As I approached the large wooden double doors with panels of stained glass, I tried to see if I could peek in, but I couldn’t see anything. I listened as the doorbell chimed through the house and was happy to see Lucy, Maddie’s sister, open the door.
Lucy had her dark hair pulled back into a tight bun. She wore the crisp grey uniform all Abernathy house employees wore. Maddie and Lucy had spent most of their lives at the ranch since their mother worked there when they were children. Since she didn’t always have sitters, she brought the girls to work with her. Once they were old enough, they started working there too.
“Tara! What are you doing here?” she whispered as she stepped outside and closed the door behind her.
“I’m here to talk to old man Abernathy. I heard he’s giving the manager job to his son. So I’m here to give him a piece of my mind.”
“Well then, come in I guess. He’s in the study with Mrs. Abernathy and Mason.”
Lucy opened the door wide, and for the first time I got a glimpse at the inside of Abernathy Manor. As I stepped past the doorway, my eyes were drawn to the glass wall ahead of me. On the other side of the glass was an open courtyard framed by balconies from the second floor of the house. In the courtyard was a lush garden with a seating area and a fountain. I had never seen anything like it inside a house.
“This is your first time here, isn’t it?” Lucy asked, but didn’t wait for me to answer. “You have to see this.” She opened a small panel in the wall by the door and pressed something. With a gentle whir, the glass wall slowly slid open as the panels disappeared.
“Holy shit,” I said under my breath.
“I love that. Trust me when I say you don’t want to be the person who left it open when it starts raining.” She tapped the button again and the glass began moving in the opposite direction, closing the wall. “Come this way, I’ll take you to Mr. Abernathy’s study.”
I finally understood why Maddie warned that the house was overwhelming. Everywhere I looked there was something that caught my eye and made me forget why I was there. Not only that, but the obvious wealth in the house made me feel out of place. The home I lived in with my parents could easily fit into that courtyard with room to spare. The thought reminded me why I was there and even though it made me angry, I focused on that and not the lavishness of Abernathy Manor.
“That’s his study over there with the double doors,” Lucy said. “I’d love to stick around, but I need to check on dinner.”
Lucy ran off down the hall before I could say anything. I pushed my shoulders back and held my head up high as I walked towards the large double doors. As I approached, I heard raised voices coming from the other side. I recognized Mrs. Abernathy’s and her husband’s voices immediately. There was one more voice I didn’t know, but that only left one person—their spoiled son, Mason.
“No,” Mrs. Abernathy said. “You’ve been away for six years now, first with college and then graduate school. Not once did you come home in all that time. I am not letting you spend another year away, especially not all the way in Germany.”
“I wasn’t asking for permission, Mother. I was telling you that I’m going,” Mason said.
“Mason, you know your father isn’t well and—”
“Do not talk about me like I’m not here,” Mr. Abernathy said. “Now Mason, as my son, you know I’m expecting you to take care of everything here once I’m gone.”
“Dad, don’t start.”
“It’s the truth. I can’t sit here and pretend I’m immortal.” Mr. Abernathy laughed. “You’re twenty-four years old and you’ll do whatever you want to do. I’m glad I raised you to be your own man. But my time is limited, so I’m asking you to take some time to work here. I need you to learn the business. I need to know that you can take care of it once I’m gone.”
In the four years that I had been working there, old man Abernathy lived up to what we called him. We didn’t mean any disrespect, it was just our way of letting off steam from working for someone we rarely saw. None of us knew exactly how old Mr. Abernathy was, but he was frail and gaunt and looked like his wife’s father instead of her husband. Considering he rebuilt Abernathy Manor more than forty years ago, we knew he had to be up there.
The voices in the study had calmed down, but instead of knocking to tell them I was there, I leaned closer to one of the doors and pressed my ear against it. The door swung open, knocking me off balance, but instead of falling I was caught by a pair of muscular arms.
I looked up to see who the arms belonged to and saw a rugged, tanned face smiling at me. He had a closely cropped beard, short dark hair, and warm light brown eyes. As he helped set me onto my feet his smile grew, revealing dimples.
“You should watch where you’re going, sweetheart. I might not always be around to catch you,” he said.
My breath caught in my throat and my blood rushed to my cheeks. I couldn’t believe how gorgeous and cocky this man was. My initial reaction was to flirt back with him, but then I realized who he was—Mason Abernathy, the reason I had to continue working my ass off.
“My name isn’t sweetheart and the last thing I need is for you to catch me,” I said.
“If you say so, but that’s not how it looked to me," Mason said as he walked past.
“Asshole,” I muttered.
Mrs. Abernathy was an overly thin woman with silvery grey short hair and a pointed nose that turned up slightly at the tip. She eyed me up and down with her eyebrows raised and disdain covering her face.
“I didn’t hear anyone announce you. Do they just let anyone in nowadays?” she said as she turned towards her husband.
“Iris, can you please give us a moment?” Mr. Abernathy said. “I think I know what this is about.”
Her lips curled as she walked past me and out the door. Mr. Abernathy sat behind an oversized desk that would have dwarfed most rooms, but was almost lost in this one. He was a slight man with wispy grey hair and glasses. Whenever I saw him he wore a perfectly tailored suit, and today was no exception. Behind him were floor to ceiling bookshelves, and for a moment I forgot again why I was there as I tried to read some of the titles.
“I’m sorry to barge in on you, Sir,” I said.
“No, Tara, you should have heard the news from me and not from the rumor mill. This is my fault. Please sit down.” He cleared his throat and drummed his fingers on the desk as I sat in an oversized chair facing the desk. “I’ll be honest with you, but I’m sure this won’t make you feel any better. Until Mason returned, I had planned to give you the manager job.”
“Then why not just let me have it?”
He sighed. “He’s my son, and one day all of this will be his. He needs to learn the ropes whether he wants to or not,” he muttered. “I need your help though. I need you to show him the ropes.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said as I stood up. “No, there’s no way I’m going to help him with the job that should have been mine.”
“You’re a hard worker, Tara. Mason isn’t going to stay here for good. I know him. He’ll be here a couple of months tops and then he’ll be gone again. Just be patient. The job will be yours once he’s gone.”
I sat back down and steadily met his gaze. I loved working at the ranch and he knew it. He also knew I was supporting my family at home. Mr. Abernathy had always been a fair man, but the thought of having to work alongside that cocky, beautiful man that was his son pissed me off. I wasn’t going to do something stupid though.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” I said.
Present Day
Ashley laughed. “You didn’t hate him.”
“I did,” I said, holding back my laughter. “He was so perfect and confident, nothing like me. I couldn’t stand him.”
“Then how did you two end up together?” Ashley’s phone lit up and buzzed on top of the table. “Just a second, it’s Xander,” she said as she brought the phone up to her ear.
I left the table to give her some privacy and ma
de my way to the cash register at the front of the cafe. The manager, a petite blonde with a kind face, smiled at me.
“Hi Amy, I’ll take care of our check,” I said.
“It’s already taken care of,” she said.
“What do you mean?” I looked back at the table where Ashley was juggling her phone while digging in her purse for her wallet.
She widened her brown eyes as they met mine and then her eyes darted towards the door. I followed her gaze to the glass doors and spotted Mason standing outside.
Dammit! I can’t believe he’s here.
“He made me promise to not tell you he’s waiting for you,” Amy said. “I hope that was alright.”
“It’s fine,” I said, letting out a deep sigh. “I have to deal with him eventually.”
Ashley put her phone away, took one last sip of her water, and joined me at the register with her wallet in hand.
“Please don’t tell me you paid,” she said.
“I didn’t get to. Looks like Mason tracked me down.”
Ashley looked past me and smiled. “He’s just waiting there for you,” she said.
“He got here shortly after you did,” Amy said. “He’s been standing there for over an hour.”
I shook my head. “Crazy sonofabitch,” I said. “You asked how we ended up together? That’s exactly how.” I pointed at him then turned back towards Ashley and Amy. “He’s stubborn. He doesn’t take no for an answer. He always gets what he wants. He’s demanding and infuriatingly handsome.”
“You’re going to go out to dinner with him, aren’t you?” Ashley asked.
“I don’t think I have a choice.”
“I don’t think you want a choice. You still love him, don’t you?”
I nodded my head slowly. “I never stopped.”
Chapter Two
Tara
As I pushed the door open, Mason turned around and opened it further. He smiled at me, making soft wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and exposing his dimples. My heart did that annoying lurch it always did whenever I saw him, making me gasp slightly for air.
I smiled back at him as I took a deep breath. Seeing him again was like taking a step back in time. Only this time I promised myself I wouldn't give him my heart. It still hurt from the last time he had it.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ashley,” I said as I turned to hug her.
She hugged me back tightly. “I’m expecting details,” she whispered before letting go.
As she got into her car, I turned towards Mason and his piercing gaze.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I said. “You know I’ve always hated that.”
“I have a lot of time to make up for. And I know you, you’re going to make this hard on me.”
“You deserve it to be hard on you.”
“That’s debatable,” he said as his hand touched my lower back. “I’ll drive you home.”
“Who said I needed a ride?”
“I know Ashley was your ride. How do you think I got here?”
We walked to his car, a black Tesla, a fancy electric car I had seen recently in a magazine. It was just like Mason to be more concerned about the environment than wasting his money on something extravagant.
“Have you been following me?” I asked with a laugh.
“Some would call it stalking,” he said, his dimples deepened as he grinned.
“You’re really something else, you know that?”
“I do. It’s why you’ve never forgotten about me.”
“I definitely didn’t forget how cocky you are.”
“Tara, it’s been fifteen years and you still look at me the same way you did all that time ago.”
“Maybe you’re seeing things.”
“Maybe I am. Or maybe I’m seeing what I know you see in me. I know how I look at you. It’s the same way I’ve always looked at you.”
“Like a starved wolf.” I laughed nervously. Why was he being so serious? What was going on?
“If I’m starved, it’s because I’m only hungry for you. You’re the only one who has ever made me feel this way. Ever.”
They were the words I had dreamed about hearing, but I wasn’t ready for them. My heart fluttered in my chest with a mixture of happiness and pain. I didn’t know what his words meant. Was he serious?
“I’m not ready for this,” I said as I looked out the window of the moving car.
“What do you mean? I’ve spent all this time thinking about you, hoping that one day fate would bring us together again, and it has.”
“We just got back together. Wait, what am I saying? We’re not even together. This is the first time we’ve seen each other in months.”
He had me so confused I didn’t know what I was saying or thinking anymore.
“I’m tired of wasting time, Tara,” he said as he pulled the car over. He turned to face me, and his eyes were intense and his jaw was set. “I am taking you out to dinner tomorrow night. I will not take no for an answer.”
“But--”
“No buts. It’s just dinner. If what I think is still there between us, then maybe it’ll be something more. If I’m wrong, at least we’ll get a nice meal out of it.” He turned the car back onto the road, then stole a glance at me. “Go ahead, say it.”
“You’re still the same cocky sonofabitch, aren’t you?” I asked, barely hiding my smile.
He laughed softly. “The same son of a bitch you fell in love with. The one who hopes you might still feel the same way.”
It was funny how long ago the time felt, but my feelings made me feel like everything just happened yesterday. It was all right on the surface waiting as if something deep down said that one day we would meet again. One day I’d feel everything for him anew. What I never expected was that fifteen years after we first met, he would be the same man who once swept me off my feet.
Fifteen Years Ago
I arrived at the ranch early in the morning. Today was Mason Abernathy’s first day and as much as I had heard how he had worked the ranch before, I didn’t expect much hard labor from that entitled jerk.
My stomach dropped as I approached the main stable and saw that the doors were wide open. I remembered locking up before I left the night before, but what if there was a break in? Each of those horses was worth more than I’d probably make in my life.
As I ran into the stable, Mason exited one of the stalls near the entry. My boots slipped on some hay. I was moving too fast to gain my footing on the wood floor when his arms wrapped around me.
“So far so good,” he said, holding me close as his mouth spread into a smile. “Seems I am always around to catch you.”
“Let me go,” I said as I pushed him away.
“Until next time.” He raised his eyebrows and grinned.
I stepped back from him and tried to collect myself, but my damn heart kept pounding whenever I thought about his catching me.
Maybe I need to slip on some hay again.
I shook my head to get the thought out of my mind and finally noticed how Mason filled out his jeans. He was wearing an ivory t-shirt that was a little damp from sweat, making it cling to his muscular chest.
Maybe I need a roll in the hay.
I looked around the stable, trying to get my mind off of undressing my new boss, and mentally counted the horses. They were quiet as they ate.
“You’re here early,” I said, forcing myself to not end my sentence with a question mark.
“I like taking care of them before the heat of the day becomes too much.”
“You didn’t have to do this. You’re the manager, I would’ve taken care of it.”
“That’s not how I work,” he said. “Listen, I can only imagine what you think of me. I’ve been called a cocky bastard, a spoiled handsome asshole, and I’m sure that’s exactly what you think of me.”
Despite not wanting to react, I found myself nodding.
“See, I know. And I don’t mind it, I am a cocky bastard. And handsome.�
�� He smiled and his dimples made another appearance. “Remember you agreed to that too.”
“I did not!”
“You did. And I have all these horses as my witnesses.” He took his cowboy hat off the hook and put it on. “Let’s go for a ride. I’m not taking no for an answer.”
His eyes were warm and trusting and despite how much I wanted to continue disliking him, he was winning me over.
“Okay, but you have to let me lead,” I said.
“Not a problem, I’ll be enjoying the view.”
He wiggled his brow at me then walked out of the stable towards the round pen. Inside the pen was a young man I hadn’t seen before. He was tall with dark wavy hair and as he cleaned, it was obvious he had done this before.
“Rafa, get the two horses.” Mason called to him.
“Who’s he?” I asked, keeping an eye on the boy as he entered the stable.
“Part time help. He’s the real reason I came home.”
“He’s a little young. Is he yours?” I asked, surprised.
Mason laughed. “No. His sister is a good friend of mine and asked me to help him out. He's been getting into a bit of trouble lately.”
Rafa led two horses to us and Mason took their reins. I climbed onto one of the horses and trotted down the path that led to the hills surrounding the ranch. Mason rode alongside me when the path was wide enough and slipped behind when it narrowed.
The ride was just what I needed to clear my mind. I breathed in the fresh air and decided to put aside any of my hard feelings about Mason getting the job over me.
We rode in silence, just taking in the rolling hills and the dark green leaves of the trees. As we approached a clearing, Mason went ahead and dismounted before taking the reins of my horse and helping me down.
“We need to talk,” he said. “My father didn’t handle this as well as he should have.”
With the horses grazing, Mason and I looked across the valley as the sun made its way further into the sky.
“He wants you to learn the business,” I said, thinking about my conversation with him.
Won’t Fall Again Page 3