“I don’t know them well enough to say I want to date them or not.” She stopped her horse next to him.
“Isn’t that what dating’s about? Getting to know someone.” He looked serious, the usual joviality wasn’t there.
She looked away from him, knowing he was right and not wanting to admit it. “You have to have a reason to start to date them first.”
“True. Which is usually you’re attracted to them, or someone’s fixed you up.”
Jake’s eyes looked incredibly blue right now, the slight lines around them from when he laughed were still. He was watching her, his gaze seemingly understanding more about her than what she’d said.
“Why are you single? You’re hardly bad to look at, you can hold a conversation and you aren’t looking to max out someone’s credit card.” He said the words with a salty smile, one that matched hers.
Lainey bit her tongue. She hadn’t told many people just how bad her ex had been. Some of her family had seen it for themselves, heard how he’d spoken to her in a bar back in London, but it had only been to Imogen she’d told everything. She’d been ashamed she’d let someone treat her that way, made her feel small, not just once but several times and she’d blamed herself.
She knew she shouldn’t blame herself.
“You make me sound like such a catch.” She managed a smile with it as she knew Jake wasn’t trying to make it sound that way.
His grin this time was full of humour. “Seriously, why aren’t you attached? Or at least have some poor bloke desperate for your attention.”
“I have you, don’t I?”
He nodded as a response. She wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“You’re desperate for my attention?” She pressed, wanting to push him to see if she could get him to bend.
“Stop trying not to answer.”
“Let’s carry on riding, shall we?” She didn’t want to face him if she was going to tell him about Hugo.
They both set off, the horses content to take a leisurely pace along the incline. It was a clear day, the peaks visible along the horizon with bands of sunlight cast over them.
“I was seeing someone. Hugo…”
“That’s not a great name.”
Lainey shook her head. Shay had said the same thing.
“He was really nice at first. Complementary and fun. I didn’t think it was going to be a long-term thing – I knew I was going to be moving up here – but he started being a dick about it, making comments about how I was lucky to have him interested in me and all that.” She paused, stealing a look at Jake, wanting to see his reaction to what she’d said.
“I know I’m not going to like what you tell me, but how much am I not going to like it? Enough to go and punch his lights in?” Jake’s tone was lighter than his words, but Lainey could tell he meant what he said.
“He didn’t lay a finger on me. He just made me feel like shit. He’d put me down in front of his friends, who’d laugh, and he’d just tell me it was a bit of fun. He made comments about what I wore, and told me that I could do with a boob job…”
“Going to interrupt there to say having had first-hand experience, you really don’t. Your tits are spectacular.”
“Thanks.” Her laugh was genuine. A little spark of excitement tingled through her. “I know what he was doing: he was putting me down to make himself feel better and more powerful – all of that. I think I knew that at the time, but I didn’t end it.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
“You sound like you should be a therapist.” He really didn’t but he was trying.
She saw him shrug. “You’re gorgeous. You have an amazing career and you’re fun. He was the dick. You know that so believe it.”
“Thank you.” She gave it a few seconds. “Why are you single? If the legend is true, you could have any woman in the seven towns.”
Jake shook his head. “The legend isn’t true. There are plenty of women, such as yourself, who would never go out with me because of that very legend. And I’m too busy for anything more than a good time.” He looked over at her. “You know the times I keep. I’m up early and sometimes work doesn’t finish until midnight or later, or you can be up all night with an animal. Who wants to put up with that? Most women around here want a man who has regular hours so he can take her out or be there to do stuff, and that won’t happen with me.”
“Do you want it to?”
