Page 49 of The Caretaker
He lowered the camera. “Was that one supposed to be real?”
I sent a splash of water his way, and he raised the camera above his head to spare it from any water damage.
“Okay, fine.” He grinned, setting it down on the short stool next to the tub. “No more photos of your adorableness.”
“Thank y—”
“For now,” he interrupted, nudging me with his foot, his gaze soft and sweet. How could I be annoyed with him when he looked at me like that? It was all I’d ever wanted for so long, and now I had it. I had a feeling there’d be enough photos of me to fill ten galleries, and I’d let him take every last one.
Noon reached over to the stool again where his phone was. A chime indicated he’d synced it with the wireless speaker. Classical music echoed around us. He’d lit the pillar candles surrounding the tub before we’d gotten in. I’d purchased them with Patrick in mind. He hadn’t cared about having a romantic night at the time. I swept that thought aside, deciding if I was going to dwell on something, it’d be the man in front of me.
“This is relaxing,” I said, in reference to the music. “I played the piano for, like, five minutes when I was a kid. My parents couldn’t afford to keep up with the lessons.”
“It’s an original,” he said, reaching below the water to massage my foot. “My friend Cole is classically trained. He created this playlist for me. Some of his own original pieces are on here. I hadn’t given classical music a thought until meeting him. He’s responsible for my love of horses too.”
“Horses?” I asked in surprise, moaning when his fingers worked a particularly tight spot. “This bath is going to end before it even begins if you keep that up.”
Noon’s smile was wicked, as though his evil plans were working. “He and his husband Jasper have an estate outside of the city. They have a few horses. One big enough to handle me.” He paused, and I gazed at him with curiosity, wondering why he appeared to battle with whether or not to continue. Even his hands had stopped moving along my foot.
“It started with Stacey wanting to learn,” he said carefully before stopping again.
“We can talk about them,” I whispered. “That shouldn’t change now that we are… Whatever we are.” I didn’t want to give it a label if he wasn’t ready to.
“Together,” he said firmly. “Now that we’re together.”
I smiled as joy filled my heart. “Does it seem like this is happening too fast?”
“Yes, but I don’t care.”
My smile broadened. “Together,” I repeated in agreement. I wiggled my toes, causing his face to brighten with amusement before he lifted my foot above the bubbles to kiss it.
“You have the sexiest pair of feet I’ve ever seen,” he mused, then proceeded with his sweet torture of them. “Where was I?”
“Horses,” I prompted as his compliment spread over my body like a soothing balm.
“Ah, yes. Jasper began giving her lessons on the weekends. It was a great excuse to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Leland and his partner Franklin—who also happens to be Cole and Jasper’s father—would come. Sometimes Jasper’s best friend Sophia and her family would too. We’d laugh, eat, drink, and spend time out at the stables. Didn’t take long for me to join in on the lessons. From there I grew pretty attached to Delores. That’s my horse’s name. Well, Jasper and Cole’s horse, but, youknow.” He shrugged. “She’s mine whenever I’m around. She takes care of me, if that makes sense. I feel safe with her. Maybe because she’s a wildcard. Doesn’t care too much for anyone else but me.”
“You said Franklin is ColeandJasper’s father. That would make them—”
“That’s a story for another time,” Noon cut in wryly. I set my interest aside.
“Your friends sound amazing. Sounds like they’re attached to Stacey.” Would they welcome me into their lives? Or would I be seen as the person who fractured their circle?
“They’ll accept you because you make me happy. That’s all they’ll care about.”
“Do they know what’s going on?”
“No. None of them know. Not even Leland.”
“Where does he think you are?”
“On a work assignment.”
I knew he worked as a property and estate manager, and that depending on the location of the job, work could take him away for a week or so. Never for this long, though. “You’ve been gone for a while.”
“Yeah, well, with Stacey off on her planned trip, it isn’t that far-fetched that I would accept a longer assignment. Not wanting to be away from home—away fromher—had notoriously been my reason for declining contracts that would require me to be gone for too long.”
“They’ll be back in less than two months,” I said, unsure of how that made me feel.
