Page 9 of One Night to Fall
“Of course he does.” He snorts as she shakes his head and starts to walk away.
“What, that’s it? No advice?”
“Don’t upset the horses, and let him go before you break his heart,” he yells over his shoulder, leaving me standing there feeling no better than when I started.
6
ADRIAN
Ichanged three times before leaving my apartment, finally settling on a worn pair of jeans and a dark gray Henley. I should have told him no—that I’m not playing his stupid game and I’ll refund his money for his incomplete session.
But I didn’t and now I have to, at the very least, meet a horse and try not to rip the clothes off the guy who wants nothing more than a quick fuck.
This is fine.
Except it’s not because I can already feel myself getting attached, and even though four years isn’t much of an age gap, Jesse is still in his early twenties and I’m looking hard at thirty in a couple years. I don’t want to spend my time at bars or on apps trying to find someone I can tolerate for the night. I don’t need a marriage proposal, but coming home to the same guy every night sounds damn near close to heaven.
Too bad Jesse has zero interest in that.
I’m so caught up in my head that I barely register the fact that I’ve arrived at the Sterlings’ property. A massive house sits off to one side with a barn and other smaller buildings in the distance, the land framed by mountains. It’s gorgeous.
Stunning.
The kind of thing that should be featured in a magazine or something. It’s so spectacular, I don’t see Jesse approach, the knock on my window making me jump as I kill the engine.
“I’d apologize,” he says as I push the door open and step out onto the gravel, “but I think I like this side of you.”
The words are cocky, but I barely notice them because he’s a fucking wet dream, from the jeans that hug his thighs to the tight flannel stretched across his chest and that God damn Stetson on his head.
I’m done.
Completely out of my mind.
Jesse turns to walk away and I don’t think, grabbing his wrist and hauling him back with enough force that he grunts when his back slams against the side of my car. “What side is that?” I taunt, boxing him in with my body, my knuckles white as I grip the top of the car.
“Careful, Adrian,” he murmurs, hooking his booted heel around my ankle and pulling me flush against him. “You’re placing bets you can’t afford.”
“Says who?”
“You did.” The words are whispered, his jaw brushing against mine. “But I have a feeling you’re not quite ready to let me go just yet.”
Fuck.
Let him go? Hell, I’m about to take him right here in the driveway. As if sensing my increasing lack of control, he shoves me back, the contact jarring but needed as he saunters past me like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“Let’s go,” he says with a lingering glance back at me. “I don’t care how bad I want you, you’re not getting out of riding today.”
Well, dammit all to hell.
The walkto the barn is blessedly uneventful as Jesse tells me about the plans they have for the sanctuary and the number of horses they’ve already acquired. I can hear them in their stalls the closer we get, my heart starting to beat harder in my chest with every step I take.
“You’re gonna be on the one my mom rides. Her name is Jolene and she’s a sweetheart.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll go slow. Let you get acquainted. My sister-in-law was really pregnant and rode her just fine.”
“I don’t think that’s as comforting as you think it is.”
