“Please.” She put her phone on my desk and then reached down for her purse. It was a huge thing, but I hadn’t noticed it because my attention was all on her. A buff colored folder appeared from inside and was placed next to the phone.
“More camp stuff?” I asked, placing the coffee in front of her.
Glancing up at me, she sighed. “Yeah, my stupid laptop decided to die. I took it to the IT repair place in Clementine Hills, but he’s not convinced he can rescue it. It is old to be fair, so I probably need to invest in a new one.”
“That’s shit.” I took my seat opposite her. “So, what’s in the folder?”
“Oh, it’s some details about the camp,” she pushed it toward me, “I at least managed to print it off before the laptop died. I found this app that can create images from the description that you input. So,” she started to flick through the pages and pulled out some photographs.
They were clearly computer generated but depicted how the camp and stables could look. One image showed a state of the art stable block with two horses in showers, while the other was the interior of the building where the kids would sleep. There were bunks and a kitchen area, as well as a sofa and bean bags.
“They were just something I was messing around with, but it will give us some ideas when we speak to the architect for thebuilding for the kids.” She looked up at me. Her eyes tentative. “The stables obviously don’t need changing.”
“I don’t know. I quite like the idea of those horse showers. Some of the ranch horses get really dirty when they’re working. It would be great.” I looked closer and made a mental note to investigate it further. As Cassidy leaned in next to me I caught the scent of her light and fresh perfume that seemed to cling to her. Her shoulder brushed mine as she pointed at the picture.
“Right here is where we could put a little classroom maybe, so the kids can learn about horse anatomy, or training programs. Basic stuff, though.”
I nodded and found myself leaning toward her, not to see the picture better but simply to be closer. It was a bad idea because suddenly the ground shifted beneath me.
“What else you got?” I asked, straightening up to create distance between us.
As if she felt it, too, Cassidy quickly shuffled to the side. “A-a spreadsheet of the um, the permits and their um status,” she said, stumbling over her words. “A list of things that we need to buy and the email addresses and mobile numbers of the contractors we already have on board. Then this,” she searched through the papers and picked another out, “this is a list of possible investors. The ones we discussed with everyone the other night, plus some others that I looked up online who invest in similar projects.”
“That’s fantastic, Cassidy.” I looked up to see her looking at me tentatively. “Honestly, it’s great. Thank you.”
“I hope I haven’t overstepped.”
“Not at all.” It felt strange that she hadn’t given me shit about it but instead was worried about upsetting me. Normally we’d be verbally battling by now. Since the kisses, though, things had changed. How I felt about her had changed. “How was yourdate?” No fucking idea where that thought came from, but it was too late, I’d asked the question I’d been determined not to ask.
“Date?” She picked up her coffee and took a sip, giving a satisfied moan. One that made me wonder what her other moans sounded like. “What date?”
“You went to Downtown last night. Said you were meeting someone.”
“Oh, that. Yes I was meeting Lola Michaels, who works at the library. I read to a group of kids once a month and she wanted to thank me with a nice bottle of wine.”
“A nice bottle of wine in Downtown Bar & Grill. Is that even possible?”
“It was actually okay. I think Delaney has upped his game.”
Rubbing my hands together, I wondered why my stomach was churning even though I now knew she hadn’t been on a date.
“You had a nice evening then?”
“Lovely, thanks. What did you do last night?”
“Early bedtime. We were up at three-thirty this morning.”
Cassidy nodded and cleared her throat and suddenly everything felt awkward. Not awkward as such but different, like the bickering between us was easier than being friends. Like a couple of kisses has turned the world on its head, but then again wasn’t that what great kisses were supposed to do. Didn’t I need to do something with that knowledge? I liked discomfort, I relished being outside my comfort zone, so why the hell was this with Cassidy fucking with my head?
Because I was afraid she’d reject me. Because what if I didn’t light a fire within her like the one she lit within me?
Fuck it. “Talking of nice wine, I was wondering whether maybe you’d like to go out one night. For a drink.” I swallowed and licked my lips, waiting for what felt like an eternity for her to reply. “I know it’s probably?—”
“Yes, I’d like that.”
Her hand rested on her breastbone, delicate fingers splayed out underneath the long, slim column of her neck and I thought I saw a tremble to them. As my eyes lingered on them, she instantly dropped her hand to the desk, edging it toward her phone.
“We could talk some more about the camp.”
