World Enough and Time (17 page)

“Probably all the things we did in my bed.”

“Exactly. And by the time I was done with you, you were sweaty and disheveled, weren’t you?”

“Just like I always am when you—” I paused.

“See what I mean?” He trailed his finger down my arm. “So when I saw you today, the first thing that crossed my mind was how much you looked like you’d just been fucked.” He kissed me gently. “And that turned me on so much I couldn’t see straight.”

I laughed and released a breath. “What’s funny is, the whole time you were there with me, I thought you were upset or something was bothering you.”

“No, no, no,” he said. “The only thing bothering me was having a hard-on and no way to take care of it.”

“So I found out.”

It was his turn to shiver. “And Jesus Christ, that was hot.”

“Yes, it was. So if I want to turn you on, I just need to get sweaty and mess up my hair?”

“As if you have ever had any difficulty turning me on, Dani.”

“You know what I mean.”

He put his hand over mine. “There are plenty of ways to turn me on besides that.”

“Do tell,” I said. “What else turns you on, Mr. Graham?”

“Besides you?”

I rolled my eyes, certain my cheeks were red. “Yes, besides me.”

“Honestly, all you have to do is touch me,” he said. “The right touch can drive me absolutely out of my mind.”

“Pity I can’t do that in public.”

“Of course you can,” he said. “There are plenty of places you can touch me without anyone else even batting an eye.”

“Such as?”

“Anywhere, really. All depends on how you do it. Touch is one of the sexiest things in the world,” he said. “Everyone gets so hung up on touching erogenous zones, they forget that anywhere can be erogenous if it’s touched just right.”

“Seriously?”

“Sure. I mean…” He trailed off, and at first I thought he was searching for the words. Then, goose bumps suddenly prickled my arm. He gave me a knowing grin, and when I looked down, I realized he’d trailed his thumb along the inside of my wrist, a place I’d never thought of as being particularly sensitive.

“I’ll bet,” he said with a grin, “that if you gave me the chance, I could show you just how sexy a simple touch can be.”

“I think you already have.” I shivered, and the goose bumps lingered.

“I mean I think I could make you come absolutely unglued without ever touching your pussy.”

“I’m not stopping you,” I said.

“Just wait.” He kissed me gently. “One of these nights.”

“Why not tonight?”

“Isn’t the same when you’ve already come a few times,” he said. “I’d rather start when you aren’t turned on already.”

“Like that could happen when I’m around you.”

He laughed. “Well, then I’ll just have to move in quickly, won’t I?”

“A sneak attack?” I grinned.

“When you least expect it,” he said.

“I’ll just have to keep my guard up, then.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“Bring it on.” We both laughed.

After a moment, the humor faded from his expression, and the creases between his eyebrows suggested deep thought. Deep thought I doubted had anything to do with the two fingers playing with a loose strand of my hair, even though his eyes were focused on them.

“You’re awfully quiet all of a sudden,” I said.

“Sorry,” he said, but the smile that flickered across his lips seemed forced. When our eyes met, there was an intensity in his that surprised me in the wake of such playfulness.

“You okay?”
He nodded. “Just thinking.” His cheeks colored a little and he watched his fingers again. “And this is going to sound incredibly stupid, but...” Scratching the back of his neck, he took a breath. “But this has never happened with any other woman before.”

“What? Sex?”

He laughed. “Yeah, that’s it. I was a virgin up until the night we met.”

“You’re a fast learner then.”

“Brat.” He paused to kiss me lightly. Though the seriousness returned to his voice and face, he held my gaze this time. “What I meant was—this—I don’t know what to call it, it’s…” He made a frustrated gesture and sighed. “I mean, it’s not just today, or tonight, but whenever I’m around you, I have to have you. Always. It’s like, no matter how much I have you, it’s never enough.”

I moistened my lips, blood pounding in my ears. How could he possibly be thinking the same thing I was? Though I hadn’t found the words, and even someone as eloquent as he had difficulty, the meaning came across loud and clear.

Apparently taking my lack of an answer as confusion, Connor took a breath. “Honestly, Dani,” he whispered, “I’ve never met someone I was so desperate to have. It’s like, there are times I just completely lose control around you. Like I always have to have you right now. I can’t wait.”

“Like tonight,” I said.

“And this afternoon, yes,” he said, his voice soft. “I thought it was because we only had limited time. You know, like I wanted to have you as much as possible before I have to leave.” He smoothed my hair and looked into my eyes. “The thing is, all day long, and all evening, this whole time we’ve been talking, until now I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I’m leaving.” He touched my face and took a breath. “To be honest, I can’t help but think that if I wasn’t leaving, I’d still need you just the same.” He paused, offering a look that was a mix of shyness and uncertainty. “Am I making any sense at all?”

More than you know
. I swallowed. “Actually, yeah. I know exactly what you mean.”

“Thank God,” he said with a huff of laughter. “Then it isn’t as crazy as it sounded in my head.”

“Apparently not,” I said quietly. My heart thudded in my chest. It didn’t sound crazy at all, but it did scare me. Pushing those fears aside, I pulled him a little closer and kissed him. When I broke the kiss, there was something in his eyes again. Something else.

“Thinking again?”

He smiled. “I’m always thinking.”

“So what are you thinking about now?”

His eyes darted away for a second, and when he looked at me, there was something like shyness and apprehension in his eyes. “I’m flying down to San Francisco soon. That area, anyway. To look for an apartment, talk to some professors.”

My heart sank. Another reminder that his time here was short. I swallowed.

“Would—” He paused, as if searching my eyes for something. “Do you want to go with me?”

I blinked. “Are you serious?”

He shrugged. “I’ll be down there for a week, and I was planning to check out some of the touristy stuff while I’m there. I just, you know, I thought it would be fun if you came with me.”

“When are you going?”

“Second week of July.”

“There’s no way I can get a week off from work this time of year,” I said.

“What about the weekend?” he said. “I have to take care of a few things during the week anyway, mostly down in Palo Alto, but maybe if you came down Friday night and left with me Monday morning?”

I chewed my lip, running through the schedule of shows, appointments, lessons, and clinics over the next few weeks.
That lesson can probably be rescheduled. They don’t need me to be there for Stetson’s appointment. Susan can handle Xena and Orion for a couple of days
.

Connor squeezed my hand gently. “If you don’t, it’s okay, I—”

“No, no, I think it would be fun,” I said. “I need to check with my boss about a few things, but, yeah, if you want me to come with you…”

“I definitely do.” He smiled.

“You sure you wouldn’t get tired of me?”

He laughed, but the fingertips trailing down the side of my face were tender when he whispered, “I don’t think that’s possible, Dani.”

Pretending that didn’t scare the hell out of me, I offered him a playful smile. “So does that mean you haven’t gotten enough of me tonight?”

He put his arms around me and, kissing me deeply, rolled me onto my back. “Not even close.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Gritting my teeth, I led Dante up and down the path beside one of the front pastures, as much to calm the horse as myself. About fifty feet away, the ancient three-horse slant-load trailer stood empty, its door yawning open while Susan, Gina, and Gavin milled around, waiting to try loading Dante again.

Twice we’d tried to get the skittish gelding into the terrifying metal box, and twice our efforts disintegrated into a riled up horse, three frustrated women, and one shouting, cursing man. Gavin insisted that we needed to try again immediately. After all, it was a long trip to Eastern Washington for the show—the show Dante was nowhere
near
ready for—and they needed to get on the road sooner than later. Once he was in the trailer, Dante would be fine, but he was about as easy to unload as he was to load. None of us relished the idea of getting him out of the trailer in the dark.

“Goddammit, Dani, we don’t have all day,” Gavin barked.

I took a deep breath, patting Dante’s neck. Over my shoulder, I called out, “He’s still too fired up.” Okay, so, the horse was fairly calm by this point. The same could not be said for me.

Voices muttered in the distance, but were just far enough out of earshot to obscure the words. Then gravel crunched and when I turned, Susan was approaching. I stopped under the guise of letting Dante grab a few bites of grass while I let her catch up.

“What do you think we should do?” she asked.

“Besides run Gavin over a few times with the trailer?” I said through my teeth.

She allowed herself a huff of laughter, then glanced over her shoulder. Folding her arms across her chest, she nodded at Dante. “We have to get him in sooner or later.”

“Short of sedating him, I don’t know what else to do. And if he wasn’t going to a show, I’d have done that by now.” I watched Dante graze for a moment. “Though if we can get rid of Gavin for a few minutes, that might help.”

“Hmm.” Susan shifted her weight, chewing her lip. “I think I know how I can get him out of here.” She nodded toward Dante again. “Think you can get him in the trailer by yourself?”

“Yeah. He was getting braver before that asshole scared him again. Maybe if there’s no one around to make him nervous, he’ll load.” I tugged Dante’s lead rope to bring his head up so I could lead him back to the trailer. “He’s gone in without too much trouble when Gavin isn’t around.”

“Let’s do it, then.”

Together, we walked back, Dante plodding calmly between us as if nothing had traumatized him earlier. I led him to the trailer and let him investigate it. Just as I’d hoped, he was quieter now, sniffing around the edges and finding a few stray hay crumbs. As the trailer became a place to find little morsels of food instead of a big scary box, he visibly relaxed. All I needed was a few more minutes of this, and getting him into the trailer without a fight might be possible.

Susan and I exchanged nods.

“Gavin, can I borrow you in the barn?” she asked.

“Not right now, Susan,” he snapped. “We need to get this fucking horse loaded.”

“I can handle him.” I stroked Dante’s neck. “He’s calming down now. I’ll be fine.”

“I just need a hand with one of the yearlings,” Susan said.

Gavin looked at me, then at her. Irritation thinned his lips into a bleached line. Cursing under his breath, he threw the lead rope in his hand and started toward the barn. The metal clip on the lead rope clanged against the trailer and Dante flew backwards, snorting and half-rearing.

“Easy, Dante.” I tugged his rope to get his attention. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” It took every bit of effort I had to keep my voice gentle and even, because I wanted to strangle my damned boss just then. Twenty minutes of walking to quiet the horse, and in mere seconds, Gavin managed to send us right back to square one.

After a few more minutes of soothing pats on the neck and gentle words, Dante was calm and willing to approach it again. He took one step, then another, snorting at the echo of his own steps inside the trailer. Three times he backed all the way out, but the fourth time, he finally got in.

I coaxed him to the front of the trailer, showing him to the treasure trove of hay that awaited him. He wasn’t stupid; he stood back as far as he could so he could reach the hay without getting close enough for me to secure him. Minute by minute, though, he forgot his apprehension and crept closer.

Stomping footsteps on the gravel made my breath catch. Gavin.
Shit
.

Dante tensed. He stopped chewing and the whites of his eyes showed.

“Easy, buddy,” I whispered. “It’s okay. Look, there’s food.” I rustled the hay to draw his attention back to it, and fortunately, it worked. He grabbed another mouthful and happily chomped away.

“I don’t know why the hell I pay you two if you can’t do simple bullshit things like that,” Gavin barked outside. Dante tensed again, but I tried to keep him calm. I also urged him forward. He still needed to be a little closer before I could secure him, and I didn’t like the idea of being in the trailer with an unpredictable horse while Gavin was close by. Especially since this was one of the older model trailers that lacked an escape door. My only way out was also Dante’s only way out.

I pushed the hay just beyond Dante’s reach, and he followed. He was right where I needed him to be, so I looped his lead rope through the metal ring, being careful not to make any sudden movements. The voices outside were terse, and it was escalating. My heart pounded, but I kept myself calm to keep Dante from picking up on my nervousness.

Don’t scare him, Gavin, please don’t scare him. Not now
.

While I secured the lead rope, Gavin’s furious voice sent a chill down my spine.

“Oh now what the fuck is this?
Damn
it!”

Dante stiffened, the whites of his eyes showing again.

I reached for him, ready to calm him with a gentle touch.

Something solid—Metal? Plastic?—hit the side of the trailer. My heart had time for one
oh shit
beat before the world inside the trailer erupted into chaos. Panicked grunts and snorts. A body much larger than my own flailing back and forth in a desperate attempt to escape. Shouts from outside added to the confusion, but were mostly lost beneath the thunder of scrambling hooves. I couldn’t get past Dante, nor did I bother trying to calm him; it was too late for that. Instead I reached for the quick-release on his lead rope, trying to grab it even while he threw himself from side to side. If I got him loose, he could back out of the trailer. Dangerous, but less so than trapping both of us in here like this.