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“I…I…well, I think someone’s going to wake me any second because I just got to the really good part of my dream. And…oh…Mother of God.”
She gave a husky chuckle at my reaction to her slipping her fingers into the waistband of her yoga pants and then pushing them down over her hips as she simultaneously toed off her shoes. Bending enough to help them billow down around her ankles, she shuddered and rubbed her arms from the chill as she stood in front of me in nothing but her green bra and black panties with hot pink stripes.
When I saw goosebumps rise on her arms, I held up a finger, unable to tolerate letting her get cold. “Wait. Hold that thought. Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
“What?” she shrieked, hugging herself as I rushed backward toward the opening of the loft because I didn’t want to turn my back on her and miss a second more of this view than I had to. “Beck! What the hell? I’m doing the best striptease of my life, and you’re leaving?”
“No! No, I’m not leaving. I’ll be right back, I swear. I’m just going to run and grab something real quick.” I help up a finger, silently asking her to stay put, and pleading with my expression, hoping she didn’t kill me, as I felt behind me and began to climb through the hole in the floor. Before I completely lowered myself from view, I pointed at her again, this time more commanding-like. “Don’t remove another stitch until I return.”
“Beckett,” she cried, letting me know she wasn’t willing to forgive me for this. But she would. As soon as she saw what I was fetching, all would be okay again.
I flat-out ran toward the tack room, flinging the door open and hurdling myself inside. A brown, fleece blanket lay folded and draped over the back of a chair. I snagged it as I darted past, only to skid to a stop at a shelf against the wall that housed a couple of small, battery-powered portable space heaters that were used in the bitter cold of winter to keep the horses warm. Tucking one under my arm, I next hurried toward the bathroom where I’d seen a half empty box of condoms in the medicine cabinet the other day when I’d been looking for a bandage.
They probably belonged to Bailey’s brothers. I didn’t care. They were mine now.
Arms full, I plowed my way from the tack room, the door banging shut behind me, only to skid to a halt when I nearly ran into Bailey’s father who was standing there in the center aisle, his back to me.
The box of condoms, which had been sitting loosely on top of the blanket and heater piled in my arms careened forward and spilled to the ground, littering the hay around my feet with little foiled packages.
Oh, shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
Ben began to turn. I slid my foot over the box, covering some of the condoms but not all. My heart racing and smile too bright, I gasped out a too-innocent, “H-hey.”
He seemed surprised to see me. Scratching at the whiskers growing on his cheeks, he motioned toward the opening of the barn. “Hey. Booth and I were about to go into town and catch a meal at the diner. The special’s meatloaf today. But we saw Bailey’s car when we stepped outside.” Glancing around as if confused, he asked, “Have you seen her?”
“I, uh…” Don’t look down, don’t look down. When he turned back to me and focused on the things still piled in my arms, frowning at them, I blurted. “Yeah. She’s in the…in the grove.”
“In the grove,” he repeated slowly. “Why? And what the hell is she doing home?”
“I, uh…” Finally I just shrugged. Would he kill me first, and then fire me, if he saw the condoms? Or fire me and then kill me? I didn’t want to find out. “I’m not sure. She seemed upset but wouldn’t say what was wrong, so I dragged her out there to talk. Except it seemed cold, so I came back to gather this, hoping it’d warm her up and relax her enough to open up to me.”
Ben blinked at me as if I’d lost my mind. I flushed, knowing I’d just spewed the worst lie in the history of lies. But then he hummed, “Huh. Bailey’s upset but won’t talk about it? That’s new.”
I tripped out a nervous laugh. “Yeah. Isn’t it, though? Totally not like her.”
“Huh,” her dad repeated before he shrugged as well. “Must be about girl problems, then.” Reaching out to heartily slap my arm, he added, “I’ll leave that to you to fix. Good luck. We’re still going to get some meatloaf. Want us to bring you guys any of it home?”
“Uh…no thanks.”
“All right then. Your loss.”
When he turned away, all the air I’d been holding in my lungs escaped in relief. I was about to reach down and fetch the condoms when Ben paused and suddenly turned back. I froze, half bent over and back to holding my breath.
He narrowed his eyes a moment before declaring more than asking, “You’ll tell me if there’s actually something seriously wrong with her.”
I nodded immediately. “Of course.”
He nodded too and finally left.
Oh dear Lord. My heart wouldn’t stop pounding.
This time, I waited until I heard the engine of Booth’s truck start before I gathered the condoms. Blowing away a chest full of dread, I returned to the loft at a more sedate pace.
Bailey had pulled her shirt back on, but hadn’t redone the buttons, and was currently shimmying the pants back up her legs.
Damn.
“That was your dad,” I said, setting everything on the floor by the opening so I could close the hatch.
