Page 63 of Untamed
His breath blows over my ear, a heavy sigh, and I can’t tell whether I made him mad or not.
Twisting my head, I look back at him. “Sorry . . . I just thought . . . I clearly wasn’t. Ignore me. I didn’t mean to press.”
He shakes his head. “It’s okay. I was five... I think. Dani’s sixteen now so, yeah, I was five.”
“Do you remember her?” My mind goes to Jamie and how even when I don’t want to think of him, I can’t stop his memory. I remember everything about him from the way his hair smelled, to the silly smirk he always had.
“Yeah. I do actually. She was the sweetest woman, good heart, beautiful, and loved us boys so much.” The devotion in his voice is thick. He’s speaking about a woman he loved very much regardless of not having her around most of his life.
“And your dad never remarried?”
He shakes his head again. “Nah, he loved one woman and he never moved on. He kept busy raising four kids on his own.” Grayer laughs, the motion shaking both of us. “It wasn’t easy.”
“I can’t imagine that was easy on Dani having three older brothers.”
“Ah, well.” His arms tighten around me, his lips pressing into the bare skin of my shoulder. “She managed just fine. She’s the meanest out of all of us.”
I remember her reaction to me at the party, the spark of sass she had. I’m sure she held her own with them. “What’s Dani gonna do now that your dad is gone?”
“She was living with my aunt after Pops got sick. She’s gonna finish up school here and then she’ll hopefully go to college and do somethin’ with her life. If she stays out of trouble. She seems to find it around every corner.” And then Grayer’s jaw runs over my shoulder, scraping my skin in the slightest touch. I sigh, my lashes fluttering closed. “I saw you taking care of Mac. You always been that good with animals?”
“I’ve always had a soft spot for them,” I admit. “I used to work summers at a veterinarian hospital up the street. And then I didn’t. I was that kid bringing home every stray animal I could find.”
He chuckles. “Kinda like Morgan sneaking bulls in her room?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Why don’t you still work at the vet’s office?”
“Well. . . .” I pause, not sure what to tell him and then I tell him the truth. “Dr. Peterson was the vet, Jamie’s dad. After he died, I stopped showing up. I didn’t think he’d want to see me anymore.”
“Why?”
I shrug. “I don’t know.” I do know, but I don’t want to admit it to anyone, let alone myself again.
He laughs lightly, knowing there is more to that shrug than I let on, but he’s not forcing me to explain. “Your love for animals shows. Maybe you should go back to it.”
“Maybe.”
We’re quiet again, and I can tell it’s nearing four in the morning when I hear the chickens. Pretty soon Dad’s gonna be out running around on the quad, moving the herds from one field to the next.
“Hey, so . . .” Grayer’s voice comes closer to my ear. “I drew Bushwacker for Biloxi.”
“Are you serious?” I twist in his arms to look at him. From what I read doing my “Grayer Research” aka, stalking, Bushwacker is the bull he rode the weekend before the World Championships and hoped to ride then, in anticipation, but he never drew him. Now’s his chance at a rank bull no one has been able to cover.
He nods, smiling wide, that same smile I saw the first night I met him. “I’ve been waiting a year to get another ride on him.”
He taps my leg, nodding for me to get up. I do, and with a heavy sigh, Grayer stands and reaches for his jeans when he knows it’s time he needs to head out. “I need to get going.”
Pulling his jeans up, he smirks, looking down at his buckle.
I giggle and a slow blush creeps over my cheeks. I roll my eyes, smiling myself, but looking out at the dry land. “You aren’t coming back here again, are you?” I ask, propping myself up on my elbows. I’m completely naked. “Will you remember me?
He drinks in my bare form, the hunger burning in his beautiful piercing blues. “I’ll remember tonight.” He shrugs, his defined shoulders flexing with the motion. “Well, last night I guess, huh?”
“Yeah.”
I suppose he would remember, wouldn’t he? We had spent all night out here and had sex three more times.
