Taming His Stallion [BWWM]

20_Tolerance

Danny

Gosh! Was it possible to miss someone so much, even when you know they're nearby?

That's akin to what I felt of late, and I noticed that the sensation only encompassed one individual. Sure, I've missed others before, but not like I missed her. Not even my ex.

We could go without seeing or hearing from each other for weeks on end. Yet it still wouldn't be enough for me to yearn to be with her the way I did when I was apart from Paege for even an excruciating thirty or so minutes.

It was bordering on ridiculous. I caught myself checking my messages every so often to see if I'd received any from the woman in question and found that I'm a little disappointed if there weren't any.

For whatever reason, she had invaded my thoughts that first day when she came to the ranch and hasn't left ever since.

When I'm with her, time stands still and I want to be there indefinitely.

We could do anything–talk about anything. Nothing was any less interesting with her. She could be talking about a something as mundane as painting and I would be hanging on to her every word.

What could I say? She intrigued me. Especially when she momentarily delves into her past. I wanted to know everything there was to know about her.

I wanted to be in her presence. To make her laugh and smile, and only then would I be satisfied that I had done my due diligence. Then the urge would consume me all over again.

I was out on the range, mending the fence when the feeling ambushed me again, forcing me to remove one of my gloves before fishing my phone out of my pocket. Punching rigorously at the screen, I hit send, smiling to myself as I replaced my phone in the pocket of my pants.

My heart skipped a beat when, a few moments later, a buzz emanated my pocket and I retrieved my phone excitedly, grinning ear to ear upon inspection when the message came from none other than Paege herself.

I immediately typed my reply before placing the phone back into my pocket, hastening to continue on with the task at hand.

About fifteen minutes later, I looked up, focusing on something in the distance and my heart seized at the heartwarming sight.

Paege had mounted Angel and they were galloping free, seemingly unrestrained from the woes of their past.

Essentially they moved as one, the horse and the rider extensions of the other. For the life of me, there weren't any signs that Paege had suffered any of the heartbreaks she'd dealt with, ever since her parents had given up their horses. She hid it well. She rode effortlessly, enough that it was mesmerizing to watch.

She was born to ride.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought as much. My gaze drifted to the fencing, where I noticed the men had gathered, gawking at Paege as she guided Angel gracefully across the open range.

A groan rumbled within my chest and I almost made a move to go knock their wits back into their skulls when a familiar figure approached the fencing, momentarily glancing at what had caught their attention. By the looks of it, it was A.J.

Somehow sensing my gaze, his eyes soon travelled the length of the range before settling in my direction. Probably, for no other reason than to spare the men a busted jaw, he tapped them each on the shoulder, successfully retrieving and ushering them back to their tasks.

I hadn't mentioned the intimate state of my relationship with Paege to him but I couldn't deny that he was intelligent enough to put two and two together. The others–it would seem, maybe not so much.