Lib Novel Page 10
“You remember!”
I’m kind of pleased that I remember. It seems like a whole lifetime ago, except that it was the brightest part of my life at a time when everything felt so hard. There is a lot I’ve blocked out from back then, but the ranch was not one of them. If I close my eyes, I can sometimes remember the way it smelled and how the air felt on my skin there. Different. Healing. Kind of like home.
“I used to sneak both of them cookies from the feed store. Sara was especially fond of them, probably because her owner was too stingy with the sweets.”
“Hey, I was away at college. I made up for it plenty every time I came home.”
I sensed some regret in his voice. Something unspoken. I remembered the way he looked last night when we talked about that time in our lives.
What happened to you, Brayden?
“I wish I could have met you then,” I say, the words slipping out before I can pull them back in. I hear a heavy sigh on his end of the phone, and I close my eyes, just listening to him breathe.
“Me too,” he says. “More than you know.”
Both of us stay silent after that. I feel like I could crawl out of my skin in this moment, dying to say all the things I wish I could, but mostly just wishing for a chance with him. Wishing I didn’t like him so much. Wishing he’d met me first so that he wouldn’t be with this other girl.
“So, will you say yes to horseback riding with me, or am I going to have to wear you down?”
Every part of me is screaming yes, except my good sense.
“You know why I can’t,” I say.
“Because your trainer forgot to teach you how to ride a horse?”
“Hey, I’ll have you know I’m an excellent rider. I could probably ride circles around you, even if it’s been years since I’ve been on a horse.”
His low laugh vibrates into my ear, and I bite my lip. Fuck, how can a simple sound be so goddamn sexy?
“Guess you’re going to have to prove it. Day after tomorrow, meet me at Salt & Sea Ranch. Meredith will be waiting.”
I groan into the phone. “You can’t do that,” I protest. “That’s coercion.”
“No, that’s horseplay.”
“Har har.” But I’m smiling.
“Come on, Nina,” he pleads. “I already told Meredith you were coming, and she got all excited. You don’t want to disappoint her, do you?”
I flex my hands, my fingers, my toes—my everything. I am exercising every ounce of control I have, and yet…
“What time?”
“Nine in the morning,” he says. “I’ll make you breakfast then we’ll head out. But we have to be back by noon because I have a tour group coming in.
Then he whoops on his end of the phone, letting loose a wild sound of excitement that leaves me grinning, even if I feel the need to hit the brakes.
“Hold on there, cowboy,” I say. “This is strictly for Meredith and has nothing to do with you. Besides, what would your girlfriend say about you going horseback riding with some other woman.”
“She’d probably be happy that I found someone who liked riding so I could stop bugging her about coming with me.”
The pang of jealousy that rips through me is so unexpected. I have not felt jealousy over a man…ever. I haven’t cared about anyone enough to worry about what they do when they’re not with me or who they’re with. But this…this is different. Knowing that he’s asked some other woman to go for horseback rides with him is like death by a thousand cuts. Not just another woman. His girlfriend.
But also, what does that say about her that she doesn’t go? Knowing how much this horse ranch means to Brayden, how can he be with someone who isn’t even remotely interested in horses?
I’m projecting, of course. I don’t know anything about this girl. She might love horses, but just not riding. She could be nice and lovely and make Brayden happy.
Nah, she’s a bitch. And she doesn’t deserve him.