by M. Garzon
His face tightened, but he was saved from answering when Seth burst out the front door.
“Thought you could sneak off, did ya?” My brother grabbed me in a hug, and Jaden gave me a small smile over his shoulder before following Dec into the house.
I was still tense as we started out. We got on the highway and found a drive-through. After getting some coffee and danishes I kicked off my shoes and curled my feet up under me to settle in for the drive. Somehow, during the long uninterrupted hours with Jaden, the tension of the past few weeks melted away as easily as the snow. It felt very strange to have spring arrive so rapidly, like being caught in a time-lapse photography sequence. We had gone from winter jackets to long-sleeved shirts by the time we stopped for dinner at a roadside diner.
“Where are we?” I asked as I got out of the car and stretched.
“Tennessee, barely.” Jaden smiled as he watched me take in my surroundings. It felt strange not to recognize things as basic as vegetation.
There were several unfamiliar options on the menu, but I ended up ordering cheese pizza and a salad. While we waited for our meals Jaden reached across the table and took my hand.
“I didn’t get you a Christmas present,” he began.
I started laughing. “Except for a ten-day vacation.”
He squeezed my hand. “I did that for me. I was planning to take you shopping, let you pick out your own gift.”
“You really don’t need to, my love.”
It made me uncomfortable that Jaden was always the one paying for things. I knew he could afford to, whereas I couldn’t, but I felt as though it created an imbalance in our relationship.
“We could go to a tack shop,” he suggested. His eyes were dancing — he knew very well I couldn’t resist that.
After dinner, we only drove a couple more hours before stopping at a motel. I sat on the floral bedspread while Jaden turned on a bedside lamp, and as he sank down next to me his brows drew together.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I wish we hadn’t left everyone so upset,” I admitted. “For someone supposedly on our side, Dec’s sure making this difficult.”
Jaden stroked my arm before he spoke. “You know how Dec is. For all his faults, he doesn’t do things halfway. When he adopted you, he fully committed to you as his daughter. For him to acknowledge that his daughter is now dating his nephew, blood relation or not, is a big adjustment to make.”
“You know, when you put it that way, I can almost see his point. And your mother’s. It almost makes what we’re doing seem... icky, on some level.” I gazed at his beautiful face, the loving gold-flecked eyes softly holding mine. “But then I look at you, and everything seems so natural. All I feel for you is this overwhelming love.”
“What, no lust?” he quipped, pulling me closer.
I grinned at him. “Does it bother you that I can actually control myself around you now?”
That was a fairly recent development and had a lot to do with the fact that we had finally, after months of waiting, consummated our relationship a couple of months earlier. I ran my hand over his hard stomach, feeling a tightening in my own.
“You can control yourself, can you?” he murmured. His molten eyes trapped mine as he lowered his face slowly. My heart rate spiked instantly, and I wound my arms around his neck, pulling myself against him. He took his time, as always, moving with almost maddening slowness until his mouth covered mine. I kissed him hungrily, and after a minute he pulled away, grinning.
“This is you controlling yourself?”
“I can control myself,” I insisted. “Just not if you do that. Or when you give me that come-hither look you’re pulling right now,” I murmured, running my hands over his body. “Or if you touch me in any way...”
My lips went back to his, making further conversation impossible, but in any case, I think I was losing the argument. Badly.
Even though we’d been together for six months, Jaden and I had only made love twice, because once our family discovered our relationship any hope we had of privacy was gone. The only time we’d ever spent the night together was the first time, and I’d been anticipating this night for what seemed like forever. As a consequence, we stayed up far too late.
“I still can’t believe you made me wait so long,” I said afterward. “How did you stand it all those months?”
“Well, I wasn’t expecting it to be like this, for one.” He rolled onto his side and propped his head on his elbow. The gold in his eyes was softly luminous. “Then again, I should have known.”
I stroked the side of his face, feeling stubble under my fingertips.
“What did Dec want to talk to you about before we left?”
“He just wanted to make sure I’d bring you home safe.” He paused. “And not pregnant.”
“Aargh!” I clapped my hands over my ears and rolled away from him but he threw an arm over me, laughing. His smile was the last thing I saw before falling asleep.
I was tired the next morning but Jaden seemed unaffected by our short night’s sleep, so after a quick shower, he took the first driving shift. He had brought music for the trip, of course. We’d started out the day before listening to older stuff that I was barely familiar with, harder sounds that suited our turbulent getaway and the flannel grey skies we’d left behind. But as we progressed southward the music got lighter too. By the time we hit Georgia we were listening to Hedley and the Beach Boys. I raised my eyebrows at that.
“Every road trip, especially one to southern climes, requires a dose of Beach Boys,” Jaden said decisively.
I raised my hands in surrender, smiling. “I defer to your greater experience since I’ve never been south.”
We shared the driving. At first, I was nervous about driving Jaden’s fancy, powerful car, but he lounged in the passenger seat, unconcerned and teasing me about my slow speed. I didn’t bother pointing out that I was only driving slowly because it was his car. By the end of our second fifteen-hour day, I was wilting, and Jaden ended up behind the wheel for the last several hours. I wished I could see the landscape but it was too dark to make out.
“Who’s this friend we’re staying with?” I asked to stay awake.
“Her name’s Michele. I met her a few years ago when her company sponsored a polo match; we started talking after the game and hit it off. She heads up a software development team and she’s some kind of techie wunderkind.”
The term ‘techie’ conjured up the reassuring image of a nerd with glasses and a nervous demeanor. So I think I should be excused for staring when we arrived at our destination and I watched Jaden being warmly embraced by a gorgeous woman who, to top it off, had one of those sexy husky voices. I barely remembered saying hi, I only hoped my mouth wasn’t hanging open. We kept the pleasantries short. Michele showed us to our room and after quickly brushing my teeth I crawled gratefully into bed.
“Are you tired?” Jaden murmured, sliding into bed next to me.
I shook my head, smiling. I felt like I’d never be too tired for him. As he leaned over to kiss me, however, I hesitated. He looked at me with the faintest trace of his usual wicked grin.
“We can wait if you’re not comfortable in Michele’s house.”
I gazed at him in surprise. “How do you always know what I’m thinking?”
In answer, he gave a half-smile and pulled me to him, letting me feel his heart beat against my chest.
We slept twined together like vines. Thanks to my internal clock I awoke before him, and I spent a few moments just studying his face. A strand of morning light snuck past the blind to drape across his sleeping cheek, as though even the sun wanted to touch him. I checked the time and padded downstairs, admiring the contemporary open plan, gleaming wood, and vast windows that I’d been too tired to notice the night before. In the kitchen, I found what I was looking for — a phone. I pulled it across the granite counter and dialed home, hoping Seth would be inside. Christmas was never a complete day of rest for
us because animals need to be fed regardless of holidays, although it was the one day of the year the stalls weren’t cleaned.
He answered the phone with, “Merry Christmas, midget,” making me grin.
“I was hoping to surprise you.”
“Like that could ever happen.” He sighed dramatically. “The curse of being a twin.”
It was true; Seth and I had a sort of sixth sense about each other. I usually knew when he was calling, and vice versa.
“How are things at home?”
“Since you abandoned me with an angry bear to go gallivanting, you mean?”
I groaned. “Oh, no-”
His light-hearted laugh stopped me. “Things are fine, don’t worry. Gran’s here, and we’re gonna open presents soon. I still expect something good from Florida, though.”
I was still smiling from my call when Michele came downstairs. I greeted her rather shyly as she went to the fridge.
“Juice?” she offered, holding up a carton.
“Yes, please.” I studied her as she poured. She was wearing a cream silk robe that perfectly complemented her tumbles of mahogany hair and old-jade eyes. A far more striking combination than my mundane brown-on-brown. She also had very full lips, I noticed as she smiled, and I felt a sudden pang as I wondered how well Jaden was acquainted with them. She was tall and shapely — definitely the kind of woman I could imagine him dating.
“Jaden tells me this is your first time in Florida,” she said.
I nodded. “The furthest south I’ve gone is Connecticut for a horse show.”
“You know, there’s a huge Equestrian Festival that runs here all winter. Riders come from all over the country for it.”
“Yeah, and from Canada too. My friend Alex was here for three months last year; his mom hired a tutor but it sounds like all he did was ride. He and his horses really improved.”
“Yes, so much so that you beat him quite soundly at the Royal,” an amused voice said over my shoulder. Jaden’s arms came around me from behind and he kissed my temple. When I twisted my head up to smile at him his lips moved to mine, making me stiffen. He stopped and gave me a knowing smile before turning to Michele.
“What’s the plan for today?”
“Anything you like, honey. I hope you remembered you wouldn’t find much Yule spirit here.” She looked at me and added, “I’m Jewish.”
We put on some music and spent the day lounging around in our pajamas. Michele made cappuccinos and we played Scrabble. I sat between Jaden’s legs, my back against his front, as though it was the most natural thing in the world for us to be curled up together. We all made brunch, and for dinner, we ordered Chinese food. It was the most relaxing day I could ever remember having.
I was surprised to find that I missed home a bit. I missed the snow-muffled sounds of the country, feeding the horses their Christmas carrots, and even being with my family. I hoped wistfully that my days of being able to enjoy the company of family weren’t over for good.
The next day we visited Kermit and Piba at the International Polo Club. I’d thought our local polo club impressive when I’d first seen it, but it was modest compared to the vast fields and palm-tree-lined paths of the IPC. Lush spills of flowers surrounded the buildings, and even the stands looked imposing with their roofs of terracotta shingles. I was feeling rather small and insignificant when we got within sight of Piba. Her imperious whinny, urging us to hurry, and her obvious joy at seeing us brought me back to earth. This club might be lavish, but horses were the same all over.
Jaden started training the next day. On top of riding Kermit and Piba, he had to familiarize himself with the four new horses he was leasing during his time here, so after breakfast he went to the club alone. I’d been a bit worried about spending the day with a stranger, but Michele turned out to be easy to be with and I quickly relaxed around her. There was a small kidney-shaped pool in the backyard and we settled next to it in our bikinis. After looking at my feet, though, I ran back inside and grabbed the nail polish I’d brought with me. My ultra-stylish friend Julia — now Seth’s girlfriend — had given it to me before I left. I felt more summery once my toenails were a pretty powder blue.
It was late afternoon before Jaden stepped onto the backyard patio. My happiness at seeing him lifted me out of my chair in one bound, but I restrained myself from running to him. My reserve was automatic, but it suddenly hit me that there was no need to act here. I skipped over to him and flung my arms around his neck.
“I should go away more often,” he laughed. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me right off the ground to kiss me. “Is sitting by the pool getting old already?” he teased.
I shrugged. “I did that all day.”
I’d read an entire book uninterrupted too, which was great, but I’d never experienced idleness before. It felt weird, almost wrong, for me to be doing nothing.
“Haven’t you ever been on vacation?” Michele asked curiously.
“Not really. My mom took us camping a couple of times when we were little, but we moved to the farm when we were nine, and then...” I looked at Jaden. “Well, you know how it is.”
Running a stable isn’t like any other business. We had in-depth knowledge of all thirty-eight equine personalities, including details about their diets and health. And it wasn’t just a question of getting someone to feed and clean; horses aren’t like farm animals. Not only were they valuable, but some would be upset by changes in their routine and caretakers. Add to that almost one hundred human variables — our students and boarders — plus the grounds, equipment, dog and cats, and it was one heck of a big undertaking. And since the barn could never be left unattended, it was a twenty-four hour a day job, and my mom had never been keen on having someone stay in our house. We were lucky we had Gran, who was still intimately familiar with the business she had run for thirty-five years, but a vacation as a family had never been possible.
“Well then,” Michele said decisively. “You and I will have a girl’s day tomorrow. We can go shopping, I’ll show you some sights... in fact, we should go out tonight! Why don’t we go to the Players Club, Jaden? Show her some real Florida nightlife.”
“If I wanted to show her the ‘real Florida’ I wouldn’t have come to the aberrant island of affluence that is Wellington.” He gave me a crooked smile. “But I do want to show my girl a good time, so let’s go.”
Michele clapped her hands happily. “Scurry off and make yourself beautiful, darling, and I’ll take care of Téa.”
Jaden raised a brow at her. “Michele...” he began.
She made shooing motions with her hands. “Go. We’ll meet you in the living room.”
“I didn’t bring anything dressy,” I told Michele in dismay as we climbed the stairs.
“I’d lend you something of mine, but you’re so tiny I don’t think anything will fit.” She led me into her bedroom and entered a vast walk-in closet. She pursed her lips as she slid the hangers along the rack. “How about this one? It’s stretchy, and kind of small on me.”
I tried on the proffered dress. It was purplish-grey and fit reasonably well.
“Too long,” Michele proclaimed. “It’s a crime to cover up those legs.”
I finally ended up in one of my own skirts, matched with a fancy top of Michele’s. It wasn’t my usual style, but as I came down the stairs the look on Jaden’s face made me happy I’d worn it. He walked over and stopped me on the first step; thanks to the stairs our eyes were almost level. He took my face in his hands before kissing me.
“Hey! You’ll smudge her lipstick.” Michele swatted his arm and he let go, smiling.
“I am a fortunate man,” he said, linking one arm with mine and another with Michele’s.
The Players Club was right on the edge of the polo grounds. Its large arched doorways, tiled floors, and snowy-white linens gave it an air of understated elegance, but what I noticed most as we walked in wasn’t the décor. It was the attention that Jaden drew. The bartende
r grinned and gave him a thumbs-up signal, people at tables smiled and waved, and all around the room female eyes narrowed at the sight of his arm draped around me. I fought the urge to duck my head and blush.
I wasn’t the kind of girl anyone looked twice at, and at home, I hadn’t been anywhere publicly as Jaden’s girlfriend. I knew this was something I’d have to get used to: the stares, the whispers, and the speculation about what could possibly make me special. The fact was, he was an international polo star and here in the land of pro polo, everyone knew who he was. And I was a nobody.
The meal was wonderful, although I was a bit uncomfortable with all the looks that came our way. Jaden seemed unaffected, but then, he was used to the attention. And I reasoned that Michele probably drew stares for her appearance all the time.
After we’d eaten Jaden excused himself to go speak to some fellow polo players. Michele watched him go. The smile that lingered on her lips had a wistful quality, and I squirmed, wondering again at their past.
She caught my eye. “He seems happy. He’s softer, with you.”
“Oh.” It wasn’t what I was expecting from her.
“Don’t get me wrong, that bad boy vibe he had going — it was hot. But love looks good on him.”
I blinked. Jaden, a ‘bad boy’? Granted, he hadn’t always been an angel. He’d gone to lots of parties and done some fighting and even had a brush with the law, but it all seemed far removed from the Jaden I knew.
It was late when we got back to Michele’s, and I yawned as I started pulling my clothes off. I felt my cheeks begin to warm as I caught sight of Jaden. He was sitting on the bed with his elbows on his knees, watching me. I was down to just the skirt and bra, and I stopped and wrapped my arms around myself, feeling suddenly shy.
He patted the bed next to him and I went and joined him. “I like watching you,” he said frankly. “I didn’t mean to make you self-conscious.”
“It’s okay.” I grinned, suddenly remembering how much I loved watching him undress.
