“Do what?”
“Fraternize.”
I burst out laughing. “Fraternize? I haven’t heard that word in… heck, I’ve never heard anyone say that word before.”
“Well, it’s right there in the English dictionary,” she says, a little haughtily. “I’d show you if I had one handy.”
I wave my arms in the air. “That’s okay, sweetheart, I believe you.” I give her a wink for good measure.
“I know you’ve been around horses before, but it’s a little different running a full-time stable.”
“I think I can keep up. Plus, I’m not running it, I’m just assisting.” And boy, don’t I like the sound of that. I raise a brow. “Something tells me you’re not very happy about this. If it makes you uncomfortable, I can leave.” I don’t want to, but I will.
“It’s not that I’m uncomfortable,“ she says hurriedly. “It’s just this is… work.”
Ok, she clearly likes to separate her personal life from work. I of all people get that, more than she probably knows.
“I think I can keep my hands to myself until we clock off. After that? I can’t be so sure.”
Her mouth opens for a fraction of a second. “Very funny.”
I try to dampen down the idea she maybe didn’t want a repeat of last night. And then another thought occurs to me: what if she didn’t enjoy it? I mean, I definitely made her scream more than once, but maybe she was just in the heat of the moment… and now I’m overanalyzing everything.
“I’m honestly not here to interfere. I just want to help.”
The way that she’s so suspicious of me makes me think that she’s been dicked around quite a bit by guys in the past, and that makes me feel bad for her. Not all guys are jerks, but I understand the vast majority can be. My sister tells me all the time how difficult it is out in the dating world. Of that I have no doubt.
It only makes me all the more protective of the women in my life. Not saying that Bailey is in my life, but while she is standing in front of me, in the same town, I will always do the right thing.
She sizes me up, and I try as best as I can to keep a straight face. I get it. She doesn’t know me, just as much as I don’t really know her. But I‘d like to get to know her.
“How about you start with shoveling the horse manure?”
I give her a lopsided smile. “Wow, straight into it. Seems I can’t get away from that smell, no matter how far I travel.”
Her lips twitch, then she passes me a shovel. Just like that. “There you go.”
“Would you look at that? You had it all ready to go.”
“Well, I was about to start cleaning, but if you’re as serious as you say you are, then it’s only fair if we have a trial. I’m very particular about the stables and the horses’ needs.”
A trial!
Could she get any more perfect?
“Yes, ma’am, and so you should be. I get this is your livelihood. I know what it’s like to work under pressure when you’re a crew down.” And I just confessed to Jed and her boss that I’m in love with her. Crap.
She gives me a chin lift. “What do you do back home?”
I swallow hard. Again, I don’t want to lie, and I can’t—not to her. “I’m in the music and entertainment industry.” It’s a version of the truth, I guess.
Her eyes widen in that glorious way of hers. “No shit?”
Before she can ask me anything more, I add, “I do all kinds of stuff, from songwriting to recording and management.” It’s not too much of a stretch since I just ditched my current manager, I just left the part about singing out. “A jack of all trades, if you will.”
“I know the feeling, but as you know, work on a farm never ends.”
“Nothin’ like gettin’ up with the sun on a beautiful day.”
