Page 14 of Catching Mr. Right

Chapter Six

CASPER

What the hell was I thinking, getting jealous of another guy like I did two nights ago when Mandy stopped looking at me like I was all she could see? Wanting her to want me for a few precious seconds? Kissing the girl like that?

Soldier snorts as he trots around the ring, twisting and prancing through the elaborate routine that was the last thing Juliette had worked on with him. We’ve done it so many times now it’s practically second nature. The sun hammers down on my bare shoulders and the back of my neck, my T-shirt discarded over one of the railings. Sweat trickles down my temples, and makes Soldier’s gray coat shimmer. His hooves beat at the dust. Thump, tap, and thunder his rhythm right into the ground. Right into my head.

I’m sorry. I can’t. I’m sorry. I can’t. I’m attracted to a girl who wants someone else. I’m sorry. I can’t. I let my stupid fucking dick get the better of me, let her seductive, honeyed mouth captivate me. So sorry. I just can’t. I can’t become involved. I can’t let a slip of a girl fool me into thinking things aren’t the way they are. Some things aren’t worth the risk. I’m sorry, I can’t.

I can practically hear Juliette. Her voice ripples underneath my own thoughts. She’s entrenched in my head. The memories, the conversations we shared simmer just below the surface. Still she wouldn’t have an answer for me. Not about us, and not about how I’m supposed to live with myself now. “Sometimes I don’t understand how you can be so stubborn. You weren’t supposed to be this unhappy.”

And I wasn’t. Not then. Not with her.

“It’s not that exactly.” I shrug my shoulders, hunch deeper into my jacket. It’s cold up here. Beautiful, but frigid. Especially at this time of year. “We were only going to stay for twelve months.”

“What’s another year?” She smiles at me, her dark hair whipping in the wind as she leans over the railing. “It’s an adventure. Come look, I can see Notre Dame from here. Oh, and the Arc de Triomphe.”

Every day with her is an adventure, but I want more. I tread across the observation deck to stand beside her. It’s such a long way down. “Could we get off this metal monster now?”

“Don’t be so scared.” She laughs and it’s musical. I would stand on the very edge, no metal fence to keep us safe, just to make her laugh. “One more year? Twelve months so Soldier and I can show the world what we can do?”

“Twelve months?” I’m going to say yes. She knows it. I know it. It’s only because I want so much more with her that I fight it. “You promise?”

“Cas.” She shakes her head. “You can’t make me promise something like that.”

She’s right. She’s always been a free spirit. My free spirit, and only because she chose me. “Will you ever want to settle down? I want to put a ring on that finger. A roof over your head. A baby in—”

She shakes her head and jumps away from the railing. Her hands are like ice as she touches my face, and I scoop them both up to hold them to my lips so I can warm them with my breath. She smells like horse and pain au chocolate, the fresh chocolate filled croissants we’d eaten on our way to the tower.

“I love you, Casper. So much,” she says. “One day soon, I’m going to give you the answer you want so much.”

Soldier whinnies and rears up. The slack rope in my hand pulls tight, and I almost lose my footing. His eyes roll in his head, and he snorts his breath through his nostrils as his hooves pummel the dirt.

Closing the distance between us, I run my hands over his silky nose and rub his forehead. He mouths at my hand, and for a few seconds we stand there. Both of us breathing hard, both lost in our memories of her. And then Soldier puts his head to my chest and nudges me. A small push that makes me step back.

“I’m sorry.” I grip his halter and stare into his huge brown eyes. This is the closest I ever get to feeling her presence. I can almost feel her touch, see her eyes when we’re like this. Juliette and this horse, they were more one than they were individual members of a team. “I wish it would’ve been me.”

Soldier shoves me again. Whinnies.

“What do you want me to do? What am I supposed to do?”

He extends a foreleg and shakes his head.

“As if you know anything. You’re just a dumb animal,” I snap at him. I unhook the rope from his halter and run my hand down his back and along his flank. Nothing but an animal who is my closest friend and ally. I give him a gentle slap on the rump. “Go on with you, now.”

He swings around to mouth my shoulder, and then trots out of the circle back to where he was grazing before I ran him. Picking my shirt up from the fence, I stretch the gray cotton over my head and down my torso. I can see the kitchen’s sky blue Dutch door from here. Is she still inside, wondering why I turned her down after all that? Feeling like shit because I made a stupid move?

Mandy Pearce is dangerous.

To me. To herself. Quite possibly to anyone around her, and lucky me, I have to work with her for ten more weeks. I have to work out how to keep her at arm’s length without the beautiful, quirky girl taking it personally. I need to block her out for the rest of the summer, and then I’ll take Soldier and move on. But how do I distract her so she doesn’t look at me the way she did after we kissed? And that was just a tease. There was so much more that I wanted to do to her. Still do.

Climbing the fence, I drop over it and stride toward the kitchen. If she’s still here, I’ll just have to deal with it while we prepare dinner. But I hope she’s gone home. I need the time to decide what to do.

***

I slip through the door of the wine room and stand just inside while I scope the place out for a blonde girl with a loud mouth. By the time dinner at the ranch was finished I’d worked out the best way to deal with my problem was not avoiding her, but helping her land this guy she’s obsessed with. And then Claire had mentioned that Mandy and Summer had asked her to join them for a drink but she was too tired to go. And I’d figured there was no better time than the present to hash out this plan I’d formulated in my head.

I smile when I catch sight of her, a half empty glass of white in one hand while she sways to what I can only assume is elevator music. Oh yeah, my crazy apprentice is dancing amid tables of wine snobs and having a ball.

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