Page 13 of Finding Chloe

I felt some of the tension ease from my chest. It was hard to be mad around Kyle. He was so innocent in everything. I knew he didn’t want people to think that about him, but confidence wasn’t one of his strong suits.

“Good,” I said and walked away. I was pretty sure Liam and Hunter’s jaws were still on the floor.

Shaking it off, I went into the feed room and started restocking. Then I did inventory to eat up more time, glancing at my phone every ten minutes to see if Chloe had texted. After a few hours and complete radio silence, I decided to find her.

I headed for the barn door, typing out a text to Chloe, hoping she would reply to this one, and ran straight into a solid form, knocking them back a few steps. We both let out anompf. I reached out and grabbed for their elbow and realized it was just the person I was looking for.

“Shit, Greene. Sorry. I was just texting you.”

“Well, you know what they say. Don’t text and walk at the same time,” she chuckled, straightening herself.

“So how did it go?” I led her over to my horse, Willow, where she was waiting patiently for Chloe’s attention. The last few days, we’d both given her treats together.

“Great. We went over a few more details and added more things to our lists. I’m going to go to town next week to help sort out a few others.” She stroked Willow’s nose.

“What kinds of things? Do you need me to go with you?” I didn’t know why I volunteered. Chloe was fully capable on her own, but the sudden need to be with her all the time hit me square in the chest. And if I was with her, Hunter wouldn’t be.

“I’m not sure.” She glanced at her watch. “I hate that we don't have a lot of time to talk. Our meeting went over and…” She paused. “Then I ran into Hunter. Matt, I need you to know something. Hunter and I met in New York, and we really hit it off. I never thought I’d see him again. He invited me to dinner tomorrow night, and I thought it would be fair to let you know about him. I really need to talk to him and figure out how we left things.”

She couldn’t hide the guilt that tinged her gaze, and a possessive anger surged, swirling in my chest.

I narrowed my eyes. Was she lying about her dinner plans with the girls tonight? Was she going to be with Hunter behind my back? I hated that I was starting to second-guess her, but I couldn’t stop those thoughts.

Her mouth dropped open in shock. “Are you jealous?”

“Do I need to be?” Of course I was jealous. She was going to run off with another man when I was right in front of her.

Chloe reached out and touched my shoulder. “I need to hurry, or I’ll be even later for dinner with the girls. We can talk more tomorrow.” Her reassuring smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

The tightness in my chest eased only a little. I didn’t want her having dinner with the girls either. I wanted to monopolize her entire free time while she was here. Especially now that I knew the Hunter she dreamed about was real.

“Do you still have time tomorrow to help me study?” I brushed her hair behind her ear. When she leaned into my touch, it eased my jealously the slightest bit.

“Of course. Do you still have time to take me out to survey some locations?” She stared up at me through her long eyelashes.

“Wouldn’t miss it, Greene.”

Chloe stood on her tiptoes and lightly pressed her lips to mine. I could feel the apology in them. In my heart, I knew she didn’t mean to be so late. We didn’t have time to talk before she left. I threaded my fingers in her hair and deepened the kiss. I wanted her to feel my apology as well.

“Go have fun with the girls. Text me if you need anything. I know how wild their nights can get.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be too crazy. Two of them are moms now.” Chloe brushed my hair from my forehead. “You need a haircut soon.”

“Maybe I’ll hitch a ride with you into town and get it done while you sort things out next week.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She gave me another quick kiss.

“Go before I drag you upstairs,” I said, then lunged playfully at her. She squeaked and skipped out the door.

I didn’t know what had gotten into me. Jealously wasn’t my thing. Neither was unnecessary anger. Chloe was under my skin and weaved into my heart. I wanted her to be only mine. I had to hope she wanted the same.

CHLOE

Today was getting more and more bizarre. I couldn’t believe I went from dreaming about Hunter to him showing up at King’s Ranch.

I didn’t want to ruin the amazing night we had by finding something out about him that disappointed me. I wanted that weekend to live on in my thoughts as one of the best weekends of my life.

I mentally smacked myself as I walked to the big house. I was having dinner with the girls tonight. We were going over wedding details and relaxing. It was nice to feel like part of the group, but I knew that wasn’t truly the case. I was probably only invited because they wanted to talk about the wedding, or maybe because I was Jessie’s niece. It didn’t bother me. I had my girlfriends in town who were going to stop by this weekend.

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