In It to Win It (15 page)

Grayson chuckled. “Nah. Daisy and I will be able to handle it. If there’s a problem, I can call the vet. I gave him a heads-up.”

Another contraction brought a tiny hoof and white leg into view. Daisy once again stood, pacing in a circuit around the stall. The fresh straw crunched under her hooves. Her front legs dropped and the rest of her followed until she once again rested on her belly.

Grayson moved quickly to the rear of the horse and waited until the muscles of Daisy’s belly squeezed the little one, pushing it out. Grayson grabbed the front legs and tugged with the contraction, assisting with the birth. The little body slid free, coming to rest amongst the straw that was very similar in color to the new horse.

Jane was overcome and tears flowed freely down her cheeks. She didn’t bother blotting them away. It wasn’t like Grayson would notice. All of his attention was on Daisy and her baby.

Daisy turned her head around to sniff at her young. Their noses met. Jane sniffled. Grayson’s eyes flicked upward for a split second then he let her have her privacy. His notice didn’t diminish the overwhelming emotion of the experience he’d shared with her. She’d never been so happy that she’d done the unexpected and just done what she wanted. The old Jane would have stayed tucked away in the bedroom where he’d left her. She wasn’t old Jane anymore.

“
I’m gonna be a while, if you wanna go back up to the house.”

“
I’ll wait,” she said, wondering just how long
a while
was going to be.

Grayson nodded and began working with the horses. Jane leaned against the wall and slid down until with her back against wood and her legs outstretched. She pulled her jacket to cover her like a blanket.

The last thing she remembered was Grayson brushing Daisy and telling her that she was a “good girl”.

Jane wondered whether the horse was a colt or a filly. She’d forgotten to ask and, in this very moment, she was too tired to voice the question.

GRAYSON’S ATTENTION SHOULD HAVE BEEN completely devoted to the horse he was brushing. He was just going through the motions though. His thoughts were on Jane. When she’d started to cry, it had taken every ounce of control he had not to rush to her and gather her up in his arms and comfort her.

He’d never seen Jane cry. He knew she was capable of tears, everyone was. Jane was a tough girl. At least that was the façade she put on for the world. Back in the days when she’d been his tutor—even though he was acing the class—the mask had cracked a bit. She wasn’t stuffy. She wasn’t the kind of girl who wanted to sit on the sidelines and pretend the world passing her by didn’t matter.

Grayson believed he knew Jane Alexander.

And he wanted to give her everything.

He ushered Daisy and her new colt into the other stall and closed them in, then went to work on cleaning out the soiled straw. When the chores were complete, Grayson stood and admired Jane.

She was dead-to-the-world asleep, her back against the barn wall, her feet stretched out in front of her, crossed at the ankles. Her chin was lowered, resting on her chest. She had her jacket over her upper body to protect her from the slight chill in the air. Her lashes were a dark crescent against her pale cheeks. Her freckles were more obvious than when she was awake. Her lips were parted slightly. She looked so sweet, so innocent.

Unable to resist any longer, Grayson silently sat down next to Jane and eased an arm behind her, guiding her sleeping body against his very awake one. She sighed and relaxed, snuggling into him. Her head came to rest on the sweet spot between his shoulder and his pectoral and her arm draped around his middle.

He tightened his hold, closed his eyes and dropped his head to rest on the top of hers. He then fell asleep with a big ol’ smile on his face.

Life didn’t get any better than this.

JANE WAS HAVING THE BEST DREAM. SHE wasn’t sure how many dreams she’d had last night—four, five … a dozen?—and Grayson starred in them all. This latest one felt so real. She could actually
smell
him; a combination of straw and horse and man. The musky scent caused her cognitive mind to pause.

Beneath her ear a heartbeat was strong. There was a slight pressure on the top of her head. Her fingers moved to form a fist around the sheet under her hand—which seemed to rise and fall in a steady rhythm. Then the entire bed moved—and moaned. The side came up in a wave, crushing her against a hard unforgiving shore. Her eyes flipped open and her mind came on track in a flash.

“
Grayson,” she squealed.

Holy crap!

It hadn’t been a dream—at least, not this part of it.

They were still in the barn. The stall where, what seemed like only moments ago, Daisy and her baby had been was now empty, fresh straw on the floor.

“
Where…?”

“
The next stall over.” Man, his voice was sexy first thing in the morning; deep and full of gravel. His grip loosened, but not completely. She liked that he still held her against him, yet gave her the option of getting up. She didn’t, nor did she want to. She snuggled deeper into him, he squeezed her gently. “Did you sleep okay?”

“
Yeah, I did.” Actually she hadn’t slept that well in a really long time. Not that she would think about that. It wasn’t like she could make Grayson her new pillow every night from now on.

“
I hope you don’t mind, but you looked so cute I didn’t have the heart to wake you.” He didn’t bother to give her the how’s and why’s of their current entwined state. “You hungry?”

“
Starving.”

He stood and offered her his hand. When she was on her feet, he tugged her against him. “Thanks for your help last night. I’m glad you were here.” He tipped her chin with his forefinger and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. “Let’s get some breakfast.”

It was in that moment she realized she was done.

She’d fallen head over heels.

Her heart, every single red and white blood cell, belonged to Grayson Pierce.

Heaven help her!

10

A
FTER BREAKFAST THEY PARTED WAYS TO shower and get cleaned up. Jane had just finished dressing in jeans and a black and pink argyle v-neck sweater when a knock on the door made her jump.

“
Come in,” she hollered.

The door cracked and Grayson stuck his head in. He grinned. “You ready to go?”

“
Yeah.” She pulled her hair up and stretched a rubber band around it. “Where we goin’?”

“
To town. Since you haven’t been home in a while then you’ve missed all the changes.”

Jane laughed and shook her head. “Because Salina is such a growing metropolis.”

He rolled his eyes, his head jerking toward the door. “Come on. I’ve got a lot planned for today. And I promise you’ve never seen the Salina I’m gonna show you today.”

It was her turn to roll her eyes and the motion made his grin. She grabbed her camera off the dresser and headed out the door, fast on Grayson’s heels. He may have vetoed her ability to capture moving pictures for her piece, but he couldn’t stop her from getting still ones.

Okay, so maybe he could … but he didn’t make a move to take the camera from her.

“
I’ve been thinking,” Grayson said as they climbed into the Jeep.

“
And just what have you been thinking about?” she asked, wondering if she really wanted to know.

“
Well, Daisy’s colt needs a name.”

“
My grandpa always just named his animals what they were. Ya know, cat or dog or … horse.”

Grayson laughed. “Your grandpa was a very creative man. But I was thinking of something else.”

“
Like what?”

“
Alexander,” he said.

Jane felt heat rise in her cheeks and knew they were flaming with a blush.

“
It seems only fitting that the little guy be named after the woman who welcomed him into the world. What do you think?”

What did she think?

What
did
she think?

She thought she didn’t like any of this. She’d been hanging with Grayson for only a few hours and she was already invested. She didn’t like being invested with a love-‘em-and-leave-‘em man.

“
It’s your horse,” she all but snapped.

Nonplussed, he smiled. “Yes, he is. And I’m going to name him Alexander, so I can always remember the night of his birth.”

Jane didn’t need a constant reminder of last night. Sleeping curled up in Grayson’s arms would forever be embossed on her soul. She would never forget. Ever.

Jane had been so intent on the conversation—and lost in her thoughts—she hadn’t paid attention to where they were going. Grayson pulled into the dirt parking lot of the Redmond airstrip and stopped. The ‘airport’ could be described as an asphalt strip, a dirt lot for parking and a windsock. There was a plane here now—that was a new addition. As was the ‘hanger’ which consisted of a corrugated metal structure just big enough to shelter the little plane.

The Jeep eased to a stop and Grayson turned it off. She looked at him with a brow raised in question. He smiled and reached over to tap her lightly on the tip of the nose.

“
While you were off getting a college degree, I got my pilot’s license.”

Hopping out of his door, he was around and opening hers before his words sank in. “Wait a minute,” she said, “you’re gonna fly us around in that thing?”

“
Yep.”

Her head darted around so fast, in search of fuel stations, she nearly gave herself whiplash. “What about fuel? I mean you can’t just fly on a wing and a prayer.”

“
Trent takes care of that for me. He takes care of a lot of things for me.”

“
Because he’s your friend?”

“
Because I pay him really well.” He grabbed her hand and led her toward the plane. “And because he’s my friend. There isn’t another guy alive I trust more than Trent.”

Jane felt like she was in some kind of really surreal dream. She was sitting in a plane with a headset over her ears and the only person that would hear her if she spoke into the microphone at her mouth was Grayson. They were at the end of the airstrip and the engines roared in protest and Grayson urged them airborne.

Jane’s stomach jumped as the wheels lifted off the ground. She wasn’t afraid to fly like Nate was. She smiled as she thought of how he’d react to this experience. He’d probably start crying like a baby.

When the plane leveled out, Grayson reached over and took her hand from where it was white-knuckled on her lap. “You okay? You’re not afraid to fly, are you? I guess I should have probably asked. I didn’t even think—”

She squeezed his hand. “I’m fine. I have to admit that I’m a little nervous … but that doesn’t seem to be anything new when I’m around you.” As soon as the words left her mouth she wanted to suck them back and then bite down hard on her tongue for confessing too much.

He chanced a quick look at her and Jane thought she saw hurt in his eyes. “You’re nervous around me?” he asked when his eyes were locked on the front windshield again.

“
No. Of course not,” she lied. “We’re just a couple of old friends catching up.”

“
We’re more than old friends, Jane.”

Not wanting to let the conversation progress any further on the track it was going, Jane blurted, “Do you think you could take Nate up in this thing?”

The muscle in his jaw jumped, but he didn’t react further to her derailing the conversation train. “Sure. Would he like that?”

“
No.” She laughed out loud, a guffaw that ricocheted around the cabin. Grayson started to chuckle too. Jane’s sides ached and tears ran down her cheeks. “He hates … to fly,” she gasped.

“
I don’t understand. Why would you want me to give him a ride?”

“
He gets all freaked out whenever we get on the plane. He cracks every bone in his body. He rolls his head on his neck.” She giggled some more and used a hand to stifle it. “He has a whole ritual he does for take-off and landing.”

Grayson’s expression hardened, the muscle jumping in his jaw. “You seem to know a lot about your photographer.”

“
We spend a lot of time together,” she answered. “You did know he’s happily married, right?”

His face softened a bit. “I didn’t know.”

“
I planned Roxy’s birthday party.” The next words burst from her mouth before she could censor them. “Believe me, Nate Hughes is not the man I dream about at night.”

The corner of Grayson’s mouth quirked and his brow rose. He glanced over and his eyes twinkled with mischief. “Who
is
the man you dream about at night, Janie?”

Sweat broke out on her brow, under her arms and between her breasts. She cocked a brow at him and grinned back, challenging him.

“
A girl has to have secrets, Grayson. That’s one secret I’ll never tell.”

TWICE HE’D STRUCK A NERVE WITH JANE. Both times Grayson had to nearly bite his tongue off to keep from forcing her into furthering the conversation. He knew that he made her nervous. Hell, she made him nervous, too. Every time she was near him, he forgot how to speak in full sentences and his thoughts turned to the things he wanted to do to her—with her.