Burning Barriers (Barriers Series Book 3) by Sara Shirley Page A

could still walk this ranch blindfolded.
    Once we get into the barn, Mom picks up the saddle pack and hands it to me before opening the tiny fridge and stuffing a bottle of wine and two rubber glasses into the open pouch.
    “Lucy.” My voice grabs her attention as she stands by a stall. The Appaloosa horse nibbling at her palm distracts her, and her face no longer bursts with joy. “Everything okay?”
    “Yeah, this used to be Jellie Bellie’s stall, but this horse isn’t Jellie Bellie.”
    Mom grabs the bag from my hands and makes her way down to the back paddocks to most likely hook up the bag to my saddle. I stand behind Luce, wrapping one around her waist and running my hand through the mane of the horse currently in the stall.
    “Jellie Bellie was too old, Luce. He was happy just to have you around to take him out for rides since he wasn’t able to race any longer. After you left, it was as though he knew. I can’t explain it. We had to put him down about four years ago.”
    “I know he was old. It’s just I loved that damn horse for so many reasons, ya know?”
    I kiss the side of her cheek from behind and watch as she slides her hands along the jaw of the horse. “So, who’s this strapping Appaloosa here?”
    “This is Juicy Fruit.”
    Lucy’s smile returns, and I remember what she told me the other night. I watch as she scratches his ears and whispers to him softly, “Well, Juicy Fruit, it appears you and I have more in common than I thought. We both share the same name and that makes us best buds.”
    Juicy.
    I watch her back away from the horse and face me. A sly smile adorns her face, and something about her attitude has instantly changed. She inches closer to me until her arm reaches around behind me and her breasts brush up against my T-shirt. My breath hitches, and I clear my throat as she stands on her tiptoes to grab something.
    “Excuse me,” she says with a slight giggle before she backs away with an old beat-up cowboy hat in her hand and smacks it against her jeans. The barn dust flies off the hat before she places it onto her head.
    Lucy starts walking down the long, narrow hall toward the open door. The sunlight filtering in the barn illuminates her silhouette enough for me to catch her hips swaying in her tight jeans. She stops abruptly and turns her head to look at me still standing frozen at the end of the barn with Juicy Fruit. I’m hypnotized by her sudden change.
    “You comin’ or not, Galloway? I’m not ridin’ by myself.” She eyes me, and my old lace-up steel-toed boots scuff through the soft hay on the barn floor until I’m standing inches from her. I pull down the strings on the sides of her hat so her face stares up at me. I don’t know why or even what comes over me, but my lips crash onto hers before her eyes catch up to her mouth to ask me what I’m doing. The fuck if I care if she has anything to say about this. I’m taking her back, and she’s not about to tell me otherwise.
    Her lips part, and our tongues dart in and out of each other’s mouths as I pull her into my body. My arms make themselves at home around her waist, and my hands feel her perfect ass cheeks. I eagerly back her up into the empty horse stall at the end of the barn while never breaking our lips. I slide the large wooden door shut to avoid being seen by any of the kids that might be out training with SJ. That’s the last thing a group of ten-year-olds needs to see around here. It’s bad enough when the horses get rambunctious, but two grown adults getting hot and heavy in the barn is bound to have a few parents complain to the front office.
    Lucy’s hands carefully find their way under my shirt, and suddenly any apprehension she might have had about us being together has been tossed aside, at least for the moment or until that head of hers starts thinking again. Although, I’d have to say I’ve done a pretty good job at proving to her that she’s the girl for me. It had been years since