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“Good. Don’t go falling asleep in there. I don’t want to have to drag your naked ass out and give you CPR.”
I chuckled. “We wouldn’t want that now, would we?”
He left me alone, and as I slipped out of my clothes and stepped into the hot water, I wondered what it would be like to have Killian Wilde taking care of me like this on a more permanent basis and not just as a writing partner. That scared the hell out of me.
Chapter Fourteen
KILLIAN
Jamie had been weird over the last few days. Not like the you-kissed-me-and-violated-my-personal-space kind of weird or the I-had-a-sex-dream-about-you weird that I’ve been dealing with. He was cagey. Like he was hiding something from me. And I didn’t like it. Because things between us were already tense, the last thing we needed was more awkwardness.
“I’m going for a ride tonight. Want to join me?” I asked as I came down the stairs and found him fully dressed and looking really damn good.
Did he have a date? Oh my god. Was I just sitting here lusting after a man who didn’t give a rat’s ass about me? Wouldn’t be the first time, and it probably won’t be the last.
“I’m doing some promo stuff.”
“Oh, you didn’t mention that.”
“No, I-I...” he stumbled over his words. “It was unexpected, but it’ll be good to do. So I didn’t say no.”
“Am I supposed to do this with you?”
“No, it’s just me, on my own.”
That hurt. I was supposed to be his partner. “Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you later then.”
He offered me a distant, “Yeah, see ya,” before I headed out.
I wasn’t sure what had just happened. Had I been dismissed? I guessed so.
“What is wrong with you?” I murmured as I kicked at a rock on the path to the stables.
I heard the sound of a car door opening and closing, then the engine starting up. I forced myself not to look back at Jameson as he went wherever the fuck he’d gone.
Siren, one of my favorite horses, was waiting in her stall, so I saddled her up, and the two of us raced under the open sky. The stars had never been brighter, and by all accounts, it was the most beautiful night, but I couldn’t think about that, and instead, I took her back to the stables.
Standing at the fence nearby, all I could do was look out at the vastness of the ranchland and wonder why I hadn’t been included in Jameson’s promo.
Songwriting partners did this kind of shit together. Was he ready to call it quits and move on? Had he decided I was a lost cause and there was nothing to be done for it?
But then I thought about the song we wrote together. Maybe I was just self-sabotaging again. It was a skill I had no doubt mastered over the last twenty-odd years. Maybe I was ruining a good thing.
“You know, little brother, they might say a brooding musician is sexy, but they’re liars. Nobody really likes it.” Mav sidled up next to me, leaning on the fencepost.
My brother had a special ability to make me aware of my own bullshit like nobody else could. He always had, even when we were kids. He’d look at me, shake his head, and say I was full of it, and all I could do was nod because the asshole was right. I was. One hundred percent. And I knew it. I didn’t even try to deny it.
“You sure do keep me humble.”
“Well, somebody has to tell you; otherwise, you’re just gonna keep ruining everything for yourself before you get a chance to enjoy your life.”
“I enjoy my life.”
“Yeah?”
“I do.”
“Bullshit. Tell me the last time you did something just to enjoy it.”
