“Well, I’d waited a long time to be with you, and it wasn’t easy to move past it,” I said as my gaze locked with hers, because it was the truth. “What about you. Did you run back to your horse boy?”
I knew he hadn’t been happy about their breakup, so I’d always assumed he’d be waiting in the wings for her.
“No. Ryan and I are just good friends. And if you remember, our fights were mostly about the fact that he was convinced I was in love with my best friend.”
Hearing those words from her still caused my chest to tighten, even two years later.
“Yeah? So how long did you wait? I mean, you thought I betrayed you that next night, so I won’t be offended that youdidn’t wait long.” I chuckled. “We’ve both moved on. It never should have happened anyway, right?”
She leaned back and looked up at the sky. The sun was shining down on her golden skin, and a little bit of her lace bra was peeking out of her button-up, which dipped down low enough to show the swell of her breasts.
She was avoiding the question, and there could only be one reason for that.
She’d obviously moved on quickly.
“Wow. That bad, huh?” I laughed. “Maybe it’s best you don’t tell me.”
I thought she would laugh. Hell, I understood it. She’d thought I’d taken a woman home the night after we’d been together.
But her head straightened, and she looked me dead in the eyes. “I haven’t been with anyone since you. I mean, sure, I’ve gone on dates and kissed a few guys. But I was busy training, so it’s not like I was out there looking for a roll in the hay with some random dude.”
Mic drop.
We were both quiet as we stared at one another. “Damn, woman. I tell you I waited a year, and you double down and tell me you waited two years. You always did love to beat me.”
She chuckled. “I do love to win, Cowboy.”
But her smile was forced.
And so was mine.
Because neither one of us had forgotten about that night we’d spent together.
fourteen
. . .
Axel
Two yearsago
“Damn, I miss riding with you,” I said as we dropped the horses in their stalls.
“I miss riding with you, too.”
Wren was home, and everything was better when she was here. She’d been pushing hard these last three years, so I didn’t get to see her as often as I was used to. She’d stepped up her game, and she was a big name in the horse world now.
I went to as many of her competitions as I could, and we spoke several times a day. But something had shifted in me this last year whenever I’d see her.
It was more than missing her.
She was a part of me, and I wanted to be with her all the time.
She and Ryan had broken up a few months earlier, and I was surprised to find how completely relieved I was when she’d called to tell me.
I also hadn’t been with anyone since I’d ended things with Megan a few months ago, and I had no desire to, which was weird as hell.
I was a horny dude.
