by K. M. Hill
That slight, light dance of her full lips across his was like throwing a match on a can of gasoline. In one move, he had both arms raised above her head clasp in one hand, she was pushed back against the cabinet and he was devouring her lips.
She started to protest but the protest never made it into a complete thought. The only thing she could think of was Zach. She loved his rich scent, his full command of her, his kisses that made her stomach bottom out and her start to become very aroused. She felt his growing hard-on press into her.
With his other hand, he pushed her dress to the side and realized that she didn’t have a bra on. He swore, knowing that if he knew that sooner, he wouldn’t have been able to even hold a conversation. He moved his lips over her nipple to take it into his mouth. He was rough and then soothing.
Holy shit she never felt so possessed by one person. He consumed her. She wanted him to touch her everywhere. She wanted…
Finally, the barking dogs penetrated her hearing. She and Zach heard them at the back door at the same time and it was like a bucket of cold water on both of them. Zach stopped and moved his head to the side as he lowered her arm.
He backed away as if she was poison. Quick and extreme. What had he done? He all but attacked her. Yes, she might have made a slight first move but damn, he ran her over. And she’s a client!!
Sabrina was desperately trying to straighten her dress and was looking everywhere but at him. She walked past him to let the dogs in. Thank goodness for the dogs. Another minute or two and who knows where they would have ended up. What got into her? And she started it! She was mortified.
“Sabrina. I…” Zach began to stammer.
“Zach, we clearly had too much wine and are over tired and not in our full senses.”
Zach wished it was that simple. The problem was, he had his senses and had barely any wine. He was incredibly attracted to this goddess.
But he saw that she was trying to save both of them some embarrassment.
“Yes, ok. I think I should be going. It’s getting late and I have a bunch of horses to ride early.” Zach lied.
“Yes, of course.” Sabrina said quietly.
Was that a tear he saw in her eye? No, probably just the lighting.
“Sabrina, are we good?” Zach asked bravely.
“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t we be? Because we got carried away with wine? No, we are good.”
“Lessons on for tomorrow?” Zach asked cautiously.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t they be?”
“Ok, well, thanks for the evening.” Zach turned for the door.
“Yes. Thanks.”
Sabrina followed him to the door. He paused wondering what she was going to do.
“Ok, Zach. I’ll see you at the stable tomorrow.” Sabrina said as she put her hand on the door handle looking to close the door. He barely made it out without her closing it on him.
He walked down the steps and started to walk to his car. He stopped. This felt wrong. He walked back up the steps but stopped at the top of them.
Sabrina had closed the door behind him and turned around and slid down the length of the glass door. She had her back to him but he could see right through the panes. She dropped her head into her hands and looked like she was crying. The dogs came over and flanked her on each side and put their heads on her lap and shoulder. They clearly were upset that she was upset.
Zach’s heart broke. All he wanted to do was go in and scoop her up and bring her to bed and kiss those tears away. He hurt her with his abrupt goodbye. He hurt her by kissing her and stopping. It tore his heart and twisted his gut to see her with her hands in her face.
Zach went to take a few more steps to knock on the door and he stopped. Two things stopped him. One, he had the thought – she’s a client – flash through her mind at the same time he heard her say loudly “Fuck him” as she put an arm around each dog and brought them in for a hug.
Fuck him, huh? Well, ok. I guess that’s his answer on whether he should go back.
He extracted himself from the porch without making any noise and made his way to his car. He started his engine and didn’t look back. If he had, he would have seen that she had gotten to her feet and was in the glass doorframe watching him leave.
Chapter 23
She arrived to the barn the next morning in her rental. She had the auto mechanic deliver one that morning. It was the least they could do for setting her up with a car that broke down on her.
She stepped out of the car and went straight to Ben’s stall and found him not there. She looked around the corner and saw that the groom had him tacked up and ready to go.
“Mr. Zach said that you were a busy lady and to have the horses ready for you so that you could be out of here as fast as your rides”, explained the head groom.
Oh did he now, Sabrina thought. That’s how he was going to play it. He was going to push her out of the barn as quickly as he could. Was it that deplorable that he kissed her?
Well, if he wants to move along fast that’s fine with her. She got on Ben and headed down to the arena. Zach was nowhere to be seen so Sabrina picked up her canter to begin stretching Ben out for her lesson. Within minutes, she saw Zach march out of the barn into Lewis’ house. Apparently, Lewis and the grooms all lived on the property.
He was in there for a few minutes and came out and slammed the door.
I wonder what that is about, Sabrina thought. At that moment, Zach looked up and saw her working Ben.
“Sabrina, I didn’t know you were on already. Finish warming up and we’ll try some different things with Ben today.” Zach said with a serious tone.
All traces of his anger were gone and in place was a mask of professionalism. He smiled at her but it didn’t reach his eyes like it did the entire day before.
He taught her on all 4 horses. He was clear and helpful but very reserved. He answered her questions politely and gave her different ways to think about approaching different issues.
On net, they were very good lessons. Except for the tension. Tension rolled off of Zach in waves. When he showed her something to do with her hands or leg, he was very careful not to touch her. Was she really that terrible? Sabrina thought she didn’t measure up against the models she saw on his arm when she Googled him this morning. Yes, she Googled him.
Well, Sabrina wasn’t about to bring up last night to find out what exactly was going on with him so she just focused on her riding.
Chapter 24
This is how it played out Friday and Saturday. She would arrive for her lessons. Her horses would be ready. He would roll through all four lessons. The lessons would be good but very cool. Zach never laid a hand on her again since that moment in the kitchen.
Sabrina left on Saturday and Zach brought some papers into Lewis’ house.
“How’s our newest client doing Zach? I’ve been watching her lessons this week out the window and she seems very talented.” Lewis offered.
“She’s good.” Zach said briskly.
“I really like that last horse of hers. They all seem good but that last one seems to have a ton of power.” Lewis said.
“Yeah, he’s a good one.”
“And she should probably ride saddle seat when she jumps next.” Lewis said, looking at Zach.
“Yeah, that would be a good idea.” Zach offered while looking at a paper.
“Zach??
“Yea… “ Zach responded.
“Do you know what you just agreed to?” Lewis asked.
“What?”
“Do you know what you just agreed to?” Lewis repeated.
Zach thought about it for a minute. No, he had no idea what he just discussed with Lewis.
“What’s your point Lewis?” Zach said shortly.
“My point is your head is up your ass.” Lewis said with a smile.
“Great. Thanks.” Zach said curtly.
“I hear from the grooms that you have been on a tear for 3 days. I hear that you are very polite and h
elpful to our new client but pretty cold. I heard that you even yelled at a hose today while trying to fill a water bucket and that you have been doing stuff like this for three days. Just about the time since our new client arrived.
Zach, are you having a problem with our new client?” Lewis said looking right at him.
Chapter 25
Zach looked right back at Lewis. This was his partner. They built this business together. They were always honest with each other. It was time to come clean.
“Yes, I do.” Zach admitted.
“Well, what can it possibly be? She’s talented. She seems very willing to learn? She paid up front. She has great horses. What could your problem possibly be?” Lewis inquired.
“I kissed her.” Zach stated.
And looked Lewis right in the eye.
“You did what?” Lewis asked, choking on the sip of water he just took.
“I kissed her. After dinner the other night fulfilling that stupid rule you put in place, we went back to her place to have a glass of wine.” Zach said in a rush.
Lewis raised his eyebrow.
“Don’t give me that look. I know, I know. Stupid.” Zach said.
“How did it happen?”
“One minute she was slipping in the kitchen and the next minute she is plastered to me. She ran her lips across mine, which shocked the hell out of me and that was it. I went crazy. If it wasn’t for her dogs barking, I’m not sure what I would have done. That woman screams sex and has no clue about it. She’s so intriguing.” Zach admitted.
“How did Sabrina react?” Lewis asked, trying to get a handle on this situation.
“She was wild in my arms. It was probably the best kiss of my life and I have had a lot of them as we both know. She poured her whole self into it. She almost knocked me right out of my shoes.” Zach said with a smile.
“Was that the end of it?” Lewis asked wearily.
“Yes, that’s when I became a colossal ass. I stammered and stumbled an excuse that I had to ride early and ran for the door.” Zach said with his head hung low.
“Well, that’s a shitty way to address it.” Lewis chastised him.
“Yeah, I know. So I went back up the steps to her porch to talk to her and that’s when I found her. She had slid down to the ground with her back to the front door. It looked like she was crying. She had a big Great Dane on either side of her. She looked so beautiful and so sad all wrapped together. I just turned and left.”
“And have been terrorizing the staff with your stomping around every since.” Lewis chastised him again.
“Maybe.” Zach mumbled.
“What’s the issue?” Lewis asked.
“What’s the issue? What do you mean what is the issue? She’s a client!!” Zach practically shouted.
“Yes. So. What’s your issue?” Lewis pushed.
“What are you deaf? I told you. She’s a client. We have a strict rule about becoming involved with clients.”
“Well, you have that rule. But I don’t. That is a rule that only applies to you.” Lewis said half laughing.
“What are you talking about, Lewis? You specifically put that rule into place.” Zach demanded.
“Do you remember why I did?” Lewis responded.
“No.”
“I put it place right around the time that you were sorting through all of the estate stuff and you had a string of ladies who were vying for your attention, smelling their payday coming in. A bunch of them tried to sign up to take lessons with you to get closer and the rest of us found it incredibly distracting. At that point, you were so distracted and full of grief that you had no idea what anyone was doing.
So, I put the rule in place as if it had been in place all along. It prevented all of us from getting caught up in that mess of ladies and allowed you to focus on your riding. This place was always the place that you did great things and I didn’t want some vultures trying to take advantage of you.” Lewis explained.
Zach thought about how his friend Lewis was always looking out for him. He was stuck in terms of what to say.
Chapter 26
“So, there really isn’t any such rule.” Lewis confirmed.
“Ok, so no rule.”
“So why don’t you ask her out?” Lewis suggested.
“Because she is a client.” Zach said.
“Yes, we’ve established that. We’ve also established that there is no stupid rule preventing you from taking her out. We’ve also established that she is smart, beautiful, successful, and talented…” Lewis went on ready to continue until Zach interrupted him.
“Ok, ok! What are you her press agent? Yes, she is magnificent! I just don’t want to complicate things further.” Zach exclaimed.
“Wow. Magnificent. Buddy, sorry to say but things are already complicated if you are using words like magnificent. You are really stuck on her.” Lewis said with a chuckle.
Zach all but growled.
“Seriously, Zach. You haven’t had any serious relationship since your parents died. Yeah, you take ladies out to these charity functions you attend but they never last to the next event. You have been closed off and have kept to yourself except for where the horses are concerned. It’s time to move on and develop new relationships.” Lewis offered to his friend and partner. He had been worried about Zach for some time and this might be just the thing he needed.
“Since when did you become my counselor?”
“Third grade buddy when Susie Stroup tried to get you to play dolls with her. I watch you every day and while you are good, you’ve lost your passion. Your horses go well but I’m not sure you have that secret something that makes you the winner any more. You need something else in your life so you can get your edge back.
“It’s time to fully get back in the game.” Lewis pushed.
“Well, thanks for your love life advice but I don’t need to get back in the game and certainly not with Sabrina.” Zach rebuffed.
“Ok, Zach. You’ll work through it. Let’s just be clear, though. If you don’t pursue something with her, it isn’t because of a silly no dating clients rule. It’s because you are scared.” Lewis stated simply.
“I am NOT scared.” Zach growled out.
“Yes you are. You’ve finally found someone as smart as you and who won’t back down. She will give you a run for your money and that intimidates you.” Lewis continued to push, enjoying Zach getting pissed off.
“If I was so intimidated, why did I kiss her?” Zach pushed back.
“Because you are as intrigued and enamored as you are intimidated.” Lewis said knowingly.
“Fuck you, Lewis. You don’t know shit. Go hop back to your perch and leave me the fuck alone.” Zach snapped.
Lewis laughed a big hearty laugh.
“What are you laughing about?” Zach asked, now incredibly agitated.
“Well, I know the more you swear and the nastier you get, the closer I am to being right.” Lewis said in between his laughs.
“Fuck you, Lewis.” Zach said as he slammed the door.
Chapter 27
Zach jumped into his Ferrari and peeled out of the driveway. Screw Lewis and his stupid rules. Or no rules. Who could keep up?
Zach pulled up to a light and a thought hit him. Lewis called him scared. Said he hadn’t been in a real relationship since his parents died. That can’t be true because he had dated a lot of women.
As he reflected on it, it occurred to him that he couldn’t point to a single one that lasted more than 2 weeks.
Damn him, thought Zach.
So what if he hadn’t found anyone he wanted to be with so far. He never thought about any of those women when he wasn’t with them. They were just not people that he connected with.
But Sabrina.
Ugh, there she is again. Front and center in his mind.
The car behind him beeped the horn.
Acting like a teenager again. Great. That will get him far.
As he drove along, he thought about
what Lewis said about Sabrina. So he saw it too. She was such an equal in so many ways. She actually had him on the ropes a few times.
How did he feel about the no dating rule being gone? Maybe Lewis was right. Maybe he was hiding a bit. That certainly would explain why he practically ran out of her house the other night.
