Page 49 of Redemption

“Damn.” It was gonna be hard to keep my eyes offhim today.

But I needed to.

“Morning,” he called, waving. “Sleep well?” The way he said it and the glint in his eye told me hedefinitelyknew I was watching.

“No,” I growled, extra grumpy this morning. I hurried off the porch and practically ran to the stables, his heavy footfalls coming up behind me. We began mucking out the stalls and I made sure to stay away from him. I didn’t want to see any muscle flexing or damp sweaty skin that I knew would taste like salt and sin.

Later that day, after successfully avoiding him, he found me.

“What’s your number?” he asked, holding his phone out.

“Why?” I ducked around him, but he followed me.

“Because if you’re in one pasture and I need something back here then I can just message you or call you and vice versa.”

I stopped. That was actually sensible. Especially if someone had an accident or got stuck. I turned and took his phone, our fingers brushing. I ignored the tingles that rocketed up my arm. The way his hand twitched suggested he felt them too.

“What is this phone, it’s a brick,” I said, turning it over.

“It’s the best that hardly any money can buy,” he chuckled, and I snorted. I hated how he got under my skin with his little self-deprecating jokes.

I typed my number in and pressed the save button and it immediately took me to the contacts tab and I saw that other than me it only had Max’s number in there and another under “parole officer”. There wasn’t anyone else and that made me think two things. One, Ifelt sad for him that he didn’t have anyone else, not even his mom and dad but after what he told me, I wasn’t surprised. And two, there were no other women. Thinking back to the girls chat this morning, maybe he wasn’t seeing anyone. Every time I had looked into the cabin, he’d been alone.

“I’ll message you then you’ve got my number too,” he said then smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Cool,” I replied and then walked off. I avoided him for the rest of the day until it was time to finish. The sun was low as I waved him in from the pasture but I ran into the house before we could talk.

That night as I got into bed, my phone pinged.

Unknown Number: It’s Jack.

The smile that pulled at my lips was dangerous.

Hewas dangerous.

I didn’t reply.

*

“Good morning,” Jack called, heading around the side of the house. I ignored his smile. I’d ignored most things about him these last couple of weeks. I had to. I took to getting ready and out of the house early to avoid lingering near him, not wanting to spend more time in his company than necessary.

I’m sure he thought I was rude.

That I hated him.

That I wanted to be anywhere but around him.

If only that were true.

At least I’d managed to avoid him catching me staring at him again. Now I did it in the dark, like an absolute creeper.

Was I ashamed? Absofuckinglutely.

Could I stop myself? No. I’d tried. A lot.

I ignored the way his red plaid shirt stretched across his chest, practically ripping at the seams. Ignored the way the blue jeans shrink-wrapped themselves to thighs I wanted to sink my teeth into. I ignored that my body was already pulsing and wet at just the sight of my mother’s killer. That thought alone doused the arousal.

But not enough.

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