He backed off.
“Shit.”
“What? What?” I asked, confused. Did we take it too far? Was he realizing that his words to me were not hookup material?
“I…” He scrubbed a hand down his face and stared at the ceiling. “I didn’t bring any condoms. I’m clean, but…”
I softened at his concern but pulled him back to my lips. “I’m on the pill—and I’m clean.”
Jack raised his eyebrows before accepting my kiss. “Fuck, Maggie. Get back here.”
My heart leaped a little more at that comment than it should’ve.
But it was probably just Jack giving me exactly what I needed.
Chapter four
Jack
Ishoved the fifteenth hay bale from inside my trailer and tossed it next to the pile on the ground. My arms burned from the weekly workout, but I only had a few left.
The horses whinnied from their stalls, knowing this would be part of their breakfast. I went to pick up a palette of hay yesterday and pushed off putting it away. Other ideas occupied my mind. Ideas involving a dark-haired, green-eyed beauty that had been taking my breath away since the first time I saw her.
Working with Maggie wasn’t anything like I thought it would be. In fact, I enjoyed our time together. When my dad came to me with the proposition of my longtime neighbor working for me, I wasn’t sure how to take it. We were close growing up, becoming distant as we entered our teenage years, but our one-time fling at sixteen years old turned into a lasting, no-strings-attached friendship for a while before we left for college. I didn’t know how we rekindled our friends-with-benefits situation after we returned from school to play with our fathers, but I was excited that she was as up for it as I was.
And what do you know, my dad came to me twenty minutes after our mind-blowing, secret car sex and offered Maggie as my new groom. It made sense, seeing as my family had the resources she needed to work her way up in the polo world. She was a fantastic player with great potential, and my dad saw that. I was happy to help her out of the hellhole she lived in with her dad. He was best friends with my father, but I didn’t respect the man a bit.
When his wife left him thirteen years ago, it wasn’t a puzzle to figure out that it had to do with his alcoholism and infidelity. Maggie and I were only nine years old, and we weren’t necessarily best friends, but I remember seeing her walk one of her dad’s horses around and around in the pasture, crying her eyes out after her mom left. I didn’t have a sweet spot for many people, but seeingthatturned me off Richard Rynne forever. Even more so when my father confirmed that Richard’s night of betrayal was the reason Maggie’s mother was no longer in the picture.
Maggie and I's workdays together made my job a little more fun. She was witty, and she wasn’t afraid to call me out on anything. And the sex…man, Maggie knew what she was doing. I’d let her take me wherever she wanted, but her rule of no sex while she worked for me made it that much harder to resist her. I never saw myself indulging in an actual relationship, but Maggie and I would never be anything. We were too different. Had different values. But no-strings sex? Sign me up.
Except now, we were becoming better friends. Flirting and acting like we could get along as more. I hoped she wouldn’t look too far into it, because I wasn’t interested in anything involving commitment. But how could I help but assume she would develop feelings for me when it happened to every other woman I had sexual relations with? I was always the bad guy, telling them I wasn’t interested in more than a physical relationship.
But last night…
Last night, something strange sparked in me—a sense of protection washed over my body when I saw her with Marco. The need to defend her surprised me when he made that nasty comment about her dad. I couldn’t help but shoulder check him when I walked past him. I had met the man before, and he was a cocky pain in the ass whose family paid for his rating.
Which was why I was surprised by my instant reaction to help Maggie deal with her alcoholic father. I didn’t even think. Just followed her and helped Jared, the bartender, pick up the broken pieces of a Corona bottle.
Richard was a piece of work. And for his daughter to have to lead him out like he was a drunk college kid? Humiliation enveloped her, and I saw red.
I tried to do everything I could to aid putting the motherfucker to bed. Even tried to hug Maggie when we returned to the clubhouse.
I expected Maggie to fall into my arms and cry to me, to thank me for helping her get control of her excuse for a father.
But I should have known better because that wasn’t Maggie. Even if I hadn’t stepped in, she would have handled it all on her own. She didn’t say thank you, didn’t let me help without protesting, and fuck me, but she didn’t even hug me back. She simply tugged me into the closest dark, private space and let me fuck her against a wall…without protection. The moment was deeper and more intimate than one that would ever occur in a no-strings-attached friendship.
I cameinsideher for god’s sake.
That scared the shit out of me.
And I still had to see her this morning.
Maggie was never late. She always arrived promptly at 5:30, even when I told her not to arrive earlier than 5:45 so I could have my coffee in peace. The sun slowly began to rise as I saton the bench outside the barn, left wondering where the hell she could be.
Had I taken it too far?
Last night was a fluke—a one-time thing. Nothing should have been different. So why wasn’t Maggie here?
