Page 26 of Catching Mr. Right

Chapter Eleven

CASPER

“How do you work it out?” I stare up at her perched on the fence. Soldier stomps the ground beside me and shakes his head. He blows out a heavy breath and mouths my hand with his silken nose. Yeah, I know I suck at this small talk. It’s been a long time since the company of others has been preferable to my own and a horse.

“I don’t really know.” She shrugs, gripping tight to the top railing, her slender legs dangling in front of me. “It’s something I’ve always been able to do.”

How far does this pink obsession go anyway? Those shorts are tiny, and a raspberry shade of pink. They hug her curves and show off another sliver of golden skin below her white, knotted shirt. A man’s shirt, rolled up to the elbows, collar up. Sam’s? Completely inappropriate. Thankfully she’s not working in the kitchen today. This is an impromptu visit while the kids are on a trail ride to catch me up on what happened after I left her at Mayhem last night. I can’t believe that asshole kissed her and then accused her of stalking him. Even if she’s crushing on him harder than I can stand. “Okay, but there has to be some process. What? Do you eyeball ‘em for a bit, or judge the fit of the guy’s pants?”

Mandy laughs. “It’s not a scientific approach. I can just tell, for the most part.”

“Seen a lot of dicks in your life?” What would she think of mine if I whipped it out for her approval? Not that I’m going to. It’d probably scare the hell out of her. Stupid fucking dick. Although she’s already nailed me with her guess. “You’re one crazy contradiction, girl.”

“Funnily enough, I’ve seen more than I’d like to admit. And I know that makes no sense since I haven’t actually ridden one.”

Soldier snorts loudly and flicks his tail, so I pat his neck and push him away. He trots over to the other corner of the yard and tugs a mouthful of hay from a feeder. “Why is that?”

“Honestly?” She frowns down at me, worries her lip. “I guess I don’t want to waste time on the guys who aren’t right. It’s not like I’m saving myself. I could care less about that.” She runs her fingers across her bangs, drawing them to the side. “Okay, so, you know how I told you about my parents?”

“Yeah.” I put my hand on the rail near her foot. She’s wearing whisky colored Grecian sandals. Her toes are painted a pastel shade of pink. There’s a small, pale scar on her ankle that I want to trace with a fingertip while I ask her where she got it.

“They weren’t my biological parents. They were this nice couple from Denver, Colorado. She was a doctor, he was an architect. I suppose they couldn’t have kids, because they adopted me.”

“Fuck.” I wind my hand around her ankle and give it a light squeeze. If she wasn’t on the fence, I’d wrap my arms around her, but I don’t want her to fall. How much must it hurt to have lost so much, so young? The ache inside me is still so raw after a year without Juliette. The edges of a jagged hole inside me worn down by time, but always there. “I’m so sorry.”

“It is what it is. An accident,” she says, matter of fact. “After they passed I lived with my adoptive grandmother. But she was, I don’t know, maybe losing her own daughter broke her. Do you think that’s possible? To love someone or something so much that you don’t have any love to spare?” She peers down at me, eager for my opinion.

I don’t know the answer. My heart and soul have been wrapped up in Juliette for so long, but this girl in front of me makes me feel… something. It’s as real and honest as the way she looks at me. But it’s not anything like what we’re talking about. “I think we have the capability to care for a good many people. Look at your friend and her boyfriends. Look at Claire and Razer and how much they put into these kids.”

“Yeah. That’s true. It was just her then.” She glances over at where Soldier is grazing and runs the pad of her thumb over her cupid’s bow lips. Straightening her spine, she adjusts her position on the fence. “Anyway, she moved us out here to Reverence before I started high school. Have you seen some of the boys around here? There has to be something in the water.”

Smirking, I shake my head. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Okay.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m not asking you if you think they’re hot, but it’s pretty obvious that the air around here agrees with you guys.”

“Go on with the story.” I tug at her ankle, then slide my hand a little higher up her calf. I like the way her smooth skin feels under my palm.

“So hot guys everywhere, and I’m thinking I wouldn’t mind a boyfriend. Remember, I was like fifteen. I pick the hottest guy in the school, who isn’t a jock.”

“Why not a jock?”

“Do I look like the kind of girl who wants to spend all her time at football games? Or listening to some meathead go on about his stats? I want a guy who is going to put me first. Now can I finish the story?”

“Sure.”

“So I go up to this guy. Incredibly attractive, makes my knickers damp, tall, muscular—”

“Story.” I choke on the idea of seeing her panties. She has no idea how much that teases me.

“And I say, ‘I bet your dick is tiny.’”

“What?”

“That’s what he said.” She laughs.

“Wait. You told the guy you liked that he had a tiny dick?”

“Uh-huh. In front of his friends. I honestly didn’t plan it, but that was the first thing I thought of.”

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