Trish, Just Trish (8 page)

I stumbled to my feet. I knew she already
locked me out, but I pleaded through the window, “No! Please!
Please don’t leave me here!” I choked on my tears.

I heard my name being called, but I fell
back when Momma sped away.

“
Don’t leave me,” I cried, but she
couldn’t hear me. She was gone.

I curled up into a ball...

“Trish! Damn it, Trish, wake up!” I heard
Tony shout and my eyes flew open. I felt myself being lifted.

And I was bawling.

“
My god
,” I heard Tony hiss and I
belatedly realized I was in Tony’s lap, but I couldn’t stop
crying.

“She hated me,” I cried. “She… hated… me. I
was only a little girl,” I sobbed.

“Shhh… everything’s all right,” Tony
whispered as he moved the hair off my face and wiped the tears from
my cheek. I clung to him greedily. I wanted to forget the nightmare
I hadn’t had in a very long time. I had them, sure, but I couldn’t
remember the last time I’d had one as vivid.

“Please stop crying. Can you tell me what
happened?” Tony asked.

I shook my head against his chest. If I told
him this part of the nightmare, I’d have to tell him the rest and
he wasn’t someone who needed to know anymore.

“I don’t remember,” I responded softly as I
slowly came back to my senses. As I did that, it hit me that I sat
in Tony’s lap wearing nothing but my big sleep shirt and a pair of
lace bikini cut panties. He didn’t have on a shirt and I could feel
the light sprinkling of chest hairs against my cheek.

I jerked back and my eyes swung to the
clock. Three in the morning.

I didn’t take my eyes off the clock, because
if I did, I’d notice how delicious it felt to be in Tony’s arms
again.

I wiped away my tears and spoke, “I’m okay
now.”

Tony’s response was to lift me off his lap,
lay me on my side and move behind me. He tucked me into him, knees
curved into mine, hips pressed against my ass, hand over my waist.
His fingers dug into my stomach.

“You’re not okay. I want to know what the
hell that nightmare was all about, but I’ll wait for you to tell
me. Just go back to sleep,” he ordered against my ear.

I didn’t move a muscle.

“I’m serious, Tony. I’m fine. You can go
back to your room now.” He only squeezed me tighter.

“Tony, I don’t want you here,” I tried
again.

“Just go back to sleep, Trish.”

“But--”

“Do you want me to shut you up? I only
remember one way to do that and I’ll do it. I have no problem
kissing that big mouth of yours until you forget whatever the hell
you were saying.”

I had no response to that.

Yes I did. “You’re an asshole.”

“Just go back to sleep. We’ve both had a
long day and I know your nightmare was seriously fucked up.”

I lay there and fought the urge not to kick
him in the shin. I tried not to think about his reason for staying
and I decided to recite a few of Laura’s lullabies. Eventually gave
into my exhaustion.

Tony wasn’t in bed when I woke up and I had
no idea what time he left. The clock read six and I couldn’t go
back to sleep.

I was wide awake.

I crossed the hall to the restroom, washed
my face, brushed my teeth and went back to change into something
more appropriate; gray sweat pants that rode low on my hips, a
white sports bra, a powder blue, V-neck, fitted t-shirt that showed
a hint of skin at the waist, and no shoes.

I walked to the kitchen and made my way to
heaven; otherwise known as the coffee machine. I searched the
cabinets until I found what I needed and I moved around as quietly
as possibble because I had no idea what time Tony usually woke
up.

As I waited for the coffee to finish, I
couldn’t stop my mind from wandering back to my nightmare.

I couldn’t believe I’d had it in the first
place. I hadn’t had one that vivid in years. I’d also never broken
down in my sleep the way I had and I was embarrassed that Tony was
there to witness it. I was even more embarrassed that I let him
hold me as I fell back to sleep.

I thought about the reasons why he stayed
with me after, but I had no explanation. Luckily, the brewing
coffee finished in time to distract me.

I poured my first cup of coffee, added milk,
made a mental note to tell Tony we needed French Vanilla creamer,
added three teaspoons of sugar, walked over to the bay window in
the dining room and gazed out at the stable. It looked beautiful
from where I stood.

Green; everything was so bright and green.
Trees surrounded the background, but through them, I glimpsed the
white wood fence that bordered the property. Off in the distance I
spotted a riding ring, and in front of that, two gentlemen stood in
deep conversation.

It was all very picturesque and I could not
wait
to go outside.

I wondered what Tony actually did on the
property, if he was actually hands on or if he just managed from
behind the scenes. I couldn’t imagine him not wanting to be
involved in the beauty of this place.

When I ran out of coffee, I walked back to
the kitchen, refilled my cup and stood at the window over the sink
because didn’t want to miss anything.

“Good morning,” Tony said from behind me,
his deep voice was still filled with sleep. I turned and had to
smile. He wore another plain white t-shirt, this one clean and
jeans that were clearly unbuttoned at the top. He had bedhead hair
and his feet were bare. He was so damn sexy.

Don’t sigh, Trish!

I turned away before I did or said something
to embarrass myself.

“Good morning. You want coffee?” I asked as
I continued to focus out the window.

“Yes, please,” he replied, right at my
ear.

I never heard him move.

The hem of my shirt lifted and his fingers
traced the skin on my lower back. They slowly dipped into the waist
of my sweat pants to caress me there.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

He ignored me.

“You look good. More than good. I think I’d
rather have than coffee,” he said roughly as his arm moved from my
back to wrap around my stomach. When his hand dipped into the front
of my pants I breathed, “Tony?”

He pulled his hand away, kissed my neck and
backed up. I trembled inside, but managed to turn my neck to look
at him.

“Coffee,” he said.

“What?” I asked, my pitch a little higher
pitch than normal.

“Coffee first, then we’ll talk,” he
stated.

It took me awhile to come unglued from my
spot.

Then, I rolled my eyes.

“Boy! That must have been some dream you had
last night!” I heard a loud female voice with a country twang chime
in as I was in the middle of pouring Tony a cup of coffee. My head
whipped around to find the owner.

That motherfucker
!

The blonde from last night stood in the
entry. There was no mistaking it. She had the exact same height and
build.

I shook with fury and glared at Tony. My
good mood vanished without a trace. Tony wouldn’t even at me
though; or the blonde for that matter. No, he had his face lifted
to the ceiling, possibly praying for someone up there to show him
mercy because I sure as shit was not!

“Hi, I’m Bobbie Jo,” Bobbie Jo said. She had
to introduce herself because Tony was being a pussy.

“Let me guess, they call you BJ?” was my
immediate smart ass response and I watched her brows furrow,
obviously not catching my blow job quip.

I faced Tony. “Still know how to pick them,
I see.”

“Trish,” he growled in warning, but I shook
my head and faced BJ again.

“Just make sure you suck him hard, when you
cup his balls, squeeze… and don’t forget to let your mouth pop when
you pull him out.”

“Trish,” Tony barked, but I continued,
“That’s his favorite.”

I turned, put the coffee pot back and
dropped… no,
threw
the mug in the sink. The little coffee
I’d already poured, splashed all over the counter.

It was a very unladylike thing for me to do,
but I didn’t give a shit.

“Nice to meet you, BJ,” I said before I
walked around the center island and back to my room where I changed
again; this time to go outside.

Fuck him.

Fuck. Him.

I wasn’t supposed to be act like that. I
knew it wasn’t BJ’s fault Tony was a dick, but out of respect for
what we’d once had, he could have waited until I was gone before he
had a woman spend the night. Whatever he had with BJ must have been
serious because, before me, he’d never let a woman spend the night
otherwise.

I thought about anything unrelated to Tony
as I made my way to the stable. I needed to call and temporarily
disconnect the cell phone Tony tossed. I needed to call Lex.

Shit, she was going to be pissed.

I needed to call Dad and Gayle and I needed
to go to town to get a new phone. But right now, I was headed
straight for the two guys that had moved from the riding ring to
stand in front of the stable, still deep in conversation. I wore my
powder blue fitted V-neck T-shirt, but instead of sweats, I wore
straight leg jeans tucked into a pair of dark brown riding boots
with a matching belt.

Who knew riding boots would be in style?

“Good morning!” I called out to the men, and
when their gazes turned my way, I nearly fainted. The one that
stood on the right…
gorgeous
! Tall, blonde hair, blue eyes,
buff…

Shit
!

At my extremely obvious stare, he grinned
and my panties melted.

“G’day, mate,” he said, and my panties
didn’t just melt… they disintegrated. His accent was Australian
and, gotta say, I might have drooled.

“Hi,” I whispered back.

“Shane, you really make us old folk look bad
you know? If you woulda left twenty minutes ago when you were
supposed to, this pretty lady would be captivated by me and not
you. So, go on now. You got a job to do,” the older man, maybe in
his sixties, said in a country twang so deep that even BJ’s
couldn’t match.

I smiled at him.

“I’m Larry, the stable manager. That there’s
Shane, the Vet. And who might you be, little lady?” he asked.

“I’m Trish Kincaid. I’m actually a “Vet”
too. It’s nice to meet you both,” I finished.

“Trish?” Larry asked, his brows now pinched
. His voice had lost all its playfulness. I was pretty sure that
was a bad sign… until he spoke again.

“Well, hot damn! No wonder he was so tore up
over you. You’ve gotta be the prettiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes
on.” I felt blush creep up my cheeks.

“Don’t let him scare you. He failed
miserably in charm school,” Shane said, causing me to face him
again, and,
fuck me,
that accent was hot.

“I would have passed him,” I started and
then I faced Larry, “I think you’re very charming.”

It was his turn to blush.

There was a loud cranking noise that came
from behind me and I had to shield my eyes from the sun when I
turned. Tony got out of BJ’s truck and moved to stand beside her.
She lifted on her toes, her arms wound around Tony’s neck, he
didn’t lower himself to kiss her, but she managed to conquer his
lips anyway.

That was all I needed to see.

My stomach was in knots when I turned back
to the men, but I tried my best to school my expression.

“Would one of you mind showing me around?
I’m
dying
to smell the horses,” I said.

Silence a beat and then, “You’re excited to…
smell
one
?” Shane asked curiously as he tilted his
head to study me.

“Ummm… I don’t know how to explain it. As
long as they’re not filthy, which I doubt the horses inside there
are,” I pointed to the open stable door, “they have this smell,
maybe it’s the hay, but it smells like… life,” I answered in
wonder, and watched as both Shane and Larry’s brows lifted to their
hairline, before they glanced at each other.

“Life,” Shane said, oddly repeating what I’d
just said, but in that accent, he could repeat whatever the hell he
wanted. It sounded like, “lyfe” instead of “life”.

I sighed.

He smiled. He knew what he could do with his
accent. “Yeah, I can see why you would say that. I guess I never
really thought about it before. All right mate, I’ll show you
around. We actually have a Thoroughbred in there that’s been here
for about a month. Poor girl has Lyme disease.”

That was interesting.

“You’re sure?”

He nodded. “I’ve tested her twice and both
cultures tested positive.” He paused, looked down at his watch and
continued, “I need to leave soon to get back to the office, but if
you’re interested, you can look her over with me,” Shane offered,
and I couldn’t contain my excitement. I smiled huge. I despised the
fact that a horse was sick at all, but I was eager to help in any
way and jumped at the chance.

“I’d love to,” I replied.

“You’d love to what?” I heard Tony ask from
behind me.

“Aw hell,” Larry crooned immediately
after.

I turned, not my body, just my neck and
head.

“Shane’s going to show me around. He said
there’s a horse in there that has Lyme disease and I’d like to have
a look at her if that’s all right with you.” I tilted my head,
raised my brows and threw major silent attitude.

“I mind. I’ll take her,” he growled at me
and faced Shane with an expression that said “Back off.”

But Shane didn’t and I was surprised that
when he spoke next, he spoke to me, not to Tony.

“Trish, I tell you what… I really do have to
go and I’m not sure what you’re doing here, but if you’ve moved to
town and need a job, come see me. I could use another hand.”

“I thought Shannon helped you?” Larry asked
and I watched with interest as Shane’s features went blank before
he spoke again.