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“I’m going to go check on the ponies. Ville is meeting me there to set up cameras so we can keep an eye on them. And I’m taking your truck, since you kidnapped me. You’ll have to find your own way over.”

His eyes glittered with happiness and I couldn’t help stealing another kiss. I loved to see him this way.

“Fine. I’ll allow it.” I couldn’t contain my own grin.

Wren waved to Sky, then turned and jogged back to the building. I watched him go for a few seconds. I was sort of surprised he didn’t introduce himself. He wasn’t usually like that. But then again, he was on a mission and maybe didn’t want to delay it if Sky turned out to be a fan. He’d have more opportunities to introduce himself. Neither of them was going anywhere.

Sky cleared her throat. I turned to look at her. Her eyes were wide.

“Was that Wren Paxton?”

My grin only grew. “Yep.”

She blew out a breath that ended in a whistle. “I have a feeling nothing is going to be dull around here.”

She was not wrong.

Chapter 20

Wren

Ville was waiting for me when I got to my property. He leaned on the fence, looking thoughtful as he observed the ponies. Nyx jogged ahead to greet him, and then went to make sure no other equines had appeared where they shouldn’t.

I limped to Ville and pushed myself to his side. Obediently, he lifted his arm over my shoulders and we just stood there, watching the ponies for a bit.

“You smell like sex,” he commented suddenly, and I blushed. Before I could say anything, he chuckled. “Nothing wrong with that. I’m happy for you.”

“Yeah… it’s… a lot.”

“In what way?” he asked, turning his head to look at me from the short distance that left no space for hiding.

“I’m gonna spend the night with him.”

“And?”

“I don’t know.” I sighed. “I mean, I need my own space here. I just don’t know how long it’ll take, you know. I thought I’d stay on the ranch side, but I kind of want to utilize what I have next door, you know?” I nudged my head toward the empty space behind us.

“Get one of those fancy Airstreams? Play the Wren Paxton card. Bet you can have one in here, hooked up and ready to go within a week or less, if they have it in stock. There’s gotta be a dealership in the Springs or Denver.”

That… wasn’t a bad idea. If I got something easily movable, then I could go wherever if I wanted to, or if I ended up actually living somewhere else, then the family could use it.

“I’m gonna call Marielle while you set up the cameras,” I informed Ville.

He snorted, kissed my temple and stepped away to go get the cameras from the truck he was using.

I squinted at the vehicle. “You have a new truck?”

“For more than a week now. You’ve been… distracted.” His eyes were filled with enough humor for me to know that he wasn’t upset whatsoever.

“Yeah, yeah.” I pushed his shoulder, but couldn’t help smiling.

Marielle answered the call quickly as usual, and put her Super PA connections to work while we were still on the phone. By the time we were done for the time being, Ville was checking the connection to the new cameras on his tablet.

“You’ll have the app on your phone,” he said as I joined him. “I’ll install it right now. But we have one aimed at the shelter and then an overview. I also put one over there so it shows you the driveway, in case someone comes looking.”

Oh, I hadn’t even thought about that. But now that the ponies were here, I wanted them safe. I doubted whoever had dumped them—those fuckers—would come back for them. I also didn’t think anyone would just wander in and hurt them, but the property wasn’t fenced. It was better to be safe than sorry, for sure.

“Thank you,” I said, exchanging the tablet with my phone so he could get me the right app. “Marielle says there’s a dealership in Denver and she’s gonna message me as soon as she contacts them to see if they have what I need.”