Single Mom, Billionaire Boss

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She laughed. “You’re right. Why would he go out of his way to avoid me? If he wanted to ride, he would come here and saddle up. He’s probably just had a heavy schedule.”

Ho-Dad bobbed his head, and she decided, a bit foolishly, that he actually understood what she was saying. Still, she wished that Garrett would appear, just so she could get accustomed to being around him. Otherwise, her stomach would keep tying itself up in little knots. Or tangled butterflies, or whatever they were.

The gelding stood there patiently as she continued grooming him. When she was finished, she gave him a carrot, offering it to him from the flat of her hand.

As Ho-Dad chewed and dropped tiny orange bits from his mouth, she heard a man say, “Are you spoiling that surfer boy?”

Meagan’s heart pounded like a drumbeat in her chest. She recognized Garrett’s voice. She’d wished that he would appear, and now he was here.

Preparing to face him, she turned all the way around. He was standing on the other side of the stall, dressed in jeans, a casual Western shirt and boots. Obviously, he was planning on riding this afternoon.

“Ho-Dad is my favorite,” she said, trying to keep herself calm.

Garrett nodded. “I figured he would be.”

She struggled to act normally. The horse was chomping his treat in her ear, and her heart was thumping just as loudly. “Have you been busy?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You haven’t been at the barn.”

Garrett raised his eyebrows. “You’ve been keeping tabs on me?”

Meagan nearly winced. She wasn’t doing a very good job of seeming normal. “I just noticed that you haven’t been here. You told me that you ride nearly every day and that I would see you at barn, but you haven’t been around. So I wondered about it.”

“I was in Las Vegas at a hospitality convention. I’m leaving again in a few days, so I’ll be gone again.”

“For how long?”

“Another week. It’s for business, too.”

“Do you travel a lot for work?”

“Not necessarily. I prefer staying home and running the resort, but sometimes it can’t be helped.” He shifted his stance. “I’m here now, though, and ready to ride.”

Yes, he most definitely was. She was used to cowboys, both of her brothers being that type. But Garrett was altering her perspective. With the sexy goose bumps he was giving her, she was seeing Western men in a far less brotherly way. Or this man, anyway. But she’d always had a hot and dizzying thing for him, so she’d been doomed from the start.

Ho-Dad nudged her shoulder, bugging her for another carrot. Normally she gave him two. Already they’d established a routine.

“Go ahead,” Garrett said.

“Go ahead and what?” she asked.

“Give him the other one. I can tell that’s the pattern between you.”

Either Garrett was highly observant or she and the horse were ridiculously transparent. She removed the second carrot from her pocket and offered it to Ho-Dad, and the gelding took it eagerly.

Meagan stayed inside the stall, even though she didn’t need to. She was done with Ho-Dad. But for now, the stall seemed like the safest place to be, acting as a barrier and keeping her from getting too close to Garrett.

He said, “Tom told me you’re doing a great job.”

Ah, yes, Tom. Her kindly old boss. “I appreciate him saying that.”

“He also said that you hardly ever take breaks.”

“I take a lunch every day. That’s when I go to the day care to see Ivy.”

“He was referring to breaks in-between. He thinks you work harder than anyone else here.”

“That’s not a bad thing, is it?”

“No, of course not. But you’re allowed to have a moment to yourself, Meagan.”

“I’m used to living by someone else’s time clock.”

“What do you mean? When you were locked up?”

She nodded. “I was a level-one inmate, the least dangerous type of offender, so I lived in an open dormitory with a low security perimeter. But it was still regimented.” She added, “In the beginning when I was pregnant with Ivy, I was considered special needs and was kept in a unit with other pregnant women.”

“Where did you give birth?”

“In a hospital. They transported me there from the prison, but I was lucky they didn’t put me in waist chains or leg irons or handcuff my hands behind my body. That’s been outlawed in California.”

“Damn,” he said. “Did you get to see Ivy or hold her?”

“Yes, but not for very long. Thankfully, the hospital staff was nice to me. It’s not always like that. Some pregnant inmates have had horrendous experiences, with the doctors and nurses being mean or indifferent to them. But I was still really scared. I wasn’t allowed to have a birthing coach. Or see my family. By the time Tanner was notified, and he and Candy picked Ivy up from the hospital, I was already gone, back at the prison.”

“That sounds terribly lonely.”

“It was, but it’s my own fault. I’m the one who committed a crime. You know better than anyone what I did.”

“Yes, but having a baby shouldn’t be like that.” He looked like he wanted to touch her, to comfort her in some way, but he gripped the stall door instead. Neither of them spoke again, until he said, “I still want you to take breaks while you’re here.”

“All right.” She didn’t want to make waves, even if it was for working too hard. “I’m taking a break right now, talking to you.”

“I suppose you are.” He swept his gaze over her. “So how are your lunch visits with Ivy? Is she enjoying the day care?”

“Yes, she’s settling in beautifully. She’s excited to go to work with me and play with her new friends at school. But she keeps asking me about the horses. She wants to see them.”

“Then bring her here and show her around.”

“That would be okay?”

“Sure. You can bring her here today, if you want to, after your shift.”

“She would love that.” Meagan dusted her hands on her jeans, debating whether to tell him how interested her daughter was in him. But for her child’s sake, she went ahead and said it. “Ivy hasn’t just been asking me about the horses—she’s also been asking me about you.”

“She has?” He sounded surprised. “What did she say?”

“She’s been wondering why you haven’t come back to the day care to see her.”

“Really?” He squinted, but he smiled a little, too. “I thought about checking up on her, but I didn’t think it was my place.”

“Are you kidding? She would be thrilled. She keeps asking, ‘Where Garry?’ Apparently, you made quite an impression with how attentive you were to her. I also think you remind her of Tanner. Your hair is the same color as his, and you have a similar height and build. She’s really close to him, so it would stand to reason that she would feel comfortable around you, too.”

“If you bring her here after you get off work, I’ll probably be here anyway, finishing up my ride, as late in the day as it is now. Then we can all look at the horses together.”

“Okay. Sure.” Meagan’s heart hadn’t quit pounding, and now it was really racing up a storm. Doing something “together” with Garrett and Ivy seemed sweetly intimate. Her fantasies about him had begun to progress in ways she’d never expected. “I want Ivy to meet Ho-Dad most of all.”

“He certainly likes you.” Garrett glanced at the horse and then back at her. “I’m going to go for my ride now. I’ll catch you and Ivy later.”

“Yes, later.” She watched him walk away, much too excited about seeing him again.

Four (#u41defe55-207a-542d-ab7d-feb110d6f97b)

When Garrett returned to the barn, Meagan wasn’t there. But he figured she was probably picking up her daughter and would arrive soon. He gave his horse to one of the other stable hands and waited out front.