Page 77 of Forever After All

She walked out of the office tugging on the sleeves. Jess was a little bigger than Remi, but not enough that the clothes didn’t fit.

Linc walked out of Applejack’s stall and halted when he saw her. His intense stare made her skin burn beneath the cotton of her shirt.

“What?”

Linc shook his head. “Nothing.”

Jess looked down at her clothes. Oh, Remi’s shirt was a little tighter than she’d realized. It hugged her curves well, and while it wasn’t revealing, it did draw attention to her very feminine shape.

That didn’t stop her heart rate from ticking up. On the one hand, if he was going to wear sexy PJs, he should be subjected to her voluminous curves too.

On the other hand, there was already a lot of tension crackling around them, and she didn’t need any more. She turned on her heels and shouted over her shoulder, “I’m going to change!”

“You don’t have to do that,” Linc said behind her.

She didn’t stop as she marched back toward her office.

“I have an extra shirt in there. Just wear that,” he shouted behind her.

Not a chance. She’d wear the shirt she’d worn on her date and like it. She needed zero more things that would keep her mind on Linc tonight.

She closed the door and locked it behind her. Picking up her shirt, she spotted the one Linc mentioned. It was a dark-blue T-shirt that would look amazing on him.

No, Jess. Stop it!

But she couldn’t help reaching out to touch it. Why did it have to be soft? She picked it up and let the shirt in her other hand fall. Pressing his shirt to her face, she breathed in the clean smell that had her chest aching. Linc usually smelled like a horse, and she didn’t mind it, but his clean shirt was the stuff men paid big bucks for in a bottle.

“Ugh. This is crazy,” she whispered to herself. Why did Linc have to be handsome, thoughtful, and smell amazing?

Making up her mind, she pulled off Remi’s shirt and picked up Linc’s. She wanted to wear his shirt, and that was all there was to it. It didn’t have to mean anything.

Except it did mean something–to her.

When she stepped back out of the office, Linc had set up the cots just outside Applejack’s stall. A bag of popcorn sat on one of them and two bottles of water lay on the other.

Linc stepped out of the stall and hung the stethoscope around his neck. He stopped short when he spotted her, just as he’d done the last time. This time, his mouth turned up in a tiny grin. “Feel better?”

She did feel better, especially after seeing Linc’s smug grin. He liked seeing her in his shirt. She could feel it in her bones. “Much.”

He handed her the stethoscope. “I’m going to get the pillows and blankets. The vet is on his way. He’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.”

Jess took the stethoscope as the worry knotted in her gut started to relax. “Good.”

She wasn’t naive enough to think the vet’s gold star meant nothing would happen to Applejack, but knowing they would get another opinion did make her feel a little bit better.

Jess rubbed a hand over Applejack’s nose. “You okay, girl?”

The horse shifted a little. She didn’t seem to be in pain, but she was definitely restless.

“Want to take a walk?” Jess asked. Knowing there wasn’t an audible answer coming didn’t stop her from waiting for some kind of response.

Applejack turned and nipped at her side.

Jess’s chest tightened. Okay, maybe she was being appropriately cautious asking the vet to drive out here at eleven at night.

She grabbed the lead and coaxed Applejack into the indoor arena. Linc was replenishing the hay in some of the stalls.

“I’m taking her for a walk,” Jess said over her shoulder.

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