“You think he was clinging?” she asked shyly.
“Well, yeah,” he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
“Maybe he was a little,” she said quietly.
John snorted.
The afternoon passed quickly after the mood shifted. Lou and John pulled up outside around six o’clock with John grinning from ear to ear, having just purchased his first stallion. He sat down beside Jeb to tell him all about it.
Lou got out of the truck. Her legs stuck to the seat of the truck and her skin pulled tight as she slid across the seat after the long ride home. She was hungry, irritable, and still more than a little ticked off at Brody. She sighed long and loud as she looked across the driveway and saw him stomping toward her across the graveled drive. She put one finger up and halted him with just one word.
“Don’t.” She walked around him, creating a wide circle. He stepped in front of her and blocked her path. She avoided looking at him and just walked around him again.
He huffed. Then asked quietly, “Would it help if I said I was sorry?”
She finally stopped and looked at him. She crossed her arms against her chest and tapped one foot, looking him in the eye. “Sorry for what?” She probably shouldn’t goad him, but it was hard not to.
“Sorry for acting like a jackass?” he asked with a questioning look on his face.
“Brody Wester, if you don’t know why I’m mad, I’m certainly not going to tell you!” She stepped around him again. He blocked her again.
“Damn it, Lou,” he groaned. He sighed deeply and said with a straight face. “I am sorry for acting like a jackass this morning.”
She crossed her arms across her chest again. “Then why did you?”
“Jesus,” he whispered. Then louder, “I don’t know. He stepped close enough to her that only she could hear him. “I spent the most amazing night making love to you. Then I had to get up and leave you all alone in bed before the sun even came up.”
“And that put you in the foul mood?” she asked sarcastically.
“Yes. Well. No. Not exactly. Then I got to kiss you in the kitchen but we had to spring apart so no one would see. Then I walked into the barn and John was on his knees in front of you.”
“He wanted a favor, Brody,” she confessed. “He was begging. John does that all the time because he knows it works.”
“Well, it looked different than that,” he declared like a six-year-old.
“So, you were jealous?” she asked.
“So jealous I couldn’t see straight, Lou. I know I have no right to be, so I apologize.” He kicked at the dirt with the toe of his shoe.
“No right to be?” she asked quietly.
“Can we take a walk and discuss this privately?” Brody asked.
Lou placed her purse on the edge of the porch and walked with him toward the barns and the pond.
“You were saying you have no right to be jealous,” Lou prompted.
“Well, yeah. I can’t put a big stamp on you that says ‘Brody’s Property’ like I want to. Because I have to go home.”
“But you want to? You want to put a big stamp on me that mark me as yours?”
Out of sight of the house, Brody pulled her close to him and said, “Oh, yeah. I want to put a big stamp right here.” He punctuated the statement with a kiss to her forehead. “And I want to put a big stamp right here.” He kissed the side of her neck. One hand moved up to cup her breast. “And I particularly want to put one right here.” His thumb moved across her nipple. She could feel his hardness pressed against her belly. She stilled his hand with her own, even though her hands were shaking.
“But you won’t. Because you have to go home.” She stepped back, out of his embrace.She took a deep breath and then dove rightin. “What are your plans for the farm, Brody, now that your mom is gone? For me? Do you plan to keep me on? I get to keep my job?”
“Is your job what you’re worried about right now?” Brody asked, his steely gray eyes flashing with anger.
“That and other things. I guess I just want to be sure I’ll still be needed, still have a place to live, still have a job.”