Josh frowns at me and shakes his head. “No, Luke left early this morning, said he had a flight to catch and to let you know.”
“Huh?” I reply with surprise. “I just thought he’d go and help Max out. Four horses is a lot for one person to manage, especially if they’ve got her working as a stunt rider as well.”
Just then Declan comes back out of the truck and catches the last of my words. “Max has been contracted for stunt riding, but unlike the last set she was on, the lead actress can ride, so it will only be the scenes they’ve deemed too dangerous for her to do. She’ll have a lot more time than she had during the last one, but we do have horse handlers on set. It’s quite an extensive cast, and these aren't the only four horses we’ll be using. They’re just the ones for the leads.”
My eyes raise at that information, and he smirks quickly before it disappears into a neutral expression. “I looked into it when the horses first arrived.”
It makes me smile that he knew I’d want the info, internally of course, because I can’t let him think he’s getting off so easily. It’s unsurprising that Mr. Cool Control knows these things. It must have bugged the crap out of him when Dad questioned him and he didn't know the answers. I’m sure he went out of his way to correct that real quick.
My eyes scan his body, and unlike me, he looks well rested. I kind of resent the fact that our almost interaction didn't weigh on him the way it did me, but I guess after all of yesterday's drama, it would be easy to fall into an exhausted sleep.
“Have you heard anything about Holden this morning?”
“Yeah, I spoke to Dad. He said he’s been trying to call you,” Declan scolds, and I flinch.Oops.
“Fuck, my phone is off, and I forgot to turn it back on once I’d charged it.” I put my boots down and scramble around in my backpack. Finding my phone, I quickly turn it on, and sure enough, it starts to beep with voicemail and message alerts.
“I assured him you were fine and that we were taking the horses today together. He was going to send one of the others back, but we’d have to wait, and we need to get moving if we want to make good time.” While he’s speaking, I close out my message app and throw my phone back into the bag, knowing I’ll go through them all later.
“Holden is much better. His head and shoulder are sore, but landing in the water saved him from banging up his body too much. Now he’s just grumpy because his shoulder hurts, and the pain kept waking him up every time he moved around in his sleep.” I sigh with relief and smile at the thought of him being grumpy. I want to know what sleepy, rumpled, grumpy Holden looks like. I bet it’s sexy.
My eyes meet Declan's green ones, and he must be able to see the heat in mine as his go from disinterested to smoldering and then back again. I think if I had blinked, I would have missed it. The thing is, he can hide it behind the Mr. Cool facade, but I’ve got his number now, and I know how fucking hot he burns.
Now that I think about it, the journey could be interesting. I’m not about to let him go back to Mr. Cool now that I know what's deep down inside. I'm going to use the trip to poke and prod and find out all I can. Declan Summers isn't going to know what hit him.
The rumble of the truck starting has me jumping and breaking our staredown. Josh comes back around, leaving the truck running with the AC going so that the animals don't overheat. “The gear is all loaded, and you’re set to go.” He shakes Declan’s hand and waves goodbye to me before disappearing back into the stables.
“Shall we?” Declan gestures to the truck, but before we can leave, I hear something.
“Wait, hang on, my lieblings.” Mrs. Heyton walks briskly from the house, and when she gets in front of us, she’s breathing heavily. “Goodness, I thought I would miss you! Here.” She holds out a travel mug of coffee to each of us and has a bag hanging over her arm, which she hands to me as well. “I made you both sandwiches, and there are also more drinks in the bag, so you don’t have to worry about finding parking for the truck. You can just stop at a rest area.”
Declan leans in and gives her a kiss, showing that warmth in his eyes that he tends to reserve for only his family or Princess. “You spoil us,” he teases, and she blushes. I follow that up with my own thanks, receiving a fond pat on the cheek in return.
“Make sure you look after this one,” she says sternly to Declan. “Too many bad things have happened already. No more.” His expression turns serious, and he nods.
“Don't worry, she’ll be fine. I won't let her out of my sight.”
She nods and turns away without another word, and we climb into the truck with our food haul.
I pull out my phone for the directions, but Declan already has them in the onboard navigation. As we hit the road, I can’t help but bounce in my seat, a little excited, partly about heading toward the movie set and seeing Max again, and partly because I’ve got this man trapped for the next however many hours, and I’m excited about getting to know him.If he’ll let me.I don't doubt he’s going to make me work for the information, but I don't think he understands that once I set my mind to something, I won’t give up until I achieve it.
Chapter Five
Declan
Climbing into the cab of the truck and closing the door, Harlow is already seated, her unique fragrance surrounding me. My dick perks up the minute that scent hits my nose, and my jeans are tight like they shouldn't be when you have a long drive. I rub a hand across my face in frustration.
“Are you okay?” Her low raspy voice only makes my dick pulse in excitement. I turn to face the cause of the current problem, and she’s looking a little rough herself this morning, which makes me want to smile, but I don't.
It was the hardest thing ever to put her down just before I thrust into her warm heat, but her safety is worth more than a quick fuck. It was even harder not to take her in her friend’s car when I parked it in the garage. I wanted to pull her into my arms and continue what we had started, but there is so much unresolved between us, and if I’m going to do this with her, I’m going to do it right. Even if I think that quick fuck would have been better than anything I’d had in a long time. Harlow really does feel like she could be the missing piece that we need. She’s not going to let any of us get away with any of our shit, and she really doesn't give a crap who we are. I guess all the animosity in the beginning was probably a blessing. It opened her eyes to our flaws and showed her the truth, not just the media image of the Summers brothers. Now we need to work hard on making it all up to her and the other big issue.
I stand by what I’ve been saying—to my brothers, Harlow, and myself—and need to talk to Jacinta. We need to open her eyes to this being the best thing for all of us. We need her to see that Harlow could be the best thing to happen to our family since Dad adopted Oliver and Holden. Honestly, I think my brothers are a little over dramatic and not as observant of Jacinta as they think they are. I don't think winning her over will be too hard. Already, I can see the cracks in Jacinta's brittle veneer. She worries about Harlow's safety as much as any of us. She pretends to be tough, saying it’s exactly what she would do, but I could tell by the way she bit her lip that she was worried. My little sister isn't as indifferent or as angry as she was at the beginning, or sheneverwould’ve asked me to check in when I found Harlow. Jacinta doesn’t waste time on people she doesn’t care about. Ever. Not unless she’s running them off, and wanting to make sure Harlow’s okay? That shows that she just might be done running.
Harlow clears her throat, clueing me in to the fact that I’ve been staring at her this whole time. Her brow is wrinkled with worry lines, so I smile at her, making the strangely adorable lines jump in surprise. “Yeah, sorry. Just worried, got a lot going on in my mind, and I didn’t sleep great last night.”
“Join the club,” she mumbles, tearing her gaze away from mine and digging around in that backpack she carries everywhere before pulling out a battered paperback.
“You can read while on a car ride?” I ask her as I release the hand brake and the truck rolls forward. I start off slow as it’s been a while since I drove the thing, but as we head down the driveway and out of the estate, I’m feeling solid with it again.
