“Emmett,” she called after me, and I might as well have stepped in super glue.
I looked over my shoulder. She was standing with Willow, her fiery hair swaying in the wind, her eyes illuminated with gratitude.
She was so beautiful. Stunning in a painful way.
It took my breath away. It made me ache. It pissed me off that last night was just a one-time thing. It didn’t make any sense; I’d had casual flings before, but not one of them stirred this kind of want within me after the fact.
“Thank you,” she said.
I dipped my chin once in acknowledgment and walked away, because that was the only option I had. The only one I’d ever have. And that was the way it was supposed to be.
Even if I was beginning to hate it.
7
Ch 6 - Delilah
My phone buzzed and jolted me awake. I groaned, rolling over and regretting that last glass of wine with the girls last night. But I’d needed it to drown out the guilt I felt every time I saw them now. Reaching behind me blindly, I grabbed my buzzing phone and brought it to my ear. “Hello?” My voice was dry and thick with sleep. I sat up, reaching for my water bottle Claire left on my nightstand after dropping me off.
“Delilah?” A woman said on the other end of the line. Her voice was familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“Yes?” I scrubbed the sleep from my eyes and gulped half of my water.
“Hi! This is Macy Johnson from EquiPath, not sure if you remember me,” she chuckled.
The lightbulb went off. I did my training with her five years ago down in San Antonio. “Oh my God, hey! How are you?”
“Good, good.” She exhaled heavily. “Sorry to call so early, but I just wanted to let you know that some guy called me asking about you yesterday? It was kinda weird.”
My brows bunched together. “Who?” I started running down the list of men I’d scorned over the years, and it was…lengthy.But people do background checks all the time for all kinds of reasons. It was probably nothing, just someone doing their due diligence.
“He didn’t give his name. But he asked about your boundaries with clients, your credentials, how you handled horse safety. Super direct and persistent.”
My head reared back, confused. “What the hell?”
“Yeah…that’s what I thought, too, so I figured I’d try calling to give you a heads up.”
I glanced around my room, thinking. “Well, I am opening a veteran program…maybe he was a potential patient doing research?” Some of the vets I’d been around over the years were very methodical like that, so it wasn’t entirely out of the question. But still odd, nonetheless.
“Maybe.” I gnawed on my bottom lip, wondering who else would go to that kind of trouble. “Well, anyway, I gotta run, but it was nice talking to you. If you’re ever down here again, we should grab a drink!”
“Yeah, for sure,” I replied, half listening. “Talk to you later, Macy.”
The phone slid from my ear, and I zoned out on my comforter, my mind racing with possibilities of who it could’ve been. But I didn’t have time to sit here and dwell on it; I had to get to the ranch before my meeting later.
“Shit!” I grabbed the bottom of my foot, hopping on one leg while staring daggers at the hair clip I just stepped on while getting out of bed.
I hobbled into the shower, cursing myself for being a slob. The water was scalding on my skin. I let it beat down on my back, my mind drifting to the one place it shouldn’t but always did.
The memory of Emmett holding me after he brought Willow home was so fresh that I could still feel the way his arms feltaround me, supporting me in the air. And the fact that he spent the majority of the day looking for her… I shook my head. I couldn’t let myself read into it. He was just being nice because I was his sisters’ friend and business partner. That’s it. It had nothing to do with the sex. The amazing, perfect sex that I’d been thinking about for the last three days.
The shower hissed, and so did I. My mind replayed every stupid thing I’d said to him, each one louder under the spray.“Just this once. And then we pretend it never happened.”God, why had I said that? And then, after, his face when I’d brushed him off about showering together—it had been like I’d gutted him. I stomped like a child throwing a fit, but the anger wasn’t at him. It was at me. Always me.
I was in a foul mood by the time I got out of the shower, and was now glaring at my closet. I had to wearrealclothes today since I was having a lunch meeting with a potential donor for Freedom Reins. Ethan Carmichael, an Army colonel turned businessman. He was passionate about supporting veterans and was known for writing massive checks for the cause, something I admired him for.
I grabbed a dark green pantsuit and a black blouse with matching heels and slipped them on after doing my hair and makeup. “God, you’re hot.” I smoothed my hands along my sides, checking myself out in my full-length mirror. I was a firm believer in affirmations, and mine included hyping myself up at any given chance.
Except those affirmations didn’t mean shit when I pulled in at the ranch and saw Emmett in the main corral, breaking a colt he and Claire had been working with for weeks. He was sweat-slicked and focused—so sexy I couldn’t help but watch. The horse bucked and kicked, churning up dust, and yet Emmett stayed on, refusing to give up.
