A Special Kind of Love (3 page)

She
laughed. He was so literal.

“Yes,
that’s what I mean. Are you ready to go riding?”

“Yes,
I want to go now.”

“We
have to eat some breakfast first. You’ll need your energy today.
How about some oatmeal?”

“Okay,
I like oatmeal.”

She
crossed to the counter in the kitchen, grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and the
instant oatmeal from the pantry, mixed it up and popped it in the microwave.
While it was cooking she filled the coffee maker and got her own breakfast
going.
Coffee.
She couldn’t function without her
morning dose of caffeine.

While
Aaron ate his breakfast, she threw some snacks and drinks into a backpack. She
didn’t know how long they would be out, but figured he’d be hungry before too
long. The kid ate like a linebacker. It was a good thing he had a healthy
metabolism, unlike her. She looked down at her hips and sighed. At least she’d
been able to zip her jeans this morning. She hated always having to watch what
she ate, yet still never being thin. Oh well, you could only take what life
gave you, and unfortunately hers came with fat genes.

Aaron
finished his breakfast, rinsed his dish and put it in the dishwasher. That was
one of the perks of having a child with
OCD,
she never
had to remind him to clean up after himself. She poured the rest of her coffee
into a travel mug, grabbed the backpack and her purse and they were ready to
hit the road.

“Okay, Aaron, let’s get going.”

As
soon as the SUV was on the road Aaron started talking. He had been researching
horses and horseback riding on the Internet. If it was possible to be an expert
on something you had never done, then he qualified. His litany continued until
they pulled through the gates of the RNR. It was a gorgeous place. The central
drive branched out in three different directions, straight ahead to an enormous
old ranch house, beautifully restored to its former glory. The right fork had a
small sign proclaiming barn and riding arena, and the left said guest cottages.
The sight of lush green rolling fields, dotted with horses and cattle, trees
and sagebrush, red clay pushing up from the ground as if God had scattered in
amongst the green just to add a splash of color, and the glorious mountains in
the distance took her breath away.

She
took the fork to the right and was soon pulling up outside a huge beautiful
barn, or maybe stables would be a more accurate description. It wasn’t a big
red barn, but a modern looking structure, one story tall, with a peaked roof
and big open double doors at the front. A concrete center aisle ran through the
middle. She could see all the way out the backside, where another set of doors
was open into a fenced pen. Stalls and doors lined both side of the building
and it was bustling with activity.

A
young man was throwing flakes of hay over the stall doors into metal baskets
attached to the walls of the stalls. Another was sweeping the aisle while a
woman and man walked side by side from stall to stall, deep in discussion.

At
the sound of her car door closing, the woman turned to face Sharon and her son.
She raised a hand in greeting and headed toward them, the man on her heels. The
woman was young and pretty. Skin the color of café au
lait
and a smile that lit up her face. This had to be Tammy.

Sharon
put her arm around Aaron’s shoulders and started walking toward them. For once
Aaron didn’t seem to mind the contact, he was too focused on the horses. His
gaze darted left and right, his eyes sparkling.

“Horses,
Mama. Look at all the horses. I
wanna
go see.”

Sharon
gripped his shoulder tighter as he tried to break away and head to the animals.

“Just
a minute.
You have to be patient. We need to introduce ourselves and find out if it’s
okay for you to go into the barn.”

Aaron
stilled, resigned to waiting.

Sharon’s
attention was on the beautiful African American woman approaching. “I’m Sharon Daily,
you must be Tammy, so good to meet you.”

Tammy
nodded.

“Guilty
as charged.
Great to meet you too.”
Tammy turned to
Aaron extending her hand. “You must be Aaron.”

Aaron
didn’t make eye contact and he failed to take her hand. But undaunted she
leaned down until her face was in his line of sight, hand still extended.

“Aaron,
I’m really glad to meet you.” With her face at his eye level Aaron finally
registered her presence.

“Hi.”
He ignored her outstretched hand.

Sharon
opened her mouth to apologize, but Tammy stood up, looked her square in the
eyes and gave a slight negative shake of her head. She understood. Sharon
breathed a sigh of relief. Tammy gestured to the man who had been standing so
quietly behind her that Sharon had failed to register his presence.

“This
is Tanner West, Sharon. He’ll be helping you all out today.”

Sharon
looked up into the most gorgeous face she had ever seen. Eyes like dark
chocolate, deep and warm, stared out at her from a face that looked like it
could have been chiseled in stone. Skin the color of burnished copper, high
cheekbones, a sharp nose, full lips, and a cleft chin. How the hell had she failed
to notice him before? Her heart skipped a beat and she ran her gaze down the
rest of his body. He was tall, well over six feet, she would guess, with broad
shoulders that tapered into a trim waist. His thighs, encased in worn denim,
fit like a second skin against legs the size of tree trunks, and oh my, what
lay between those thighs… Her attention snapped back to his face and she could
feel the heat of a blush suffuse her skin.

Tanner
cleared his throat, his dark chocolate eyes flashing with amusement and a
little heat. He extended his hand. His large calloused hand engulfed her small
one. A shock of sensation shot up her arm and down her body to some places she
had begun to think had stopped working long ago.

“Ma’am,”
he said.

What
the hell was with everyone calling her
ma’am
here? She was beginning to feel like an old lady.

“Call
me Sharon, please. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. West.”

“Well
now, if I’m
gonna
call you Sharon, then you’re
gonna
have to call me Tanner.”

Their
gazes locked and everything around her faded away. Feelings she had thought
were lost with the defection of her ex-husband surged to the forefront.
Attraction, lust, a deep loneliness, and desire to be held in those
strong arms.
Aaron interrupted her reverie and snapped her back to the
present in a heartbeat.

“I
want to see the horses, now!” he demanded.

Tammy
put her arm around Sharon’s shoulders and led them into the barn.

“Right
this way, Aaron. I have a special little lady I want to introduce you to.”

“I
don’t want to meet a little
lady,
I want to see the
horses.” Aaron whined.

The
adults laughed. “The little lady is a horse, Aaron.” Tammy replied.

They
walked about halfway down the center aisle of the stables, stopping at a stall
on the left hand side.

“This
is Missy. She’s going to be your mount for today. She’s very gentle and she
loves a good scratch behind her ears. Why don’t you give her one?”

Aaron
reached out to the horse, moving with caution. He’d told her that the articles
he had read said to move slowly around horses, so you didn’t scare them.

“Put
your hand in front of her muzzle first, palm up, fingers together, and let her
get your scent.”

The
mare nuzzled his hand and Sharon watched the smile bloom on his face. He moved
his hand, sliding it under the horse’s jaw and back behind her ear. He
scratched her gently and she leaned into his touch. She stepped forward, head
coming over the stall door, butting against him, demanding more attention.
Aaron laughed. At the sound of his laughter Sharon’s heart fluttered in her
chest. He so rarely laughed. What a wonderful sound. She looked up and found
Tanner watching her. Her heart stuttered again, this time for a different
reason.

“The
first thing you have to know about horses is how to groom one,” Tammy said.
“Tanner, will you grab a lead
rope
for Missy and we
can get started on Aaron’s first lesson?”

Tanner
clipped the lead rope onto the d-ring on the side of Missy’s halter. He opened
the stall door and led her to a set of crossties in the aisle.

“Don’t
stand behind her,” Aaron instructed. “Horses have monocular vision and are
lateral eyed, that means their eyes are on the side of their heads. They can
see over three hundred and fifty degrees, but they can’t see directly behind
themselves or a small area right in front of them. You can startle a horse if
you are in their blind spot.”

Tanner
smiled.
“Absolutely right, Aaron.”
His gaze met
Sharon’s and he raised one eyebrow. She simply shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s
obvious you know a lot about horses, Aaron. Do you know what kind of horse this
is?”

“Domesticated.
Equus
Caballus
.”

Sharon
beamed with pride. Her baby was so smart. She was the luckiest mother in the
world.

“That’s
true. But, what I meant is do you know what breed Missy is?”

“Her
size and muscular structure would indicate a Quarter
horse
.
She isn’t tall enough to be a thoroughbred or saddle horse, and she is too
muscular to be a walking horse or any other five gaited horse. Her coloring
precludes Appaloosa or Paint, and she is not as bulky as a Draft breed.”

“Holy
h…heck.
How old are you kid?” Tanner asked with astonishment in his voice.

“I’m
ten. I’ll be eleven in October. My birthday is October twenty-third.”

Tanner
looked at Sharon and she smiled back at him, pride evident in her face.

“Aaron
has a very high IQ.”

“I
can see that.” He stepped into a door on the left side of the aisle and
returned carrying a bucket filled with equipment. She recognized brushes and
combs, but the rest of the stuff was a mystery.

“Come
on over here, Aaron, and I’ll show you how to groom Missy. Come up to her head
on the side you’re on and cross in front of her.”

Aaron
eagerly complied. Tanner pulled each piece of grooming equipment out of the
bucket, carefully explaining the name and use of each one. Curry combs, hoof
picks, shedding blade, coarse and fine brushes. Sharon tried to pay attention,
but she was distracted by the man, himself. He was so good with Aaron.
Patient and kind, never
talking down to him.
She could tell Aaron really liked him. Or maybe it was just that he was so
interested in the subject it crossed over into attentiveness to Tanner. But
Aaron
was
paying attention. Not only
that, he was making eye contact, rare for him with new people.

Tanner
demonstrated how to use each tool and then handed Aaron the curry comb.

“You
get started with this and your mom and I will go pick out a horse for her.
Remember not to walk behind Missy and always keep a hand on her as you are
grooming her. Talk to her too, she likes to hear your voice. Watch her
ears,
they’ll turn toward you so you’ll know she’s
listening. We won’t be far, so if you need anything just ask, but don’t yell.
Horses don’t like loud noises.”

Already
working the currycomb in circles along Missy’s shiny coat, Aaron nodded. “I
don’t like loud noises either.”

“Okay,
we’ll be back in a jiffy,” Tanner stood to his full height and looked down at
Sharon. An involuntary shiver of awareness coursed down her spine. Damn the man
was sexy. He cocked his elbow out to his side, like an old world gentleman, and
she linked her arm with his as he led her further down the aisle.

He
leaned toward her speaking softly so Aaron wouldn’t hear, and his warm breath
tickled her ear

“That’s
some kid you’ve got there.”

“Thank
you,” she said.
Boy oh boy, this man is
trouble
. He was slowly tearing down the wall she’d built around her heart,
brick by brick.
Could any man be this
perfect? He must have some faults. Maybe he is a chauvinist pig…no, doesn’t seem
like it. He is kind to animals and children, he is a fireman,
he
looks like sex on a stick. What could be wrong with him?
Maybe he snores. Oh, wouldn’t I like to find out?