Ride the Fire by Jo Davis

for sure.
    Her gaze reflected complete understanding. “I know what it’s like to need a fresh start, and if this is what it takes to make you happy, go for it.”
    “Do you know? Really?” He studied her, suddenly aware that for all the years they’d worked together and been friends, he knew little of her background. Her life outside the station. Oh, he knew her mother was still alive and they were close, and he’d heard Eve talk about her dates sometimes. But not much else. Eve was a private person, and he felt honored that she’d opened the door even a crack.
    “Yes. Rain check on that subject?”
    “Absolutely.” He hesitated. “Want to meet Elvis and the gals?”
    “Who’re they?”
    “Let me put on a shirt and some shoes, and I’ll show you. Unless you have to rush off?”
    “No, I’m good. I’ve got nothing going on this afternoon that can’t wait.”
    “Great!” He jogged to his bedroom, feeling like a teenager trying to impress his first date.
    The clearheaded, straitlaced part of his conscience demanded to know what he was doing, encouraging her to stay when he was feeling a great deal more than just friendly toward her. The side of him that was sick of being lonely beat that pesky wimp into submission.
    Quickly, he yanked on a T-shirt that hung low enough to hide his erection. He hoped. After pulling on his socks and shoes, he hurried back to Eve, taking her hand. “This way.”
    He led her through the kitchen and out the back door, onto the deck overlooking the back acreage. Then across the deck and down the steps, heading toward the gate in the fence that separated the lawn from the pasture.
    “Wow, it’s beautiful out here,” she said with enthusiasm as he dragged her in his wake.
    “This is the one place I feel at home—outdoors with my buddies.” As he drew her to the gate, he stopped and gestured toward the field with a broad smile. “Meet Elvis, Madonna, Mariah, and J-Lo.”
    Four equine heads popped up on cue, dark eyes studying them with great interest. Sean gave a shrill whistle through his teeth, and a chorus of deep-throated nickers answered. The horses began to lumber in their direction, whinnying more greetings.
    “Oh, Sean, they’re so pretty!” Her delighted laugh warmed his weary soul. “You’re lucky to have horses. I’m jealous.”
    “I’d always wanted some, and when we moved here, Blair wasn’t able to talk me out of them. I started with two quarter horse mares, and breeding became a part-time hobby.”
    She glanced at him, puzzled. “Why would she want to talk you out of something you enjoy? I mean, look at them!”
    “Horses were never her thing. She hated getting dirty and smelly.” He frowned, uneasy with comparing his dead wife with Eve, even in his own mind. “Anyway, I won that particular battle of wills, though I lost plenty of others. The skirmish over the chicken coop, for example? Defeated, big-time.” He put on a forlorn expression that earned a laugh.
    “Chickens?”
    “Why not? Fresh eggs, some fuzzy chicks running around—what’s not to love?”
    “Oh, let me see . . . chicken poop, the smell, the rooster crowing at dawn and whenever else he feels like it? Sorry. I have to say I’d be with her on that one.”
    “And here I had you pegged for a girl who didn’t mind a little dirt and smell when it comes to animals,” he teased.
    She arched a dark brow. “I don’t mind and you darned well know it. Take me horseback riding sometime and I’ll prove it.”
    “You mean that?” He studied her, excited by the idea. A lazy fall afternoon doing his favorite thing—well, second favorite—with a woman he liked and admired? Heaven.
    “I do, and I’d love to take a ride with you.” She checked her watch. “Another day, though. I just remembered I told Mama I’d come by and try to fix the leak under her sink. With her arthritis and bad knees, she can’t crawl around like that anymore.”
    “I could come, too, and help you,” he