Page 9 of When It Reins
It’s not that I don’t like Juniper. The opposite is true, but she is too good for me. I’d been burned in the past, had someone shit all over my feelings and hang me out to dry, and no matter that I didn’t think Juniper possessed an evil bone in her body, I wasn’t in the market to try that out again. Ever.
Not to mention, I’ve done some questionable things in my life, things that made me not a good guy, and especially not a good guy for her.
The age difference is just another factor in why we wouldn’t work. I am thirty-two years old, and Juniper just turned twenty-six two weeks ago. Eight years is a huge gap when you consider how much life I’ve been through.
By the time I was rodeoing and traveling the world, Juniper was in fifth grade.
I shut down my thoughts as she comes back from storing the money in their vault in the office. She’s got her hair down—yeah, I watched her do it—and a bag thrown over her shoulder. She looks at me briefly and offers a kind smile I don’t deserve.
“I’m ready.”
I hold the door for her, trying not to breathe in the scent of her perfume and failing. She always smells good, even after hours of working.
She walks through, and I shut the door, waiting for her to lock it. When that’s done, we walk around the building, heading toward the back of it where my bike sits. Conveniently, right next to her car.
Just as it always is.
I walk her to her car and wait for her to get in. I don’t intend to stay and have a chat, but she turns to me, her eyes meeting mine, and my chest locks up in anticipation of her questions.
“How was your trip? Felt like a long time.” Her question seems innocent, but the statement attached tells me more than I think she realizes.
“Fun. Nice to get away for a while.” It’s more than I’d give anyone else, and judging by the small smirk on her lips, I’m guessing she knows that.
“Sounds fun. No weather issues?” She glances at my bike and lifts a brow in question.
“Nothing I wasn’t prepared for.” We got one bout of snow up here while I was away, and now we are firmly heading into spring.
“Good.” She nods. “I imagine it’s kind of freeing to just take off and leave everything behind.”
Her words do something to me. They almost sound like a question, but she isn’t coming right out and saying it.
I don’t reply.
I want to tell her that I came back, that despite my better judgment, I am always going to come back, no matter what happens. But I don’t.
Juniper sighs, her eyes searching mine, and she opens her mouth, but quickly shuts it.
I glance around the empty parking lot. “Where’s the boyfriend tonight?”
Her eyes hit mine, surprise lining them, and she furrows her brow. “Um, I guess at The Lodge. He had work to handle.”
“What’s he do again?”
Juniper tilts her head, her expression showing her bewilderment. I get it. I never ask any questions, never initiate conversation. But now I have a reason to do it, and I can’t just lether leave knowing that this guy she is dating is potentially a real prick.
Knowing that she may end up in the middle of something she doesn’t deserve to be.
“Why do you care?” Juniper’s sharp question brings my eyes back to hers, and I realize I had let them wander to the bird tattoo that rests just below her collarbone.
“I don’t,” I answer, half truthfully.
“Then why are you suddenly asking?”
I bite my tongue and take a step away, even though every bit of my body urges me to close the distance between us. I want to tell her what I know. That her boyfriend, the man who’s kept her attention and affection for the last five months, isn’t who he says.
Because if he is, would Juniper willingly be with him? I can’t imagine the answer to that is yes.
She lets out a deep sigh, her gaze trailing over my arms. It is warm enough that I am in a T-shirt, and my arms show the ink that I’ve gotten over the last fifteen years. Juniper’s sharp gaze hits me again, and I try to think of anything to say that won’t seem out of place.
