mouth and she looked into the distance. “Yeah.” She was quiet a moment and then seemed to shake herself out of it. “So. About the mare. What’d you name her?”

“Satan’s Mistress.”

Calla laughed. “Aw, poor baby.”

Liam didn’t know if she was talking about him or the horse.

She came a little closer. “You’re doing good but maybe I can share a little technique that will help.”

Liam held out his hands. “Please. Anything.” Then his eyes narrowed as he looked across the pen at the mustang. “Not that it will do anything.” He hadn’t been joking about her being defective.

Calla just laughed and shook her head. “Come on,” she gestured for him to come with her. She walked slowly toward the horse.

“Make sure you always stay on her left side so she can keep an eye on you as you approach.”

Satan’s Mistress was looking in their direction as they made it halfway across the pen. Liam was about to take another step when Calla held out her arm to his chest.

“Now back.”

Liam looked at her in surprise. They weren’t anywhere near the horse.

But when Calla backed up, her front still toward the horse, Liam mirrored her movements. “Just keep taking deep, calming breaths.”

Again, Liam wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or the horse. But he stayed quiet and did as Calla did.

Once they got back to the fence-line, Calla stood there a second before heading back in the horse’s direction. This time they took a step or two past the center of the paddock before backing up again.

“Like boiling a frog,” Calla said. “You gotta go slow. By small degrees or she’ll bolt.”

Liam nodded even though he wasn’t sure about it. Calla didn’t know this horse. The only time he’d gotten close in the past couple days after getting her home, she’d almost taken off his fingers. And she had big damn teeth.

It took another fifteen minutes before they came within five feet of the horse. “See how she’s tensing up? Watch her ears.” Calla said, nodding at the mare. Liam observed her ears flicking back and forth.

“She’s telling us back up, she’s not comfortable. Horses have a herd mentality. They want to be dominated. You just have to show them who’s boss, but at the same time you can’t force it.” She took several steps backward and Liam followed suit. “It’s a dance between you and her to establish your dominance.”

Calla held one hand out as she started approaching the horse again. “You find the line…” They reached the same spot they’d been in a moment before, about five feet away. “Then you take one or two steps over it.” Calla took another step closer. Now that Liam was watching more closely, he saw Satan’s Mistress’s ears twitching and the way she shuffled back and forth at their nearness.

“Then we reward her by taking the pressure off again.” Calla started backwards and again Liam followed.

It was an infuriatingly slow process, but to his shock, fifteen minutes later, Calla was reaching out her hand to the mare’s nose for her to sniff. Calla still didn’t make contact. She just took another step closer and blew lightly at Satan’s Mistress’s nose.

“This is how horses greet each other in the wild. Let her get to know your scent.” Satan’s Mistress shifted uneasily and Calla pulled slowly back. “Then you reward her by stepping away again and leaving her alone for a little while.”