Jacob was watching me.
Jacob was listening.
And I didn’t know how that made me feel, knowing the boy I’d chased for far too long was watching another boy chase me.
Was that karma?
Or merely a recipe for disaster?
In all honesty, I wasn’t looking for more complications with dating or making new friends here. But the fact that Carter liked me after only knowing me for a few minutes made me a tiny bit vindictive.
“You know what? That sounds nice. Thank you.”
Carter’s boyish face blazed with happy disbelief. “Wow, really? You’ll go out with me?”
A fuming presence appeared at the top of the row, cowboy hat shielding his gaze, fists clenched by his sides. Other customers dispersed, leaving us in a pocket of silence.
Jacob moved slowly. So slowly it was as if he stalked me, hunted me, knew I had nowhere to run and would take his time mauling me.
Carter was oblivious as Jacob arrived beside him and tipped his chin so his midnight eyes locked onto mine.
There, I saw things I’d been desperate to see for months.
Possession.
Connection.
Want.
And all my silly ideals of agreeing to date a boy who could never replace the one I truly wanted evaporated.
“You finished here?” Jacob said icily, carefully putting his hands in his pockets as if to prevent him from punching Carter.
“Yeah, almost.” Trying to keep the peace, I added, “Carter, you know Jacob Wild, right?”
Carter flinched. “Eh, yeah. Hey, man. You went to school with my older brother, Yan.”
Jacob nodded stiffly.
“Carter kindly offered to show me Clover Waterfall and Sock Gully. Want to come with us?” I kept my tone light and carefree, ignoring the challenge of testosterone flying around.
Carter’s shoulders fell as he looked at me. “Oh, you want to go out in a group?”
I swallowed, keeping a careful eye on Jacob. “If that’s okay? I’m staying with Jacob’s family. They’re my hosts. It’d be rude not to invite him.”
“It would be very rude.” Jacob looked me up and down as if I’d done something unforgivable and he was seconds away from throwing Carter into the horse vitamins.
“Exactly. That’s why I’m inviting you.” I sniffed.
Jacob looked threateningly at Carter. “She has it wrong, by the way. She’s staying with me, not my family. She’s working for me. She’s my employee, and I say if she has free time to go gallivanting around town.”
“Gallivanting around?” I snickered. “There’ll be no gallivanting, Jake. It’s just spending the day outdoors.”
His eyes flashed to mine, heat mixed with annoyance. I knew his irritation was because I’d called him Jake again.
He scowled. “I don’t remember agreeing to give you days off.”
My temper pinched to respond. “I don’t remember signing some slave contract saying I couldn’t.”
Jacob stepped toward me, his heat and electricity frying my senses. “You kinda did when you agreed to work for me until I fired you.”
I matched his step with one of my own, bringing our chests to almost touching. “You’re saying you’ll fire me if I go out with Carter?”
“I’m saying try it and find out.”
“You’re so pig-headed.”
“You’re so naïve.”
“You don’t control me, Jake.”
“You’re my responsibility, Hope.” He pointed at Carter. “Waterfalls can wait. Feeding a mob of hungry horses can’t.”
“Why can’t you just admit you—”
“I won’t admit anything.” Jacob lowered his head, his brow shadowing turbulent eyes. “Why can’t you stop being so damn—”
“Um, this is nice and all.” Carter backed away, hands raised in surrender. “But I’ve got to go.” Throwing me an apologetic look, he said, “Nice meeting you, Hope. I’ll, um, be in touch. Catch you guys around.” He spun on his heel, practically bolting toward another customer for shelter.
“Ugh, now look what you did.” I planted hands on my hips. “You scared him off. He didn’t even get my number.”
“You’re lucky that’s all I did.”
“He was just being nice, Jacob.”
“No, he wasn’t, Hope.” He bit my name like last time. “His older brother is one of those assholes I told you about who promised girls the world just to get into their pants and then dumped them. He’d do the same.”
I shrugged, feeling stupidly bold. “And if I just wanted him to get into my pants?”
Jacob’s face blackened to ash. “Then I’d have to break a few of his fingers for daring to touch you.”
Moving toward him, I sucked in a breath against the sheer intensity he pulsed with. The immense power he had over my body. The undeniable attraction and connection we shared. “You don’t scare me. You wouldn’t hurt anyone without cause.”
He leaned toward me. “Oh, he’d give me cause.”
My stupid heart kicked in a flurry. He was laying claim to me. Making me believe he wanted me and there was something worth fighting for between us.
He couldn’t do that.
He couldn’t lead me on that way.
I wanted to hurt him.
I wanted this over.
My fight tangled with sad resignation. “You can’t have this both ways, you know.”