My Mistake (Stories of Serendipity #7) (2 page)

“Water would be great. Thanks.” He stepped further into the room, checking to make sure he wasn’t tracking anything in behind him on his boots. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“No! Have a seat and I’ll be right back.” She disappeared into the kitchen, and Brent sat on the sofa, resting his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands in front of him and resting his chin on them. The TV was new, although not that big. He wondered if her dad was still around. He hoped not, for Casey’s sake.

She returned, stirring the air around him with a floral scent mixed with intoxicating smells of her sweat, and plopped down on the couch next to him, handing him the glass of ice water. He took a sip, grateful for something to do with his hands. The cool liquid slid down his suddenly parched throat, past the lump that had formed there.

“I thought you’d left town after high school?” Casey asked him. She’d turned her body to face his, propping a knee up on the back of the couch. The position left her inner thighs exposed, and Brent saw a flash of something pink in her shorts.

Forcing his gaze to her face, he nodded. “I did. Nana passed away a few years ago, and I came back right before, when she got sick. I’ve been back ever since.” He took another drink of water. “What about you? I hadn’t heard you were back.”

He was lying. He’d been stalking her Facebook page for years. She’d come back a month ago, after a nasty divorce. He didn’t know the details though.

Brent watched the emotions flit over her face as she decided what to tell him. “I’m divorced now. A cliché.” She waved her hand in the air, as if it didn’t matter, but she was still Casey, and Brent knew the wistful smile she gave him was one of regret. What she regretted, he wasn’t sure.

“I’m sorry. Was it ugly?”

“The worst.” She sighed, and the smile turned to a slight frown. “He wanted kids so badly and when I couldn’t get pregnant, he moved on to somebody else and now his personal assistant is expecting. So he’ll get his baby, and I get a new life.” Blunt, as always, she ended with a forced smile. Brent knew the smile was her way of looking at life in a new light, trying to stay positive. He’d always loved that about her. Her optimism.

Once he’d caught her smiling at her locker, and she’d explained it away by saying she’d had a rough English class and was trying to force some happiness into her heart. She was still doing it, and it warmed him and made him sad at the same time.

“I’m sorry.” He wanted to reach for her, to hold her, to stroke away her pain, but he wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate. So he settled for a vague hand gesture.

“It’s okay. I’m over it.” Her airy tone told him that was far from the truth, but he didn’t say anything. “What about you? What are you doing with your days, besides fixing old Mr. Jackson’s roof?”

He leaned back, and stretched his arm across the back of the couch. “I’m just doing that as a side job for a little extra cash. I’ve started a horse sanctuary with Nana’s inheritance, but the initial expenses were a little more than I’d anticipated, and I’m doing some roofing work for Les for feed money right now. I’m hoping once I get a little more established, I can have some sponsors or something to help out, and I won’t have to do the extra jobs. But right now, I don’t have that many horses to take up all my time, and I can do this to set a little money aside.”

“That’s awesome. You’ve always wanted to work with horses.” Her hand stretched to meet his and brushed it lightly. The jolt of heat that rushed up his arm at the contact made him jump a little. He tried to disguise it by abruptly crossing his ankle over his knee, but wasn’t sure how effective that was.

“What about you? What did you end up doing?”

She leaned back and closed her eyes as if reliving a painful memory. Taking advantage of her not looking, his traitorous eyes drifted down to where her shorts were gaping open at her groin, flashing him the pink panties.

Lace.
Shit.

“Kevin wanted me to get my degree in something that would always be in demand. So I’m a draftsman. I hate it. It’s mind-numbing work. But he was right. It pays the bills.” At his questioning eyebrow lift, she explained further, “I correct mistakes on blueprints, incorporating survey data into the engineers’ drawings. Tedious.”

Brent almost didn’t hear her. His fingers twitched to slip inside the pink lace and stroke her, but when she’d finished talking and he hadn’t responded, his gaze snapped back up to hers. She was looking at him with a smirk on her face.

She shifted on the couch, arching her back and opening her legs just a little wider, still smirking at him. Beads of sweat popped out on his forehead and he didn’t dare look back down.

His emotions warred with each other. Guilt and lust with the undercurrent of protectiveness he’d always felt toward Casey swirled around his gut like stampeding cattle.

“So…you’re done with him, then?” He wasn’t sure he should follow where his train of thoughts were going, but he wasn’t thinking clearly right now. He was sitting next to Casey Stewart, and she was purposefully flashing her panties at him, teasing him. He reminded himself that this wasn’t why he’d come over, but lust was winning in this stampede, drowning out all rational thought.

“I don’t want to talk about him right now, Brent.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Unable to restrain the groan that he’d been holding back since she’d shifted next to him, he leaned over her, raising his body above hers. She arched again, pressing her hot body against his as he slowly lowered his face to hers.

Her eyes closed as her tongue snaked out to moisten her bottom lip, before Brent took it into his mouth and suckled. She gasped and he took advantage of her open mouth as his tongue swooped in. She tasted like skinny dipping. At least that’s what memory crashed into his head as he kissed Casey. Skinny dipping in the lake on the outskirts of Serendipity, flashes of nude skin in the moonlight, breathless giggles amid splashing as he’d chased her through the water.

He’d finally caught her.

And then his phone rang.

Unwilling to leave paradise now that he’d just gotten here, he tried to ignore it. As he continued making love to Casey’s mouth, something niggled at the back of Brent’s mind. He finally backed off with a groan, arching his back to get into his pocket for his phone, pressing his erection painfully against his zipper.

As he answered, he looked over at Casey and saw her staring at the bulge in his jeans, wide-eyed.

“Hello?”

“Brent, it’s Sherriff Anderson. We’ve got those three mares ready for you. We’ll be dropping them off in an hour. You home?”

“No sir, but I will be. Thanks.”

“No. Thank you.”

He hung up the phone with a frustrated grumble, as Casey sat up straighter next to him. When he stood, she stood as well. Brent was silently cursing and thanking the Sheriff for interrupting him before things had gotten out of hand.

“You have to go?” Disappointment welled in her eyes, and Brent stroked her cheek with his knuckle. The silkiness was not lost on him. A lot of the girls he’d gone to high school with wore lined faces now, the result of tanning beds and hard parties. Not Casey.

“Yeah, I do. The Sheriff’s office has been warning me they were going to impound some horses off some property in the north part of the county. Looks like they finally did it. I’ve got to get home to take them and fill out all the paperwork.” His knuckle traced her jaw, then down her neck, before opening up and grabbing behind her and pulling her towards him. He was rewarded with her arms wrapping around his waist and pulling him tight against her body. One last time.

“I’m really glad you stopped by, Brent.” She ground her hips against his subsiding erection, which sprang back to life as he stifled another groan.

“Yeah, me too.” He lowered his face to hers for another kiss, this one less urgent, yet equally as powerful as the first. She tasted so sweet, just like her. She was so fucking sweet, and the only thought racing through his mind was how he shouldn’t be kissing Casey Stewart. He’d only break her heart.

Mistakes.

He ended the kiss and pushed her away gently, hiding his guilt behind a gruff façade. “I’ve got to go. See you around?” She nodded, the unasked question in her eyes. He knew he should be handling this differently, but what could he do? He’d come over on a whim, and he had no business starting this with Casey. She didn’t need him.

He turned and left.

W
hen Brent pulled into his driveway, he was met by his overjoyed blue heeler, Mooch, who ran up to him, with his butt-wagging and sticking his nose between Brent’s thighs. Brent obliged the dog by squeezing affectionately. It was the dog’s version of a hug, twisted as it was.

“Hey boy. We got company coming, we gotta get ready.” He slapped the back of his truck, and the dog leapt into the bed, barking with excitement. They drove out to the quarantine barn, where the Sheriff’s trailer was already waiting.

With Mooch’s help they unloaded three malnourished mares into his quarantine quarters, then called the vet to come out to do her thing. After photographing them and making sure they had hay and water, he shut them in their stalls and went to his barn office to fill out paperwork.

He had offices in both barns, small rooms with a desk, small file cabinet and two chairs as well as a laptop that travelled with him between the two places. He printed out his pictures and started new files for the three rescue horses, Mooch laying on his boots. He’d gotten Mooch at the pound a few years ago, and he’d turned out to be the best working dog he’d ever had. Blue Heelers had a natural tendency to herd animals, and Mooch was no exception. In fact, he considered more than two of anything a herd, and tended to bark and nip at heels when Brent had company of any kind.

The new horses looked alright, aside from being skin and bones. There were no outward signs of anything besides worms. No visible injuries, no serious diseases, just malnutrition. But he still called the vet to come out and do a preliminary assessment and write up a treatment plan for his files. If there was medicine to give them, Dr. Brown would make sure he got it. Brent went about filling out his initial assessment. He would wait until he got the vet’s assessment before faxing a copy of both to the Sheriff’s department for their case files.

Brent cherished the quiet order of preparing reports and working his books. He was a physical guy, but something about putting everything into spreadsheets and files brought order to the chaos. He could track feed and fertilization schedules, as well as costs of everything with his trusty laptop. He could also use it to buy almost anything he needed for the sanctuary, and communicate and ask questions of other sanctuaries around the world. Typing up the reports put the abuse and neglect these animals suffered into plain terms that anyone could understand, and gave ammo to those who needed it if and when pressing charges of animal cruelty.

When Lindsey Brown got there, he was just finishing up. In fact, Brent was so immersed in papers, he didn’t realize she was standing in the doorway behind him until she cleared her throat softly. He looked up to see her standing there, tall, slim, and looking great in her standard uniform of tight-fitting jeans, and a collared button down shirt with the vet’s office logo printed on her ample left breast. He stood and walked over to shake her hand.

“Hey, Lindsey. Thanks for dropping by. I’d like to get these new ones in the system tonight.”

She smiled at him sweetly, and didn’t drop his hand once they’d finished shaking. Instead, she brought her other hand up and clasped his between both of hers, caressing it while she talked to him. “It’s absolutely no problem, Brent. You know I’d do just about anything for one of my favorite clients.”

Smooth as silk, she switched hands, so they were holding hands as Brent led her to the stalls holding the new rescues. He tried to ignore the gesture, because he didn’t want to give her any ideas. Brent knew that Lindsey Brown had an eye for him, but he didn’t want to encourage it. He tried not to have romantic relationships with women he knew, preferring anonymous mutual hook-ups.

He was glad when she dropped his hand after squeezing it briefly to examine the horses in the stalls. He felt bad. He should really say something to let her know he wasn’t interested in her like that. But as she bent over to examine the horse’s hooves, he couldn’t keep from admiring her shapely backside. Maybe a fling with her would get Casey out of his head. He’d rather mess up his professional relationship with the best vet in town than mess up things with Casey.

And starting anything with Casey would end up a mess.

When she stood, Lindsey’s long blonde braid flung over her shoulder and she stepped toward Brent, her blue gaze trained on his lips, where her eyes stayed while she spoke.

“I’ll leave you with the standard stuff, antibiotics, vaccinations, de-wormer, but I don’t think these guys need much more than a little TLC. They’ve been neglected, that’s for sure.” Her tongue snaked out to lick her bottom lip, and Brent knew it was an invitation. He was tempted to take her up on it, if nothing else than to get the taste of Casey out of his mouth.

But he wasn’t ready to do that just yet.

“Okay, well, let me know when you get the paperwork done, so I can fax it to the Sheriff’s office.” His stuck his hands in his pockets to keep them away from her and looked at the ground.

“I can just fill it out in my truck, you can make copies here, can’t you?” He’d never imagined a conversation about paperwork could sound so damn sexy. What the hell was going on here? He heard a shuffle, and she’d taken a step closer. He took a step backwards, bumping against the wall behind him. Brent watched a light go out behind her eyes, as she nodded to herself, before turning and walking out to her truck. He exhaled a tortured sigh and turned to go into his office.

Twenty minutes later, he was drumming his fingers on the edge of his battered desk, watching Mooch idly lick himself, when Lindsey returned and tossed a small stack of papers on his desk. He put them into the scanner/copier/printer next to his laptop.