Page 42 of His Cowboy Heart

“That horse was amazing, Banana Jammies, but you’ll always be my favorite,” Jules continued, quickly extracting one hand so he could give BJ a pat on the neck.

I sighed and shook my head. Of course, Jules had been talking to my horse. Whatever momentary trust Jules was giving to me, it was just that—momentary. As soon as we got back to the ranch, he’d forget about my presence altogether. This moment wasn’t going to change how I’d treated him on the top of that hill the previous day. If anything, I should have been happy about that because I’d bared my soul to Jules when I’d admitted that my heart attacks had done just as much damage to my psyche as they’d done to my body, and he’d walked away like I’d been telling him about the weather. Then he’d disappeared without a word and I’d forgotten to feel anything except terrified that I’d never see him again.

I’d spent the rest of the evening and the start of a sleepless night driving myself crazy with worry and then, just like that, he’d been pounding on my door in the middle of the night telling me Xavier had gone missing.

“Don’t pout,” Jules said, keeping his voice low. “You’re gorgeous and you know it. It doesn’t change the fact that you suck, though.”

I found myself smiling. I must have made some kind of rumbling sound or something because Jules immediately added, “I mean suck in the bad way, not the good way.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s both,” I responded lightly. “I mean, I guess all those hot little moans and sexy as hell demands could’ve been faked, but I don’t think a guy shoots that much jizz down someone’s throat unless the sucking is pretty damn?—”

Jules elbowed me hard. “Shhhh!”

Despite the seriousness of the circumstances, I knew verbally sparring with Jules would ensure he didn’t notice any unevenness in BJ’s gait as the horse continued to adjust his body based on where he needed to put his hooves.

I kept my mouth close to Jules’s ear so only he could hear me and said, “I can still taste you.”

Without a doubt, Jules would have been sending me his best death glare if he’d been able to. When he didn’t respond, I couldn’t help but poke the bear. “And the way you were holding my head down?—”

“Oh my God, shut up,” Jules growled.

“I’m not sure I can,” I drawled. “There are so manydetailsabout earlier?—”

“Fine,” Jules snapped. “If you need to hear the sound of your own voice, finish telling me about Frank, his wife, and Titan.”

“I think it’s the other way around… I like hearing the sound ofyourvoice,” I said truthfully. “What made you run away?”

“I didn’t. Brooks and I went?—”

“Not today,” I clarified. “The day you burned your arm. You wanted me to tell you something no one else knew about me and you said?—”

“That I ran away from home,” Jules said on a soft sigh.

“Yeah,” I responded softly. I hadn’t considered that the question would take Jules to someplace he didn’t want to be. My intent in talking to him had been to keep him relaxed, but the second I’d mentioned him running away from home, he’d tensed in my hold. Even now, he was stiff as a board against me.

“You said you were an ex-banker,” Jules began.

It took me a moment to remember when I’d told him that. It’d been in the motel room after he’d been treated for his burn. I’d exposed my chest to Jules so he could feel the heavy line of scar tissue running down the center of it.

“Investment banker,” I responded.

“In Manhattan?”

I wasn’t sure where Jules was headed, but it was easy enough to answer. “Yeah. I lived at Fifty-ninth and Sixth.”

“How long were you there? In the city.”

“Five, maybe six years in all.”

Jules let out a quiet laugh. “Nice building. Access to the park, thirty-seven floors, which means a nice view if you were near the top. Doorman, valet. Just off a complete renovation about the time you moved in, right?”

“Okay,” I said. “I guess that would make you FBI? Or IRS.”

I heard Jules let out a light chuckle. It felt like a ray of determined sunlight breaking through a blanket of dark clouds.

“I know the guy who owns that building. You know him too… intimately.”

I was so startled that BJ reacted to my touch on the reins by coming to an abrupt halt. “Youown that building?” I asked loudly.

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