by Rachel Lacey
Megan leaned back against Bug’s stall. “I have a feeling we’ll both be exhausted tomorrow, but another day, let me know when you’re going to work with her, and I’ll come down and take some pictures for your website.”
“That would be great. Thank you.”
“Of course. She’s absolutely gorgeous. She should photograph really well. Yeah, I’m complimenting you,” she said to Duchess, who was watching them with wide, curious eyes. “You look like a million bucks.”
“You’re not far off,” Jake told her. “She’s by far the most valuable horse in the barn.”
“Damn, girl,” Megan said to the filly. “Well, only fitting you should live at a castle, then.”
“Until she goes back to the mansion she came from.”
Megan shook her head with a smile. “I guess I never thought about horses having value before. That’s kind of weird, isn’t it? To say she’s worth more than Dusty and Bug, who’ll get adopted for a hundred bucks or so?”
“Horses are property, an asset to people like the Nichols who own Duchess. She’s insured, as are all their horses, in case anything happens to her.”
Megan’s eyebrows lifted. “Wow. I had no idea.”
“People spend a lot of money in the horse industry.”
“How did you get started in it?” she asked. “You told me before you kind of fell into it by accident.”
“Needed a way to earn cash when I was too young to work anywhere legally.” It felt like a lifetime ago, when he’d mucked stalls to help his mother pay the bills, not realizing he was actually supporting her drug habit. “Alana rode at the stable where I worked. That’s how we met.”
“Aw,” Megan said softly, reaching over to squeeze his hand. “Is her family wealthy, then?”
“A lot wealthier than mine, but they’re not rich. Upper middle class, I’d say.”
“What happened?” she asked, scooting closer to him on the blanket. “If you don’t mind me asking. I know she fell soon after your wedding.”
“During the wedding reception,” he corrected her. “It was just one of those freak things. She tripped on her dress and fell down some steps behind the VFW hall, hit her head on the concrete. She never regained consciousness.”
“During the wedding reception,” Megan repeated, pressing a hand over her mouth. “Oh, Jake, I’m so sorry. That’s awful.”
“That first night, it was all so terrifying. I begged, and I prayed for her to survive. We all prayed so hard, and we thought our prayers had been answered when she made it through the night.”
Megan was silent, her hand on his arm in support.
“But I didn’t realize the real nightmare had just begun, watching her waste away in that hospital bed. I don’t think she would have wanted what her life became.”
“Those decisions must be the very hardest to make,” she said quietly.
“It’s not like we’d ever talked about end of life wishes or anything. I mean, we were only eighteen. We were all so desperate to save her. We would have done anything to keep her alive those first weeks, months even. Her parents never gave up on a miracle, but at some point over the years, I realized we were just watching her die. Years and years of watching her die.”
Megan wrapped her arms around him. “I honestly can’t even imagine. No one should have to.”
“I wish like hell I didn’t,” he admitted. “I feel like I spent nine years dying alongside her.”
“You put your whole life on hold,” she whispered. “Alana was a lucky woman to have a husband like you. I’m sorry she never got the chance to live the life you guys had planned together.”
“It’s a strange position to be in.” He tucked Megan’s head under his chin, enjoying the freedom to hold her, realizing how long it had been since he’d experienced the simple pleasure of holding someone like this. “I mourned her when she died, but in some ways, it felt like I had already mourned her. I’ve essentially been alone for ten years. I haven’t…I feel embarrassingly out of practice at anything a man my age should be experienced in.”
And that admission, uttered in an otherwise silent barn with Megan nestled against his chest and several horses watching in idle curiosity, left him feeling raw.
She lifted her head, her gaze dropping to his lips. “That’s a hell of a thing.”
“It is.” He laughed, surprising himself at the unexpected reaction.
“You may be out of practice at a few things because you were faithful to your wife, but I’m sure it will all come back to you when the time comes.” She sat up, resting a hand on his shoulder. “And you’re experienced enough in other areas to make up for it. You’ve lived through more than most people do in a lifetime already, Jake. You’ve got to be as tough as a…what are those big horses in the Budweiser commercial called?”
“Clydesdale?”
“You’re as tough as a Clydesdale, inside and out. You’re going to do amazing things with your life, now that you actually have the chance to live it.”
6
Megan shivered as she and Jake walked out of the barn with Bug between them. “Imagine if we’d taken Bug and Dusty in without having rented the stables and were trying to do this by ourselves?”
“Your instincts were spot on tonight. You’d have known to call the vet.”
They walked another loop around the property. It was past midnight now, and her fingers were numb inside her gloves by the time they made it back to the barn.
“I’m going to go put on a pot of coffee,” Jake said after he’d gotten Bug settled in her stall. “If you don’t mind watching her for a few minutes.”
“Not at all. I think coffee is definitely going to be necessary tonight.”
“Lots of it.” With a quick smile, he strode off in the direction of the farmhouse.
Megan sat on their bed of horse blankets, drawing her knees against her chest. She watched as Bug shifted her weight from one hoof to another, hoping the little horse would be okay. In the time she’d spent at Rosemont Castle, Bug had clearly put on weight. Her ribs were far less prominent now than they had been when she arrived. Her wounds looked better too, although they were still stained a bright purple from the disinfectant spray. Surely, she would pull through this setback…
Naively, Megan had imagined taking in a couple of low-maintenance horses and fostering them for a few weeks before they went on to new homes. In reality, it would be weeks before Bug and Dusty were even available for adoption. First, they both had a whole lot of getting healthy to do, although Bug was clearly the more delicate of the two.
“You feeling any better yet?” she asked the horse.
Bug spun, hanging her head over the open top of the stall door, her soft muzzle nudging the top of Megan’s head where she sat on the floor. She lifted a hand and rubbed Bug’s nose. The skin there was so much softer than it looked, and fuzzy, almost like velvet.
“I like you too,” she said, hoping Bug’s gesture meant what she thought it did. “I think we’ll be good friends once you’re feeling better.”
“I’d say you already are,” Jake said from the doorway, a travel mug of coffee in each hand. Bug raised her head to look at him but didn’t step away from the doorway to her stall. Jake walked over, handing one of the mugs to Megan before stroking Bug’s face. She bobbed her head up and down a few times before moving off to the far side of her stall.
“Feel free to use the farmhouse for anything you need, kitchen, bathroom, or just a place to warm up for a few minutes,” Jake said.
“Actually, I’ll take you up on that.” She sipped her coffee and set it on the floor. “I could use a bathroom, and it’s a lot closer than the castle.”
He nodded. “Take your time.”
She stood and walked out of the barn toward the little white house at the other end of the driveway. The front door was unlocked so she let herself in, heading for the half bath just inside the front door. She used the facilities and then wandered into the living room, where she flicked
on the gas fireplace and stood for a few minutes warming her fingers and toes.
She’d been in the farmhouse a lot while they got it fixed up to rent, and the difference now was striking. With Jake’s stuff here, it looked like a home. His furniture was minimalistic, no pictures on the walls—or none yet anyway—but he’d left out enough things to make the place look lived in, a book here, coffee mug there.
She imagined him kicked back on the couch, jean-clad legs stretched along the cushions, a beer in one hand. Or maybe the beer would be on the coffee table while he held his laptop, busily writing the next chapter of his latest novel. There was a whole lot more to Jake Reardon than she’d first realized, and she liked all of it.
A lot.
Deciding she’d dawdled in his house long enough, she shut off the fireplace and walked to the stable. Jake sat on the pile of horse blankets in the aisle, much as she’d just been picturing him in his home—legs stretched out in front of him and a coffee mug in one hand. He was turned away from her, talking over his shoulder to Bug, whose head was hanging over her stall door, watching him intently.
If only Megan had her camera with her. She would have given anything to capture that moment, the image of this big, strong man sitting on the floor with the sickly, scarred rescue horse gazing down at him, a trusting, affectionate look on her face.
Megan’s heart melted into a puddle of lovesick goo in her chest.
“Looks like you’re all settled into the farmhouse,” she said quietly to alert him to her presence.
He turned his head, a relaxed smile on his face. “Easy to do when you don’t bring much with you.”
“I suppose that’s true.” She sat beside him, reaching for her coffee, then gestured at Bug. “She looks like she’s feeling better.”
“She does. I checked her over while you were inside, and her vitals are good, although I’m still not hearing much activity in her gut. We may just be seeing the effects of the pain medication making her more comfortable.”
Megan sobered. “Damn.”
Jake rested a hand on hers. “I still think she’s going to be fine, but we’re not out of the woods yet.”
“How will we know?”
“Well, if she poops, that’ll be a great sign,” he said with a sardonic grin.
She returned it with one of her own. “Great. Here we are, sitting in the barn at one in the morning, waiting for a horse to poop.”
“It’s a glamorous life.”
She leaned against the wall of Bug’s stall, allowing her shoulder to bump into Jake’s. “Earlier, you said you didn’t share the fact that you’re an author with many people. Why is that?”
He shrugged. “No real reason. I just don’t like to make a fuss.”
Yeah, she could see that about him. “I bet Theo has your books in his library.”
“He does. I saw them there when I was poking around last week.”
“You really like that library, huh?”
He gave her an amused look. “Yeah, I do.”
“I haven’t spent too much time in it, but I’m going to go find your books,” she told him. “And I’m going to read them too.”
Jake looked away, adorably uncomfortable with her attention. “If you do, don’t tell me.”
“I’m not making any promises.”
They continued to make idle chitchat as the night wore on. Eventually, they fell quiet as fatigue set in. Behind them, Bug dozed in her stall. Megan felt herself losing the battle and decided there was no reason for her not to doze too. Her eyes closed, and she drifted off into a light but exhausted sleep.
The next thing she knew, a buzzing sound jolted her awake, and…what in the world? She opened her eyes to find herself sprawled across Jake’s sleeping form. Her arms were wrapped around his chest, one of her legs nestled into the space between his thighs.
Was she still dreaming? Because how…what…
But no, his eyes opened too, looking similarly confused. He shoved a hand into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his cell phone, silencing the alarm that had awoken them. Then, he raised up on his elbows, looking behind him at Bug’s stall. She was visible in the doorway, dozing peacefully.
“Set it in case we fell asleep, so I wouldn’t miss checking on Bug.” His voice was deep and gravelly, and he made no move to get out from under her.
“Um.” She was disoriented from sleep, but certain parts of her were one-hundred-percent awake and hyper-aware of the contact with bits of Jake she’d never touched before, especially the parts that brought her into contact with the crotch of his jeans.
“I…guess we got cold in our sleep?” He offered, still making no effort to move.
“I do feel awfully warm right now,” she said, but it came out as more of a whisper because his cock was rapidly hardening against her thigh, and suddenly she couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think past the lust muddling her brain, sending pulses of need straight to her core.
Her head dipped as his rose, lips meeting in a crushing kiss.
Jake sank his hands deep into the mahogany depths of Megan’s hair as their mouths met. Her tongue slid along the seam of his lips, and he opened to her, surrendering to the overpowering need inside him, the need to be touched and kissed, to allow himself the things he had so long been denied. A low groan tore from his throat as her tongue stroked his.
As recently as five minutes ago, he had forgotten anything could feel so good. He felt supercharged as his body awoke to the intense pleasure of a woman’s touch, the warmth of her body covering his, the whisper of her breath against his cheeks as they kissed. Somehow, he thought nothing had ever felt as wonderful as this moment with Megan.
“You feel so good,” he mumbled, allowing his hands to roam down her back, settling on her waist, memorizing every dip and curve of her body.
She shifted above him, and suddenly his cock was pressed into the heat between her legs. His grip tightened on her waist, holding her in place, too exquisitely aroused to move.
So good. Too good…
After ten years without so much as a kiss, a lifetime without experiencing the full pleasure of a woman’s body, Jake’s control was frayed beyond repair. Megan was still kissing him, unaware of the battle raging inside him, the intense need for more, more, more, warring with the knowledge that his body wouldn’t tolerate too much more of this without demanding release.
“Haven’t stopped thinking about you all week.” He slipped his palms beneath her jacket, inside her top, finding the hot, smooth skin of her lower back. So incredibly soft, so much softer than his own.
“Me neither,” she whispered as she trailed a path of hot kisses across his jaw to his neck, where she nipped lightly.
“Fuck.” His hips jerked as a bolt of pure fire shot through his cock. “Need you so bad.”
“I can tell.” She lifted her head to meet his gaze, a wicked smile on her face, as she rolled her hips up and down his length.
He hissed out a breath, hands pressing against her lower back, holding her close, silently begging her to keep going, and she did, hips moving rhythmically against his as they kissed, deep and sloppy and desperate. How had he gone ten years without this? Screw that. How had he gone ten months, ten weeks, ten days…
Maybe he’d forced himself to forget, or maybe he’d never experienced anything quite as intensely erotic as the feel of Megan’s body moving so beautifully against his. But he was awake now, every cell in his body achingly alive in a way he might not have ever felt but would certainly remember for the rest of his life.
“Jake?” She stilled, staring down at him, something hesitant lurking in her eyes.
“Yeah?” He stroked the skin just above the waistband of her jeans.
“Has it really been ten years?” she whispered, her expression achingly kind.
He nodded. “Feels more like a million right now.”
There was a clunk and a snort from the stall behind them, reminding him what they were supposed to be doing
right now, which was definitely not making out on a pile of horse blankets in the aisle of the barn. He sat up slowly, drawing Megan into his lap as he craned his head to look at Bug. She stood motionless in the middle of the stall, looking no better or worse than she had the last time he checked on her.
Megan followed his gaze, staring silently at the horse for a few long seconds. “I have no idea how you’ve managed.”
He huffed a bitter laugh. “It hasn’t been easy, and I’m not just talking about sex. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed just…touching someone.”
She snuggled against his chest, looping an arm over his shoulder. “Like this?”
“Yeah. Been a long time since I held someone. Feels good.”
“Even with…” She gestured to the painfully obvious bulge in his jeans.
“Even with that.” And it wasn’t a lie either. No matter the obstacles between them, his virginity or living on the property she managed, they couldn’t have had sex tonight anyway. They had to watch over Bug until she’d recovered from her colic.
“It’s been a little while for me too,” she said softly, her face pressed into his jacket. “I mean, not nearly as long…but a year or so, which for me, is a really long time.”
“Why’s that?” he asked. “The break from dating, I mean.”
She shrugged. “I’ve just been focused on things here at the castle and my photography.”
“You’ve been busy,” he agreed, wondering if that was the whole story or if the car accident that left her scarred had anything to do with it.
“We’re going to have to deal with this thing between us, though, aren’t we?” she said, looking up at him. “I mean, one way or the other.”
“I guess we will.”
“Maybe not right now when it’s the middle of the night, and we’re half delirious and horny as hell.” She winked.
“Agreed.”
“So should I, um, get out of your lap?”
“No.” His arms tightened around her. “You’re driving me ten kinds of crazy, but it feels so damn good to hold you.”