It took me a few seconds to collect my thoughts. I couldn’t fault Declan for doing his job, but still… there was something about him going to Becca’s that made me feel petty and jealous.
“I’m not mad, just disappointed,” I managed, hiding the hurt. “I was looking forward to seeing you. I even bought a new outfit to wear tonight.”
“Yeah, I was excited to see you, too,” he said with a groan. “What kind of outfit?”
I grinned, even though I was hurting. “The kind that you’d have to take off to see everything.”
“Well, damn. Maybe it won’t take too long. I might still be able to make it for drinks and darts if you don’t mind waiting a bit?”
The thought of sitting on the couch all dressed up while Becca flirted with Declan made my blood start to boil.
“I don’t know. Do you have any idea how long it’ll take? I don’t want to be out late. I’m tired as it is.”
I was starting to sound curt, but I couldn’t help it.
Becca. Winningagain.
He sighed. “I have no clue. The horse is only part of the issue. Becca tends to get chatty, you know what I mean?”
I frowned. Of course I did, and Declan probably enjoyed it, because no one could resist it when Becca fluttered her lashes and giggled.
“Can’t you just tell her you have other appointments or something? Do youhaveto hang out for longer than the time you need for the appointment?”
“That’s the tricky part,” he answered. “She’s got one of the biggest breeding operations in the area?—"
I made a disgusted noise.
“For now, it’s the biggest for now,” he said quickly, trying to backpedal. “Anyway, she’s a big-deal customer for Ruth. Plus, she knows a lot of people, and I don’t want her saying that I hurried through her appointment. Stall-side manner counts in my business. Shannon, you have to understand that my hands are tied.”
I did understand but I wasn’t happy about it. I was still standing in the hallway, my purse dangling from my hand and grazing the floor. Part of me thought that I should just turn around, march back into my room, and throw on something comfy. I wanted to say I had other options for the evening, but we both knew it was a lie.
“Fine.”
“Fine what?” he asked. It sounded like he was walking quickly, and I could imagine him rushing around to go see Becca and not me. “Fine with pushing our plans back to later? Are you going to wait for me?”
“If it’s not too late when you finish with Miss Big Barn, then maybe we can grab a drink or something. Text me when you’re leaving.”
“Okay, I will,” Declan answered, sounding a little happier. “That’s great. I hope it won’t be too long. I’d also really like to see you in that outfit. Text me a pic?”
“I’ll think about it.” I was never one of those people who sent out pics hoping to get likes or whatever.
We hung up and I walked toward the sitting room, hoping that no one else was around so I wouldn’t have to talk about where Declan was and how I’d gotten stood up—or at least, put off.
Even though I knew in my rational, calm brain that Declan was just doing his job, the thought of Becca hanging out with him while he worked aggravated me. What if she cast her spell on him and he couldn’t resist? I felt myself becoming more and more angry as I imagined the two of them dealing with the stallion, and Becca flirting because she didn’t know how to talk to a manwithoutflirting. And Declan… receptive to it because men always were. Plus, he certainly hadn’t seemed to mind Becca flirting with him when we were at the Rooftop Bar together. He’d fallen all over himself to make it clear to Becca that he was available. The situation had changed since then, but my stomach sank as I realized that I honestly wasn’t surehow muchit had changed. It wasn’t like Declan and I had the talk about whether or not we were exclusive.
I’d been foolish enough to think that he and I were heading toward something real, but between his evasiveness since we’d slept together and now the way he was prioritizing Becca over me, I was starting to realize that maybe I’d been wrong.
But then again, he did ask to see a pic. I looked around the room for the best spot and headed over to my camera. Setting the timer, I set it down and backed up so he could see the full outfit, but couldn’t bring myself to smile. I texted it to him before I could change my mind, then threw myself on the couch and tried to think about anything other than Becca.
TWENTY-SIX
DECLAN
“You see it, right?” Becca asked me. “That little hitch step when he plants his right rear hoof?”
She was leading the gleaming black stallion named Adonis around the ring attached to her main barn. I couldn’t believe how fancy she looked at the end of what had probably been a busy day. Instead of work boots and dusty jeans, she was turned out in cowboy boots with a dress heel and jeans that were tight enough to make bending over seem impossible. She couldn’t possibly get any real work done dressed like that, but from what I’d seen, she didn’t particularly care about being hands-on, anyway. Not with the horses, that is.
“Can you walk him in past me instead of away from me? I’m not seeing much when he’s walking away.”
