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“What?”

He just nodded toward the horses and—she was rolling already. Goddammit.

“Well, I guess you’ll just have to brush her before you two go back.”

I grunted but couldn’t help smiling at her anyway.

We started toward the main building, and I followed Bodhi like he had me on a leash. Always had, although sometimes it was the other way around. Just depended on the day, really.

“So, what did you want to talk about?”

He swung the saddle over the railing, and I hooked the bridle on the horn, then stepped inside when he opened the door for me.

The place was really impressive. It had Bodhi’s touch everywhere. It would’ve been easy for him to let an interior decorator take over—and someone had done some of the work, I could tell that—but he’d clearly done a lot himself, too.

It was sparse, but homey. Just a couch and a chair, the big over stuffed kind. He had an old chest instead of a real coffee table and a floor lamp that put out a warm glow. There were several crocheted afghans, and one fuzzy blanket, draped over the back of the couch. No artwork or anything on his walls but there was a bookshelf filled with paperbacks and random knicknacks that had Jenn’s touch written all over it.

I didn’t prompt him again about what he’d called me in for. Instead, I curled my hands around a coffee mug and took a sip as I waited him out.

“First, I need to start by saying that I don’t want you to help me with this.” There was something complex in his gaze, which made me nod slowly.

“Okay,” I agreed, sensing how important this thing was to him.

“No money. Or secret money…. I… I need to do this for me, and I’ve already talked to Hawk and Carter because I need their help”—he lifted a hand as if to keep me from opening my mouth, so I didn’t say anything—“just because of their specific expertise.”

So, training horses? Finance stuff?

“All right.”

Then he laid out his plan as I drank my coffee, watching as he got more and more excited about the idea the longer he got into his explanation. I realized that was because I hadn’t actually interrupted and butted in with my own thoughts or offered him the things he clearly stated he didn’t want.

“That sounds great, Bodhi,” I said honestly once he ran out of steam.

For a second, it was as if he thought of asking if I really meant it, but then he just smiled and nodded. “Thanks. I think so, too.”

“If you, at any point, change your mind”—this time it was me who showed him my palms—“I’m here. In any capacity you need me, okay?” And that was too true, so I picked up my long-empty mug and fiddled with it as I struggled to make eye contact.

There was something searching in his familiar, gorgeous eyes when he nodded. “Okay. I promise.”

Since I was at Yellow Ribbon, I asked him to show me everything he’d been working on recently. I also asked more about the changes he wanted to make once we were outside, like where he’d build anything new he needed for the horse therapy stuff and accommodations and such.

Seeing Bodhi beam with excitement did things to me that immediately undid any resolve I might’ve had before. I needed a chat with my second favorite man to balance things out. I’d come to realize that Bodhi and Ville meant very different things to me, but they also sort of balanced each other out in a weird way.

I couldn’t curl up on Bodhi’s lap because it would mean more to me than him in the stupid romantic way my psyche clung to with teeth and claws sharper than any knife. I could, however, find the physical closeness with Ville, because he felt like another aspect of a similar, but very different kind of love. There were no illusions about what Ville and I were or could be or hell, had ever wanted to be to each other. He was safe to my heart in all the ways Bodhi wasn’t.

As Bodhi and I walked toward the horses, I texted Ville to ask where he was and if he had time for me. He texted that he could meet me at the cabin whenever I was back. My shoulders dropped a couple of inches, the promise of comfort so good I ached with it.

Bodhi hung out with me while I brushed Ransom down to a point where she could be saddled again. As I rode away from Yellow Ribbon, I turned to look over my shoulder and saw him standing at the paddock fence. He lifted his hand and I echoed it.

Having him so near to where I was staying…. It meant so many things. I needed to talk to Ville about it.

Forty-five minutes later, I had brushed Ransom down again and let her into the paddock with her friends. I walked through all the paddocks, remembering to make sure I closed every gate in between with extra care. There’d been an incident at one point that made everyone more conscious of them now.

When I made it to the cabin, Ville was already there. Emery was at work, so I’d have my best friend to myself for a while. It was exactly what I needed.

“Hey. I have some snacks. Jenn heard we were going to hang out and gave me a mini picnic.” Ville looked adorably helpless. The fact that he still hadn’t quite gotten how Mama H worked was kind of endearing. The woman was as good as his mother in law by now, and Jenn and Mike definitely considered every spouse of their kids as an extra kid anyway. Well, maybe not someone as close to their own age as Carter, but the principle still stood: Jenn, especially, collected people and then spent every ounce of energy she had taking care of them.

“That’s nice of her,” I said belatedly after hanging up my jacket and ball cap.