Horse Play (Horse Play #1) (5 page)

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, cutting my own thoughts off as my brain tried (read:
hoped
) to interpret his words to mean something else entirely.

“Well, I’m just getting back on my feet after …” He paused, looking uncomfortable with the idea of sharing too much. “I had a string of bad luck recently, and your dad has been gracious enough to give me this job, and said I could stay on the ranch. For convenience,” he replied. Nope. His words held no hidden meaning, and meant exactly what I feared they did.

His eyes were mesmerizing, and I wanted to get lost in them. What was it about him that made my knees weak and my heartbeat quicken? He seemed so confident—too confident, actually.

Jerky. Yeah, that’s right. Now I remember …

Giving my head a quick shake in order to clear it, I cocked an eyebrow and crossed my arms beneath my breasts. “Yeah, and?”

His eyes shifted down momentarily before he cleared his throat and raised them back to mine.
Interesting,
I thought, smirking slightly.

“He said since his place is just a one bedroom, that I could stay here. He said you had plenty of room,” Jensen continued. “He didn’t tell you?”

My eyes widened and my lips formed a hard line as I inhaled slowly. I threw on my work boots, not even bothering to lace them up in my haste to find out just what the hell was going on. As I raced through the yard with Jensen hot on my trail, I stumbled on a small divot in the road and fell. Pain shot up my side and through my bruised ribcage as I landed, and the gravel tore up the skin on my knees.

“What the hell is wrong with my feet?” I shouted as I turned over, brushing the debris from my flesh and inspecting the scrapes.

Jensen laughed as he knelt before me and laced up my worn-out boots. “Maybe if you’d have taken the time to properly lace your boots, this wouldn’t have happened.” Our eyes locked as he finished lacing the second one, and his hand moved up, grazing my calf in the process. I inhaled sharply, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. I was momentarily stunned into silence, and it wasn’t until he broke eye contact with me and spoke again that I found my voice.

“Although, I seriously doubt that.”

“Oh, great. Another safety lecture from the help. Fantastic,” I sniped as I pushed myself to my feet.

Standing right with me, Jensen eyed me carefully. “Madi, I’m only teasing. Why are you fighting this?”

It was unclear exactly what he meant … or maybe it was unclear what I was fighting. All I knew was, me shacking up with some guy—a guy who was drop-dead gorgeous to the millionth degree, who oozed charm and charisma and sexuality—was a bad idea. A very, very bad idea. Especially since we worked together. I had both been there and fucking done that. I refused to do it again.

Jensen took a step forward, his eyes burning into mine, causing the flurry of butterflies that still hadn’t left my insides to flutter faster. He was waiting for an answer, but for some reason my brain couldn’t remember what the question was.

Think, brain, think! Oh! Fighting!
“Because—”

I was about to explain that he didn’t belong here with his cocky attitude and know-it-all behavior, not wanting him to think I didn’t want him here because all I seemed to be capable of doing when he was around—besides fall off my horse—was ogle his body and imagine doing things I was positive defied the laws of physics. It wasn’t a lie. He
was
cocky. And a know-it-all, actually. But, just as I was about to speak, Dad interrupted me. “Madi, what the hell are you doing out here … in
that
?”

Looking down at my attire, I remembered that it wasn’t much of anything as I hadn’t actually intended on going out after my bath. Nervous, I cast my eyes between him and Jensen, whose eyes were now looking up and down my near-naked body; it was the second time in the last fifteen minutes that I had caught him eyeballing me. A breeze picked up, and I pulled my arms tight across my chest to hide the telltale sign that the temperature had dropped a few degrees.

Remembering why I was out here, I glared up at my father. “So, guess who was shocked to find out she had a new roommate?” I said firmly, nodding my head in Jensen’s direction—who shook his head, finally removing his eyes from my barely-covered ass. When Dad didn’t respond, I got angry. “Me! What the hell is going on?”

Dad grabbed my bicep gently and tugged me away from our audience. “Why are you so upset by this? You agreed when I said he should stay on the ranch.”

“You didn’t tell me where he’d be staying!”

Dad gave me the dad-look. “Madison, where else on the ranch would he stay? My place?”

“For one,” I fired back.

Dad cocked an eyebrow and grumbled. “I live in a one-bedroom guest cottage. I’m not going to have him sleep on the sofa. You have two extra rooms in your house. I thought you understood that when I discussed it with you.”

I dropped my eyes to the ground. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea after what happened last time.” I was too disappointed in my past actions to look him in the eye. I opened my mouth to say more, but Dad nipped it in the bud. “I can understand your apprehensions, Madison. But Jensen, he’s …” Dad paused, looking over my shoulder at Jensen and considering something before making eye contact with me again. “He’s a good guy. I’ve known his parents a long time.”

There were so many reasons that my father should have known better than this. Okay, well
one
. Dane. True, it was my own fault for getting involved with him when working relationships rarely worked out. But still! Dad continued to stare me down, and I knew that I was fighting a losing battle. Ultimately, he was right. It did make more sense for Jensen to stay on the ranch, and my house
was
the only place with enough room.

“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “But do me a favor? Next time you’re going to bunk me with someone, don’t be so cryptic when asking me if I’m okay with it, all right?”

Dad laughed and rubbed the top of my head, messing up my wet hair even more than it already was. “Whatever you say, kiddo. Now, get inside before you catch a cold. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Dad.” With my teeth now chattering, I turned back to Jensen, who was smirking at me knowingly. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”

“That would be great,” Jensen said sincerely, making me want to believe
that
was the person he was … but I was sure he would say something in the next three seconds to screw up my perception. His personality kept switching from hot to cold … or, maybe that’s just how I was seeing it.

As soon as we walked through the door, my phone was ringing, so I quickly undid my boots and kicked them off so I could go answer it. When I picked up the handset, I didn’t recognize the number. I never answered numbers I didn’t recognize just in case it was Dane, but I also didn’t want Dane leaving a message that Jensen would overhear over my dinosaur of an answering machine. So, I hit the on button and held the phone up to my ear.

“Hello?” I inquired nervously.

“Hi, is Jensen in, please?” a woman asked in a soft, delicate voice. I think I even detected a bit of a British accent.

Flirting with Jillian, being all mysterious and flashing those bedroom eyes at me … and he’s got
this
woman hanging by his every word. Jensen was a piece of work. I let out a disgusted breath as I turned to find him standing in my kitchen with me.

“Yeah. Hold on.” I held the phone out to Jensen with a scowl. “It’s for you.”

When he took the phone from me, his fingers brushed the back of my hand and sent chills running up and down my spine. It irritated me that every time I was ready to label him a prick, all he had to do was speak in that smooth tone or touch me in some completely innocent way, and I melted like butter before him—after a
day
.

I quickly retreated to the living room where I remembered my sandwich was waiting for me. Flicking on the TV, I sat back and was quickly engrossed in an old episode of
True Blood
. I was barely ten minutes in when I heard Jensen’s hushed voice growing louder.

“Yeah. I know. I’ll call you tomorrow … I love you, too.”

I took an angry bite of my sandwich, my nose scrunching up in disgust as he hung up the phone and walked over to set it on the coffee table.

“So, how does your girlfriend feel about you shacking up with a woman you just met?” I asked before taking another bite of my sandwich.

Jensen smiled crookedly. “I don’t know. I’ll have to jump off that bridge when I come to it,” he said with a flirtatious tone in his voice. He must have sensed what I was going to say next, because he spoke first. “That was my mother. I haven’t had a girlfriend in a very long time.”

“Oh,” I responded quietly, my cheeks instantly warming with embarrassment.

“Look, it’s been a long day. Would you mind showing me to my room and then the shower?” Jensen requested coldly. Clearly I had insulted him, and it made me feel terrible. Which made no sense at all; he had been nothing but rude and bossy all day. So why did
I
feel bad?

“Um, yeah. Sure.” I stood from the couch and walked toward him as he continued to watch me.

When I reached him, I was forced to brush past him in the narrow doorway to lead the way to his room. We walked down the hall, and I showed him each room as we went.

“This is my room,” I said, stepping inside so he could see. It was pretty basic; bed, dresser, desk, closet. The linens were gray, and the walls white. I then showed him the two other rooms in the house, one of which was bigger than the other, and let him take his pick.  

“What’s this?” Jensen asked.

I turned around in time to see his fingers tracing the huge dent in the drywall between the bedroom and bathroom. I shook my head, unable to look at the cracks for too long before I felt nauseous.

“Nothing,” I told him, not wanting to get into it. Pushing the resurfacing memories aside, I forced a smile. “So which room do you want?

He chose the one across from mine, which was the smaller of the three. The master bedroom at the end of the hall, which was my grandparents’ room, remained empty for guests. I preferred it that way, because then they had their own private bathroom.

From the doorway, I watched as he set his bags on the bed and opened them up before removing several articles of clothing. He must not have realized I was still standing there because he lifted his used-to-be-white shirt over his head and stood half naked with his back to me. My eyes raked over the muscles on his upper body as they rippled and flexed with each move he made, and I let out a tiny groan. Jensen turned quickly to see me gawking at him from the doorway of his room.

“See something you like, Madi?” he inquired with a cheeky grin.

“You said you wanted a shower. It’s this way,” I told him, flustered and a little bitchy because I got caught. I walked down the hall and stood by the open bathroom door, waiting for Jensen to catch up.

He emerged from his room, and I found myself gawking at his near-nakedness again before reminding myself that he was a cocky ass in order to keep my thoughts in check. Jensen stepped into the bathroom and eyed everything before turning to face me. He was close—so very close—and he smelled good. Like cologne, and man, and horses and …
man
. I had to fight the urge to close my eyes and inhale deeply as we stared into each other’s eyes.

“Thanks, but I think I’ve got it from here … unless you were hoping to join me?”

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open in shock. “Ugh! You’re … I can’t even … UGH!” My inability to form a coherent sentence seemed to amuse Jensen, and I rushed back to the living room to watch my show.

“What are you watching?”

Startled, I nearly choked on the bite of my sandwich when I looked up to find Jensen in a pair of plaid pants and a fitted, white T-shirt. His hair was dripping wet, and he ran his fingers through it as he walked to me.

“True Blood.”

“I don’t get it. What’s the draw?”

After calming my racing heart from nearly jumping out of my chest, I spoke. “If you’re not a fan, please feel free to watch the thirteen inch black and white TV in your room,” I offered glibly.

“Well, it’s got to be better than … holy shit! Are those tits?” He flopped down next to me and relaxed into the couch.

We sat in an oddly comfortable silence and watched the rest of the show. When it ended, I stood up to take my plate to the kitchen, wincing as I straightened my body against the increasing ache in my left side.

After placing it in the dishwasher, I grabbed a glass of water and took a sip while I walked back to the living room. Jensen had his feet up on the table and was busy flipping through the channels on my flat screen. I set my glass down and stretched with my arms above my head, grimacing as the pain in my back and ribs continued to remind me of my stellar day.

I noticed Jensen’s eyes go wide as I relaxed my body. “What?”

His eyes froze on the bare sliver of my abdomen, and I felt every inch of my flesh heat as I blushed. My heart fluttered wildly behind my ribs as he continued to gape at me … for the third time since I answered my door.

“Madi, your body—”

As soon as he spoke, I snapped back to reality. “Holy crap! Get a hold of yourself! I’m not now, nor will I ever be, looking for you to jump my bones,” I said, momentarily forgetting about my injuries and flopping back down on the couch.

Jensen laughed and tossed the remote on the table. “Lean forward and lift your shirt,” he instructed smoothly.

Had I not been in my right mind, I’d have felt compelled to do anything he asked me to. Based solely on just how liquid-smooth his voice sounded.

“Ex-excuse me?” I stammered, furrowing my brows.

“Just do it,” he commanded with a little smirk while rolling his eyes. When I refused to move, Jensen huffed exasperatedly. “I saw the way you flinched, not to mention the bruising that was visible between your shorts and shirt. Please, let me look?”

I sighed in defeat—and, if I was being completely honest, disappointment—and sat forward on the couch, lifting the back of my thin tank top so he could see what I knew was already there. I felt the couch dip as Jensen scooted over, lifting his left leg so he could slip in behind me. My heart started to beat nervously when I felt him shift closer to me, a heavy pulse working its way between my thighs.