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It was nearly a win. Nearly.
“Ouch,” she said with feeling. “You really know how to win a girl over.”
Something in his face eased slightly. “Come and see the horses or don’t, it’s up to you.”
Beth debated teasing him some more, but since that only seemed to make the fizz and crackle she felt around him worse, she settled for sliding out of the truck instead.
Clint’s dog came over to give her a sniff, then wagged his tail, and she grinned. “And who is this lovely boy?”
“That’s Karl,” Finn said.
“Hey, Karl.” Beth dropped her hand to give the dog a scratch behind the ears. Karl wagged his tail ecstatically. “I guess at least someone likes me.” She glanced at Finn, who’d already begun walking over to the stable block, so she followed after him, Karl trotting along behind her.
“Any reason why you want me to see these horses?” she asked. “Especially when you don’t seem to find my company particularly enticing.”
Finn kept his gaze on the stables ahead of them. “You said you love horses.”
She rolled her eyes. “We both know that was a total lie. I just wanted to talk to you about Evan.” At least, that was the ostensible reason.
“You can talk to me about Evan in the stables.” He glanced at her. “Why did you want to stay in the truck?”
Beth opened her mouth to reply, then shut it, her face feeling warm. She couldn’t tell him the real reason, that she was finding him far too attractive for her own good and that she was rather overwhelmed. No, most definitely not.
“Perhaps I like the truck.” She kicked at a stone. “Anyway, I’m a jewelry designer, not a horse person.”
Finn said nothing to that as they approached the stables, a long, low wooden building with a corrugated steel roof. There were a number of stalls, each with an open front and a wooden gate, and as the two of them came closer, one black horse put its head over the gate, nickering at Finn.
Clint, a tall man in his late sixties whose weather-beaten, craggy face looked like it had spent decades being pounded by the elements, was already at the stall, and he put a hand on the animal’s long nose, smiling. “Seems like Jeff knows you’re here.”
“Jeff?” Beth murmured. “The horse’s name is Jeff?”
Clint, who’d obviously overheard, gave Beth a narrow glance. “Nothing wrong with that name.” He stepped away from the stall. “Horse just looked like a Jeff to me.”
“Of course.” Beth smiled at him. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Just that a black horse is usually ‘Night’ or ‘Shadow’ or something more…poetic, I guess.”
Finn reached out and stroked Jeff’s silky black nose, slipping his other hand into the pocket of his jeans as he did so. The horse nickered again, pushing against Finn’s hand. “Take no notice of her,” he murmured softly. “Jeff’s a good name for a horse, a fine name. And you’re a very fine horse, aren’t you, Jeff?”
Beth went very still. There was a coaxing note in his deep voice that she’d never heard before, and it grabbed on to something inside her and held on tight.
Finn’s attention was on the horse, the usually impenetrable expression on his handsome face relaxing into something much warmer, almost affectionate.
For some reason it felt like she’d made a profound discovery and she couldn’t look away.
Jeff leaned farther out of his stall, nosing down to where Finn’s other hand was still in his pocket. “Oh, you know what I’ve got for you, don’t you?” The lines of his face had softened completely now, and then much to Beth’s shock, his hard mouth curved in a warm smile. “Demanding animal. I guess you can have this now.” He pulled a small apple from his pocket and gave it to Jeff, who crunched on it contentedly as Finn stroked his neck.
“You spoil that beast,” Clint grunted, though he didn’t look too unhappy about it.
Not that Beth was paying any attention to Clint. A bit hard to do so when Finn Kelly, whom she swore wouldn’t know a smile if it bit him on the butt, was now smiling as the animal’s soft mouth quested on his palm for more apple.
And what a smile…
Finn was a handsome man, she’d always known that, but his smile, lighting his face and the darkness in his eyes, took him from handsome to devastating in seconds flat.
Now the only thing she could think of was what she could do to make him smile again. And at her.
Careful. You don’t want to be getting too involved, remember? You’re here for easy, for simple. Friends and a good time. That’s it.
Oh, she remembered. But it was fine. All she was thinking about was making a hot dude smile so she could enjoy the view, nothing more. Certainly nothing to do with the accelerated beat of her heart or the sudden heat that washed over her skin. Or the insane urge to follow the line of that smile with her fingertips, see if his mouth was as hard as it looked or whether it would feel soft.
