Page 36 of Paper Horses

“Should I leave you here and find something else to do while you marvel at technology?”

She shot me a look, her lips curling into a frown.

“Leave it and come talk to me.” And tell me why you left me with my bloodied heart in my hands.

I heard her feet pattering behind me. Quiet footfalls with pedicured toes and nail polish that matched her fingernails. She sat at the island, opening her laptop and snatching the paper with the Wi-Fi password on it. Ink still stained her right hand, and I couldn’t help but shake my head at it, covering my chuckle with a cough.

Her fingers ran over the keyboard, and I studied her as she concentrated. Seeing the woman she had become. Growing into her beauty. Her long auburn curls framed a small face with a cute nose and cheeks that had once held a gorgeous flush that I had loved to kiss. And those freckles, the ones she hid under makeup that stole her natural beauty, had been my favorite thing to kiss…well, almost.

I looked away, hoping the throbbing in my nether region took a detour.

“There,” she said, sitting back.

“There,” I mimicked, closing her laptop.

“Hey, we need to look at numbers and auction sites and…”

She stopped as I stared down at her.

“Come on,” I said, putting my beer down and motioning to the door.

“But the numbers⁠—”

“Can wait.” I didn’t tell her any more as I walked to the door and grabbed my coat. I held it for a moment before I tossed it to her. This time she caught it, her brows scrunched in confusion.

Opening the door, I waited for her to follow, holding it open while she eyed me and stuffed her arms into the coat. I didn’t know why I kept insisting she wear it. The weather wasn’t that cold, and her coat was fine, even if it was thin. There was something deep in my core that crept up and dug its claws into me at the thought of her wearing my clothes. And she looked so damn adorable in it, especially in jeans.

She stopped by the door and looked at her feet, wiggling her toes.

“Shoot. Stay here.” I jogged past her and through the house, up to her room where she’d tucked her boots in the corner. Her suitcase was on the bed, and I rummaged through the neatly folded skirts and blouses, cringing when I pulled a sexy black lace bra out. The matching thong that came out next didn’t help. Here I was again, putting myself in a position I shouldn’t have been in.

I stuffed the underwear back, cursing myself for imagining her in it, and yelled out the bedroom door. “Don’t you have any socks?”

She’d said no when I had asked her about them earlier, but I’d thought she hadn’t brought them downstairs. Not that she really didn’t have any.

“Socks?”

My eyes hurt they rolled so hard. “Yeah, the things you put on our feet to cover them before they go into the shoes.”

She appeared at the bottom of the stairs, glowering at me. “I know what socks are.”

“Then why don’t you have them in here?”

“Are you going through my things?” Her cheeks turned a gorgeous shade of crimson.

“Just trying to help.” I stepped out and tossed a boot to her.

She yelped and fumbled to catch it, the heel whacking her in the forehead.

“Shit,” I said, hurrying down the stairs.

That glower deepened as she rubbed her head. “The poison would have been an easier way to get rid of me.”

I pushed her hand out of the way and held her face, tipping it so I could look at the red mark on her forehead. “I’m not trying to get rid of you. I just forgot how shitty you are at catching things.”

She shoved playfully at me, and for a moment, we were back in school. Her eyes sparkling, a smile lighting them.

“There it is,” I said, gawking at her mouth.