I smile at her, hoping to soften her a little. "I won't tell if you don't."
She rolls her eyes. "Someone somewhere once told you you're charming and you're still riding that falsehood."
A laugh darts from me. I can't help it. She's as brazen and bold as I thought she'd be. "Are you saying you think I'm charming?"What am I even doing right now?That sounded flirtatious. Because itwas.
"You have seven seconds to explain why you're creeping around on my land." She leans back in the saddle, her T-shirt riding up just enough to show a portion of her creamy skin. "Seven… six…"
I drag my attention back to her countdown. "Did you say this is your land?"
She nods and keeps counting. "Five… four…"
I have no idea what's going to happen when she hits one, but I don't particularly want to find out. I put my hands in the air in an innocent gesture. "Bird-watching."
She halts her countdown and frowns. "Bird-watching?"
I nod.
"I thought you weren't a liar." She forms a circle with her thumb and fingers on her right hand and lifts it to her eye, pretending to peer through. "Just glassing the area."She mimics my lie with an exaggerated voice.
I laugh again. I hadn't imagined her being funny. But the way she's looking at me tells me I should stop laughing and start talking. I point up to a nearby tree. "There's a family of cardinals nesting up there." This is, at long last, the truth. I saw the red bird the last time I came through here, followed by his brown-feathered mate. "Would you like me to point them out?"
She stares down at me. “No. Cardinals are always nesting in these trees this time of year.”
I walk closer and extend a hand. "Are you going to introduce yourself? I don't enjoy finding myself at such a disadvantage."
She stares down at my hand. Now that I'm closer to her, I can see how strong her thighs are, how the jeans look like they were poured onto her body. She has a freckle on her lower lip, and a small, silvery scar on her jaw curves down onto her neck. Instead of shaking my hand, she pulls the reins and the horse listens obediently. It walks her away from me, and I find myself yelling after her, something I don't even think about before I say it. "Does your horse have a name? Can I at least know that?"
She stops. The horse doesn't turn, but she twists her upper half to look back at me. "Hester Prynne."
Of course. “Like the character inThe Scarlet Letter?"
She nods, her hair moving with the motion. "Do you know a different Hester Prynne?"
This small detail tells me so much about her. Except her name. "It fits you," I call out.
Her eyes narrow. "You don't know me."
"Not yet. But I'm about to."
A tiny smile causes one side of her mouth to lift. My heart does a victory dance. My brain flips off my heart.What the hell am I doing?
"Good luck with that, Mr. Bennett." She turns, and the horse carries her away.
I press my knuckles to my mouth and watch her go. I hadn't meant to flirt with her, but it honestly felt impossible not to. Something in her personality calls to mine.
Is it okay? To flirt? To be attracted to someone? With her sitting on her horse in front of me, the answer was a resoundingyes. But now that she's not here, I feel nothing but guilt for my actions.
Curiosity sits alongside the guilt. Who was that woman?
5
Jessie
I have to tell them.I can't keep lying about why I'm back home. And there's also that little problem of why I'm not leaving when the weekend's over.
I'll do it tomorrow. Today is about family. My parents called my brothers and asked them to come over for a barbecue since I'm home and they weren't expecting me.
"Jessie, can you run this over to Cowboy House?" My mom walks into my room holding a casserole dish. "I made enchiladas for the cowboys. I didn't think it was very nice for them to have to smell our barbecue and not be invited." She makes a face and shrugs. "Family only."
