SAFEHOUSE

We walked along to the very ending building, Julien opening the door for me as we walked into the closed stables. The stench hit me like a truck, surprising me. I quickly covered my nose as Julien laughed at me.

“Yes, they are beautiful. But they also smell terrible. Or at least their shit does.”

Ah, I thought. So Mr. classic gentleman has little bit of a foul mouth, does he? Thank God. I was starting to think that he was a robot or something.

We walked along the stalls, Julien pointing the horses out by name.

“This is Jacqueline. She is my horse, or at least the one that I’ve had the longest. She thinks of me as her baby, I think. Bonjour maman! Comment sont l’avoine?”

The horse just snorted at him with what looked like annoyance, and I let out a little laugh.

“Ah, she’s having one of her days I guess. Usually she loves me. Trust me.”

I walked up to her gate to stand next to him, still in disbelief at how powerful the horses looked. Jacqueline was the biggest of them all, but she was beautiful.

“Would you like to touch her?”

My eyes widened. I wasn’t really sure if I was ready for that.

“Um, should I do that while she’s eating? I don’t want her to bite my hand off or anything.”

Julien carefully took my hand, guiding it up to the horse’s backside where her tail was swishing this way and that. His skin was so warm, especially against the chill in the air. I tried hard to focus on Jacqueline’s soft and velvety fur under my fingertips, instead of thinking about the way my skin was tingling from Julien’s touch.

“Wow,” I whispered under my breath.

We stayed there for awhile before finally making our way back up to the château. Halfway there, Julien stopped to answer his phone. I stood and waited quietly, pulling his jacket even tighter around me.

“I apologize for that,” Julien finally said, pocketing the phone.

“Is everything ok?” I asked, noticing the change in his demeanor after the phone call.

“Just business as usual. I have to get back to my office. Do you know your way back to where you left off?”

“Yeah I think I’ll figure it out. I guess I will see you around...”

Something flickered in Julien’s eyes, but he politely nodded at me before walking away up towards the front lawn.

“Wait! You forgot your jacket!” I called out to him, meeting him halfway to hand him his jacket back.

“Thank you. My mind just isn’t completely focused it seems,” he replied, taking off again.

I didn’t know what he was so unfocused about, but I knew why mine was feeling a little cloudy. This man was out of my league, but I’d never been good about coloring inside the lines…

&nb

sp; I sighed as I watched him disappear around the corner, already missing his company. I had a feeling this was going to be a pretty lonely stay.

I was used to being lonely…

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Chapter 9

That evening I had dinner completely by myself. Finishing up, I laid in bed and dialed Agent Wilson’s number on the cell phone he gave to me.

“This is Agent Wilson.”

“Hello there sir, it’s Amira Kyle.”