I shot to my feet. I didn’t want to talk about her. I sure as hell didn’t like the direction this conversation was going. “Will you give me the three months or not, Mr. Jacobson?”
He snapped his mouth shut. “Well, I…I’ll let you know.”
Swinging my bag over my shoulder, I forced out a “Thank you” and stormed from his office.
God, had my mother and Connor Jacobson had an affair? Is that why she left, why my parents split up? How could she do that to my dad, to me? Is that why she’d stayed away, a guilty conscience? I shook my head. I didn’t care. Not about her, not anymore. The only thing I cared about was keeping my ranch. I’d never sell. Never.
I climbed into the truck, and that bastard’s words rang in my ears the whole way home.
He was wrong. I wasn’t going to fail.
No goddamn way.
Chapter Six
I finger-combed my hair, still a little damp from the shower, and eyed my wardrobe.
After my appointment with the bank, I’d come home and gotten busy with paperwork. Eli had already been out moving stock from the north field, and when he came in, went off to work with the horses. I’d glimpsed him several times throughout the day but hadn’t sought him out. After what happened at the bank, as well as what happened in the barn the day before, I was a little off balance.
Nothing had ever felt as right as the moment he’d thrust his fingers in my hair and demanded I open my mouth. Nothing. A shiver slid through me, my skin getting tingly and tight just from the memory.
When I’d finished for the day and had finally pulled it together enough to talk to him, I couldn’t find him. In the end I’d left a note on the pad by the barn door, asking him to come for dinner. I didn’t know if he’d seen it, or if he’d come.
I picked a cornflower-blue dress and slipped it on over my head. Hope. That goddamn dangerous emotion bloomed, refusing to be contained. He’d seemed okay…after we…after what happened in the barn. But then he’d left for the night. The thought that he might have left to get away from me stung. A lot.
He’d had time to think everything through, and I was scared he’d change his mind about what we were doing. That thought made my belly churn. I didn’t know what I’d do if that happened. Something deeper than sex was developing between us. Every time we were together it grew and shifted, changed shape. I didn’t recognize us anymore. It all had changed in such a short time. I didn’t know what we were doing, but I did know I didn’t want it to stop. I wanted to explore the attraction between us, take it as far as he was willing to go with me.
The kitchen phone rang, and I jogged down the hall to answer it. “Hello.”
“Abi, it’s me.” Kyle.
I pulled the phone away from my ear, ready to hang up.
“Please, hear me out,” he called, like he could see me.
I had no interest in talking to him whatsoever, but I didn’t want him spreading crap about Eli around town, either, so I pressed the phone to my ear. “What do you want?”
“I wanted to apologize for the way I acted… Ya know, getting pushy or whatever. You’re hot, babe. I’ve been panting after you since we were in high school, you gotta know that. I just…things got outta hand.”
Asshole. “Fine.” It was so far from fine it wasn’t funny.
“Fine?”
“You said you wanted to apologize, so apologize.”
He was quiet for several seconds. “Shit,” he grumbled. “I’m sorry, Abigail.”
I wanted to tell him to stick his sorry where the sun doesn’t shine, but that wouldn’t help my cause.
“So, ah, you gonna give me another shot, babe? Let me take you out again and show you how sorry I am?”
There was a cockiness to his voice that annoyed the hell out of me. The guy really was an idiot if he thought I’d ever sign up for a repeat of the other night. “I appreciate the apology, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“What?”
“Look, Kyle…the other night, Eli—”
“That psycho fuck!”
I took a calming breath. “You weren’t just being pushy, you were being really pushy. You scared me, Kyle.” I hated to admit that to him, but my pride would have to take a backseat because I wanted him to understand that what Eli had done was Kyle’s own damn fault. “Eli knew it; that’s why he did what he did.”
“You’re overexaggerating. Shit, if he hadn’t stuck his big dumb nose in, we would’ve been just fine.”
What? Jesus, the man was delusional. “I want you to stop talking crap about him.”