Being friends wasn’t working.
What had just happened wasn’t going to work either.
So what the fuck did he do now?
15
It was nearing eleven p.m. Friday when Raine returned from an extremely extended happy hour with her cousins and cousins-in-law. Though the barn was visible in her peripheral vision, it took everything she had not to glance over as she drove toward the guest house in her aunt’s Mercedes. She had to be done letting thoughts of Reyes take over every waking moment of her life.
Then she went and disobeyed and scowled out the driver’s side window anyway.
Yep, all the lights above the barn were blazing.
Was he up, or sleeping like a baby? Probably the latter. Because he didn’t have anything to keep him up, did he?
Other than the dark.
She forced her gaze away and parked inside the guest house garage while trying to ignore a twinge of sympathy. He clearly didn’t want any compassion from her. Didn’t seem he wanted anything from her.
It had been four days since Reyes had kissed her in the arena—and she knew damn well that should not be the marker for counting the passage of time. It should be twelve days since she had arrived in Colorado. Or sixteen days until she went home to Texas. Not four flippin’ days since Reyes kissed her when ever since then, he acted like it hadn’t even happened.
Sympathy vanished and a slam of the car door wasn’t the least bit satisfactory.
Every time she walked into the barn, the second she laid eyes on the man, the little anticipatory butterflies in her stomach turned into a whirlwind. She practically drooled when he tossed hay bales around like they weighed five pounds instead of fifty. And yesterday, when he leaned close in the office while going over all the paperwork involved in the horse rescue, she’d had to lean against the desk for support because his outdoorsy, manly scent stole her breath and left her light-headed.
Or it might have been the sight of his exposed forearms lined with veins and thick, sinewy muscles that weakened her knees.
Whatever, it was all downright annoying when he treated her as nothing more than a business acquaintance. Whether he was explaining the adoption procedures Aunt Janine had put in place years ago, or calling out instructions as they worked together with one of the new thoroughbreds, his voice—and the rest of him—remained agonizingly unaffected.
As if he hadn’t seen her half naked in the pool as his erection throbbed against her core. As if he hadn’t kissed her senseless in the arena and hauled her so tight against him she’d felt the thud of his racing heart against her breast.
How the hell did he just turn it off like that?
These days, the only time warmth bled into his voice was when she and Fire had a particularly good run in the arena. Like a dog salivating over a bone, the promise of that glimmer of emotion from him had her working extra hard every day to push herself and her horse to the next level. Hearing the pride in Reyes’ voice when he praised their progress was like being bathed in a brilliant ray of sunshine.
She scrunched up her nose as she tossed her purse on the kitchen island and plugged the charger into her nearly dead phone. “You sound like an idiot, thinking like that.”
Touring Shelby’s Must Love Paws veterinary clinic before relaxing with all the girls on the rooftop bar facing the Rocky Mountains was supposed to have helped her gain some control over her stupid obsession with the man. Instead, she’d listened to Shelby, Celia, Mae, Roxanna, and Honor and found herself reevaluating her life. Well, actually, she’d been thinking about her future since that ride with Reyes her first weekend.
Show jumping didn’t age people out early like many other sports. In fact, many of the top riders were well into their forties, and even their fifties. She could very well have a long and fruitful jumping career if she wanted. She just wasn’t so sure that’s what she wanted anymore. Even after conquering the jump again.
The idea of starting her own rescue gave her a renewed sense of excitement about the future. Something to give her purpose and feel good about at the end of the day.
She started toward the bedroom when her phone buzzed and drew her back to the island counter. The sight of her father’s face on the screen skipped her pulse as she answered the call and put him on speaker. “Hi, Dad. Is everything okay?”
“Of course. Why would you ask that?”
> “Because it’s after eleven?” And for as long as she could remember, he went to bed at nine-forty-five every night like clockwork.
“I just wanted to see how everything is going up there. Are you making progress?”
He voiced it as a question, but the firm expectation in his voice came across almost as a warning. You better be making progress or else.
She wanted to ask, “Or else what, Dad?” Instead, she consciously unclenched her jaw and sucked in a calming breath before answering. “We are. In fact, we’re clearing all the jumps without any more issues.”
Thanks to Reyes. A pulse of warmth spread in her chest even though she was still thoroughly annoyed with the distance he kept between them.
“Good,” her dad replied. “Exactly what I wanted to hear. I’ll call the transport company to schedule your return trip for Monday.”