Page 14 of Virgin's Stolen Nights with the Boss

There was something about his stance that stopped Carmen mid-stride.

He looked as if he might be having as wretched a night as she was.

More so, perhaps.

He had made use of the distraction of her water-pouring disaster to explain the momentary lapse in his sleek delivery, but Carmen knew damn well the true order of events.

Her spilling the water had not been the cause.

Yet, there was somehow an effect.

Suddenly he looked over. And she no longer felt like an invisible ghost because he was staring right at her.

Perhaps she should have quickly looked away, but instead she raised her hand and tapped her forehead with the side of her forefinger. It was a Spanish gesture that indicatedfed up to here, but she realised it must look as if she was saluting him, or something equally bizarre...

But he just smiled. Clearly he’d understood her meaning, because he copied her gesture—he was fed up toheretoo.

She watched as he pushed himself off the wall and straightened his jacket, before strolling confidently back inside as Carmen headed off to catch her bus.

Of course she could order a cab, but there was that little matter of personal pride...

Surely she could last three months without using Romero money? Carmen asked herself when she arrived back at the tiny soulless apartment she had taken on a week-to-week lease. God, she wanted to order food in. But, reminding herself she couldn’t afford it, instead she poured a bowl of cereal.

She scrolled listlessly through the job vacancies on her phone, and knew that tomorrow she’d be doing the rounds of restaurants and—

Something caught her eye.

Yard Manager

She read the job description. It was a permanent role, managing a stable.

No.

Hadn’t she come here to have a break from horses?

But it was then that it dawned on Carmen that this break from horses had taught her precisely how very much she missed them.

Bowl of cereal forgotten, Carmen scrolled eagerly through various other jobs.

Stable hand... Casual position... Immediate start... Polo experience preferred...

Well, she didn’t have any experience of polo, but when she saw the yard was in Malibu, Carmen read on.

Early starts... One day off a fortnight during polo season...

Carmen smiled, because that didn’t concern her at all. She knew what that wordingreallymeant: must love horses.

And she did.

She really did.

At the age of twenty-six, with a successful equestrian career, it should have been a given, but Carmen had never been free of the nagging suspicion that she only rode because it was a way of getting back at her mother.

But shedidlove horses. So, so much.

A stable hand?

No pressure.

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