The Duet(26)

“This is our newest one. We got him a couple months ago and I still haven’t quite figured him out yet,” Derek said, propping his elbows up on the stall.

“He’s gorgeous.”

“Yeah, he is,” a voice said from across the stable. I whipped my head around to see Jason standing near the door with his hands shoved in the front pockets of his dark jeans. The morning light silhouetted him from behind and I stood motionless for a moment, unsure of what to do. Oh, jeez. Was I not allowed to look at his precious horse?

“Mornin’ Jason,” Derek said, pushing off of Jasper’s stall and nodding toward his boss.

Jason dipped his head in greeting but didn’t offer anything more as he strolled toward us. He was wearing a white long-sleeved Henley shirt. He’d tugged the sleeves up to his elbows and his dark expression was aimed straight at me. I swallowed hard as I waited for whatever he clearly wanted to yell at me about. That morning it could have been nearly anything. Maybe I’d snored in my sleep and woken him up. Maybe I was just breathing wrong and it was pissing him off.

“I’ve been looking for you,” he said, stopping a few feet in front of me.

I frowned. “I came out here after breakfast. Derek wanted to show me the place,” I explained, looking to Derek for back-up. He was eyeing Jason with a curious brow, but didn’t offer any backup. Gee, thanks.

“Did you forget about our plan to write this morning?” he asked, his brows furrowed in annoyance.

“No,” I said, meeting his attitude head on. "I was just about to head back inside.”

He nodded once, glaring at Derek, and then he moved past me toward Jasper’s stall. He clicked his tongue twice and the horse shook out its mane and walked slowly toward the front of the stall. Jason reached his hand out and Jasper gently rubbed his head against it, emitting a low rumble through his nostrils that made Jason smile.

Derek and I just stood there, watching him. It was a side of Jason I wasn’t used to seeing. What was it about the horse that Jason was drawn to and vice versa? Were they just both brooding types that called to one another? Maybe that’s why Jason hated me. I wasn’t exactly quiet or contemplative.

After another minute, Jason stepped away from Jasper’s stall and started heading toward the door of the stable.

“Coming?” he asked over his shoulder.

Derek and I exchanged an amused glance and then I trotted to catch up to him, my high-heeled boots clacking against the cobblestone floor. Just as I was about to catch up, the heel on my left shoe got caught in-between two cobblestones and I fell forward, smack dab into Jason. (Picture my face squashed against his back.) He grunted as our bodies collided, and then he turned quickly to wrap an arm around my shoulder to steady me.

His dark eyes were inches away from mine and I thought of what Cammie had said the night before. She was absolutely right. It was his eyes that pulled me closer. It was his eyes that made my breath pause as I tried to take them in as quickly as possible. It felt like I was getting a glimpse into a world that didn’t belong to me, but I wanted more. Just a little bit more.

“Don’t you have other shoes to wear?” he asked, pushing me back to stand on my own.

I was a twenty-seven year old woman and Jason had an uncanny ability to make me feel like I was five again. With a hard scowl and a whip of my blonde hair, I brushed past him and made sure to walk as sexy as I possibly could on my high-heels. I’d wear them every day if I wanted to; he could go fuck himself.

I heard Derek chuckle on the other end of the stable, but Jason didn’t say a word as he followed me back to the house.

I’d assumed we’d go up to the third floor to write. I knew that’s where he kept his instruments because they weren’t anywhere else in the house. But instead, when we made it to the second story landing, he pointed to the wraparound porch.

“I’ll meet you out there. Get some paper and a pen,” he ordered before he took the third-story stairs two at a time and disappeared.

I purposely ignored his instructions and went out on the porch with my hands empty and chin raised. Jason might rule over everyone else in his life, but he wasn’t my boss and he sure as shit wasn’t going to order me around and expect me to follow his instructions blindly.

The porch, of course, was styled like the rest of the house with dark brown wicker furniture topped with plush white pillows and cushions. I chose a small two-seater couch and relaxed back into the cushions just as Jason pulled open the porch door. I glanced up to see him with a guitar in his right hand, a pad of paper in his left, and a pen stuck behind his lips. Even if he was annoying me, the sight was too cute not to elicit a smile. Even just a little, private one.