Page 13 of Love Bound

"You’re going to stay with Aunt Claire and help her with the new horse."

"What's his name?" he asks.

Laurel glances at me, her shoulders in a half-shrug.

"He doesn’t have a name yet," I say.

"It's a boy?" he asks.

"Yes," I reply.

"But he doesn’t have a name?"

"No."

"Why not?"

My mind spins. I can’t say because he might die, so I say, "Because I can't think of one yet. I have to get to know him better."

"Did you wait to name me?" he asks his mother as she moves to leave.

"No. No. When I first held you, you were Cory. You have always been Cory," Laurel says.

"Then I'll name him," says the little boy who has to name everything in order to understand it.

***

Cory balances on the bottom plank of the paddock, alternating from peeking over the middle board and hanging from the top one and ducking under to watch while I try to tend to the gelding.

"Is that medicine?" he asks.

"See how he has this jagged hurt on his rump? It's a burn. And this is medicine that will help it go away," I explain.

Though cross-tied, the gelding is weaving and flinching every time I touch him. I don’t like that he's panting.

"Will the horsey have a scar?" Cory asks.

"Probably," I say. "Like a lightning bolt. All jagged."

"Like Harry Potter," he agrees and nods.

This is all great stuff. The fact that he's asking questions is such a big step.

"His feet are weird."

"I have to trim his hooves. They are way overgrown," I say.

"I can help."

"Oh no, we aren’t doing that today. He needs to trust us more," I say and then hear the slam of a tailgate behind me.

I turn around and there's Finn Colton moving some small bundle wrapped in brown paper from the back of his truck to the cabin, on the passenger side. His body looks strong and hard under the black T-shirt and a light breeze kicks it across his chest. He bends over to shove the package under the passenger side and his ass is round and tight in a faded pair of jeans. It's a chilly morning and I can’t believe he's out here without a jacket. He must burn hot, but it's my face that's burning now. I can’t stand that he pushes my buttons this way. Buttons in all those warm, tender places.

He only glances over when the chocolate horse whinnies, a high thin screechy call of agony that makes Cory jump off the bottom rail.

Shit.

Now Finn's coming over.