Unlucky in Love (9 page)

It was just that she made such a peaceful picture sitting there, rocking softly as she sipped out of a pottery mug. She had on a big fluffy robe, and her feet looked tiny propped up on the bed.

It wasn't his fault that his own feet froze to the dirt at the sight of her. She'd left her damn window open, for God's sake. Was a man not supposed to notice?

Yeah, a man was supposed to keep his ass moving right on by. He cursed as he headed for the stables. A man was
not
supposed to be thinking about a temporary employee as anything more than that. She was here now, but she was leaving in just a few weeks, and there was no chance in hell that starting anything with her would get them anywhere but heartbreak city.

He didn't do casual. Just didn't. He'd grown up watching his father flirt with anything in a skirt, and it had made him sick to watch, even as a kid. And when that same father had flaunted his girlfriends in front of Gunnar's mother—when Gunnar'd had to go in later with a box of tissues and a glass of water, it had made him downright mad.

But when he'd had to pack up his things one more time so his mother could follow his father to his next post—living just off base because the damn man wouldn't put a ring on her finger or his benefit package on his own kid—it had made Gunnar into the person he was today.

So no way would he do the summer fling thing. As much as he could imagine the benefits—as much as he could feel them every time his body tightened in Lexi's presence, dammit—he wouldn't go there.

He took a deep breath. But if anybody else tried it with her, he was going to have a damn hard time keeping his fists by his side.

“Who's this?” Lexi eyed the horse Gunnar was leading out of the barn a week later. He'd promised her a riding lesson this morning, but this was definitely not Goldie. She watched the horse's legs as they pranced a few inches from the dirt. No dragging hooves on this one.

Uh-oh.

“This is Rocket.”

Lexi felt her eyebrows fly upward. “A horse named Rocket? For me?”

“Yep.” Gunnar pretended to reconsider. “Despite your aversion to speed.”

“My aversion—what?” It wasn't her fault that Goldie barely lifted a hoof except to torment her riders. Speed wasn't really in the elderly horse's vocabulary, as far as Lexi knew.

Gunnar winked. “Just thinking back to our ride from the airport. Pretty sure my armrest still has fingernail marks, despite the fact that I'm an excellent driver.”

Oh.
That
speed.

“Maybe I thought you were some sort of raging maniac with a NASCAR complex. Not my fault, really. I didn't even know you.”

He laughed. “Raging maniac with a NASCAR complex. That's a new one.” He hooked a lead line onto Rocket's bridle and led him to the center of the ring, where once again, there was an overturned bucket. “Remember how to mount?”

“I do.” Lexi swallowed, clicking her helmet strap closed. “You sure Rocket here isn't going to try to live up to his name and take off for the hills?”

“He won't.”

“And you know this how?”

Gunnar's face grew serious. “Because I train horses for a living, Lex. First, I wouldn't let
anybody
on a horse I thought was risky. Second, I most certainly wouldn't let a cautious, brand-new rider on a horse that wasn't
completely
bulletproof. I've got him on a lead line, and we'll do circles until you're comfortable having me unhook him. It's all your call.”

Lexi bristled at the word
cautious,
even though she knew it was accurate. God, she could make a
list
of adjectives people applied to her, and she'd hate most of them.

Still, though, she knew she should be thankful that he
was
reading her correctly…and making sure she didn't end up on a horse that would be a bad match.

“Okay,” she finally said. “I'm ready.” She started to reach for the reins, but Gunnar put a gentle hand on hers.

“Want to say hello first? Let him see who he's hanging with this morning?” Gunnar cocked his head toward Rocket, and Lexi took a deep breath.

Right. She'd forgotten his little
horses are people, too
lecture from yesterday.

“Hi, Rocket.”

She reached out a tentative hand to pet the bristly hair between Rocket's eyes, and the horse lifted his nose, snorting. Lexi was inordinately proud of herself that she didn't jump backward or squeak at the sound. “Guess what? Goldie already tried that. I'm not scared of your little snorty nose, okay?”

“Little snorty nose? Really?”

Lexi leveled Gunnar with a look. “I'm
attempting
to show him who's boss. Wasn't that what you told me to do?” Lexi looked at Rocket's deep brown eyes, liquidy and innocent…right now.

“Can we just come to an understanding here, Rocket? You don't dump me, and I'll give you carrots when we're done.” She looked sideways at Gunnar. “He likes carrots, right?”

“Yep.” Gunnar rolled his eyes as he cupped a foot for Lexi to step in. “C'mon, cowgirl. Up you go.”

Twenty minutes later, after doing so many circles that Lexi had lost count, Gunnar said, “Ready to try a canter?”

“I don't know.” Lexi tightened her jaw, trying to stop her teeth from clacking together. “If I bounce any more, I'm going to lose a filling.”

“Cantering feels better than trotting, I promise.”

“But it's faster?” Lexi felt her hands tighten on the reins. Yes, she'd been holding her own here, but only because Gunnar had a firm hold on Rocket as they circled the ring. Her confidence was intimately tied to Gunnar's strong hands on that lead line.

“It's faster, but it's smoother. You'll like it. You're ready.” Gunnar nodded. “Want to try it?”

Lexi took a deep breath, then lost it as Rocket took a particularly bouncy step. Oh, boy.

“How about tomorrow, maybe?” Again she clenched her teeth.

“If you want. But you're ready now.”

“How do you know?”

“I know. Trust me, okay?”

Lexi closed her eyes, searching for the ever-elusive dose of courage. It never came, but she knew if she didn't do it right now, she might never dare again.

“Okay. Ready. What do I do?” There. At least she
sounded
confident.

Gunnar gave her directions, and after she took a couple of calming breaths, Lexi squeezed her thighs and signaled Rocket. There was a brief moment when she was sure he wasn't listening, but then his gait changed, and suddenly, she felt like she was on a grown-up version of a rocking horse.

A laugh bubbled out as she held onto the saddle horn in surprise, and she saw Gunnar smile.

“Hands off the horn, cowgirl. Reins.”

She adjusted her hands as Rocket cantered around the ring, and finally, after weeks of dancing around and disbelieving she could ever learn to like riding, omigod, she saw what all the fuss was about.

“How's it feel?” Gunnar let the line play out a little longer.

“It's—awesome!” Lexi felt her smile grow as they circled the ring. Instead of bouncing around in a creaky saddle feeling like she was four seconds from sliding off, she felt like she was—wow—almost part of the horse, if that was possible. There was no bounce like when they'd trotted, just a smooth lift and land of hooves, and she wished she could just keep doing this all afternoon.

After she'd circled the ring five times, Gunnar called out. “You remember how to slow him down?”

“I don't want to!”

Gunnar laughed. “Good. So now's the perfect time to stop.”

“No.” Lexi shook her head. “I feel like I want to open the gate and just ride off toward the Crazies over there.”

She did—that was the strange thing. All of the fear that had held her back seemed to have whooshed right out of her when Rocket had hit his cantering stride.

But Gunnar didn't seem to be quite as ecstatic about the whole thing. He started shortening the lead line, reminding her how to pull Rocket back to a trot, and before she knew it, she'd successfully slowed the horse down. Once again, she bounced around the ring, but it felt different this time, because she knew with a touch of her heels and a squeeze of her thighs, she could be back in that magical stride again.

At Gunnar's signal, she slowed Rocket to a walk, steering the horse back toward the center of the ring, where Gunnar stood waiting.

“Well? What'd you think?” Gunnar looked up at her as he took hold of Rocket's bridle.

“It felt like…magic.” Lexi felt herself grin. “Which sounds stupid, but really. That's the only word that does it justice. I never knew it could be like that.”

Gunnar smiled. “Well, now you do.” He reached out a hand to steady her as she dismounted, and when both of her feet hit the ground, a strange feeling came over her.

She didn't want to let go.

He looked down at her, not pulling away, and for a long, long moment, neither of them spoke. Then his eyes skated to her lips, and Lexi felt her breath stop in her throat as heat rose in her cheeks.

But then Rocket snorted, and the spell—such as it was—was broken. Gunnar cleared his throat and pulled his hand back, fiddling with the reins.

“Hey, you know what we should do?”

Lexi tried to find her voice. “What?”

“Do you have your phone? Let's take a pic you can send to what's-his-name.”

Oh.

Well, what had she
hoped
he would say?

“It's—Tristan.”

Gunnar frowned, searching her eyes for one beat longer than was necessary. “I know.”

“Nice pic.” Katie's voice came over Lexi's phone that evening. “Does this mean you finally got on a horse?”

“Very funny. Yes, I got on a horse. Even rode him around the corral for an hour.
And
I didn't fall off.”

“Win-win, then. So what wild and crazy things are you up to tonight?”

Lexi bit her lip, looking at the book she'd closed when her phone had rung—looking at the cooling cup of tea on the table under the window.

“Um, haven't quite decided yet.”

“You were reading, weren't you?”

“There's nothing wrong with reading. I
like
reading. I only get one day off a week, and I have this perfect little cabin with the perfect little rocking chair under the perfect little window. How could I
not
want to sit here and read?”

“Are you going to send Tristan a selfie of
that
?”

“I'm not sending him self—”

“Alexis.” Katie cut her off. “You sent that pic to Tristan, too. We both know you did.”

She took a deep breath. “He said—you know—he still wants to be friends. Friends send each other pictures.”

“How many pics have you sent?”

“Just—a couple.”
Ten or so.

“And has he answered?”

Lexi sighed.
No.
“I don't even know if he got them. He could be camping in the woods in Canada, for all I know. No cell service or whatever.”

“Lex, sweetie, I think you're setting yourself up to get even more hurt here.”

“I'm not.”

“Alexis Marie.” Katie's voice got fierce. “I can see your right eye twitching.”

“You can
not
.” Lexi pulled the phone away from her ear like Katie really could see through the airwaves.

“Please-please-please just tell me you're not trying to become a Tristan-approved version of my sister. Because I'm not sure that exists.”

Lexi swallowed hard.
Ouch.
“Um, thank you? That didn't hurt at all?”

“I'm sorry.” Katie sighed. “I've just been sitting back here, dealing with Mom—who is driving me berserk, by the way—but consoling myself that at least you're out there having the time of your life, shrugging off all of the chains and going nuts.”

“I'm having—fun. I am. Promise.” She sighed again. “But give me a little leeway here, Kate. I was supposed to be four weeks into a newlywed summer right now. You have to admit, life isn't exactly turning out the way I'd been thinking it would for the past year.”

“I know. You're right. I'm sorry. I'm a terrible sister.”

Lexi rolled her eyes as she laughed softly. “The worst.”

“So can we please stop talking about Tristan for a minute?”

“Gladly. What do you want to talk about?”

“Cowboys. Please at least tell me the cowboys are still as amazing as they look.”

Lexi paused, sitting down in the rocker so she had a clear view of the stables just down the hill. Ever since this afternoon, she hadn't been able to get Gunnar's touch out of her head, and it was driving her absolutely crazy.

She shouldn't be falling for him. She
couldn't
fall for him. In four short weeks, she'd be heading home to her job, her home, her ocean. He'd be here, two thousand miles away.

“Lexi? The cowboys?”

“Um.” Lexi paused again, unsure of what to say. For some reason, she didn't want to share any more about Gunnar with her sister, and she wasn't even sure why. “They are definitely as hot as the website promises.”

“But no elopement news yet? You sure you don't need me to come out there and see if we could work together to rustle up a couple of good ones?”

Lexi laughed, but at the same time, her stomach clutched. Yes, just what she needed right now was for her super-sparkly sister to come out here and shake up Whisper Creek. Katie would have the cowboys—all of them—drooling at her feet by day two of her visit, and she wouldn't even have to expend any effort to make that happen.

“I'm all set, Kit-Kat. Thanks, though. I'll let you know if I need a wing-chick.”

“You totally do. And I'm willing. Really. Seriously.”

“Wow. Mom really
is
driving you crazy. You're desperate.”

Katie sighed again. “I know I'm doing the whole preaching to the choir thing here, but I think Mom might actually be losing her mind. She's
definitely
making me lose mine. I hate that I'm counting the days till you get home, but I kind of am.”

Lexi matched her sigh. “Welcome to my world, Kate. Welcome to my world.” Then she heard Katie's doorbell in the background.

“I gotta go, Lex. Meg and I are headed to Boston for the night. She got tickets to a game, and she knows somebody who knows somebody on the team, so we get to hang out after the game, maybe go out with the guys.”

“Sounds like fun.”

Sounded like a nightmare.
Boston traffic, Red Sox crowd, after-game party with a bunch of mega-athletes who were accustomed to dating models?
No, thanks.

Katie laughed as Lexi heard Meg blast through the door. “I can hear you gritting your teeth.”

“Well, it sounds like fun for
you
. Better?”

“Yup. Hey, Lex? Promise me you'll do something besides read a book tonight, okay?”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “I've been sparkly all week. I've met my quota. I'm taking the night off.”

“So one question before you get back to your super-enthralling novel of the week? How's your list coming? How many check marks?”

Lexi frowned, knowing there were a lot less of them than she'd hoped she'd have by now. “I'm getting there.”

“What have you done?”

“I've tried three new foods.”

“Ooh. Going wild.” Lexi could hear Katie's smile through the phone. “What else?”