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Not what I was expecting, but that was okay.
“I didn’t get to ask you last night. How was your time at Harmony’s?”
I could feel the blush stealing up my neck and across my cheeks. What could I say to not disappoint him?
“I had a glass of wine,” I confessed. I don’t know why I was so nervous except we hadn’t discussed limitations or ground rules as yet and what was and wasn’t acceptable was a mystery.
“Was it good?”
Whew. “I really enjoyed it. You should have seen me trying to open the bottle, though. I didn’t know how, so Sadie helped me.”
That didn’t seem to surprise him. In fact, his overall calmness was a little unnerving.
“That’s not all,” I said boldly.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, when the other ladies got there, I took my glass and snuck off to Harmony’s office for some quiet.”
He nodded his head sagely. “Understandable.”
It was? “Did you know that she has her father’s old chaise lounge in her office?”
That got a reaction. “That’s why I recognized it. Thanks for clearing that up for me, kitten, I couldn’t remember for the life of me why it looked so familiar.”
I felt proud and smiled at the praise. “Guess what?”
“What?”
“Your cousin has a huge collection of naughty books on her shelf and many of them had sticky notes tagged inside. You were right, Daddy; she does use the books she’s read but not toembellish her own. No, she uses them as inspiration to write her own story.”
“Really?” His interest seemed genuinely piqued. “Do you mean the book she’s just written?”
“No! I mean her story. She wrote her reality.”
Jacob appeared puzzled. “You mean to say that all those times she shared experiences with you, she was creating what she wanted to have happened?”
I clapped my hands excitedly. “Yes!”
“Interesting.”
“It really was and then I thought of something else. When Harmony left New York, even though she had no idea if or when she’d ever go back, she only packed her wardrobe and a couple of items. Seeing the chaise in the office made me see that and she told me when I asked her that it was because she is the cosplay queen, her clothing mattered to her most. Isn’t that interesting, Daddy?”
“Absolutely.”
I remembered our talk about Jacob and how he only had a few pictures lying about. His clothing style had completely changed from what he used to wear so I could only assume he probably outgrew everything based on the rippling muscles his sexy physique now showcased. He’d been fit before, but not like now.
“Can I ask you something important?”
Jacob put his mug down and turned to me. “You can ask me anything. Remember, I’m the safe zone.”
And he was, he really was.
“What did you pack when you left home? I don’t see much of the you I knew, except a few photos.”
He pursed his lips. I remembered this as his thinking face and it took me back to when we were kids at one of the parties,this one hosted by his parents and I’d asked him why his bedroom was separate from the house.
“I’m not attached to things, Ronnie. What I brought here to Rawhide was injured pride and a deep-seated need to be around like-minded people. I guess you could say I believed I needed to know if just being myself was okay. Was my integrity in the choices I’d made correct. I suppose I really needed nurturing, and once I pulled through the gates for my weekend seminar, I knew that this Ranch was the place for me.”
