Horse Play (Horse Play #1) (14 page)

A few more minutes passed before Jensen returned with a couple of bowls that he started placing in front of each of us. He sat next to me at the table, our knees forced to rest against one another due to the fact that my small, circular table wasn’t meant for five people. Not that I was complaining. Every time he touched me—even in the most innocent of ways—I felt a spark of desire between us that I couldn’t ignore any more.

I finished my vegetables before I started eating the soup and sandwiches.

“So, Tom,” I said, breaking the silence. “Do you have someone to help you out with training? I know Jill would in her down time.”

“Actually, Jensen’s going to help me out while you’re out of commission,” Tom said, shocking me completely.

My head snapped toward Jensen as he made his way back to the table with Dad’s the sandwiches. “You are?”

Jensen sat in his seat, his knee rubbing mine again and making my stomach flip-flop all over like a fish out of water. “Yeah. Tom, your dad, and I were talking about it, and I offered to help out.” I was just about to thank him again—he truly was going above and beyond for me—but he spoke again in a teasing tone. “Plus, those horses won’t get worked if you can’t manage to stay on.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, really wanting to tell him my falling off the first two times was his fault, but I knew that would just go to his already swollen ego. Seriously, though, if he hadn’t come onto my ranch and distracted me, none of this would have happened.

Then, as if his teasing words weren’t enough, he winked. The asshole winked at me, his head turned just enough that no one else would see it but me.

Oh, it’s on, like Donkey Kong …

I remained silent for a moment, dropping my eyes to my lunch as I waited for everyone around the table to start talking again. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to get him back for his little smart-ass comment, I dropped my sandwich on my plate and leaned in to Jensen. Moving to cross my legs beneath the table, I was sure to run my foot up the length of his shin and watch as his eyes widened.

“You must think you’re soooooo funny, don’t cha, Davis? That’s fine. Laugh it up. Your Mr. Perfect exterior will slip away soon enough, and you better believe I’ll pounce when the opportunity is ripe,” I threatened in a low tone. I watched triumphantly as he blinked rapidly before looking around the table to see if anyone else saw our little exchange.

“This …” I pointed at my chest in exactly the same place he had earlier “… will most definitely be mine.”

“You’re evil, Madison Landry,” he told me in a low, gravelly voice before shaking his head with a laugh. Feeling content in my success, I turned back to my meal and giggled as he stood to take his plate to the sink. After finishing my own lunch, I got up to take my dishes over to him, as well.

“Hey,” I said quietly. “Before you go back to work, can you grab me my bread maker from the top shelf of the pantry, please?” I knew him doing me any favors was probably a long shot after my little stunt at the table, but I could at least try.

Apparently there were no hard feelings—quite potentially other hard things, but not feelings. “Madison, you need to relax. Doctor’s orders, remember?”

“I know. But this is just measuring and button pressing. No heavy lifting. I promise. I’m not the type of woman who spends hours making dough by hand.” Pausing, I shrugged. “I just want to make you dinner. You know, to say thanks.”

Jensen took one look toward the table, my eyes following only to see the guys were still caught up in their conversation. He took my hand before pulling me from the room, hiding us from view around the corner. “You said thanks. Right before lunch. The only thing I want from you is to get better.”

“The only thing?” I questioned, allowing my face to fall and see that our hands were still connected, his thumb stroking just below my outer wrist. “We’re …
friends
?” My breath shuddered, and I looked back into his darkened eyes, licking my lips and taking a step forward.

Jensen’s chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, and his gaze intensified as he met my stride with one of his own. His free hand came up to brush my hair from in front of my right eye before his palm rested on my cheek, coaxing it up to his. The world stopped moving around us as he dropped his face to meet mine, our lips only inches apart and our eyes focused on nothing but each other.

“Madison, I—”

I started to nod because I wanted this—needed it—more than the air I was struggling to take in right now, but we were very rudely interrupted.

“Madi?” Dad called out, his footsteps indicating he was just around the corner. Jensen and I quickly parted before my dad rounded the corner to find us standing there. “What’s going on?”

I felt my cheeks warm, and I hoped I wasn’t blushing too noticeably. “Um, nothing, Daddy. Jensen and I were just … You see, I …” I was no good at lying, and improv was most definitely not my thing.

“I was asking about Ransom. Tom and I are going to be working with him first, and I just wanted to know what to expect.” His voice was smooth and soft like satin; there was no way Dad wouldn’t believe him.

Dad’s right eyebrow rose skeptically as his eyes moved back and forth between Jensen and me.
Oh, he knows.

I held my breath and waited for him to call our bluff. Yes, I was a grown woman, but that didn’t make it any easier for him. Especially not after what Dane had done.

“Madison?”

I smiled wide and tried to give him those innocent doe-eyes I was told countless times could get me out of hot water. “Yes, Daddy?”

After glancing once more at Jensen, he shook his head and smiled. “Just wanted to say have a good afternoon. I have to get back out there because the inspectors are coming by to check out the barn.”

“Oh, okay. Sounds good. I’ll see you later.” I kissed my dad on the cheek, choosing not to look at Jensen until Dad was long gone. It was probably safest that way.

“I should go clean up lunch. We’ll talk later? Over dinner?” Jensen asked quietly.

Turning to him, I nodded and offered him an apologetic smile. “Yeah. I’m going to go soak in the tub. You’ll tell Tom and Jeff I said goodbye?” I asked. He gave a curt nod and disappeared into the kitchen.

After locking myself in the bathroom and starting the tub, I slowly stripped my clothes from my body. I was thankful my painkillers had kicked in for the most part because it made taking my shirt off a little easier. As the tub continued to fill, I stepped in, clutching the edge to carefully lower myself into the steamy, bubble-filled water. The heat of the water eased any residual aches associated with my injuries, causing me to relax further, and I found my thoughts drifting back to my stolen moment with Jensen.

He had wanted to kiss me—I could see it in his eyes—add to that the face-cupping, lips-almost-touching, which I suppose were the more obvious signs. The thought of any of it made me simply giddy. After seeing the look in his eyes, there was simply no denying just how deep his desires went—possibly as deep as mine.

I remained in the tub for just under a half an hour when the porcelain started to aggravate my bruised backside, so I grabbed my towel and stepped out after releasing the plug. Before wrapping my towel around me, I decided to check out my bruises to see if, maybe, they were looking any better. They weren’t. I should have known better. After my most recent fall yesterday, I had bruises on top of my old, fading bruises. They were ugly and black, fading to purple on the outer edges. The darker ones were around my cracked lower ribs. It wasn’t good. I was a mess.

Unable to look at the dark marks on my skin anymore, I wrapped my big fluffy towel around my body, grabbed my discarded clothes, and opened the door. I was startled to find Jensen on the other side. His eyes quickly moved down to the exposed skin of my neck and upper chest, causing my skin to blush under his stare.

“Y-you’re still here,” I stammered.

“Yeah.” His voice was low as he spoke. “I wanted to wait until you were done. To make sure you got out okay.”

“Oh, right.” We stood in the bathroom doorway, the awkward silence that had become somewhat normal between us lingering before I nodded my head to my room. “I should, um, get dressed.”

Please ask if I need help—no, wait …

“Okay. I’ll be home in a few hours. Call if you need anything. I took the bread maker down for you, but please, be careful,” he said, repeating himself for the millionth time in the short time he’d been here.

“Thank you. I will. I’ll see you around dinner, then?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” With one last longing look—at least, I saw it as longing—Jensen turned and headed for the door while I went and found my white, strapless summer dress to slip on. I didn’t want to worry about pulling a shirt over my head, or a bra aggravating the bruises on my side, so it worked great because it just slid up my body. No buttons or zippers.

After putting on my underwear, I pulled the dress up over my hips and positioned it over my breasts. Once I was dressed, I folded my yoga pants and put them at the end of my bed before folding Jensen’s shirt. I was going to place it on my yoga pants, but then figured Jensen would find it, so I went and hid it in my underwear drawer in hopes he wouldn’t look there. I wasn’t kidding when I said he wasn’t getting it back.

I had a little over four hours until Jensen returned to get a vegetarian pizza put together. I measured each ingredient out perfectly into the handy little machine and pushed the button to start the process. By the time I was finished cleaning up, I felt exhausted; doing even the smallest things seemed to wear me out. Maybe Jensen was right to be so concerned.

Since I had a couple hours before the dough was done, I decided to rest. There was nothing worse than feeling completely helpless; I hated just sitting around. Having slept through the episode of
SNL
I’d put on earlier, I decided to give it another go. I skipped through the monologue, having seen it already, and was laughing well throughout the show. In fact, there were a few scenes that had me holding my side because I was laughing so hard—maybe comedy was a bad idea in my current condition.

The timer on the bread maker sounded, so I got up and went to prepare the pizza. I placed the pizza in the fridge so I could cook it closer to when Jensen would be back, and then decided maybe that wasn’t enough. I looked through my cupboards and decided to make a simple soufflé for dessert. Okay, simple for some people. I had just finished mixing and dishing them in their own dishes when the front door opened. I wiped my hands on a tea towel and turned to welcome Jensen back.

“Hey,” he greeted brightly. “Still in one piece, I see?” His eyes moved down my body and his brow furrowed slightly—almost disappointed. “You changed.”

“Oh, yeah. I couldn’t really work the shirt alone. This just slid right up.” I paused for a moment before turning toward the fridge and pulling the pizza out and setting the oven temperature “Um, I made pizza for dinner.”

Jensen stood behind me, the heat from his body blanketing me, and he watched over my shoulder as I fidgeted with the shredded cheese on the pizza. “Pizza, huh? Looks delicious.”

“Thanks.” I beamed proudly. “I made dessert, too. I’ll put them in the oven after the pizza so they’re warm when we’re ready for them.”

My eyes were trained on our dinner and nothing else out of sheer nervousness. His head must have shifted, though, because I felt his breath on my cheek. I shuddered.

“You do realize that you’re quite a catch, don’t you?”

I laughed, because my latest failed relationship would prove otherwise. If I was such a
catch
, Dane wouldn’t have felt the need to treat me the way he did and look elsewhere.

“You have a successful business, your own home, you’re funny, beautiful. You’re not afraid to speak your mind … Madi, you’re every man’s dream girl. Some men are just intimidated by that.”

Even though he didn’t mean anything by it, my heart still strained upon hearing his words. “Well, not every man’s,” I whispered. A lone tear escaped the inner corner of my eye. I caught it with the tip of my finger before Jensen could see.

“He was a fool.” There was a brief pause as our eyes found one another’s, and I heard the sincerity in his words. I contemplated moving to the tips of my toes and kissing Jensen in that moment to forget the pain that remembering Dane’s betrayal and mistreatment had caused. I wanted to feel something other than sad and angry about Dane and how I’d fallen for his lies time and time again. Jensen spoke before I could follow through. “I’m going to go have a shower while dinner cooks. I’ll be out soon.”

With Jensen gone, the oven beeped, alerting me that it was pre-heated, and I slid the pizza onto the top rack before setting the timer for thirty minutes. Moments after the bathroom door closed, the shower started, and I finished putting the rest of my dessert ingredients away.

As I was just closing the pantry, there was a loud knock on my front door that startled me. There weren’t many people who knocked. Dad always just walked in; sometimes he’d give a light knock as he opened the door, but not always. Jeff and Tom rarely came over unless Dad was already here, so knocking wasn’t something they did either. And my best friend, Willow, well she lived with me before shacking up with her boyfriend, Brandon, in Memphis. This was her home first, so she didn’t have to knock.

So, who the hell was knocking on my door at six p.m.? There was another knock as I washed my hands, so I grabbed the dish towel off the counter and dried them as I made my way for the door.

As soon as I opened it, I wanted to slam it shut again but was frozen in place.

Chapter 10. Uninvited Guests