And she looked at me the same way. Her eyes roved over me, heating me from the inside out. If I thought I was hard looking at her before, it had nothing on right now.
My cock swelled as I took her in.
Even worse? The house was dead silent. All I could hear was my breathing picking up in my lungs.
I stared.
She stared back.
I waited.
For an agonizingly long time, I waited.
Was she going to say something? Should I say something?
I didn’t even have anything to say. I wanted to show her exactly how I was feeling.
And just how hard I was feeling.
I stepped off the last stair and walked until I stood in front of her.
I held my breath. She smelled so good.
Reaching to touch one of her waves, I watched her eyes follow my hand. Instantly, I retracted it. “You did well tonight.”
She swallowed and looked up at me.
Her gaze moved from my eyes to her lips. Mine moved to her lips, too.
I moved closer. “Go in your room.”
She didn’t.
Fuck, she didn’t.
An exhausted sigh left my mouth. “Maggie, go to bed,” I growled. I was seriously afraid of what I would do if she didn’t listen to me.
If she didn’t, I was going to throw her over my shoulder and fuck her exactly how I wanted. The way she looked like she wanted me to.
When she still refused to move, I shook my head and gave her a stare that would make a grown man shiver. I could see the want in her emerald eyes. The desperation in the crease of her brows. It had been weeks since I’d touched her for real. In the quiet. Alone.
But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be the romantic partner she wanted—the husband sheneeded.And worse, I was terrified I would breach our trust if I made a move on her tonight.
“Good night, Mags.” I breathed the words into her mouth.
And I turned around and walked away.
***
“She looks good. Sound movements, good body, and this neck is huge.” I cantered a dark bay mare in front of Arthur Van der Hill’s massive barn. Arthur was a new client I had taken on to earn additional money for our family. He was buying a new string of horses to play in Golden Meadow’s summer season while the horses he played in Wellington were turned out in a pasture for a few months’ vacation.
His budget was high, which gave me room to find a lot of viable prospects.
“Price?” He looked at me.
“We’re looking at about $75,000 for this one.”
He nodded. His high budget also meant he wanted to spend money just to spend it.
