Page 140 of Sunrise & Serenity

Anger flickers in his eyes. Oh yeah. He doesn’t like that I’m no longer listening to him. He doesn’t like that he doesn’t know what I’m doing.

“I’ve been worried about you,” he says casually. “You could at least have answered and put my mind at ease.”

The thing about Graham is that he never sounds unreasonable. He always speaks calmly and with just enough condescension that I end up feeling irrational instead.

I’m sick of it.

Arms falling to my sides, I raise my chin. “I don’t owe you anything.”

Before he can answer, movement across the yard catches my eye.

Holden.

He’s walking up from the barns, carrying a coil of rope over one shoulder, his hat low over his eyes. The second he sees Graham and me, he slows. I give him a little shake of my head. I don’t want him getting caught up in this. Whatever it is.

Unfortunately, Graham notices, his gaze flicking from Holden back to me. His features tighten. “So that’s what this is really about,” he says, almost softly.

I stare at him blankly. “What are you talking about?”

“This.” He gestures at me, then at Holden. “You’ve got this whole fantasy thing going on out here, don’t you?”

A disbelieving laugh rushes out of me. “This is a job.”

“Come on.”

His tone is sharp. Sharp enough to carry. Holden starts toward us, his long strides eating up the ground.

A rush of nerves tumbles down my spine. Absolutely no world exists in which a meeting between these two men ends well.

Holden doesn’t stop until he’s close enough that I can almost feel the tension vibrating off him.

“Everything all right?” he asks me, his voice low.

I have no idea how to answer that question, but I nod anyway.

He focuses on my ex. “You lost?”

His voice is calm, but there’s something beneath it. Something that dries my throat.

Graham studies him for a second and extends a hand. “Graham Porter.”

Holden ignores the proffered handshake but doesn’t look away from him. “Holden McBride.”

Every heartbeat of silence that follows ratchets up my pulse.

Eventually, Graham lets out a hard breath and uses the hand he extended to pull his sunglasses off his head. Then, voice lowered as if he’s trying to sound reasonable, he says, “Well, Holden. I was just telling Sage that she seems to have forgotten she has family and friends back home, and we’ve been worried about her.”

Holden’s expression doesn’t change. “Is that right?”

Graham fixes his gaze on me again. “And apparently, she’s been too distracted out here to respond to the residency offer she received from Milan.”

My stomach bottoms out, while beside me, Holden goes completely still.

As my thoughts race, Graham goes on. “Twelve months in Europe. Very prestigious. The kind of opportunity you’ve always wanted, right, Sage?” He raises his eyebrows pointedly. “At least it was before you decided to play cowgirl.”

Heat flashes white-hot through my body. “How do you know about the residency?”

He shifts and clears his throat, looking vaguely uncomfortable for the first time since he arrived. “You used your professional email to apply.”