He laughed. “I know.” He caught my hand, lacing our fingers.

There. I felt the tingle, like always.

“I wanted to see you in them. I thought they’d be cute.”

I tightened our hold, not having a retort ready to go. Everything was melting inside of me.

The barn was heated as Cole led me inside, and the first few stalls held horses. Some looked back at me with heads over the stall doors. Others turned away, their heads hanging down. A few munched hay that hung in the stalls’ corners.

“What is this place?” I asked, drawing closer to Cole.

He gestured to a horse wearing a long, draped coat. “I own a race track, but I also board horses. This is one of our boarding stables.”

“You own these horses?”

“A few, but most belong to other people.” We progressed through the barn, coming to a side door. It was open, and Cole pointed to the racing track. “Some are trained here. Some are just ridden here by their owners.” He gestured to the woods. “There are riding trails out there.”

“Who are the other owners?”

He shrugged. “It depends. Most of them are people in the city. The other barn holds the racing horses, but some owners have their own stables.”

The stables felt intimate and warm. A set of stairs wound down from the second floor into the middle of the stalls. Cole kept moving toward the opposite end of the barn. A horse—all white with black spots—hung its head over its stall and watched us come. It was larger than the others, and as we got closer, I could tell it was a special horse. It held its head high with a thick and muscular neck. Power rippled from the horse’s body.

He reminded me of Cole.

Cole moved closer, extending his hand to touch the horse’s neck. “This is one of our stallions. We keep the mares in the other building and the geldings in the front, where we came in. Those are the guys who got the bits snipped, if you didn’t know. This guy here we keep separate from the rest so no fights break out.”

“Is he dangerous?” I didn’t know anything about horses, but I could see that Cole loved him. And the stallion allowed Cole to touch him.

“He can be; that’s for sure. But if he’s handled right, he’s a happy guy.” Cole gestured around the stable. “He’s only in here at night. We let him run with the breeding mares during the day. We’ve got a few other stallions, but we keep them elsewhere.”

“He’s beautiful, Cole.”

He grinned at me, resting against the stall door. “You wanted to do something fun, but since we’re confined to privacy, I thought I’d bring you here. I can’t tell you anything about my life as a Mauricio, but for a time, I wasn’t a Mauricio. This place—well, not this specific place, but another stable—I spent a lot of time there. I lived with a family for a few years and helped take care of their horses. I bought this place when I came back. It reminds me of my home, or one of my homes anyway.”

My mouth dried. There was so much I wanted to know, and I couldn’t ask. I hadn’t said yes yet, to letting my in-laws know I’d officially chosen sides. I hadn’t thought about it, to be honest; but I’d been holding back. I wasn’t sure why, maybe I was just trying to be cautious? Maybe I just wanted to know before I was all in, but I wanted to say it now. I opened my mouth, and I almost said it, but I didn’t.

Cole tightened his hand on mine. His thumb brushed over my hand, back and forth. Tingles shot up my arm. “I’ve got dinner planned up there. It’s the sleeping quarters.”

I wanted to know why Cole had brought me here. I knew there was a reason, and it wasn’t just privacy. I’d heard him on the phone enough, interacted with him enough to know he was decisive. He never wasted words, and everything he did had a purpose.

He took me upstairs, and I got another surprise.

The second floor included a living area, a kitchen, and a table set up on one side with a hallway leading past the stairs. Cole pointed in that direction and said, “There are three rooms for sleeping back there. If a mare is foaling, the owners will sleep here or have a worker sleep here. I have a general manager who runs this whole place, and he sleeps there, too, when his wife kicks him out of the house.”

“And tonight?”

Cole paused, his eyes darting to my lips before darkening. “Tonight is my turn. I told him I’d watch the horses.”

There was no doubt that he intended both of us to stay, and that thought had my usual ache coming back. I could already anticipate the feel of him over me when he stepped close. My eyes flicked up.

He focused on my lips, and I held my breath, knowing what was next. I closed my eyes as his head lowered, and a second later, his lips touched mine. My pulse skipped before speeding up as his mouth opened over mine, taking charge. I gasped, surging up on my toes to press more fully against him.

“Addison,” he murmured, his lips moving over mine.

That sent a whole other rush through me. “Yes?” I didn’t open my eyes. I wanted to stay there, right where we were.

“Do you want to go to bed or do you want to eat?”

That was a no-brainer. I wrapped my arms around him. “Bed, please. Now.”

Coming back down, I could only lie there as Cole trailed kisses down my throat all the way to my stomach before pulling out and resting beside me. Even my eyelids were exhausted. I watched him with heavy eyes as he grinned at me.

I chuckled softly, but had no words. I didn’t feel the need to say anything. Cole wrapped an arm around my waist and tucked his head into my shoulder. His eyelashes grazed my skin as his eyes closed. It felt right to be here in silence—just us and someplace beautiful and private.