by Tina Donahue
His heart tugged open even more.
Never had he seen a more beautiful woman.
* * * * *
Returning to the parlor was brutal. Not the work—Jasmina sailed through her tasks as she had BB, Before Brad. However, every time she glanced at Tor, he was regarding her. Probably because he’d guessed she’d been with Noah and Kyle and worried about her having another meltdown over a guy, or guys, if things didn’t work out.
Even Van Gogh noticed the odd behavior when he was generally oblivious to people, lost in his own glum world. “You and Tor have a fight?” he asked. “Are you going to start arguing in here like you did before?”
They were in the breakroom, Van Gogh grabbing two Mountain Dews in obvious preparation for the coming apocalypse.
Jasmina licked a piece of loose chocolate from her Dove bar. “He’s worried about me.”
“You’re going to start moping around again?”
Hmm. Van Gogh was even more direct than she was. “I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good. These last months sucked.”
“Sorry.” She patted his inked arm. He had gory, bullet-wound tats with red ink representing blood oozing out of each hole. “Wouldn’t want to put you in a bad mood.”
He gave her a blank look, missing her sarcasm.
Artists. “You dating anyone yet?”
He stopped lifting the soda can to his mouth and took several steps back.
She touched air rather than him and dropped her hand to her side.
“I don’t want a fix-up.” He eyed her suspiciously. “Ever.”
Too bad. She figured he’d loosen up, possibly crack a smile if he got some action. “Don’t you ever have fun?”
“So I can end up like you, Tor or Lauren? No thanks.” He strode from the room.
Another artist ran into him in the hall. “Sorry, man,” the guy said.
Van Gogh muttered something she couldn’t hear.
And he thought she was moody. To keep Tor from eyeballing her for the rest of the day, she caught up with him in his station.
He stopped wiping down the table he’d used with his last client. “Hey.”
She closed the door, crossed the room and hugged him.
He embraced her in return and sighed as though the world was ending. “What happened while you were gone?”
“Had a great time.” She released him. “You should see my blisters.”
“What?”
“I don’t want you worrying about me. Staring either. It’s getting creepy.”
He made a face. “Sorry.”
“You’re a great guy.” She patted his shoulder. “But I can take care of myself. Noah, Kyle and I are hanging out. Nothing major.”
“They’re guys, Jasmina. You’re a woman. Do I need to paint a picture for you?”
She curled her upper lip. “I can’t be friends with them, they can’t be with me because we’re different sexes? Who wrote that rule? What about us—you and me? We’re hardly stealing moments in the supply closet or john to get down and dirty.”
“No offense but you’re not my type.”
“You’re not mine either. Should we kiss and make up?”
He pushed his fingers through his hair. “I see how Kyle and Noah look at you. No friends I know act like that.”
“We’re the kind with benefits. Welcome to the twenty-first century.” She leaned in. “How do they look at me? Exactly.”
“Uh-huh. This is purely about hanging out with them. Sure.”
“Answer my question.”
“They look like they want to devour you but not in the usual way.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Hell, I can’t explain it.” He capped the bottle of disinfectant. “I’m an artist not a poet.”
“Are you saying they’re into me?”
“Why would I have to? Didn’t you spend the last two days with them? Don’t you know?”
Of course she didn’t. Why would she be verbally dancing with him if she were? The trip to Disney World had been insanely great, but the three of them had been on vacation, messing around, not gazing into each other’s eyes and murmuring sweet nothings.
Kyle and Noah didn’t have to as far as she was concerned.
Her heart had turned over at Noah massaging her feet and Kyle buying her a Mickey Ears balloon after she’d spied a kid with one. Even though Kyle had spent a ridiculous amount of money for the dumb thing, he hadn’t complained when the string slipped out of her hand and Mickey made a break for it, going up, up and away toward the sky.
Noah and Kyle had bathed her when she’d been too tired to move, then carried her when she couldn’t support her weight any longer.
That’s what friends did for each other. It wasn’t love. Not for guys.
For her?
Uh-uh. Jasmina didn’t want to go there. Too scary. Brad had done such a number on her, she was surely overreacting to a few moments of human kindness, decency and respect from Noah and Kyle. Nothing more. She couldn’t believe otherwise and make more of the time she and the guys still had to share, with her coming up short at the end. “I gotta get back to work.”
Tor caught her hand before she could leave. “Tell me if you need anything.”
What she needed was one matter. What she was willing to settle for was a good time.
* * * * *
Since they’d been kids, Kyle had considered Noah the brother he’d never had. He would have taken a bullet for the guy. However, his affection hadn’t put a crimp in his competitive nature. Outdoing Disney World was going to be a bitch but he needed Jasmina to light up for his surprise as she had when she’d spotted the sign for Orlando.
Pleasing her had become more important than he’d thought possible. Each lunch or dinner they shared, every hour he’d spent laughing or bantering with her, learning what she liked and couldn’t stomach, had driven her closer to his core. She was under his skin. He should have been distancing himself as he had with other women when things got too serious.
With her, he couldn’t. Didn’t want to.
Already their month was zipping by at supersonic speed. Even though he realized the time limit was arbitrary and easily changed, urgency kept pushing him to make the most of these moments together. As though they’d be the last they’d share with no option to continue.
He doubled down on his plan for their next day together, exploring adventures she might like, dismissing a day at the beach as so-so, a ride in a glider as too much like Fifty Shades of Grey, ice-skating as a sure way to prove how clumsy he was or break a bone. No thanks. Nothing seemed right, or a way to satisfy her sense of fun while she got to know him better, seeing him as a person and a man.
At last, he recalled one of their earliest conversations and realized what the perfect outing would be.
“You’re kidding,” Noah said when Kyle told him.
“Do you see me laughing?”
“No, that’s what worries me. No way am I riding a pony. Hell, my feet would drag on the ground. I’d be doing most of the heavy lifting, moving the thing along.”
“You’re thinking of Shetlands. They go down to seven hands. The tallest are a little over eleven. I’m talking about quarter horses, fourteen to sixteen. At least for you and me.”
“Oh well, that changes everything.” He made a mocking noise. “What are you talking about?”
“If you’re scared to ride a horse, fine. You can wave bye-bye to Jasmina and me as we—”
“I’m not afraid.” Noah frowned. “Since when do you know how to ride a horse?”
He shrugged. “I spent some vacation time last summer taking lessons.”
A knowing look spread across Noah’s face. “I thought you’d met a girl you liked, but you were riding a horse? That’s why you were walking bowlegged when you came back to—ow.” He rubbed his biceps where Kyle had punched him. “Do that again and you won’t be able to crawl.”
Right. Big talk. “You do realize this
will be a great opportunity to tease Jasmina.” He grinned. “I keep picturing her in a safety helmet and wearing heels, since her sneakers won’t do.”
“We’ll have to wear helmets?”
“Cowboy hats will be fine to keep the sun off our faces, and shoes with a heel so your feet don’t slip through the stirrups.”
“You expect me to wear dress shoes and a cowboy hat to ride a pony? Why not ask me to put on a bra and lipstick?”
There was an image. “Boots will be fine. We can rent a pair at the farm, along with hats. The place has a petting zoo too.”
“Oh goody, I was worried it might not.”
Kyle chose to ignore the sarcasm. “I went along with your idea for Disney World even though I thought it was lame. Jasmina liked it. That’s all I care about. I’ve already sent her a text, telling her to wear her hair like she does at the parlor, bring along a pair of socks, a shirt with long sleeves and to wear jeans. Don’t want her chafing the insides of her thighs when she’s in the saddle.”
“You tell her that?”
“No. This is going to be a surprise.”
“She didn’t wonder about the hair and clothing requirement?”
“Only to ask if we were planning to have her clean out a garage. I told her I didn’t own one, neither do you. She seemed relieved.”
“Until she finds out what you have in mind.”
Kyle wasn’t worried. He’d seen her delight taking rides in Orlando, even the loser attractions like It’s a Small World. Talk about sucking. She hadn’t thought so, singing along to the irritating tune. Eventually, he and Noah had too, all of them laughing until they couldn’t breathe. She’d have fun at the farm too.
* * * * *
On the ride there, Jasmina leaned against him and then Noah to look out their windows, catch what they were passing.
Kyle patted her thigh. “Relax. Community service isn’t so bad. Ask the rest of the felons you’ll be meeting today.”
Noah snickered and turned into the road leading to the farm.
She leaned over Kyle, her hand near his cock, as she checked out the welcome sign on his side. “We’re going to a farm with horses and ponies?” She turned to him, eyes wide. “I should have known. How often do you come here?”
He’d never been. “This is my first time. Noah’s too.”
“We’re all virgins? Awesome. I won’t be the only one who doesn’t know what to do.”
Now wasn’t the time to tell her about his riding lessons, especially since he wasn’t the Marlboro Man by any means.
Inside the main building, she tried on a variety of hats, returning frequently to a mint-green one, though she finally settled on a red helmet. “Don’t want a concussion.” She handed Noah a lavender hat, Kyle a pink one. “Those’ll look great on you guys.”
And here they were supposed to tease her. Kyle chose a black hat, Noah the dark gray.
Decked out in blue cowboy boots with flowers on the side, she pretended to shoot them with her index fingers. He and Noah took her picture on their smartphones.
With her phone in hand, she circled them repeatedly, taking shot after shot. Kyle kept turning to following her. So did Noah.
“Guys, stand still. I want to get you from every angle.”
Kyle squared his shoulders. “My front’s the best.”
“Mine too,” Noah said.
“Don’t move, please. No more kidding around. I want to do this, okay?” She looked close to tears suddenly.
Where had the sadness come from? Kyle would have asked if her period was causing the mood swing but figured she’d slug him if he did. “Sure. We won’t even breathe.”
“No way.” Noah crossed his heart.
After several minutes, she pushed her phone back in her pocket, her smile back, though a trace of melancholy lingered. “Where are the horses? I’d like a black one with a white tail.”
Kyle laughed. “Doesn’t work that way.”
“That sucks.” She ran one hand over his biceps, the other over Noah’s. “I don’t want my horse’s color to clash with either of yours.”
He laughed again and kissed her. Noah did too. Luckily they were alone in this area, the kids and parents already outside.
She touched her damp lips. “What was the kiss for?”
For being herself, even when she sank into a mystifying mood—like her sadness seconds ago and the odd way she behaved now. Her mouth trembled as though she were about to cry.
Damn. “We only shoved our tongues in your mouth to keep you quiet.”
Noah nodded.
She smacked their butts, feisty again.
In the corral, she complained about getting a small pony when he and Noah had real horses. “This is sexist.”
The farmhand—an old guy who’d probably seen and heard everything—stared off into the distance, not bothering to interfere.
Kyle cupped her elbow. “You need a gentle ride.”
She turned into him. “Since when? You forget the other night?”
He’d seared those moments into his memory of her on top of, beneath and in front of him, his cock sliding in and out of each of her openings. “On a pony. If you choose a horse, we’ll have to tie you to the thing to make certain you don’t fall off and break your legs then have to spend the next weeks, possibly months, in traction, helpless and imprisoned in bed.”
“Sounds like BDSM.”
“Not as nice.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
Yeah she would. He and Noah had gotten the go-ahead from Zimmerman. Everything was in place for the last stretch of their vacation. “You don’t want to break anything with what’s coming up.”
That got her on the pony. She stroked its mane and leaned over to kiss the critter’s neck, chattering to it in baby talk.
Kyle threw Noah a glance, smug that he’d been right about her liking this. Noah conceded with a nod.
Before their ride, the farmhand gave them lessons in handling the animals and general safety. Jasmina followed his instructions meticulously. When he’d finished with his spiel, she asked questions about snakes scaring the pony, whether it ever got bored, if she was too heavy for the poor thing, had it eaten yet, what would happen if one of its hooves got hurt.
The old guy smiled. “Flower’s sturdy. The trails here are wide and tended real good. No need to worry.”
“Her name’s Flower? Aw, how sweet.” She kissed the pony’s neck again and turned to Kyle. “Did you do this as a kid? Does someone in your family own a farm? Is that why you wanted to become a vet?”
He needed a moment to catch up. “Ah, I wish, but the most I did as a kid was go to a couple of county fairs and the zoo. Saw the animals there and fell in love.”
She regarded him and Noah, nodding finally, growing quiet.
Had she wanted a more exciting story?
They rode through the wooded grounds, the farmhand pointing out the sights. Sun streamed through the heavy foliage, Jasmina’s hair flaming in the brief flashes of light. A soft breeze brushed past, the air scented with vegetation and occasional blasts of manure.
Pinching her nose, she breathed through her mouth and took in the grounds. When she caught Kyle’s eye, her gaze softened with what seemed to be tenderness, friendship, possibly more.
Did he want that?
Before he could dwell on his feelings or panic, she smiled and mouthed, “Thanks”.
He sat straighter in his saddle, feeling more like a man than he ever had, fucking powerful. Grateful too that she appreciated what he’d done.
At the petting zoo, she hunkered down with the rest of the kids, cradling chicks, ducks, rabbits, goats, piglets and hedgehogs. She kissed the animals she held and fed a few after the youngsters stopped hogging the baby bottles. One small boy pouted when Jasmina got in his way.
“Sorry, sweetie.” She backed up fast, letting the little one plow through.
Kyle leaned on the fence next to Noah. “Looks like we’ll have to teach Jasmina ho
w to defend herself on the playground.”
“A few karate moves should do the trick,” Noah said.
She slanted them a look.
At lunch, she ate nearly as much as they did, stuffing herself with chips and guacamole, deep-fried onion strings, baby-back ribs, sweet potatoes and peach cobbler. There was a smear of barbeque sauce near the corner of her mouth, a few crumbs from dessert on her lips. She rubbed her belly and stopped abruptly, a pained look on her face.
Kyle lowered his fork. “What?”
She bit her lower lip.
Noah leaned in. “What?”
She gestured to their meal. “Is this food made from the animals in the petting zoo?”
Eventually, yeah, for the chicks and pigs. The farm didn’t have a rest home on the premises for elderly animals. “I’m guessing they set the hedgehogs, rabbits and goats free.”
“Or feed them to the other animals.” She pushed her plate away then brought it back and finished her chips. “You guys are spending too much money. No more of this; I mean it.”
Kyle’s food lay like a boulder in his belly. She couldn’t be serious. What was next, cutting their month short to save them a few dollars? “You don’t want to have any more fun because of the cost?”
“We can have a good time without you guys draining your bank accounts. Besides, it’s my turn to choose what we’ll do next week.”
The second to last with the final one involving Zimmerman’s toy.
Noah stopped eating. “What did you have in mind?”
“Cooking for you at my place. Giving you a free meal. We can watch movies afterward on my laptop.” She glanced over both shoulders at the other diners and leaned in to him and Noah. “In bed. Hulu has tons of free flicks. Some of them are even good.”
Kyle forced himself to smile, afraid if he didn’t he’d hurt her feelings. “You sure you want to cook?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
He couldn’t pretend any longer. “Do you even know how to cook?”
“With six brothers, who do you think helped my mom with meals? My dad?” Jasmina wrinkled her nose. “I’m so good, I could have gotten a job at Castillo’s. Next week, my place. No arguments.”
