Horse Play (Horse Play #1) (27 page)

“I should be ready in about ten more minutes.”

“Sure,” I said. While I had seen Jensen in a towel—and less—before, I couldn’t help but take in the sight before me. Water beaded off the ends of his disheveled hair and trickled down his brawny body, disappearing once they met the terrycloth towel, and his colorful sleeve seemed even brighter beneath the slick water on his skin.

When I looked back up, his eyes dropped to the phone still in my hands. “Did somebody call?”

“Oh, your mom. She wants you to call her back.”

“Okay. Thanks.” I handed him the phone and watched him saunter his towel-covered ass out of the room.

Alone again, I stood in my room for a few minutes, staring at my bed and reliving Dane’s attack. I couldn’t stand it anymore, and I quickly left, seeking refuge in the kitchen until Jensen was ready.

“Madi?” he called out.

“Kitchen!” I turned around from where I was leaning on the island, and all the breath left my body when I took in the man who stood before me. Dark denim jeans and a lightweight, black cable-knit sweater never looked so good on a man. The brown hair atop his head was still slightly damp from his shower and his blue eyes sparkled. I allowed my gaze to roam over his body appreciatively.

“Are you ready to go?”

I nodded, my nerves slowly being replaced by excitement.

“Come on, put your boots on and come with me.” He was being very cryptic. What could he possibly have planned? Was he going to take me into Savannah for dinner and a movie? I would admit it would be kind of fun, just not what either of us initially wanted.

Once my boots were on, Jensen took me by the hand and led me out of the house, past our vehicles, and toward the barn. “Jensen, where are we going?”

He winked at me once as he led me in through the large barn door. “You’ll see.”

Boy, did I ever.

Chapter 19. Trying to Forget

A
s soon as we stepped into the barn, I saw both Halley and Ransom tethered and tacked up in the aisle. “Jensen, I can’t. Your mom said …”

“I talked to her when I called. She said a little trail ride probably wouldn’t be bad”—he looked down at me, that same teasing glint in his eyes—“as long as you think you can stay in the saddle.”

“Funny,” I said, shoving him lightly as we got closer to the two horses. “So, we’re really going for a ride? Together?”

Jensen quickly took Halley’s halter off and bridled her before handing her reins to me and doing the same to Ransom. “As long as you think you can keep up.”

“I could ride circles around you,” I boasted confidently as we led our horses outside where I mounted with ease. The pain in my ribs was almost completely gone. It was a relief, and as soon as both feet were in the stirrups, I closed my eyes and sighed.

“You ready? There’s somewhere I want to show you. You’ve probably already found this little slice of heaven, but I thought it would be perfect for tonight.” When I opened my eyes, I saw Jensen on Ransom to my right. In the last week I had seen them together a few times now, but under no uncertain terms was it any less sexy. The man looked good on a horse, and he knew what he was doing. My legs trembled, but not in an I’m-going-to-fall-off kind of way. No, it was a very good, excited tremble. It helped me put Dane out of my mind for the time being.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Jensen led the way, taking the trail I was familiar with, but then veering off completely until we were going down paths I didn’t recognize. Trusting that he knew what he was doing, I stayed close and let him make all the decisions. I was just enjoying being allowed to ride again; and to be riding alongside Jensen? It was exhilarating.

“Do you think you could handle a trot?” Jensen asked, turning to me. “I want to get there with enough time.”

“Time for what?” I inquired, really wishing he’d tell me what he had planned.

“Just, yes or no?” he prodded, somewhat impatiently.

With a nod, I nudged Hails into a trot. “All right, Mr. Impatient. Lead the way.”

Chuckling, Jensen instructed Ransom forward, his extended gait easily allowing him to take the lead again. “It’s not much farther.” It was kind of disheartening to know we were almost where Jensen had planned to take us because I wasn’t quite ready for our ride to end.

When Jensen slowed Ransom to a walk, I followed suit, noticing that the trail we were on had become narrower and the massive branches of the trees native to these parts curved overhead like a natural canopy. Jensen led me through some low-hanging branches, instructing me to duck down and lift the smaller ones out of the way.

When we made it through, I gasped as we entered the most breathtaking clearing I had ever seen. There were beautiful wild flowers everywhere and some of the leaves of the trees around the perimeter of the area were beginning to change as fall approached. Fireflies completed the ambiance as they bobbed and weaved above the tall grass.

“Wow,” I said breathlessly. “Jensen, this is … How did you …? Wow …”

I couldn’t take my eyes off of the breathtaking beauty of the hidden thicket, but I heard Jensen dismount to my left. “So, you like it, then?”

I felt his hand gently touch my left thigh, and I looked down at him. “It’s beautiful. When did you find this place?”

“Last week after one of my training sessions with Ransom. I knew I wanted to bring you here when you were able to ride again.” His smile widened as he took a step back. “Why don’t you come down so we can get settled?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked as I swung my right leg over and dismounted to Halley’s left. Once I was on the ground, I noticed a large insulated cooler a few feet away. “What is this?”

“A picnic, Madison.” The man was too much for words.

“When did you do all this?” I asked, leading Halley behind him and Ransom as they made their way toward the cooler.

“I may have stopped on my way back from town and set everything up,” he said, replacing Ransom’s reins over his neck and pulled a halter off the blanket before putting it over his face, then moved away from him without fear.

“Aren’t you afraid he’ll take off?” I asked, watching warily as Ransom dropped his head and started eating some of the grass near the blanket.

“Nah. He’ll be okay. So will Halley. Trust me.” He grabbed a second halter and repeated what he did with Ransom before taking me by the hand and pulling me down onto the blanket. There was a small iDock on the blanket with a slim black iPod nestled in it, and Jensen turned it on. Soothing and familiar instrumental music filled the silence as I continued to bask in the majestic beauty of this place. I was in complete awe.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think this was a date.”

“Wine?” Jensen asked, opening the tightly sealed cooler and grabbing the wine and two glasses.

I laughed. “You’ve really thought of everything, haven’t you?” I asked, completely amazed by his effort to execute the perfect evening. Jensen handed me the glass he had just filled before filling his own, and that’s when I noticed the pillows on the blanket behind him. “Pillows? Why, Jensen Davis, do you plan on seducing me out here?”

He hummed as he took a sip of his wine. “I figured we’d see where the night took us.” He moved to his left a few inches and patted the empty space to his right. “Why don’t you come over here?”

There was no need to ask me more than once. Even though I wasn’t terribly far from him, I definitely wasn’t close enough, either. Biting my lip, I got up onto my knees and maneuvered until I sat next to him. “This is amazing,” I whispered, turning my head to look into his eyes in hopes of being able to express just how much this entire night meant to me.

He stared at me a moment, but I could see what looked like regret in his eyes. “I’m so sorry about earlier,” he said. “I shouldn’t have lost control like that. I never wanted you to see that side of me.”

“Jensen,” I started to interject.

“I thought I’d left that part of me behind when I was released.” He lowered his eyes. “But when I heard you screaming, and then saw him on top of you, ready to—”

“You stopped him,” I interrupted, drawing his attention back to me. “Jensen, if you hadn’t gotten there when you did …” My voice broke, and nausea rolled in my belly. I couldn’t bring myself to finish my sentence, and a tear slipped down my cheek.

Jensen’s warm hand slid over my cheek, his fingers slipping into my hair, and he rested his forehead to mine. With his face mere inches from mine, and his lips irresistible in the faint glow of the setting sun, I leaned in to kiss him softly. While I felt the need to deepen the kiss, I was quite content to just allow our lips to move tenderly together, his delectable bottom lip between mine, and my top lip between his.

His right hand moved to my neck, his fingers threading into my hair, sending a wave of desire straight through me. The kiss was soft and sweet and exactly the kind of kiss that could make a person melt. It wasn’t pushy or insistent. There was no pressure for more behind it. After my evening, it was exactly what I needed.

With a sigh, I broke the tender kiss and rested my forehead to his. When I opened my heavy-lidded eyes, I was met with his own passion-filled stare. “That was nice.”

“Just nice?”

A smile broke across my face. “It was what I needed.”

“There’s more where that came from,” he whispered, his warm, sweet-smelling breath wafting over me and filling my head with a delightful fog of desire. I nodded, my forehead still against his, before he moved his mouth to capture mine in one more innocent kiss and laid us back on the pillows.

As soon as we were horizontal, conflict set in. I had been waiting not-so-patiently for my injuries to heal so Jensen and I could finally give in to our urges. It had been a long few weeks of repressed sexual tension, with very few opportunities for release. We were both ready to burst.

Then Dane showed up, drunk and trying to force himself on me. The memory of that wouldn’t leave me any time soon, but I told myself I could try to forget with Jensen. It was what we agreed on, right? To use each other in order to move on from our pasts.

Jensen’s fingers wound into my hair while moving his right arm until his hand was flat on my back and urging me toward him. Our lips moved eagerly, and I shifted my body to straddle him, cupping his jaw as our mouths opened and our tongues slid smoothly against each other.

Our zeal for one another climbed with each second that passed. Without a second thought, I moved my hands between us and tugged on his shirt, lifting it so I could see and feel him without the barrier of cotton between us.

“Mmmf, Madison,” he mumbled, his tongue still sliding against mine making it difficult to enunciate correctly. The minute my hands touched the bare flesh of his stomach, he stopped trying to speak, instead choosing to groan and pull me closer as he flipped us until he had me flat on my back, pressing himself firmly between my legs.

Everything was forgotten. Nothing else in the world mattered when Jensen kissed me.

I continued to work the shirt up his body, getting it to his chest before he removed his lips from mine and discarded it to the corner of the blanket. He looked around the meadow once. My eyes followed his, stopping when we found our horses several feet away, still grazing happily.

His hands rested on my jean-covered legs, moving up my calves. He hooked his fingers behind my knees and pulled my body roughly toward him, causing me to whimper when I made contact with him again.

When he was satisfied with my position against him, his hands traveled up the outside of my thighs, sliding to the top and continuing up toward my hips. The wide span of his hand had his pinkies still running along the outer seam of my jeans while his thumbs came dangerously and deliciously close to the juncture between my legs. I squirmed beneath him, thrusting my hips up in an effort to force his touch. When his right thumb made contact, my legs tightened around him, holding him even closer still.

While I wanted his hands to remain where they were, I also needed his hands on my heated flesh. Lowering his body again and reclaiming my lips with his own, his fingers teased the skin of my belly before swooping beneath my blue shirt and toward my breasts.

Everything was going well. Jensen and I were finally going to get what we’d both been wanting for so long. Then the flashes started. It was nothing Jensen did that set it off, but all I could see was the look in Dane’s eyes, feel the weight of his body on mine, and the way my skin crawled.

My body tensed below Jensen, and he immediately pulled back, slipping his hands under me to help me sit up as I struggled to catch my breath.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, covering my face.

“Why are you apologizing? You have nothing to be sorry for.” He wrapped an arm around me and let me lean on him.

“I know. But this can’t be what you had planned for tonight.”

Jensen laughed. “Madi, there was no concrete plan for how tonight would go. Truthfully, I only brought you out here to get you out of the house.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Do I want to sleep with you? I’d be stupid not to, but I’m not going to risk your emotional well-being. I’m not a complete fuckwad.”