Thunder

By Hannah Morse

Saul Cobb used to think he’d sell insurance like his Pa and stay married to his wife forever while running with a local biker gang in Topeka, Kansas. When his sexuality turned his life upside down, he washed up in Ruidoso, New Mexico, where he found a new kind of family. He likes his bike, his dog Thunder, and the horses he takes care of. It shouldn’t matter that he still hasn’t quite figured himself out or found that special someone.

Leaving his home in England looking for a new start, jockey turned horse trainer Liam Woods is delighted to discover something he wasn’t looking for at the racetrack: a man with raven hair, brooding eyes, and a soul that begs to be his.

Saul might be all storm clouds to Liam’s sunshine, but when a real storm throws them together, they find out just how well-matched they are.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Apr 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685501242

Book preview

Chapter 1

Saul Cobb rumbled down the curing, pine tree-lined road on his motorcycle, raising his hand in a wave as he passed an officer sitting in his patrol unit.

After Saul’s cup of coffee, the best part of the morning was driving to work on the back of his Harley. The officer, Diego, lifted a hand, but the delighted smile on his face was for Thunder, the massive Cane Corso dog that sat behind Saul on the bike, his front legs draped over Saul’s shoulders. It was part of the morning routine, the wave at a cop. He didn’t have to worry about being pulled over; Saul didn’t drive fast. There was no reason to get to work any earlier than he had to, which was still too damned early if you asked him. Who wanted to be at work by six in the morning?

He turned a corner, his big dog leaning with him, and straightened out. The road by the horse track in Ruidoso New Mexico was ridiculously broad, as if the town had expected traffic to multiply exponentially just because they had ponies running. He turned off the main road and puttered around the main building at the downs to the barns. The horses knew the sound of his motorcycle and many of the compact quarter horses that ran at the track stuck their heads over their stall doors and whinnied in greeting.

An easy warmth flowed through him as he parked his bike. He liked his life and the animals in it. Of all the places he could have washed up after his misspent youth, he was glad to have found this shore.

But it was still too damned early in the morning.

Thunder jumped down and trotted off to say hello to the horses that were his friends. They were the track ponies, old staid geldings that helped guide the ever-changing array of excitable racehorses on and off the track.

Saul took off his half-helmet, stowed it on the back of the bike, yawned, and shook out his hair. He’d needed to get it cut for a couple of months now. If he waited too much longer, he’d be putting it back in a ponytail.

But that could wait for later. He got to work.

He had the horses he was responsible for fed by seven. Half the stalls in the barn he worked remained empty, the result of River Stone Farms pulling horses back to their stables after one had bitten the hell out of Saul. The trainer responsible for the animals had been fired, not just for the bite, but because it led to the horses’ owners finding out the man was a fucking idiot and that’s why their horses weren’t winning, not because of the quality of the animals.

Saul would have liked to sic Thunder on the guy for how the man had treated the horses, but it was all