Horse Play (Horse Play Series Book 1)

by A. D. Ryan

  After we brushed the horses down, it was five and still pouring outside. We would have to bring the horses inside in this weather; it was days like this that made me dislike my job. With Glory and Starla soaked and happily eating in their stalls, I turned to find Jensen bringing in Oscar. His dark hair fell down his forehead and dripped over his eyes, and his light-colored jacket was drenched with water, making him look chilled to the bone.

  “Okay, I think Oscar was the last. You ready to go home and dry off? Maybe make a light dinner and curl up on the couch?” he suggested as he sauntered over to me.

  I nodded, meeting him halfway. “Um, yeah. Just let me do a quick walk-thru of the barn and make sure all the lights are off.” Jensen nodded, and I headed off to shut off all the lights. After checking the viewing gallery and the locker room, I went into the wash stall and turned off the lights. As I turned to walk out, I noticed a red blinking light in the upper corner of the large room. Quickly, I turned the light back on and my heart leaped into my throat when I realized what it was.

  “Shit. Fuck. Shit!” I cried, turning the light off again and running full tilt out of there. Horses spooked in their stalls as my loud footsteps echoed off the walls, and Jensen turned to me with mild panic that would soon mirror my own.

  “Madi?” he asked, catching me by my biceps and holding me in place. “What is it?”

  I gasped for air and tried to swallow my heart back down. From the way it felt, I was sure it had leapt right up into my throat. “Cameras,” I wheezed painfully. “Dad. Cameras.” Jensen searched my eyes, trying to make sense of what I was telling him. “Dad installed security cameras!”

  “Yeah, he told me he was going to. Something about a discount on the insurance.”

  I shook my head violently, clenching my eyes shut. “No! There’s one in the wash stall, Jensen.”

  When my eyes opened and found his again, I watched all of the color drain from his face. He released me from his grip. “Oh, shit.”

  “Come on. We have to check his office for where they feed to. Jensen, he can’t see us like that! N-not before I can tell him.” He seemed to be staring right through me, his skin so white he could have passed for dead—which could be a reality if my dad found that footage.

  Moving faster than should be humanly possible, I yanked Jensen toward Dad’s office in the barn and fumbled in my pocket for the key ring that held the spare. I dropped them on the floor several times as the adrenaline from my fear pumped furiously through my veins in an effort to keep me upright. Every time I looked at Jensen, he tried offering me an “it’ll be okay” or an “I’m sure they’re not even feeding live yet.” However, they all fell flat in light of the terror in his eyes.

  After what seemed like entirely too long, I got the door open, the brass knob slamming into the wooden wall behind it with a loud bang. I flipped the switch and looked around. Dad’s desk was immaculately cleaned of clutter; he had a tall filing cabinet in the corner where he kept the contracts and waivers of our clients, and his chair was tucked tightly into his desk. Then, up in the far right corner, was another fucking camera.

  “Son of a bitch, this isn’t where it feeds to.” I turned to Jensen, who finally regained a little color. “It has to be at his house.” Looking at the clock above the door, I sucked in a deep breath. “It’s seven now. Dad should be home around eight. We have to go get rid of the tape.”

  Jensen finally relaxed enough to laugh. Sure, it wasn’t a full-out laugh, but something I had said was funny to him. “All right, Bugsy, settle down.” Was he seriously trying to joke with me at a time like this? His junk was about to become well acquainted with my knee in about three … two … “Madison, everything’s digital now. I don’t know that there will be ‘tapes’ to get rid of,” he explained, taking me by the hand and leading me back out of Dad’s office.

  “This is no time to joke around!” I shouted, my cheeks flaming beneath what I could only assume was an unflattering and unnatural shade of red.

  Jensen nodded, knowing I was right. We ran out of the barn, still sharp enough to remember to lock the door before running through the rain that was still coming down in sheets. On several occasions, I slipped only to have Jensen rescue me before I took a fully-clothed mud bath, complete with gravel exfoliation.

  When we reached Dad’s front door, I grabbed my keys again and was shocked that I didn’t fumble them this time. Especially considering just how much fear flooded my body. With the key in the lock, I disengaged it before throwing it open. Jensen and I rushed in, hastily kicking off our muddy boots before I grabbed the wet arm of his jacket and ran quickly toward the den where Dad’s in-home office was.

  Water poured off our clothes and onto Dad’s clean floors, and I very briefly noted in my frantic brain that I would have to be sure to clean it up as soon as we had what we came here for. Nothing else in the house immediately registered in my mind as I ran through the house until I came to a sudden, would-have-been-screeching-had-I-been-wearing-shoes, halt in the threshold of the den. With Jensen right behind me, I threw my open hand up until it landed flat against the spot where his abs and his chest met, stopping him. My fingers curled, tugging the fabric of his shirt slightly, and my stomach rolled.

  There, behind Dad’s desk, were three security monitors, each with live, flickering images of various spots throughout the grounds. However, that wasn’t the worst of what we found upon entering my father’s workspace …

  A smile formed on Dad’s face as he looked between Jensen and me, his deep brown eyes bright and so-very aware. “Oh good, you’re both here. I trust everything went well this weekend?”

  In unison, Jensen and I both swallowed thickly, unsure of what to expect next.

  Chapter 22. I Never Saw it Coming

  Seconds felt like years as Jensen and I stood in the doorway to Dad’s home office, staring like a couple of teenagers who just got busted making out on the couch. He looked between us, his eyes dropping to the hand I still clutched Jensen’s shirt with. Panicked, I dropped it and wiped it on my soaked shirt like I’d just acquired cooties.

  “Dad? What are you doing here?” I asked dumbly.

  Cocking an eyebrow, he smirked. “Um, last I checked, I lived here?” His voice rose at the end in question—even if sarcasm dripped from every vowel and consonant. “I think a better question would be: what are the two of you doing here? Especially if you didn’t realize I was here. And, together?”

  Oh, he definitely knew something was up. The way he said “together,” all inflected with his super-dad powers of deduction. We were fucked. Jensen hummed behind me as he tried—and failed, I might add—to come up with a story that Dad would believe.

  “Invoices!” I screeched at a decibel only dogs should have been able to hear. Dad looked at me strangely. I cleared my throat nervously and glanced down at the floor as I tried to calm myself down. “Um, it’s almost the end of August and I wanted to get a head start on invoicing. You know, have it done for you so you can send them out to the clients. Take on some of the responsibility.” Shit, I hope he buys that.

  “Uhhh,” Dad began, cocking an eyebrow at me—I hated when he did that; it made me all nervous and shit. And I was already plenty fucking nervous. “You know you can access the invoices from your computer, right?” Dad said, his eyes still showing just how much of my bullshit he wasn’t buying.

  “She’s got a virus,” Jensen blurted out, to which I promptly scrunched up my face, feeling slightly insulted as I turned to give him the stink eye. “On her computer,” he finished, putting heavy emphasis on the last word so I would calm down.

  “Right! Yeah, Jensen downloaded some stuff and infected the computer,” I rushed to elaborate.

  Jensen nudged my arm gently. “I did not. That was all you.” His eyes seemed less terrified now as his lips twisted into a smirk as he tried to deny being the cause of my computer’s supposed “infection.”

  “Did so,” I countered, narrowing my eyes teasingly.


  Narrowing his right back, he refused to take blame. “If thinking that helps you sleep at night.”

  Our little exchange was doing nothing to throw my Dad off. In fact, he crossed his arms and sat back, listening to us goad each other on. Turning my attention back to him, I offered my most innocent smile. “So, do you mind if I get a start on them for you? I wanted to show Jensen how we invoice.”

  Dad looked at his watch for a second. “Sure, Madi. I was about to go have a shower anyway.” He stood from his chair and stepped out from behind the desk. “You know where everything’s located. I’ll see you in a few.”

  Jensen and I parted like the Red Sea to make room for Dad to pass by us. Once the bathroom door closed and the shower started, I bolted for the monitors with Jensen hot on my trail. Seeing the black and white screens up close caused my stomach to lurch. Especially knowing that they were recording and that there was very likely recorded evidence of Jensen and I dry humping each other. Actually, we were soaked from our water fight, so I wasn’t sure if that term still applied.

  Shaking the image from my head before I forgot what it was we were here to do, I moved behind the desk and started looking at the monitors for where the tapes or discs or whatever-they-were. My search came up empty.

  “Damn it!” I whisper-yelled, not wanting to draw any more attention to the real reason we were here. “There’s no …” I paused, still unsure what it was I was hoping to find. “… whatever it is we’re even looking for!”

  Jensen stood beside me, looking over the monitors himself. When I looked up at him, I saw his brow furrow in concentration. “It’s probably wired to go straight to his computer,” he mumbled, turning to sit at the desk as he turned on the PC.

  The main screen popped up, prompting him for a password. “Do you know his password?”

  Smiling faintly, I nodded. “Allison. My mother’s name.”

  “It’s a beautiful name,” he told me with a soft smile before turning back and keying it in.

  I laughed, leaning over his shoulder to watch what he was doing. “You don’t have to suck up, you know. However …” I let the word trail off before kissing his cheek quickly “… if you can find and delete us in the wash stall, I’ll owe you. Big.”

  Jensen chuckled. “I’m working on it, Landry. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

  Without even thinking, I said, “What if I’m not wearing any?”

  His fingers slipped over a couple keys accidentally, a whispered curse blowing past his lips. Behaving myself, I watched as Jensen opened a few files, searching for some kind of clues that would lead him to the security footage. “Anything yet?” It was a dumb question, but I honestly had no idea.

  Much to my disappointment, he shook his head. “Nope. I’m going to have to go in through the back end of the system.”

  “You can do that?” I asked incredulously. Jensen Davis was a computer genius? The man never failed to impress me as I watched him open up screens with half-words that he treated no differently than English. It was fascinating. “Where did you learn all of this?”

  A few more screens flashed by before Jensen located a hidden folder. “In a world as technologically advanced as ours is, I’m surprised you don’t know some of this stuff,” he ribbed playfully before further explaining. “Back in Houston I worked for a large computer software company that Kaylie’s father owns. That was how we met. She had come in for lunch with her father one day … Well the rest isn’t important as you know how it turned out.” Then, he smiled wide, double clicking the mouse before the computer screen showed the same images that were on the monitors behind us. “Got it!”

  Now that he had accessed the folder, he moved forward and started looking for the footage from the wash stall. The little white arrow rested above the icon I could only assume we were so hell-bent on finding. My heart skipped a beat as he double clicked on it.

  We watched the black and white image on the computer monitor. Yup, it was the wash stall. The empty wash stall. There was a time stamp in the upper left corner of the screen, showing us that we were watching from the night before our water fight. “Try fast-forwarding,” I suggested quietly.

  Nodding, Jensen started skipping the recording ahead until I entered the frame, carrying my water buckets. He chuckled as he watched me set them down, fussing with them until they were perfectly aligned. “A little OCD, huh, Landry?”

  I slapped his shoulder. “Oh, shut up,” I said with a laugh, keeping my eyes on the screen. There was a small – okay huge – part of me that wanted to see what was about to transpire.

  I watched as the water flowed over the bucket soundlessly, seeing with perfect clarity my use of the word “shit” when it happened. When I looked up, I knew that was when Jensen had appeared, scolding me for my being wasteful. Words were exchanged between us before he slowly entered the frame and I turned the hose on him. I had to slap my hand over my mouth to muffle my laughter as I watched the scene play out before my eyes. It was quite funny. The way he chased me around in circles, trying to grab the hose, then me, as I continued to spray him.

  “I’m glad you find this just as funny the second time around,” Jensen teased. I could tell he was smiling by the sound of his voice.

  Feeling certain my laughter could be contained, I pulled my hand away from my mouth and kissed his cheek softly. “Come on, you loved it.”

  “Being sprayed with cold water? Nope, can’t say that I did,” he said surely, turning his head slightly to capture my eyes. We stared at each other for ages, my eyes dropping to his lips as I contemplated kissing him. It didn’t seem to matter that we were in my father’s house and could be caught at any moment. If anything, that made it a little more tempting.

  Jensen cleared his throat as he watched my tongue peek out to wet my lips. “However …” he rasped, turning his attention back to the computer.

  My eyes followed his, and I gasped when I saw camera-him pin camera-me to the wall, the water from the hose raining down on us. We stared at each other for a moment, and before I knew it, our lips were joined as we practically devoured each other. Just watching the recording of Jensen’s hands disappearing beneath my shirt caused my nipples to harden and yearn for his touch.

  “Holy shit,” I whispered, expelling a soft breath.

  “Uh … Yeah, I should turn this off before your dad walks in here,” he suggested, his voice rough and gravelly. “Delete it?”

  “Well, I feel better.” Dad’s voice boomed, startling both Jensen and I before I got a chance to answer.

  Several quick clicks of the mouse and Jensen was back to the desktop, opening a file marked “Invoicing.” Nodding as he opened the main document, Jensen spoke. “Yeah, I think that makes sense.” He lifted his head from the monitor with a wide smile. “Hey, Wayne.”

  Glancing between us—which wasn’t a far trek considering I was still hovering so closely over Jensen that I was practically in his lap—Dad smirked. I straightened up when his eyebrow arched. Here it comes …

  “So, I trust you two had a good weekend?” he inquired.

  Jensen stood from the chair, continuing to smile. “Everything went fine, sir.” The way he called Dad “sir” had me in a near-fit of giggles. He was definitely trying to suck up in an effort to stay on his good side.

  Dad grinned. He seemed incredibly happy and not at all put-out by what I thought I knew he knew—that made sense, right? Oh, hell, this entire situation was confusing; I wasn’t sure what the hell I knew anymore. All I knew was Dad looked at us with this smile on his face that no longer made me quite as nervous.

  “Good to hear. Listen, I’m about ready to turn in—long weekend and all. Jensen, would you mind giving Madi and me a minute?” he asked.

  Oh no, oh no, oh no. The nerves were back full force, causing my stomach to drop and my hands to shake as the adrenaline that pumped through my body overpowered me completely.

  “Of course. I’ll head back to the house and start dinner.” Without looking at me
, Jensen moved around me to leave the office. “I’ll see you in a few, Madi.”

  I couldn’t move. Paralyzing fear took hold as the front door opened and closed behind Jensen, leaving Dad and me alone. Alone after finding out he installed cameras. Cameras that caught Jensen and I making out—no, not just making out; there was boob-grabbage and ass-groping. Both things that a father should never see. Ever.

  “Daddy …” I started nervously, finally feeling the need to confess everything I had been keeping from him—well, not everything. “I need to—”

  “You look good, kiddo,” he said, interrupting me. “Happy. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you smile like you have been lately.” There was a beat of silence between us before his smile widened even more. “He’s a good guy, Madison.”

  “W—what?” I stammered quietly, dropping my face to the floor before he could see the deep blush that filled my cheeks, absolutely giving away my truth.

  “Jensen,” he clarified. My head snapped up, my wide eyes meeting his as he stepped farther into the room and pulled me into a warm embrace. “You didn’t need to keep it from me,” he whispered into the top of my head. “Despite what he’s been through—and I’m assuming he’s told you about his recent troubles—he’s a good guy who just made a bad choice. Even if it was to avenge his sister.”

  “Dad, we’re not together,” I told him with conviction.

  “But you like him?”

  I thought about that a minute. Jensen and I were supposed to be keeping things casual, but yeah. I thought he was a great guy, and if the timing was right, I could see myself wanting to be with him.

  “Sure,” I replied. “He’s a nice guy.”

  “That’s all?”

  “Dad, I just got out of a relationship, and Jensen is just getting on his feet. Neither of us is ready for an actual relationship.”

  Dad seemed skeptical. “Whatever you say, Madi. Just know, you’ll have my support whatever you decide. I just want you to be happy.”