Mustang A Shifter Romance: Jessica's Stable Part 2

After spending a night of passion in the arms of the horse shifter Argo, Jessica must set out on her own to try and find the missing members of her new stable. Both the Palomino Trent and the free spirited Mustang Raine have not returned after fleeing into the night when a fire destroys their protected mansion. With Argo the Thoroughbred staying behind in case they return and to tend to the ruins of their home, Jessica ventures into their secluded valley alone. She soon find out that the passions of these shifter men can not be contained and she will need to maintain a careful balance to keep her Stable together.
EXCERPT
Jessica peered into a patch of trees as she rolled forward, intently studying them in case someone was perhaps laying down behind them. She was so focused on the brush she didn’t see the horse standing in the road in front of her car, staring at her.
When she noticed it she slammed hard on her brakes and the car slid to a stop on the dirt road. Since she had been going so slowly she stopped in just a few feet, and she saw that the horse hadn’t moved at all. He was watching her, confident that if she hadn’t seen him he would be able to jump out of the way easily. Now that she had stopped he lowered his head and walked to the car and she killed the ignition and got out to join him.
The car had kicked up a cloud of dust in stopping and it partially obscured the horse as he came towards her. She saw as he walked he was transforming, rearing to his hind legs and staying there as he walked forward, merging into his human form. Within a few steps he was walking on his feet and he stumbled forward a step during the change as his body adjusted.
It was Raine, the Mustang.
His naked body was covered with sweat from his run in his equine form and the dust was sticking to it, making him filthy. He would need to be cleaned, and soon.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” he exclaimed when he got close to her. She looked him up and down, taking in his grimy appearance but happy that he hadn’t been injured in his flight from the fire last night.
“Argo and I have been looking for you too. Why didn’t you go back to the house?” she asked him as she tried to brush some of the stuck on dirt from his shoulder.
“I wanted to find you first, to make sure you were safe,” he explained and Jessica knew it was true, Raine had always acted like a protector to her. During her first ride he had galloped alongside her, his body pressing her leg tightly down so she was held fast and secure.
“Argo carried me to the trees and we stayed the night there, I have been driving the fence line ever since,” she said. She saw the faint line of a frown on his face when she said that and resolved not to mention her time with Argo again.
“Have you seen Trent? The last time I saw him was right when the fire blew out the windows.” She kept brushing at the dust as she spoke but wasn’t making much of a difference. As she moved down to his chest she tried to remember if she had some wet-wipes in her car somewhere but didn’t think so.
“Not since last night. You know we don’t trust fire, and when I saw the flames…,” he trailed off and shrugged. It was true, these shifter men shared attributes with the horses they could become and vice versa. All wild creatures had a natural fear of uncontrollable fire and they were no different. Their primal nature had shown through again that night.
She was now brushing across his taunt stomach when she heard him let out a little laugh.
“Ticklish?” she asked and he smiled broadly at her but was slowly shaking his head from side to side.