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I chuckle as we strut around. It’s then that I finally notice that there’s an awful lot of eyes on us. Greenbluff is a small enough town so everyone knows everyone else’s business, especially when two powerful families like the Thomas and Perry families set to be wed together is the talk of the town. And I’m most definitely not Sarah Perry, and I’m dancing with her fiancé.
I start to think of some lie to try to deflect suspicion from the situation. Like maybe I’m just one of Jack’s cousins who came into town for the festival. But the way we’ve been dancing makes such an illusion impossible without making Jack seem like an incredible weirdo, because no one dances with their cousin like we’re dancing together unless we’re from the most remote towns in West Virginia.
So I’m turning a shade of red the whole time, but Jack? Jack’s just taking it in stride, his confidence unbroken. He twirls me out in tune with the music, throwing himself into it as much as I was. Every move he makes declares I’m his woman, and that he wants the entire world to know this fact. He holds me steady at times, his cock poking at my ass. “If it weren’t for laws about public decency, I’d take you right here, right now, babe.”
“I’m not much of an exhibitionist, so I’ll be thankful for those laws for now.”
“I could turn you into one pretty quick if you let me.”
I laugh, and lightly slap him on the chest. “Stop, Jack. You’re too silly.”
We soon withdraw from the dance floor. We stop by one of the stands to get some heavily sugared funnel cake before finding a seat in one of the more remote spots in the fairgrounds. It’d be dark except for the subtle glow of lanterns giving me some warm light to enjoy the handsomeness of his face.
“I can’t believe we danced like that. In front of the whole town,” I say, nibbling on a piece of our confection.
“Why can’t you? You’re more limber than you give yourself credit for.”
“No, no, not that. I just thought we were supposed to keep our thing on the, you know, down-low.”
Jack sighs, tapping his fingers on the table. “It’s a small town. Even if all my wranglers, you, Sarah, and I kept our mouths shut, the news would get out somehow. So I don’t feel any reason to deny myself your touch for their sake.”
“So we’re going to rub their faces in it instead?”
“Hey, I want to show the girl I love to the world. Is that so wrong?”
My face turns an even deeper red. He hadn’t said the words to me directly, but even the suggestion was enough to get those butterflies in my stomach working overtime.
He leans against a nearby brick wall, taking a sip of his soda. “So, Lily, I was wondering...”
“Hmm? What’s up?”
“What’s your long-term plan in life? Or is that too much to ask a twenty-two-year-old?”
“I have ideas, but why do you want to know?”
He shrugs. “Just curious. We’ve had plenty of good times already. I just want to know more about you. I know you’re a horse girl, or otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Or is this just like, something to raise money so you can go to college and be a marine biologist or something like that?”
I chuckle. “Nope. You read me. Horse girl. Grew up in a city, but my mom would take me out into the country for rides whenever she could. So I wanted to do something with them.”
“Anything in particular?”
“You’re also right in the raising-money part. I want to become a veterinarian. Figured I’d get some money together to lessen the student loan burden and have my years in college be more comfortable with a little spending money.”
He shakes his head. “Just open a clinic? Ain’t most of the jobs for vets dealing with people’s dogs and cats? Not to knock that, they need help just like anyone else. There are horse vets too. I deal with them a lot.”
“Bingo. I want to help sick horses as my specialty. If I had complete control over my destiny with money being no object? I’d focus on rescuing and rehabilitating injured and sick horses.”
“Hmm,” he says, stroking his chin.
“Just like dogs, there’s a lot of people who get horses and don’t understand the responsibility that comes with it. Or literally the puppy thing, where they get a pony and don’t know how to deal with the giant beast it grows up to become. So they neglect it. They abandon it. And that seems to be a quick path to an early death for them. I’d like to stop that where I can.”
Jack looks my way, his eyes wide and sparkling with admiration for me, a smile on his face. He’s all ears about what I’m going on about. It resonates with me, in a way that he’s not being condescending, treating me like some little girl who is dreaming of sunshine and rainbows, but like what I’m saying is both noble and possible.
“Ideally, I’d be able to home them. Maybe until someone who is worthy can adopt them. Maybe I’ll just keep them all to myself. I’ll figure it out when I get there, I guess. Not like my dream is coming true tomorrow.”
“If I could snap my fingers and make that happen for you, I would.”
“Is this where you reveal you’re a genie, but there’s some arbitrary pact with Sarah where you can’t make my every wish come true?”
