Page 58 of Redemption

“What?” he asked, his voice thick and heavy, as passion-drunk as I was.

“Fuck me, please, Jack?”

He stiffened, and not in a good way. His demeanor changed completely, and he slowly untangled our limbs, a heavy silence filling the room. I was left cold, aching and vulnerable at the loss of his touch.

It was fine if we were in this together, if we were both giving in. But for some reason him pulling away set a clear boundary. We were not in this together, and my stomach churned.

He pulled his shirt back on but didn’t say anything. I didn’t move, fear locked me in place. What was happening?

“I think you should go,” he said quietly.

“What?” I whispered.

He wouldn’t look at me, just kept his back to me. “I think…I think you should leave, Kat. This was a mistake and we both know it.”

I swallowed back the tears that sprang to my eyes. I had felt a connection growing between us over time as we’d worked together. We’d shared a few moments with each other where we’d opened up, whether intentionally or drug-related. I’d shared how the ranch was falling apart, howIwas falling apart and I’d felt like I wasn’t alone in this.

I tried to bite back my sob but it slipped out. Mortified, I clambered to the end of the bed, desperate to get out of there before I embarrassed myself even more.

“Kat, wait,” he began once I was running out of the room. I heard him curse as he stumbled after me. “Wait, it’s not what you think,” he said but I didn’t care. My sobs weren’t staying quiet and I needed to get out of here, I didn’t want to be weak in front of him.

I threw open the front door that I’d closed only moments before and ran out towards the house, past the wine I’d left on the porch, and straight inside.

“Yo Kat, we’re watching27 Dressesif you’re up for it? B-b-b-Bennie and the Jets!” Leo shouted from the living room.

“Bennie!” Daisy replied in a high-pitched warble.

I didn’t reply, just ran up the stairs and into my room. When I was safely inside, I pulled in deep breaths, trying to calm my pounding heart and stop the shakes in my hands.

“Pull yourself together!” I hissed, patting my cheeks to dry my tears and shake some sense into myself.

But I couldn’t.

Jack unleashedsomething in me.

The tears I’d been holding back were brought to the forefront, refusing to be ignored, and they wouldn’t stop. I tried to distract myself but they kept falling. I got into the shower and stood under the spray but my tears still fell, just trickled down with the water. Eventually I gave up trying to stop them and embraced them. I got into bed and cried myself to sleep, cursing the day I’d asked for a sign and Jack Drayton turned up on my porch.

*

The next morning, after ignoring a text from Jack that readCan we talk?I dragged my ass out of bed, my eyes puffy and swollen from hours of crying but it was fine, I wasn’t planning on seeing Jack on a Sunday, so it didn’t matter. I’d just lie to my sisters and say I had a rough night’s sleep or was hungover or had allergies, or what-the-fuck-ever.

What ruined everything was looking out the kitchen window while the coffee maker percolated and seeing cows everywhere. Again.

“For fuck’s sake!” I shouted, slapping the worktop in anger. How the hell had they gotten out again? Jack must not have fixed the fence or shut the gate properly after I rode off. Either way it was Jack’s fault.

A moment later there was a pounding on the front door, and I peeked around the archway of the kitchen and saw the man himself pacing the porch.

“For fuck’s sake,” I hissed again. Then he saw me.

He pointed behind him. “You seeing this shit?” he demanded, his voice muffled through the glass door.

My eyes rolled towards the heavens, praying for someone to just give me a break. I didn’t want to spend the day with him rounding up cattle and fixing fences orgates. I wanted to take my coffee back to bed and cry some more.

I held up my hand, telling him I needed five minutes. I ran back upstairs and washed my face, praying for the puffiness to go down in the next four minutes. I dressed and headed back down but Jack was nowhere to be found.

Assuming he’d gone back to the cabin to change, I pulled on my cowgirl boots and headed towards the stables to saddle our horses. I was amazed when I entered and he was already in there, cooing to Chester. My insides squeezed sharply at the soft words he was speaking to the horse but I ignored them. From now on, any bodily reactions I had around Jack couldn’t be trusted.

“Hey, I’ve just finished Chester, you want me to—”

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