Page 144 of Catching Sparks

His ears twitch, and then he’s turning to look at me again. He moves around me in a circle, and I shuffle with him as he settles on my other side now, staring toward the stable door. I left it open just enough that the sun could leak through the crack once it rises, but maybe I shouldn’t have. A small animal could definitely slip inside if it wanted to.

I set the wooden brush down and wipe my palm off on my jeans before scooting around Kip’s body toward the pen door. The sound of his high-pitched whinny after a morning spent in silence has me on high alert. I set my hands on his neck, and he does it again, even louder this time.

My brows furrow, concern sharp in my chest as I watch his ears flick forward before he attempts to slip past me out of the pen. I push on him, shaking my head.

“What is it, Kip? If you’re this excited to see a squirrel or a raccoon, I will never let you live it down,” I warn him while crouching and slipping beneath his head and out of the pen.

I’m about to shut the door when he lets out another loud noise, and the stable door slides open enough for a body to appear.

His reaction makes sense the moment I lay eyes on Garrison.

I stop breathing. All too similar to the first time I saw him, he’s wearing a pair of ironed black slacks and a button-up white dress shirt with the cuffs open and rolled up his forearms. The similarities to that day end there. The top button of his shirt is undone today, and a pair of sunglasses are tucked by the arm over the dip of the collar. His jaw is scruffy, dark beneath the shadows cast by the black hat on his head. The cowboy hat.

I flush from top to bottom, my legs restless, wanting to move in his direction. He’s so fucking good-looking that it’s a miracle I haven’t simply fallen to my knees already, let alone run into his arms.

“Did he really think I was a squirrel?” are the first words he asks me.

I choke on air. “No. He knew it was you.”

“So it was you, then?”

He takes one step toward me and then another. The distance between us shrinks quickly as Kip’s hot breath hits my shoulder. I’m too afraid to move, not trusting myself to be able to avoid making a fool out of myself.

“You’re a little big to be a squirrel, now that I think about it,” I say.

His grin is blinding in the dimly lit stable. My throat grows sticky, hard to breathe through.

“I’d say so, yes.”

“Why are you here?” I blurt out.

He doesn’t react to the question, his smile unwavering. “Why would I be here if not for you?”

“Well, you did leave without me in the first place, so.”

“Mm, I know. Biggest fucking mistake I’ve ever made.”

My stomach tries to fly up through my chest. “Is that so?”

He nods, suddenly right in front of me. The first touch of his fingers to my face sends sparks shooting along my skin like flint striking stone. I suck in a breath and hold still, as if one move from me will spook him and send him running again.

“Yeah, honey. That’s so,” he says, voice deep and raspy.

“Why’d it take you so long to come back for me, then?”

My pulse is racing, thumping like a drumbeat in my ears. There’s no right or wrong answer to my question, but I’m too curious not to ask everything I can think of right now. I wasn’t expecting him to come back. Not now, two weeks after leaving, and not ever.

He drops his head and brings his nose to my hair before breathing in. I shiver, goosebumps pebbling over every inch of my skin.

“You smell like me, Poppy.”

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s my other boyfriend you’re smelling.”

He stiffens, and I roll my lips to keep from immediately telling him I’m joking.

“Hmm? What was that?”

I lift a shoulder. “I asked you a question first.”

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