Chapter One
From the driver’s seat of her compact car, Ava Black stared at the tattoo and piercing shop bordering the seedy section of Compass, Illinois, wondering whether to take a leap of faith and go inside or to stay in the safety of her car and chicken out.
“Just go in and do it, Ava,” Jenna Ashby, Ava’s best friend, encouraged her over the phone.
Ava clenched her cell phone in her hand as her heart pounded in her chest. “I’m nervous.”
“You’ll finally get an orgasm. Buy a vibrator, too. I know it’s on your list. You can make happen what that bastard never could.”
Ava blushed. “You were supposed to be here with me. I wish you didn’t have to take this job.” She needed a little pep talk after the day she’d had.
“I know, but it’s more than a job, Ava. I’m following my heart. I still believe in true love.” Jenna sighed the way she always did when she was daydreaming about Harry. “Listen, this is my last piece of advice. Under no circumstances unload on anyone like you did on that waitress today. You’re better than that.”
Jenna unfortunately witnessed the embarrassing moment at lunch. “I think I scarred her for life.” Ava slouched in the car, her heart beat slowing to a natural, slow rhythm. Jenna laughed.
“You definitely scarred her for life. Heck, you scarred me and I’ve heard and seen it all. I’ve got to go. No one is going to know you did it. So, do it. Get out of your car and start the real Horse List. The Brazilian wax doesn’t really count since I was the one that added it to your list. Take control of your body, of your life, Ava.” “I’m getting out of the car now.”
Ava had wanted to do it since she’d first heard whispers about Jackie Granger getting one in high school on her eighteenth
birthday. She’d picked up the little black notepad that had kept her secret Horse List since she was a teen and drew a line through the tenth item on her list–clit piercing.
The Horse List Description:
Recently divorced from an abusive husband still intent to control her life, Ava Black has two weeks before she moves back to her conservative hometown to start her life over.
Encouraged by her best friend, she resurrects the wish list she started as a young girl when her number one desire was her very own horse. Over the years, The Horse List had become a mature list of her most erotic sexual fantasies and a symbol of her rebirth as an independent woman. She can complete some of the items alone, but not everything. She needs a sexually experienced partner with resources and the connections to places she’s only dreamed of going.
Could the handsome and wealthy artist Eric North be the partner she seeks? Will her drive to complete the list be enough to overcome her fear of him discovering the scars left from years of abuse? Will Eric protect her from her ex-husband, or will she go home with her unrequited love, Brady Ross, and give up her one chance to complete The Horse List?
