Page 90 of Burned & Bound

“Thank you,” I replied quietly. “For helping him.”

“Anytime.” That smile got wider for a brief moment before he disappeared, leaving me alone with my guilt and my horses.

I worked my ass off all afternoon and evening. I had to do something considering I’d skirted doing all my fucking work in the morning. The guilt was fucking awful. In less than twelve hours, I’d managed to fuck up so much of Jackson’s day. The least I could do was make sure the rest of my duties were done perfectly.

Somewhere after ten, I managed to drag myself into the house. I was exhausted, sore, and miserable. I knew the smart thing to do was eat and go to bed, but as I stood in the hallway, I realized I didn’t want any of that.

All I wanted was Jackson.

But did he want anything to do with me?

I stared up the dark stairs wondering if he was even awake. Probably not. I should’ve just left well enough alone, but I didn’t. Instead, I made my way upstairs and snuck into his room while he slept with my side of the bed clear.

“While I’m good with you coming to bed,” Jackson mumbled sleepily, “if you try to crawl into my bed wearing the same clothes you had sleeping on the floor of the stables, I’m going to beat your ass.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. Just the sound of his voice was comforting in ways I didn’t know I needed.

“Fair enough,” I replied. I stripped down to my boxer briefs and dug through his drawers until I found a shirt of his to wear. The old material scratched uncomfortably against my skin, but I forced myself to put it on. I didn’t feel like going downstairs just to find my own clothes.

Carefully, I crawled into bed, keeping to the edge and away from him. I hugged one of the spare pillows to my chest and curled around it for comfort.

“Missed you today,” he let out.

“Missed you too.”I meant that.

“You can move closer,” Jackson told me. I wasn’t sure that I trusted myself to get any closer to him. And the idea of touching him? Just the idea made my skin crawl. After a long heartbeat, he added, “If you want.”

“I’m good here,” I said.And I was.Next to him was good—felt good. I was okay with this. I wanted this.

“West?” he began, and I made a small sound. “You smell like a goddamn horse.”

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“Don’t. But you are changing my sheets tomorrow,” Jackson whispered. A quiet chuckle passed through me.Sounded about right.But there were worse things than doing Jackson’s laundry. “Night, West.”

“Good night, cowboy.”

CHAPTER 61

jackson

That sleepy smile ofhis was dangerous when he woke up. So was the way the stray beams of morning sunlight washed over his face. Half-asleep and completely relaxed like this, West was so goddamn beautiful that he took my breath away. Staring might’ve been creepy but I just couldn’t look away.

“What time is it?” he asked.

“I don’t fucking know,” I admitted. “I forgot to set my alarm last night.”

“You keep taking mornings off and people are going to start thinking you’d rather be here in bed with me, cowboy,” he teased. And I knew it was just teasing but damn if I didn’t love the idea of doing just that.

“Or that I’m just a crappy fucking boss,” I deflected.

“That’s my grumpy cowboy.”His cowboy.I liked the fucking sound of that. A lot. More than I wanted to admit out loud.

He shifted and inched closer, his hand crossing the space between us. Instead of taking mine, however, two fingers brushed over the inside of my wrist.

“Are you feeling my pulse?” I asked, frowning slightly.

“Yeah…” He let out a small sigh. “It was a thing my mom used to do when she couldn’t hold my hand because she had things to do and when she wasn’t allowed to cuddle me anymore in case my dad saw.”

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