“Jack, are you sure?” I ask, frowning.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s really not serious! And if it helps you feel better, I haven’t spoken to Mom for two days now. She calls about twenty times a day though, but I’m actually sleeping, which is definitely a plus,” he says. “Now tell me where you are.”
“Well, I kind of ran into some car trouble,” I begin.
“Are you okay?” he asks worriedly. “Where are you? Shit! Do I need to come get you? Shit! Shit!”
“Jack, chill out! I’m safe,” I tell him. I raise my hand like he can see the stop-sign gesture I’m making with it.
“What? Where are you?”
“I’m at a friend’s, in…” I place my hand over the phone and look at Caine. “Where are we?”
“You don’t know where you are? A friend? What friend?!” Jack yells soloudly I have to pull the phone away from my ear.
“You’re near Crystal Falls,” Caine whispers. “Want me to talk to him?” He waves at me, his palm up.
“Mikayla! Who do you know in Crystal Falls?” Jack yells into my ear. Clearly covering the phone doesn’t mute the sound.
Being the coward that I am, I hand my yelling brother over to Caine, who seems unfazed by angry Jack.
Caine presses the speaker button on my phone and places it on the counter, leaning over toward me. His biceps bulge in his t-shirt, and my eyes can’t help but take him in. The man is sex personified.
Our eyes lock for a moment, and he tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. I’ve never wanted a man to kiss me as much as I want Caine to, not ever in my life. It feels like I can’t breathe. My skin practically hums from that little touch behind my ear.
But the moment is shattered when the shrew on the other end of the phone yells, “Mikayla!”
“Jack?” Caine says. “I’m Caine Montgomery.”
“Who?” Jack says rudely.
I roll my eyes. Too bad he can’t see.
Caine chuckles, seemingly unaffected. “I met your sister a little over three months ago in New Mexico. Mikayla had dinner with me and my brother at the steakhouse you recommended, Shirley’s… on her birthday. She called me when her car broke down. I towed it to my ranch and will have it looked at in the morning. In the meantime, I put her in my spare room.”
“Your ranch?” Jack asks incredulously.
“Yes, the Montgomery Horse Ranch. You can even Google it,” Caine says, still being kind, though do I detect a little sarcasm?
My brother is silent, so I’m assuming he’s actually Googling the name.
“You ride bucking broncos?” my brother asks excitedly.
“I train riders and horses now. But yes,” Caine says.
“What are bucking broncos?” I ask. I know next to nothing about horses.
“Like the most dangerous kind of riding in a rodeo,” Jack says, his voice full of awe. “Remember that movie with Luke Perry…8 Seconds?”
I have no idea what he’s talking about, but my stomach flips at the word “dangerous.” And I feel my face fall.
“I don’t ride anymore, sweetheart, don’t look so worried,” Caine says. He reaches over and caresses my cheek.
“Sweetheart?” Jack asks pointedly.
“Jack, now you know where I am and who I’m with, okay?”
“Fine, but you better keep me informed about what’s going on with your car. And don’t fix it if it’s more than its value. I’d rather buy you a new car than have you waste money on an old one that won’t last anyway,” Jack tells me.
