Which meant it would be stupid to imagine her in any way as part of his new-found desire for more in his life.
Dev carried the last of the dirty plates to set on the counter for Asher to wash, then grabbed a towel to help dry. “It would appear you and Raine called a truce,” he observed in a low voice.
“For the most part.”
“A truce?” Merit glanced over. “What were you two fighting about?”
Reyes grimaced. Talking about Raine in front of Merit and Asher—and damn it, here came Loyal—was not something he wanted to do. “Not fighting. More like not seeing eye to eye on her training. It’s fine though. We’re good.”
“Well, I don’t envy you. Raine can be stubborn as all hell.” Merit handed him another dish as Loyal leaned his butt against the island. “When we were visiting them in Texas one summer, we were all playing hide and seek and ended up looking for her until after midnight.”
“I remember that,” Loyal groused.
“Did she get lost?” Reyes asked.
“No.” Asher chuckled. “She just refused to come out until we found her.”
“Even after we called out the game was over.”
“I think she was six at the time,” Loyal said. “We were all worried she was lost and afraid in the dark, but when she found out she was the last to be found, she declared victory.”
“Uncle Matt always said she takes after her name.” Asher and Merit exchanged a smile and they both said together, “Can’t stop rain.”
Reyes shifted his gaze to Raine just as her head whipped around.
“Oh my God—what are you guys talking about?” she hollered from the other side of the kitchen.
“Want to play hide and seek?” Merit teased.
She rolled her eyes, though a smile tugged at her lips. “Say what you want, I beat all of you guys and my brothers that night.”
Loyal pushed away from the island and went to lift Maverick out of Robert’s arms. “First and last time we ever played hide and seek with Raine. But we’ll play with you some day, little man.”
The baby grinned, drool wetting his chin as well as the hand stuffed in his mouth. He was six months old, but having been born seven weeks early, he and Ava were near the same size despite the two months difference between their birthdays.
“It’s not my fault you guys were sore losers,” Raine retorted.
Celia and Shelby jumped into the fray as the cousins continued to tease each other while Grandma Irene tossed in a story or two about Raine’s dad and the senator. Reyes kept drying, smiling as he listened to them joke about her side of the family’s ridiculous obsession with dares. It made him think of when she smacked him across the face last week.
“You know what you’re doing?”
Reyes winced at his brother’s low voice beside him. He didn’t need to ask what Dev meant; he heard the real question in his tone.
“We’re friends,” he said, as much for his brother as himself.
“You don’t look at her like a friend.”
Yeah, Dev saw him watching her. Wanting her.
What he didn’t know was how damn hard he was fighting to not fall for her.
14
Reyes mentally psyched himself up for the Monday morning session with Raine while turning the horses out and cleaning stalls. Being friends with her, getting to know her and really liking who she was wasn’t working for him.
Or, more accurately, it was working too well.
Yesterday, he’d left shortly after brunch and stayed away from the estate until evening chores. Today, his goal was to get her over the damn jump. The sooner she was over it and back to her regular training schedule, the sooner she could go home, and the less danger he would be in.
The light tick of boot heels on cement gave him a three second warning before Raine called out, “Good morning!”
Damn it, she was early. Though, to be fair, she’d been early every single morning.
Reyes glanced up as she came to a stop at the stall door, one hand hooked around the beam that rose to the rafters as she leaned into the opening, her braid dangling over her shoulder. He tried, but couldn’t stop his gaze from taking in the snug fit of her white T-shirt, black breeches, and shiny black boots.
“Where’d you go yesterday?” she asked as he threw another scoop of dirty bedding into the wheel barrow.
“Out.”
It came out harsher than he intended, and surprise flickered in her expression before she lifted her chin slightly. “Well, Fire and I went for another ride yesterday. Just the two of us, and it was nice.”
“Good. Then you should be all ready to work today.”
“I’ve been ready to work every day.” Resentment edged her voice.
“And yet there you stand.”
He expected her to whirl around and storm off. Instead, she straightened and pinned him with her gaze. “So, that’s how you’re going to play it? Like this weekend never happened?”
“Nothing did happen.”
Except it had. They’d spent most of Friday and Saturday together, and Sunday brunch, all without a single note of animosity. Friendship had definitely been in the works.
“All right then,” she said. “My mistake.”
He had to turn away from the hurt in her eyes and was relieved when he heard her footsteps retreat. He finished cleaning the stall before meeting her out in the arena at eight a.m., where she and Fire were already warming up.
Keeping his tone businesslike, he called out instructions and suggestions on a few of their sloppier efforts. When she avoided the vertical jump on the first round, he let it pass. After the second pass, he huffed out a sigh under his breath.
“You can’t keep avoiding the jump, Raine.”
“I’m working up to it,” she shot back with an icy glare.
“I thought you were a professional, but I could dare you if that helps.”
“I don’t need you to dare me.”
The elevated tone of her voice revealed her anxiety. Reyes raked a hand through his hair as he raised his hand for her to stop. When she reined her horse to a halt in front of him, he moved closer to stroke the gelding’s neck while looking up at her.
“You know this is all in your head, right?” Anger flashed in her expression, and he reached his other hand to rest on her knee. “I’m not saying what you’re feeling isn’t valid, but physically, there’s nothing keeping you from doing this.”
“You think I don’t know that? I hate this as much as everyone else.” As soon as the words were out, she averted her gaze. Her fingers held the reins in a death grip, and her gelding sidled sideways a step before she halted him.
Reyes moved close again. “Do you trust Fire?”
“Of course I do.”
He shook his head at her automatic reply. “I’m not looking for the answer you think I want to hear. Think about it first, then tell me if you truly trust your horse.”
Her gaze held his for a long moment before she leaned forward, almost hugging the gelding’s neck as she rubbed her palm over his shiny coat. “Yes, I trust him.”
“Then let him take you over the jump. Don’t worry about counting strides or anything else. Close your eyes if you have to. Just give him the reins and let him take you over.”
Raine slowly sat up straight in the saddle. The breath she released was uneven, her gaze apprehensive, but she nodded. He gave her knee an encouraging squeeze a second before she pivoted Fire away. She cantered him around the arena once and then lined up with the jump.
“Don’t think about it,” Reyes whispered. “Just ride.”
His pulse pounded hard with each stride Fire took toward the jump. Raine’s posture was tense, but her rhythm with the horse was matched perfectly. The closer they got, the farther he leaned in, willing them to sail right over.
It’s time.
Come on, Raine. You got this.
One stride before the vertical, she bent forward over Fire’s neck—and Reyes’ gut clenched
when he saw how far. Too far. Her gelding took the jump, but his front feet nicked the top rail, bouncing it from the cups holding it in place. As he came down on the other side with a hard stumble, Raine pitched forward way too far to keep her seat.
Sonofabitch!
Reyes took off at a dead run, heart jammed up into his throat when he saw her leave the saddle. He shouldn’t have pushed her. If she got hurt because of him—
Fire came to a choppy halt with Raine bear-hugging his neck, her body dangling in front of him. Reyes reached them as she let go to put her feet on the ground. He gripped her shoulders to turn her toward him, his frantic gaze searching for any injuries.
“You okay? Are you hurt?”
Despite her head shake, her eyes shimmered with tears. Her whole body shook as he pulled her into his arms. He hugged her tight in an attempt to ward off a huge wave of guilt. If her legs had gotten tangled up in Fire’s—
“I’m okay.” Raine’s voice was muffled against his chest with her helmet tucked under his chin.
“I shouldn’t have pushed so hard.”
“It’s okay.” When he instinctively tightened his hold, she added, “Really. And we finally made it over, at least.”
“Yeah, you did.” Major relief allowed a small smile. “I’m proud of you. Though, I would not recommend doing it that way in competition.”
She gave his chest a little shove and snuck a hand up to wipe at her cheek. “Don’t make fun of me.”
“Never.” He leaned back to assure her that’s not what he intended. Seeing the tremulous smile on her lips, his breath caught. When her lashes rose and her still-teary gaze met his, all rational thought fled.
He lifted both hands to her face as he crushed his mouth down on hers.
All the emotions jumbled up inside him—relief she hadn’t been hurt, days of wanting this, and more—and it all took him from zero to sixty in seconds flat.
He angled his head to deepen the kiss, and Raine was right there with him. Her tongue met his stroke for stroke while her fingers fisted in his shirt, hanging on and pulling him closer at the same time.
A hint of mint teased his senses and had him searching for more. He swept his hands down her back, molding her curves to his chest, cupping her ass in those second-skin breeches. Her breathy little whimper penetrated the foggy haze of desire. The needy sound made his pulse surge in excitement while at the same time it gave him a cold dousing of reality.
Nothing had changed between them. If anything, now that she’d conquered the jump, she’d likely be leaving sooner.
Reyes forced himself to drag his mouth from hers. “I’m sorry,” he breathed roughly. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
She went completely still. The hands fisted in his shirt tightened for a moment, then flattened and pushed against his chest. Reminded he still held her tight against him, Reyes let go and stepped back so she was out of reach.
“No…we shouldn’t have,” she agreed.
Her use of we took equal blame, and when her darkened gaze rose to his, it took everything he had not to claim her glistening, swollen lips with his once more. “I’m sorry.”
“You said that already.” Jaw tight, she reached for the reins. “Forget it.”
Fat chance of that.
“I’m going to do flatwork for a bit and then maybe try the jump one more time.”
He nodded, but she’d already turned back to her horse. He gave her a leg up into the saddle, then moved to the center of the arena to do the job Mark was paying him to do. Fortunately, Raine was focused on her job, because his thoughts were racing like mad.
Being friends wasn’t working.
What had just happened wasn’t going to work either.
So what the fuck did he do now?
15
It was nearing eleven p.m. Friday when Raine returned from an extremely extended happy hour with her cousins and cousins-in-law. Though the barn was visible in her peripheral vision, it took everything she had not to glance over as she drove toward the guest house in her aunt’s Mercedes. She had to be done letting thoughts of Reyes take over every waking moment of her life.
Then she went and disobeyed and scowled out the driver’s side window anyway.
Yep, all the lights above the barn were blazing.
Was he up, or sleeping like a baby? Probably the latter. Because he didn’t have anything to keep him up, did he?
Other than the dark.
She forced her gaze away and parked inside the guest house garage while trying to ignore a twinge of sympathy. He clearly didn’t want any compassion from her. Didn’t seem he wanted anything from her.
It had been four days since Reyes had kissed her in the arena—and she knew damn well that should not be the marker for counting the passage of time. It should be twelve days since she had arrived in Colorado. Or sixteen days until she went home to Texas. Not four flippin’ days since Reyes kissed her when ever since then, he acted like it hadn’t even happened.
Sympathy vanished and a slam of the car door wasn’t the least bit satisfactory.
Every time she walked into the barn, the second she laid eyes on the man, the little anticipatory butterflies in her stomach turned into a whirlwind. She practically drooled when he tossed hay bales around like they weighed five pounds instead of fifty. And yesterday, when he leaned close in the office while going over all the paperwork involved in the horse rescue, she’d had to lean against the desk for support because his outdoorsy, manly scent stole her breath and left her light-headed.
Or it might have been the sight of his exposed forearms lined with veins and thick, sinewy muscles that weakened her knees.
Whatever, it was all downright annoying when he treated her as nothing more than a business acquaintance. Whether he was explaining the adoption procedures Aunt Janine had put in place years ago, or calling out instructions as they worked together with one of the new thoroughbreds, his voice—and the rest of him—remained agonizingly unaffected.
As if he hadn’t seen her half naked in the pool as his erection throbbed against her core. As if he hadn’t kissed her senseless in the arena and hauled her so tight against him she’d felt the thud of his racing heart against her breast.
How the hell did he just turn it off like that?
These days, the only time warmth bled into his voice was when she and Fire had a particularly good run in the arena. Like a dog salivating over a bone, the promise of that glimmer of emotion from him had her working extra hard every day to push herself and her horse to the next level. Hearing the pride in Reyes’ voice when he praised their progress was like being bathed in a brilliant ray of sunshine.
She scrunched up her nose as she tossed her purse on the kitchen island and plugged the charger into her nearly dead phone. “You sound like an idiot, thinking like that.”
Touring Shelby’s Must Love Paws veterinary clinic before relaxing with all the girls on the rooftop bar facing the Rocky Mountains was supposed to have helped her gain some control over her stupid obsession with the man. Instead, she’d listened to Shelby, Celia, Mae, Roxanna, and Honor and found herself reevaluating her life. Well, actually, she’d been thinking about her future since that ride with Reyes her first weekend.
Show jumping didn’t age people out early like many other sports. In fact, many of the top riders were well into their forties, and even their fifties. She could very well have a long and fruitful jumping career if she wanted. She just wasn’t so sure that’s what she wanted anymore. Even after conquering the jump again.
The idea of starting her own rescue gave her a renewed sense of excitement about the future. Something to give her purpose and feel good about at the end of the day.
She started toward the bedroom when her phone buzzed and drew her back to the island counter. The sight of her father’s face on the screen skipped her pulse as she answered the call and put him on speaker. “Hi, Dad. Is everything okay?”
“Of course. Why would you ask that?”
> “Because it’s after eleven?” And for as long as she could remember, he went to bed at nine-forty-five every night like clockwork.
“I just wanted to see how everything is going up there. Are you making progress?”
He voiced it as a question, but the firm expectation in his voice came across almost as a warning. You better be making progress or else.
She wanted to ask, “Or else what, Dad?” Instead, she consciously unclenched her jaw and sucked in a calming breath before answering. “We are. In fact, we’re clearing all the jumps without any more issues.”
Thanks to Reyes. A pulse of warmth spread in her chest even though she was still thoroughly annoyed with the distance he kept between them.
“Good,” her dad replied. “Exactly what I wanted to hear. I’ll call the transport company to schedule your return trip for Monday.”
Her pulse lurched as her stomach dropped. “This Monday? Like in three days?”
“Yes.”
“But I still have two weeks left.” A protest she never thought she’d voice two weeks ago.
“What do you need them for?” her dad asked, a frown evident in his stern tone. “If the problem is fixed, you can come home and get back to work.”
Raine stiffened, her jaw clenched once more. “I haven’t stopped working, Daddy, and Fire and I are doing better than ever.” The force of his silence had her pulse speeding up and she scrambled for something to convince him. She wasn’t ready to go home yet. “You were right that the change of scenery would be good for us. Reyes is really good with Fire, and I want to see how far we can get with the time that’s left.”
“I don’t like you being out of competition this long.”
She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling in frustration. “That’s what I said when you ordered me up here for a full month. But I still came. Now things are going good and I need you to trust that I’m doing what is best for me and Fire and our future. Please.”
After another moment of hesitation, a grudging grunt of concession came across the line. “Okay, then. I’ll schedule the transport for two weeks from now and send you the details.”
Don't Dare a Diamond (Must Love Diamonds Book 5) Page 9