Fate's Redemption Read Free Page A

I still haven’t heard anything from the hotline.
    Once Barley and I are covered in sweat and
dirt I head us back to the barn with a flick of my wrist and a tap
of my ankles. My parents had owned a ranch so riding is second
nature to me, but Danny’s spread is something altogether different.
Nestled in the foothills of California wine country, having the
privacy of an organic gated community, the fifty acres here is the
most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. It’s home.
    “Hey Kinley. How was your ride?” Deb asks me
while taking the reins.
    “It’s always exactly what I need.” I smile at
the workhand and dismount from the saddle. “Where’s Phil off
to?”
    “Oh you know Phil. He’s tinkering with things
best left alone,” she grumbles about her husband, before we both
start laughing. Phil gets bored easily and starts trying to
‘improve’ things.
    “Well make sure he gets whatever grease he’s
covered in off before dinner.”
    Deb nods her understanding. “At the pool
house?”
    “Yeah, I’m making a roast since it’s getting
so cold. Maybe some hot chocolate?”
    “I’ll bring the schnapps,” she says with a
wink. Walking up the hill, I follow the bath to the pool and
outdoor covered kitchen to check on the marinating meat.
    When I get into the house a few minutes
later, the dog follows me in, and I get tackled around the knees by
little arms. I ruffle Ollie’s hair and smile into eyes the color of
a summer sky. “Hi, baby. Where’s Daddy?”
    “He say he be back. More calls in the
office,” Rosa, the housekeeper and sometimes nanny says with a roll
of her eyes and thick accent.
    “Can you watch Ollie for a few minutes while
I take a quick shower?”
    Rosa shoos me away with a kitchen towel and
takes the baby into the living room.
    “Five minutes, Rosa.”
    “Is no trouble, Mija. We play.”
     
    When shampoo is in my hair and my eyes are
closed, I hear the sound of the bathroom door open. I don’t have a
chance to be alarmed, because the sound of rapping has me stifling
a giggle even as it brings tears to my eyes.
    I quickly rinse my eyes so that I don’t miss
the show. Danny’s bobbing his head, his body rolling in a perfect
rhythm to his words. He’s calling me Porsche, and the acoustics in
the room are giving me goosebumps as he sings parts of the song
about a car and getting under the hood, pulling the top down. It’s
an upbeat song, not that I know it. But Danny bobs and weaves to
the song, at one point jumping on the balls of his feet.
    As he finally gets quiet with the last verse
I clap slowly. Danny’s eyes are drawn to my naked chest, and I
watch him grab a towel blindly. I move my head to the side and let
him stroke the soft fabric down my neck and breasts. “I’m not
freaking out, why did you rap?” I ask quietly.
    Danny works down one arm, then starts on the
other. “You may not be freaking out that I can see, but I know this
girl has you stressed out. Plus, who doesn’t love a Porsche?” I
giggle and lightly slap his shoulder, getting a blinding smile in
return. The first time Danny rapped to me, I was having a panic
attack in a hotel gym bathroom about having to go home to my
husband.
    “I love you, Danny.”
    Danny drops to his knees and rubs the towel
up my legs. Finally he meets my eyes and kisses the top of my
thigh. “I love you more.”
    My breath hitches, and I whisper my protest.
“No.”
    Danny pulls back, both of his big calloused
hands on the outside of my thighs, rubbing up and back down to my
knees. He raises his eyebrows. “No?”
    “I meant no I love you more. Don’t stop.”
    He watches his hands move from my thighs,
over my hips and the curve of my waist. Danny barely touches my
breasts with his fingertips before bringing them back down, at the
same time rising to his knees. “You couldn’t possibly love me the
way I love you, baby.” I open my mouth to continue the gushes of
marital bliss, but Danny steals my words with his tongue.
    I