I shoved my nerves aside and marched in the stable with my head high. Who cared what he had done and what he thought? I didn’t. I wouldn’t let whatever game he was playing shake my core. Having to play coy and be quiet on campus was one thing. On this ranch was another. I had found my peaceful little paradise here, and he wouldn’t undo that for me. Nor would his father.
I stopped short once I heard loud voices coming from inside.
“I don’t care!” Mrs. Hudson yelled. “I don’t care if he’s your son. I want him out of here. I want him out of our lives. I want him far away from my children.”
“Virginia,” Mr. Hudson said in a warning tone.
“No, no. I won’t keep quiet anymore. I tried being patient, I tried being civilized, but enough is enough. He almost ruined our marriage. Twice. He’s poison and he’ll soon infect our children.”
“Mom, please,” Jonah said. “I understand your position, but he is my brother.”
“Half-brother!” she screamed. “I don’t understand how any of you can’t see how he is breaking us apart, little by little.”
Jonah said something in answer, but he had lowered his voice and I wasn’t feeling like snaking behind the door to listen.
“Tom,” Mrs. Hudson continued. “Arrange for him to be fired today. I don’t care where he finds a new job, as long as he stays dozens of miles from our properties.”
I heard footsteps and rushed to my car, pretending I was just arriving. Mrs. Hudson marched past me without even looking my way. A full minute later, Mr. Hudson and Jonah walked out of the stable.
Smiling, Jonah slowed down. “Hi, Brazilian girl.”
I nodded. That was the best greeting he would get from me.
Mr. Hudson turned. “Jonah, are you coming to the hospital?”
“I’ll be there soon.”
Mr. Hudson looked from his son to me and frowned. “Don’t be late. Your sister will like to have you there when she’s discharged.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll be right behind you.”
Mr. Hudson nodded and left with his wife.
Holding the cardboard tray and the brown bag, I walked around Jonah, but he stepped in front of me. “Excuse me.” I took a step to the right and he followed me. I took one to the left and he followed me again. “Let me pass,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”
An urge to punch him assaulted me. “Get out of my way.”
“Only if you agree to meet me tonight.” I groaned and stepped way to the side. He followed me again. “Meet me at The Bat after the party.”
Appalled, I halted and gawked at him. “What do you take me for?”
“For a Brazilian girl.” He ran his finger up my arm, and I jerked him away.
“Don’t touch me.”
He grasped my arm. “You don’t want me yet? That’s impossible.”
“Conceited much?”
Grinning, he leaned over me. “I have proof that I’m impossible to resist.”
“Well, I’m glad to take that proof away from you.” I jerked against his hold, but he didn’t let go.
“One kiss and I’m sure you’ll be at my mercy.”
I gritted my teeth and strained against his grasp. “Let me go.”
He put his other hand on my neck. “I’ll show you.”
I opened my hand and let the brown bag fall on the ground. I closed that free hand over a coffee cup and flicked my thumb, opening the lid. Then I threw the hot coffee in his face.
Screaming, he jumped back. “Bitch!”
“Stay away from me, creep!” I yelled, stepping back. I bumped into something and tripped, but strong arms grasped my waist, keeping me up. My heart tightened. “Thanks,” I whispered to Garrett.
Brows furrowed, he stared at his half-brother. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Jonah said quickly. He took off his jacket and used the inside of it to wipe his face. “She tripped and almost let go of the tray. I tried helping but only got a coffee bath.” He didn’t look at me.
“Lucky her,” Garrett said, his voice devoid of emotion. He picked the brown bag from the ground and held it.
“I should go,” Jonah said. “I have to be there when Delilah is discharged and I still need to stop by the house—” He gestured to the white mansion atop of the hill. “—to change.”
“See you later.” Garret’s jaw ticked.
“Bye.” Jonah turned on his heels and headed to his truck. He didn’t look at us as he backed away and exited the property.
Expression softening, Garrett faced me. “Are you okay?”
“How much did you see?”
“Enough.”
I looked around. His truck was parked in the back of the lot beside a thick tree. “I didn’t hear you arriving.”
He sighed. “I arrived before you, but my father, Mrs. Hudson, and Jonah were already here, so I parked in the back and waited.”
“Oh.” My cheeks flamed. He had seen me eavesdropping.
“They were talking about me, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure I want to know what they were talking about exactly.” He took a step toward the stable. When I didn’t go along, he stopped and glanced at me. “Aren’t you coming?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure I should be here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I … This isn’t my ranch, but I keep acting like I’m part of it. I’ve been working here, not that I mind. I don’t mind. I like it, actually, but it’s not my place. I don’t want to impose. I keep stumbling into conversations I shouldn’t hear and—”
“What other conversation did you hear?”
I bit my lip. “You and your father. He was telling you Delilah has to win the competition, and it’s your job to make sure she does.”
His expression hardened. “Well, that’s out of my hands now.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know,” he said. I handed the tray of coffee to him. He frowned at it. “What?”
“Take it. I bet Tom will like it, and I think you’ll like it too. I can stop by and buy more after I leave.”
“You don’t need to leave.”
“But … You and Tom must be tired of the little brat sticking her nose where she’s not supposed to.”
He showed me that lopsided grin and my heart skipped a beat. “One, you’re not a brat. Two, you’re not sticking your nose where you’re not supposed to.” With his eyes one mine, he stepped to my side. “And three, we’re not tired of you.” He put a hand on my back, pushing me forward. “I’m not tired of you.”
My breath caught. “Are you sure?”
The corner of his lips turned up. “I’m sure. Come on.”
***
“I called the vet when I woke up,” Garrett said. Tom demanded news as soon as we stepped into the stable. “He said Midnight is doing well. He had surgery this morning to fix his torn ligament, and now they’re giving him a strong pain medication, which makes him sleepy. He has to keep off that leg for a few days. Hopefully, he’ll be back here in about a week.”
I set the tray and the bag on Tom’s desk, and sat in one of the chairs around it. “And his stifle?”
“The cut was superficial, but he’ll have a big scar there.”
“Poor Midnight,” I whispered, handing the to-go cups to them. Garrett tilted his head at me. My cheeks heated under his scrutiny. “What?”
“I’m just wondering how and why you fell for that horse.”
I shrugged. “I believe everyone comes into your life for a reason, and that includes animals.”
“Interesting,” he said. His gaze was making me too self-conscious.
Tom cleared his throat. “Well, I have news to share with you too.” He reached for a donut from the bag.
I shrank in my seat, wishing I wasn’t present for this part. Or maybe I should be here. I should be here for Garrett. He was a good … frien
d? Or something like that. I cared about him, that was what mattered, and I wanted to be here if he needed a shoulder.
Garrett sighed. “Spill.”
“Mrs. Hudson demanded to have you fired today. She wants you out of here and away from their property.”
Garrett snorted. “That would be hard to accomplish.”
“I know,” Tom said. Knew what? I didn’t get it. “Anyway, she left in that rabid queen manner of hers, but Mr. Hudson stayed behind and told me to ignore her. He said to keep you here for now. But be advised, you’re under probation. Anything wrong or even not perfect, he’ll fire you.”
Silence fell over Tom’s office.
Garrett snatched a cinnamon scone from the brown bag and stared at it for a few minutes. I exchanged a few what-do-we-do-now looks with Tom, but he shook his head, and I kept my worries in.
Finally, Garrett bit into his sweet, but then he pushed it aside. “I’m going for a walk.” With his to-go cup in hand, he stood and exited the room.
“Should we go after him?” I asked Tom in a low voice.
The old man shook his head again. “Not yet.”
Tom and I finished breakfast rather fast and started working. An hour later, Garrett wasn’t back from his walk and I was starting to worry. Tom promised that if Garrett didn’t come back in another hour, he would let me go after him.
I tried distracting myself with chores. I mucked out stalls, I checked the horses’ water, I helped set up a riding group, and then I took Pepper, Autumn, and Felicity to the pastures. I leaned on the white fence, crossed my arms over it, and rested my head on my arms.
As much as I liked riding horses, I liked watching them too. My heart raced more than watching a parade for Sete de Setembro—Brazil’s Independence Day.
I bent my knee to scratch an itch on my ankle and saw a dandelion. With a smile, I picked it up and closed my eyes.
Garrett deserves better. I wish for Garrett to receive all he deserves.
Opening my eyes, I blew on the flower and the white petals flew away. I followed them with my gaze. In the distance behind them, Garrett walked toward me. My heart skipped a beat.
He paused, knelt on the ground for a second, and then resumed walking to me. As he approached, I saw what he had in his hand. A dandelion.
He halted by my side. “What do you do with this?”
I smiled. “I close my eyes, make a wish, and then blow on it.”
“Do you believe it’ll come true?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know that wishing and working for better things usually puts me in a better mood.”
He arched an eyebrow at me before closing his eyes. Five seconds later, he opened his eyes and blew on the dandelion.
He leaned on the fence beside me. “What now? Just wait for it to come true?”
“I guess.” I glanced at him. “What did you wish for?”
“Isn’t it a bad thing if I tell you?”
“I thought you didn’t believe in it.”
“But you do,” he said with his half-grin. He turned his eyes to the horses running around the pasture. “I wished to find my home.”
A painful jolt ran through my heart. “Don’t you have a home?”
He chuckled. “I do. But I don’t feel at home, you know. I haven’t felt at home, like I belong somewhere, since my mother died.”
I turned my body to his, leaning my shoulder on the fence. “May I ask a question about that?”
“Ask anything, but I’m not sure I’ll answer.”
Honest, I liked that.
“Why are you still here? Why haven’t you packed and left them behind?” Not that I wanted him to leave. One of the good things about spending so much time at this ranch meant that I also spent time with him.
“When I was born, my father tried buying my mother’s silence. She was young, only eighteen, and her parents didn’t want anything to do with her. So, she accepted it. He gave her some money, but for some reason, they agreed it wasn’t enough, but he couldn’t take more without having to explain to Mrs. Hudson where the money was going. So, he wanted to sell a piece of his land and give her that money. My mother asked him for the land instead, not the money. She told him she would sell it later, when she needed the money, and he believed her. Many years later, she got sick and told me who my father was and that he had given her a piece of his land.”
“That place I picked you up yesterday.”
He nodded. “When she died, the land became mine, and when I came to claim it, Mrs. Hudson found out about me. I won’t enter into details of the war that went on for many months. I was sixteen then, and the court suggested my father take me in, take care of me, so I wouldn’t go to foster care. He offered me the room above the stables and work at the stable, to keep me occupied.”
“You didn’t go to school?”
He shook my head. “Not after moving here, no. I took the GED a few years later. When I turned eighteen, I wanted to leave, but I had no money. I had a talk with my father, and he started paying me to keep working here. I was able to save a little to buy Felicity and pay for college, but not enough to move out. My goal was to get a scholarship for a vet school somewhere else, so I could move out of here, but my grades weren’t that good since I worked more than I studied, so I got in none, not even at the school here. That’s when the idea of making something of my land presented itself to me.”
“The barn you’re building.”
“Yeah. I built the cabin first, before I graduated from college and had to move out from The Bat house, so I would have a roof over my head.”
“And before going to college. Where did you live?”
He pointed to a tiny white dot past the mansion atop the hill. “That’s where most of my father’s employees live. The ones working with his cattle. It’s much like a dorm building, and one of those rooms was mine.”
My heart sank. “Oh.”
“Anyway, I’m building the barn, and then I want to build a small stable and buy a couple of horses. I hope that I’ll open my own ranch in a couple of years. And with that, I’ll be free of Rocky Hill.”
I rested my hand on his arm. “I’m sorry about what you went through.” His gaze followed my hand. “But I’m glad you’re able to keep your head high, and you’re doing something for yourself.”
He lifted his gaze and his eyes met mine. “Thanks. Sometimes I have doubts about what I’m doing, and hearing that helps a lot.”
I pulled my hand away. “Say, I don’t need to work here all the time. Let me know your days off, and I’ll help you there if you want.”
“I can’t pay you for that.”
“I’m not asking to be paid for what I do here. Why would I ask to be paid while working at your ranch?”
He smiled. He actually smiled. A huge, all teeth, true smile. The shine in his eyes matched his smile, and my heart skipped several beats. Meu Deus, he truly was even more handsome when he smiled for real. Now that I had seen it, now that I had experienced it, I wanted more. I needed to make him smile more.
“I’ll take that into consideration,” he said.
I shook the shock off my system and nudged him in the ribs with my elbow. “Come on, you would love to have my help. Admit it.”
The wattage of his smile diminished, but it was still more than I had ever seen from him. “You’re amazing.” Heat crawled up my cheeks and I shook my head. He brushed a strand of my hair away from my face. “You really are amazing.”
My gaze flicked to his lips, and I remembered how great they had felt against mine. My heart beat faster, and I inhaled sharply.
He hadn’t shown any interest in me since the first and only time we kissed. I wouldn’t be the one to beg. Besides, even if he wanted something, that something could be to get between my legs and nothing else. After having the attention of dozens of men on campus, but knowing they had one thing in mind, I couldn’t tell when a guy was interested in me, or just my body.
I averted my eyes and he let
his hand fall beside him.
“Did I say something wrong?”
Did he? No, he didn’t. In fact, he hadn’t said one thing wrong the entire day. Being here with him, hearing him opening up, was fantastic. Some of my old boldness slipped into me, and I relished in it. I embraced it. I called it forth and begged it to take me over.
I turned my face to him and found him still looking at me. Without hesitation, I leaned closer to him, stood on my tiptoes, cupped his cheek with my hand, and put my lips on his. He stiffened for a second, as if not expecting my sudden change of heart, but soon enough, his soft lips moved with mine and his hands rested on my hips.
I opened my mouth and his tongue didn’t waste time. It plunged in, exploring each corner of my mouth and drawing a moan from my throat. His arms slid around my waist, and with one big hand splayed on my back, he drew me closer.
Pulling away, he whirled us around and pressed me against the fence, drawing a gasp from my lungs. He stared at me, his eyes shining with lust. I shivered.
His arms snaked around me again before he dipped his head and met my lips with his. His mouth was harder this time, and when I slid a hand under his shirt and grazed my long nails on his back, he groaned before deepening the kiss.
His lips seemed to have been made for me, and his kiss made every nerve in my body feel alive. He brushed his thumb under the hem of my thin sweater, and that simple act made me shiver. He smiled against my lips. With a smile of my own, I bit his lower lip before sucking on it. He groaned again.
“I want to be on top of you,” he whispered.
I knew what he meant. Imagining him on top of me brought desire burning in my veins.
He kissed my chin before grazing his tongue along my jaw and down my neck. He left a trail of fire whenever he touched me, with his hands or his lips, or any part of him. He gently bit the soft spot between my neck and shoulder, and I gasped, sinking my nails into his back.
I turned my face to his and inhaled, savoring in his spicy, woody scent. It was so much better when this close, when my body was pressed against his, when his hands were all over me, when his mouth was on me. He lifted his face, crushing my lips with his again.
Breaking Fences (The Breaking Series) Page 18
