by Tonya Kappes
“You seemed to be a little full of yourself calling me darlin’.” Not that I minded, but I wanted to hear him say he was attracted to me for some ungodly reason. I wanted him to want me. I wanted him to look at me like he had looked at Grace. “And you watched me at the pond.”
“That wasn’t my fault.” He held on to the door handle when I took the sharp turn into the diner parking lot. “I was just looking around what I have assumed to be my new home and you were there. I’m a man. I wasn’t going to just look away.” The snarky smile he had on his face yesterday returned.
I laughed.
“Aw.” He pointed to me. “There’s that smile I keep hearing about.”
“What?” I shook my head and put the truck in park. I kept my hands gripped on the wheel.
“Everyone keeps telling me how great you are and how much you love the Lady B. Not to mention what a great boss you are.” He reached over and put his hand on mine and peered at me intently. “I’m sorry. I truly am sorry that we have started off on the wrong foot. I know my boundaries and I won’t cross them.”
I jerked my hand out from under his and opened the door.
“Good. Let’s go eat.” I jumped out of the truck and headed on into the diner.
I wasn’t sure the words he said about boundaries meant work or boundaries with my heart. I was sure he could see or feel my reaction to him when he was close to me. Unfortunately I wasn’t sure what those reactions were myself. It scared me. He scared me. For some reason, I felt like I needed to keep him at an arm’s length from my heart. Clay Preston was going to break it. I could just feel it.
Chapter Seven
After breakfast and getting my belly full, the day went pretty smooth. I showed Clay around the farm and how we did things around the Lady B to make everything smooth. He was especially interested in the horse racing and sales side of the business, which was mostly foreign to me. Since he was now in charge of breaking Brilliance and Brilliance was going to be trained to race, I let him spend time with Earl for the remaining part of our day.
I made sure to keep Grace busy at all times. When Clay would walk past the window, I saw her gaze out and stare at him like all the other women who worked in the office. Once I even saw her stop him when he was taking Brilliance on a run. I had always heard about jealousy and I didn’t understand the feelings of it, but I was clearly having a moment.
“Hey, what is going on?” I asked Luvie on the other end of the phone.
I had to get off of this farm or I was going to drive myself crazy. Especially if I had to see Clay walking around with his shirt off, jeans sitting on his hips in the right place, and the worn-in cowboy boots.
“Regardless of what you have going on, we need to call Millie.” My mouth dropped as I watched Clay give Brilliance a drink from the water hose and then turn it on himself.
He mused up his hair; the water droplets went flying. Beads of water trickled down his bare chest, glistening in all the right spots.
“I need to get off this farm.” I quickly turned my head and slid down the wall when his eyes looked into my office window so he wouldn’t see me gawking over his body.
“Does this have anything to do with Mr. Hottie?” Luvie asked.
“Who?” I pretended to not know who she was talking about. I pressed my back and head up against the wall.
“You know exactly who I’m talking about.” Luvie knew me better than I wanted to admit. “Clay Preston is screwing up your happy little farm world and you can’t control the situation.”
“You’re crazy.” Nervously I laughed.
“Am I wrong?”
“About what?” I took a deep breath. I wasn’t going to be able to hide these feelings for the rest of my life or the rest of Clay’s employment.
“Good gravy, Viv. Do you think you are an actress?” she asked. “Every time Clay walked into the room during your little celebration party, you blushed. Your eyes didn’t leave him.”
“This is silly.” I refused to even think I was that readable. “So do you want to do something tonight with Millie or not?”
“What do y’all have in mind?” Luvie asked. I was happy to hear she dropped the Clay thing.
“Just meet at Joe Bologna’s at six.” I wasn’t sure if Millie was going to be able to meet us or not, I just knew I needed my girlfriends.
“Viv? Vivian?” Grace opened the door to my office and called out my name.
“Gotta go.” I hung up the phone. “Down here.” I lifted my limp hand and waved it in the air.
“Are you okay?” Grace slowly walked over as if she was afraid of what she was going to find.
“I’m fine.” I jumped up on all fours and crawled around like a baby. “I’m looking for the pen I dropped.”
I lied.
“Oh my God. I didn’t realize he was so hot.” Grace bobbled her neck to the left and the right looking out my office window. “Forget the pen. Look at him.”
“I’d prefer not to.” I stood up and dusted myself off. “Seriously?” I asked looking over her shoulder, pretending not to see Clay and his tan physic as he washed down Brilliance’s back where the sweat had gathered under the saddle when he took it off of him.
We stood there for a second and just took in the view until I finally interrupted.
“What can I help you with?” I turned back to my desk and tried to remember what it was that I was doing before Clay had taken off his shirt and I called Luvie.
“I’m finished with the sale files.” She sighed and continued to stare out the window. “If there isn’t anything else, I could head on home.”
“Yeah.” That was actually a great idea. Get her out of here before she couldn’t function was a great plan. “Perfect. We will start fresh tomorrow.”
“Does Clay have you all hot and bothered?” Grace put her hands on her hips, then turned her face toward me.
“Hot and bothered?” I scoffed. “Bothered maybe.”
“He is really a nice guy. Before I came in yesterday, he was having a coffee at the diner. He asked me about the Lady B and I told him I worked here.” She made a mmm sound. “I never realized he looked that good under that plaid shirt he was wearing. He told me he was here a day early and had tried calling you. I told him that he should call the office and maybe find you here since you work all the time.”
“Unfortunately he got ahold of Leonard and went over my head.” I guess I still wanted to blame my feelings that I had no control over on how the things played out. Maybe Luvie was right. It was the control thing that was driving me nuts.
“But he is good.” Grace’s voice dripped with lust, never once taking her eyes off of Clay. “And I bet he’s good in more ways than one.” She nudged me.
“Go on home.” I rolled my eyes and sat in my chair, wildly aware of Clay’s presence just beyond the office window. “We have a big day tomorrow. Brilliance is going to get saddled up and run the practice track.”
“I won’t be late.” She stopped shy of the door. She bit her lip. “Especially if Clay is riding him.”
I shook my head as she closed the door behind her. Using my toes, I tiptoed my chair around and leaned back, peering out the window.
Brilliance seemed as much entranced with Clay as I was. The big stallion stood there with nothing holding him in place as Clay used the hose and brush all down his back and over his legs. When Clay propped Brilliance’s knee between his legs and cleaned his shoes, Brilliance neighed in delight, lifting his head to the sky.
“I know what you mean,” I mumbled and grabbed my purse. I’d had enough of this agony. “Millie, what are you doing?” I asked after I dialed Millie as I made my way down the office hallway.
It was best that I kept my head down. It would guarantee no eye contact with Clay until tomorrow.
“I’m getting ready to teach an afternoon class.” Millicent Gamble, or Millie as we called her, moved to Lexington when we were in middle school.
Luvie and I were so envious of her s
un-kissed blond hair and mahogany eyes. We did everything in our power to be friends with her and the three of us were rarely seen without the others. Millie grew up doing yoga and all sorts of enlightenment activities that Luvie and I thought were the coolest things.
While Luvie and I were off to college, Millie spent her days practicing yoga and taking classes from a guru over in India. It paid off because she opened Yolo Yoga, a successful yoga studio in downtown Lexington.
“It will take me twenty minutes to get there. When is class?” A good yoga stretch was exactly what I needed. It would definitely help clear my mind.
“I’ll prolong it until you get here,” she said. “Hey, I got a text from Luvie saying she was going to be late for pizza. Do you know anything about that?”
“Oh, I told her we would meet her at Joe Bologna’s at six.” I guess I had forgotten to tell Millie about her plans.
She cackled in the phone. “You must have something on your mind because the way you are acting is not like yourself.”
Luvie was right. I’m not a good actor.
“We can talk after class.” I just wanted to go to her yoga class and melt like butter, melt Clay out of my head like butter.
With the phone planted between my ear and shoulder, I hurried around trying to find my yoga or work-out clothes in the boxes I had yet to unpack. Doing yoga was the last activity I had expected myself to do. I was sure I was going to be spending all my waking time on the farm and making it the best it could be. Clay Preston proved that wrong.
“I just have to get there and get a clear mind.” I kicked off my cowboy boots and peeled off my jeans. There was a knock at the door. “Come in!” I hollered. Damn. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
I threw the phone down on the bed and hopped down the steps to the family room.
“Can you start going through those boxes near the kitchen.” I pulled the shirt over my head, happy I was able to make it down the steps safely. “I swear my yoga clothes have to be in one of them.”
“Okay.” The male voice caught me off guard.
“Shit! Shit! Get out! Now!” I screamed and tried to cover up my lady parts or what I could with my hands and arms crossed over my body, though I did have on a bra and panties. Lacy.
“You told me to come in.” His admiring gaze gave me a little satisfaction that was a bit disturbing to me.
“I thought you were Luvie.” I ran back up the steps and out of sight to grab my robe. “I was obviously wrong,” I murmured and tied the belt around my waist as I proceeded back down the steps. “What are you doing?”
I rushed over and grabbed a pair of black stretch pants out of his hands as he dug through my boxes.
“You told me to find some yoga clothes.” There was a confused look on his face. “You have to learn to make up your mind.”
He ran his hand through his hair that looked like it was still a bit wet from his little tryst with the water hose and Brilliance. He had replaced his shirt with a clean grey one that hit his muscles in all the right places.
“Besides, you are a little more dressed than when I saw you at the pond.” There was a glint of humor on his lips and a lazy seduction in his eyes.
“That’s not funny.” I dug through the box and grabbed a v-neck shirt to go with the black pants. “Why are you here?”
I disappeared into the bathroom, took the robe off and put on the clothes. I put my hands on each side of the sink and took a long look in the mirror.
“What are you going to do?” I whispered at my reflection staring back at me. I pulled my shirt up and looked at my stomach and breasts in the mirror. I was not prepared to see Clay standing in my house at all. My eyes slid up and down my core. “Not bad.”
“I just wanted to know what else I needed to do the rest of the day.” He was right outside the bathroom door.
I took a deep breath and opened the door. The breeze the door created brought in the male sweat smell of Clay. It was like some sort of aphrodisiac I had never smelt before.
I walked past him to grab a water bottle, but really to try to get away from him. The nearness made my mind cloudy and made me unable to concentrate on getting the hell out of the cottage.
“You what?” I reached in the cabinet for the water bottle.
“Everyone said you left for the day and I got finished with my chores.” There was sarcasm in his voice.
“Chores?” My brows drew together. “You think what you did today was chores?”
“Yes.” His expression grew still and serious. “I’m not use to being the errand boy. And I’m not a Ferrier. I’m a trainer. Top trainer.”
“Is that right?” I set the bottle on the counter and leaned back. I folded my arms across my chest. “Are you quitting?”
In my mind, I knew him quitting would be the best thing for my job, maybe not my heart, but my life.
“I didn’t say that. All I’m saying is that I came here to do my passion, not menial work.”
“If you understood how the Lady B works, you’d get that we all pitch in where we are needed in order to run the number one horse farm in the state of Kentucky, not Texas.” I looked down at my clothes and realized I had to get going. “Where you come from, you might be the one. But here.” I pointed to the outside. “We are a team. If you don’t think you can be part of that, you might want to go ahead and take time tonight to think about what role it is that you want to play here and we will see if that role fits in our environment.”
His jaw hardened. He seemed to be studying my every feature with his blue eyes. I didn’t dare flinch. It was a sign of weakness and I didn’t want to portray any bit of that though my insides were churning. The attraction I had for him was something unrecognizable to me. Something so foreign that it rocked me to my core.
I’d rather never see him again then think of what would happen if he did stay. Or worse. If he did stay and didn’t feel the same about me.
My heart thundered inside my chest as I watched him walk closer to me. I inched up, standing straight, tall. I rolled my shoulders back. His eyes hooded like a hawk. The look on his face told me he was enjoying the sweet warfare between us. One hard head against another. A challenge he was up for as much as I was.
I stood firm as he reached out and ran his hands up my arms. I tried to protest, but my vocal cords stalled, leaving me with an outward sigh. It was as if he wanted to conquer me just as he wanted to conquer the job.
An expected tremor of pure desire ran through me as he pulled me closer, drawing me against him, making me aware of his length. Caught up in the pleasure of my own pulsing, I closed my eyes, enjoying what was to come.
A warm wave of breath caught in my ear, “You know you want me around as much as I want to be around.”
He dropped his hands from my arms, leaving me limp. He walked out the door and slammed it shut.
Chapter Eight
“Are you okay?” Millie asked after she told everyone in the class to move into half moon pose. She put one hand on my hip to lift it up and the other hand on my arm to straighten it. “You are shaking,” she whispered.
“I’m fine.” I took a deep inhale through my nose. “Stress from work.”
Millie helped steady my shaking arm using both her hands before she was satisfied with my answer and moved on to the next pose and helping the next student.
No. I wasn’t fine. Clay Preston knew exactly what he was doing when he touched me, leaned into me. He had me right where he wanted me and left me there to stew.
“Let’s go on back to mountain pose.” Millie walked in and out of the group that had gathered in the warm, inviting yoga room.
The cozy exposed brick walls and shiny wood floor along with the silence left my mind anything but calm, cool, and collected. More like anxious, hot, and scattered.
Even the pads of my feet were sticking to my yoga mat making it hard for me to jump to the mountain pose.
Slowly I extended my arms forward and lifted them above my head to upward
hand pose and took a deep breath along the way in hopes it would clear out the muck my brain couldn’t seem to wrap around.
Finally I just lay down on my mat with my legs and arms extended and my eyes closed waiting for the class to be over.
As everyone filed out, I stayed put.
“Okay.” Millie sat down cross-legged next to me and tugged on a loose piece of hair from her low-side French braid. “I have no clue who you are, but can you please bring my Viv back?”
“I know.” I inhaled and exhaled because it seemed to be the thing to do.
“Yeah. Breathing is not what is going to help you.” She lay down on the floor next to me. “You have a case of the heart aches.”
“No. I have a case of the pain in the ass.” I let out a long breath through my mouth still hoping to get some clarity but gave up when my shoulders lifted toward my ears.
I sat up and faced Millie. She looked so surreal and angelic lying there peaceful as if nothing was on her mind. How I used to be.
“I guess you could call it that.” Gracefully she pushed herself back up to sitting. Her elbows planted on her crossed legs with her chin resting in her hands. “Tell me about him.”
My mouth dropped.
“Even if you hate him.” She shrugged. “It will feel good to get it off your mind.”
“You’re right.” I swallowed the lump of lust that was sitting in my throat. “He is from Texas so he doesn’t have the country dialect men around here have. It’s deeper, sweeter.” I tried to cover up the smile that was forming on my lips, but my whole face seemed to catch the wave. “And it scares me how attracted I am to my employee. I wanted so badly for him to screw up and not be able to handle the job, but the truth is. . .,” I paused, trying to keep the tears from falling off the edge of my eyelids. “He is better than me.”
“Oh, Viv.” Millie reached over and put her hands on my legs.
“No,” I shook my head. “I’m serious. You should have seen him with Brilliance. It’s like his amazing blue eyes have everyone mesmerized. Truly hypnotic. I had to leave work early today so I didn’t have to force myself not to stare at him out of my office window.”