Page 92 of Unspoken Promises

It’s greedy. It’s selfish. But I want more of this. I just can’t bring myself to stop this momentum.

Apparently, he wants the same.

“I could get used to this.” He envelops my hand in his. “You being here.”

“Me, too.”

WatchingEnzo with a horse is sexier than him throwing me over his shoulder and effortlessly carrying me out of the pool last night. And man, was that hot. He’s all jeans and black t-shirt, cowboy boots peeking out of the bottom. His muscles flex frequently from digging the fork into the bedding to carrying a heavy bale of the shavings and throwing them down. He’s so capable, so sexy, and so unafraid of the huge beast that, though she is beautiful, seems a little scarier now that she’s tied up loosely outside the stall and isn’t under Enzo.

The horse I rode to book club, Hector, is in the stall next door and can’t seem to stop whinnying. Enzo said he thinks we have food. He seems to know what the creatures want, what they’re thinking… I wonder if all his years of patience with these animals growing up is what made him so intuitive. He never could have guessed my exact situation, but on many levels, he has me pegged.

Still, he believed my stupid fib after the fair. Is he not intuitive? Or am I just a top-notch liar? Both suck.

Enzo teaches me everything he knows, and I finish putting the last of the dirty bedding in the wheelbarrow. Mucking out a horse stall isn’t nearly the gross job I thought it might be. Horse poop is surprisingly not stinky. Just the opposite; I love the natural, earthy scent outhere. And it gets even better when Enzo opens a tightly packed bag of wood shavings.

“Mmm.” I inhale the scent of fresh-cut pine. “That is the great outdoors in a neat little package.”

“I’ve been doing this for years and I always love that smell when I cut into a new bag of shavings.”

We work together, pulling down the older, but still clean bedding onto the rubber mats he has, and then, those strong shoulders of his dump two bales of feathery wood flakes out over the rest.

“Spread these out with your fork.” He shows me his technique, forearms veiny and flexing. “And then we need to make some banks along the back and sides.”

The flakes break apart easily and remind me of snow, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t get the sly idea out of my head. I throw my fork aside, bend down, scoop up as many as I can, and throw them straight at Enzo. They’re light and don’t hit him hard, but rather spread out over his head and face like confetti.

His jaw is wide open. Sand-colored flakes collect in the brim of his sexy hat and rest on his shoulders.

“You wanna play, do you?”

I giggle. “I couldn’t resist.”

The frisky glint in his gaze tells me I either need to run from the stable now or accept his revenge. The man catches me by the waist on my way to safety; somehow he bends down, biceps bulging as he makes a scoop with his arm and sends a flurry of shavings all over me. It’s the snow fight I never had. Childish laughter erupts from me instantly, and I bend down to return fire. The next thing I know, the entire stable is a wood-flake storm, they’re everywhere… in my hair, down the front of my tank top, all over Enzo. I giggle uncontrollably while he absolutely bombards me, clearly having done this before; he has the technique down. I’m no match for his speed.

I step back and away, laughing so hard I can hardly cover my face, my whole body succumbs to this pure joy, and eventually, I’m leaning against the wall, legs of absolute jelly, tears leaking from my eyes.

“Mercy!” I manage to sneak out through my giggles. “Mercy.”

He steps into my space and pins me to the wall. “You didn’t think I’d let you get away with that, did you?”

“I should have known better.” My cheeks hurt.

And he’s smiling, too. It’s a broad, authentic, unstoppable smile. The serious lines between his eyebrows are gone, replaced by creases to the sides of his deep-brown eyes, shining bright, so present… he’s nowhere else but here. My Lord is he glorious with those lips and those bright teeth spread out in happiness. I’ve never seen him like this before and I’m hell-bent on creating as many moments like these as I can for him.

I will make this all right. I will. And then he’ll smile like this every day.

His gaze deepens, and he seems to consider every inch of my face. His smile falls, but not into the usual scowl, instead, his features are full of reverence. He pins me with one arm to the side of the stall. With his free hand, he reaches up and takes his hat off, shakes off the flakes… and puts it on my head.

“Mine.”

My heart races, I’m sure he can hear it. I don’t know exactly what Enzo means with that word. His girlfriend? It doesn’t even matter. I’ll be his anything…

He lifts an eyebrow, looking for a response.

I nod slowly. “Yours.”

He sinks his fingers into my tangled hair and grips my skull, tipping my lips up toward his and places the most sumptuous, delicious, heart-stopping kiss on my lips. The cowboy hat falls to the bed below. My hands find their way to the sides of his face, his tongue dives into my mouth, and he lets out a low groan like a satisfied beast. Our kiss deepens, and he peppers hot, open-mouthed kisses to my neck, lacing his fingers through mine and raising my hands, pressing them against the wall.

When his hand glides up my side and his thumb brushes my pebbled nipple, I’m ready to fall into this bed and take him right now.

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