Natural Attraction (5 page)

“Um, long
time no see, what’s wrong?” I ask.  Worry edging my words because Jen ringing me from my driveway surely has to mean something has gone wrong outside.

“Nothing’s wrong.  Don’t panic.  I was just being lazy and I still haven’t finished putting your float away.  I’ll be a few more minutes yet.  Guess who just called me on my mobile?”

“How many guesses do I get?  My first guess would be Santa.  It is November and I expect he is already taking orders.  Have you been a good girl Ms.Jones?”

“Well actually that is not a bad guess.  Not the correct answer but damned close.  I’m guessing you are going to think this guy is Santa when I tell you it was grad
uate recruits friend asking if it is okay to give your phone number to Jax.  Apparently Jax rang him trying to find your contact details so he can call you about something to do with Maverick.  I of course initially said I couldn’t hand out private details because of privacy laws and all, but then thought better of it.  This was due only to the personal benefit I am going to receive of not having to get wrapped up in some mad capped plan to spy on the poor guy.  A mad capped plan that you are no doubt cooking up while you are unsupervised inside, and I am here outside.  This is way easier, just talk to him yourself.”

Holy crap.

He wanted my phone number? 

I hadn’t even thought about swapping phone numbers before we left his place. I suppose it is fair to want to have a new client’s phone number, but why didn’t he just wait until I had contacted him again?  Maybe he only just realized he didn’t have a contact number for me at all since the grad
uate recruit’s friend had organized our first meeting and just relayed the information through to Jen? 

Whatever his reason was, it left me feeling a little bit excited, and a little bit worried at the same time.

“Okay.  Thanks…  I think…  I’ve already made you a cold drink, so please don’t fuss about with the float for too long.  See you soon.”

I end the call and have barely put my phone down next to me when it starts to ring again.  A brief feeling of annoyance slices through me as I predict that it is Jen calling me back
, again.  I grab the phone back up quickly and look at the screen.  To my surprise, the number displayed is unknown to me. 

A massive
, nauseating wave of adrenaline hits me.  I feel my whole body come alive as the hairs on the back of my neck stand up making me shiver.  My stomach rolls.  A flash of concern shoots through me as I sit staring at the phone like it is a bomb.  I am wondering if the caller could be Jax. 

I panic and jump off the couch only to feel a sharp stabbing pain in my ribs.  My ribs are once again giving me a much-needed reminder that fast movements are not my friend at this point in time.

Should I even answer it?

I consider grabbing the phone and running it out to Jen for her to answer it for me.  I then strike that idea as I realize that in my injured state, it is doubtful I will make it to her in time before the call forwards to voicemail.

There is nothing I can do but answer it myself. I sit back down and swipe to accept the call.

“Hello?” I greet my unknown caller with a semi-squeak.  The adrenaline rush has obviously left me voiceless too.

“It’s Jax Walker.” 

It is him.

I feel myself freeze and all the breath whooshes from my chest.  I feel yet another sharp stabbing pain in my ribs as my lungs contract tightly in my chest.  My mind starts spinning madly with thoughts about what I should say next when his rich, deep voice echoes through the phone, “Ashleigh, did you hear me?  It’s Jax Walker.”

I draw in a big breath trying to re
-establish some oxygen to my brain and say, “Call me Ash; all my friends call me Ash.” 

“
Sure, Ash.  You get home okay?” He asks in his smooth, deep sexy voice. 

A voice that I am starting to realize I just can’t hear enough of.

I am about to say yes, and I wish I had, but instead my mouth overruns my brain and I blurt, “Are you married?” 

Where the hell did that come from?

“No.” 

Well that’s a good start I think
to myself.  Then before I know what I am doing I throw in, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.”

Well there you have it I think to myself.  He’s single – yay!  It is then that it hits me that I may be an idiot and I may have misread the situation.   A brief feeling of embarrassment passes over me but being the direct question queen that I am, I have to ask.

“Okay, are you gay then?”

This question is met with silence. 

Dead silence.

Crap.

Me and my big old mouth just don’t know when to stop do we? 

Why did I have to say that?  Does it matter if he is gay?  This is supposed to be the guy who is going to help me retrain my horse and here I am firing personal questions at him at the first opportunity.  I am about to fess up and apologize for my disgraceful behavior when I hear the familiar beeping sound of disconnection on my phone. 

He has hung up.

Fuck.

He has jumped right in on the ‘leave me’ category of people that know me.  Well I don’t suppose I can blame him.  Being direct with people when they do something to annoy me, or when they do something I don’t take kindly to
is a different thing to asking some guy I’ve just me whether he is gay. 

How stupid was that? 

Oh God.

Now I’m going to have to check
myself
into a Health Service for stupidity treatment.  Could the day get any worse?

My IPhone starts ringing again. 

To my utter astonishment it is the same number calling again.  Now this is weird, why would he ring me back? 

I swipe across the screen to answer the call and hold the phone to my ear wondering what on earth I am going to say to him to apologize for my stupidity.  I am still carefully considering my words when he
growls through the phone.

“Don’t do that shit again.”

“Um…”  How to respond to that?

“
Ya hearing me?  Don’t do that shit again,” he growls again.

“Um… I…”

“When I meet a new horse, the first thing I do is just walk on over and stand nearby, but not too close.  I do this to watch ‘em in their own zone, no ropes and free to do their own thing.  I do this to get a feel for what they are thinking and to set a base for trust and communication.  Horses can tell you a lot of things during their down time when they’re doing what looks a lot like nothing.  They are master communicators.

At first,
I didn’t understand the importance of this unpressured introduction between a human and a horse.  At first I didn’t’ listen to them telling me their thoughts on this space invasion.  Their thoughts were shown in a lot of different ways.  These ranged from mild indifference, just walking away, to stronger shit like gettin’ their teeth into me, their back feet on me, or in one particular case, charging direct at me in an attempt to flatten me. 

Sadly, it took me a few lessons
to learn the shit I needed to know.  To understand the importance of building trust and friendship.  I had to learn you don’t push in against a horse without ‘em first inviting you in.

Lucky for you I learned this and I’m will
ing to give you a go and invite you in.  Lucky for you for those horses forgave me enough to let me start over and get it right the next time.

Those horses taught me the value of forgiv
ing.

I
f you have plans to communicate with me and establish a friendship with me, you need to quit that fucked up straight line thinking and direct attack shit.  You especially need to do this if you plan to establish communication and friendship with your horse.  That direct attack approach shit won’t work with me and it won’t work with horses.

Lucky for you I speak English and I can give you this lesson in one short conversation.  Lucky for you there is no need for you to make multiple attempts to work out what the hell you are doing wrong like I had to do with all those horses.
  Are you hearing me?  Oh and no, I am most
definitely
not gay.”

Wow, not only am I now embarrassed by my own actions, but I now feel like I’ve been told off by a schoolteacher as well. 

A weird mixture of feelings and emotions swarm through my body.  His words are very sage. There is also good news in that he is
not
gay.

“Okay, thanks.  Does this mean you are giving me a second chance?” I ask at a barely audible whisper.

“Yeah it does.  Do you want a second chance?” He replies softly, sending a small thrill of excitement through my veins. 

Is this not the nicest guy on earth? 

How could he be so ready to forgive me for being a rude bitch so easily?  One thing I do know is that I do want a second chance and I am going to do whatever it takes to make sure I prove it.

“More than anything.”

“Good,” his deep, smooth, sexy voice echoes quietly in the phone.  “I was ringing to talk about Maverick.  I know you are injured and it may be a few weeks before you can think about doing too much physical work with him.  This is not all bad, this down time can be a good thing.

U
se this time to establish a relationship with him.  Spend unpressured time with him over the coming weeks doing shit like sitting in his paddock reading a book.  You need to just hang out with him in a relaxing way for both you and him. 

When you are starting to feel a bit better, try going out and giving him a brush without catch
ing him or tying him up.  Find all his itchy spots and make sure you can run your hands all over his body without him showing signs of discomfort.  Signs of discomfort mean twitching at your touch or flattening his ears.  Do you get what I’m saying?”

“Sure, I can do that
,” I say in the steadiest voice I can muster considering my stomach is contracting.

A little spark of hope that I am going to get to see Jax again some-time in the future starts igniting in my soul.  “And then what do I do?”

“You call me, on this number, tell me your bones are all healed up.  Then you come back to my place with Maverick for that riding demonstration you promised me.”

“Okay.  Thanks for the tips
... and thanks for giving me a second chance, I’m an idiot, I know.” 

I feel myself relaxing.  My world is starting to balance out again and I have something to look forward to.

“You’re welcome.”

I listen to his beautiful voice echoing through the phone as he hangs up.  I sit quietly, staring out my lounge room window reflecting on our conversation and what I need to do next. 

Clearly, I need get outside and start building my relationship with Maverick.  I need to do this because the only thing I want to do right now is prove to Jax that I
have
been listening.   This said, I doubt my poor ribs can take any more twanging today.  Tomorrow morning at first light I’ll be out there with a book doing exactly as I have been told.

I lean back into the couch and sigh as I hear the sound of Jen’s footsteps approaching my back door.   She has barely made it through the door when I say, “You are not going to believe the phone conversation I just had.” 

I watch the edge of her lips and mouth lift into a gentle smile.  She swings by the counter to grab her cold drink and then plops down next to me on the couch. 

“Okay, spill.” She says leaning back into my couch looking like she is about to watch a new release movie. 

So I spill. 

She agrees I am an idiot and then she leaves me to crawl into my bed where I quickly fall asleep without even thinking about watching another episode of Sons of Anarchy.

Trouble

It has been a busy six weeks for me. 

The day after my phone conversation with Jax I kept my promise to myself and started my new ‘getting to you know you’ regime with Maverick.   Over the course of the days that followed, I kept up the regime, learning a
whole
lot about my horse as I learned new ways to get him to engage with me. 

It was with a heavy heart and a
n extra dose of annoyance that I returned to work just ten short days after my accident.  This meant scaling back the hours that I could spend with Maverick.

This did not make me happy.

Today, however, is the day of reckoning.  My ribs have healed and my wrist has finally stopped hurting every time I twist it in a particular direction it doesn’t like.  I feel like a new woman as I gear down and slowly drive the turn into the road that will lead me to Jax’s house.

To say I am excited would be an understatement. 

Today is Saturday, so not only does it herald the start of a whole two days off from work, it is also the day I am going to finally get to see Jax again, in the flesh.  As well as this, I am excited to get a chance to tell him all about the things I have learned about Maverick.