World Enough and Time (13 page)

“Yeah, and sometimes being crass gets the point across better than dressing it up in poetic bullshit. I mean, they did make your ass and legs—”

“
Connor
.”

“What?” He batted his eyes. Then he laughed and nuzzled my neck. The scuff of stubble above my collar made me shiver just before he whispered directly into my ear. “Listen, I may know all about the nuances and subtleties of the English language”—he flicked his tongue along the edge of my earlobe—“but I’m still a man, and you’re still a woman”—a gentle kiss on the side of my neck—“and I think I can be forgiven some crassness when I’ve just spent all afternoon wishing I could take you someplace and do things I can’t even put into words.”

The goose bumps on my neck had nothing to do with the chilly wind. I’d normally be too exhausted and sore for anything after a show, but if he kept talking like that, I was willing to consider making an exception. “Well, actions do speak louder than words.”

“They do,” he said. “So I figured when you’re feeling up to it again, I can put my crass, devious words into actions.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Neither can I.” He kissed me, drawing it out for a moment.

A quiet beep barely registered above the wind, but Connor jumped. He reached into his coat pocket and when he brought his phone out, the sound was louder, no longer muffled by fabric and leather. His eyebrows pulled together as he looked at the LCD screen. Then his expression suddenly shifted to one of irritation and he rolled his eyes.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” He added something else under his breath, but the wind carried it away. Then he pressed a button on the phone, shoved it back into his pocket, and when he looked at me again, the pleasant Connor from thirty seconds ago was back.

“Someone you don’t want to talk to?” I asked.

“It’s not you. So, yes, it’s someone I don’t want to talk to.”

“You’re such a charmer,” I laughed.

“Is it working?”

“Absolutely.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but the familiar muffled beep cut him off. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly through his nose when he pulled the phone out again.

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered through his teeth.

“Persistent?”

He nodded. “Do you mind if I take this?” Resignation and annoyance tugged at his voice, but the look he gave me was nothing but apologetic.

“No, no, go ahead,” I said.

“Thanks.” He offered a quick smile. “Shouldn’t take long.” He stepped away and answered the phone. His back was to me while he spoke, and the wind made sure I heard none of it, but he obviously wasn’t happy. More than once, he shook his head or ran a hand through his wind-whipped hair. He paced. Paused. Paced again, making sharp gestures in the air that the person on the other end couldn’t see.

At one point, he rested his elbows on the railing and was still. He wasn’t speaking then, not even moving except his thumb and forefinger rubbing the bridge of his nose. All at once he came to life with a frustrated sweep of his arm and raised his voice just enough to let me hear the aggravation, but not the actual words.

A moment later, he shoved the phone back into his pocket and paused to take a deep breath before turning back to me.

“Sorry about that.” He looked flustered, though he tried to hide it behind a smile. There was a little bit of extra color in his cheeks, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the wind or the call.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Everything okay?”

He gestured dismissively. “Just some crap with—” He cut himself off, shaking his head. “Nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

He chewed his lip and looked past me with unfocused eyes for a second before meeting mine. “Just, you know, some bullshit with my ex.” He shrugged. “I suppose I could just ignore her calls, but this saves me the trouble of deleting seventeen voice messages later.”

I blinked. “Are you—”

He laughed. “Okay, I’m exaggerating.” He wrapped his arms around me, and as he drew me close, brushed my hair out of my face. “Really, it’s nothing.” He kissed me lightly.

It puzzled me that she was calling so much and pestering him when she’d been the one to walk out. Maybe she regretted it. Maybe she was begging forgiveness. Without knowing the words to their angry song and dance, I couldn’t begin to speculate.

He offered only hints that her call had bothered him, shaking off most of his irritation and returning almost completely to the playful, flirty Connor he was before the phone rang. What that meant, I didn’t know. Susan had said he only allowed himself to be read as much as he
wanted
to be read, but the tension in his shoulders, the growl in his voice, and the occasional sharp breath gave away the presence of something beneath the surface.

Whatever it was, however it affected him, I was oddly comfortable with it all. No jealous insecurity. No concerns about another woman stepping into my territory. In fact, the idea of unfinished business between Connor and his ex-fiancée put me at ease in ways it wouldn’t have in another time and place.

Whatever had happened between them wasn’t over yet, so he was in no position to ask more of me than sex and friendship. They weren’t finished, so we couldn’t start. I could relax, let this be what it was, and know that when he left for California in a few months, he’d do so without some piece of me I wasn’t willing to give.

I let out a breath and let my guard down.

Chapter Seventeen

While I waited for Connor one night, my sister called.

“So how are things with the new man?” she asked after we’d made some small talk.

“Oh, okay.” I lay back on the couch and smiled up at the ceiling.

“Just okay?” Dishes clanked and water ran in the background. I imagined her elbows-deep in soapy water and holding her phone between her head and shoulder.

“Fine, it’s going great,” I said.

“Well, that’s good to hear.”

“Funny thing, though, I don’t think he’s quite over his ex yet.”

“Oh?” she said. “How do you figure?” I could almost picture her raising an alarmed eyebrow.

“He hasn’t said a word about her, but he looked pretty pissed off when he was on the phone with her the other day.”

“Well, she’s his ex.” Dishes clattered on the other end. “I’d probably be pissed if my ex kept calling too.”

“So would I,” I said. “But, whatever the case, there’s obviously some unfinished business with them.”

Mary was quiet for a second. The clinking and clattering stopped, then resumed. “You don’t sound overly upset about this, Dan.”

“I’m not.” I shrugged, even though I knew she couldn’t see it. “It’s his business, not mine.”

“You know, most women would be annoyed if her man had ongoing shit with his ex.”

“Most women aren’t hoping for something temporary,” I said. “I don’t want a reason for either of us to get attached. And if his ex is still a problem, then that’s just one more reason for us
not
to get attached.”

She laughed. “Your mind must be a strange, strange place to live, Danielle.”

“Maybe so,” I said. “Look, I’m just trying to have a little fun and not get too involved with someone right away.”

“So you’ve said. I can see your point, but what if the two of you do start getting more involved?” she said. “Just because it’s not the right time or neither of you is ready for it doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”

“Either way, he’s leaving in August.”

“Just be careful,” she said. “I know you, hon. You fall hard, and I don’t want to see you fall flat on your face again.”

“I won’t, don’t worry.” I glanced at my watch. “Anyway, he’ll be here soon, so I have to go.”

“Have fun,” she said. “But not too much fun.”

I giggled. “I fully intend to have—”

“Goodbye, Dan,” she said.

I laughed. “Bye, Mary”

Shortly after we hung up, Connor was at my door, and we left for dinner.

He took me out for Phở that night. I’d only had a passing acquaintance with Vietnamese food when I lived in Wyoming, but had developed a taste for it since coming to Seattle, which was blessed with dozens of such restaurants. Fortunately, Connor shared my addiction to it, so we found a tiny mom-and-pop place in the U-district.

When the steaming hot bowls of noodle soup were laid before us, he shot me a devilish grin.

“So, do you take it with or without the peppers and red sauce?” He gestured at various vegetables and condiments that came with our meal.

I shrugged with one shoulder. “Depends on what else I’m planning on doing with my mouth afterward.”

His eyebrows jumped. “Well, in that case, I think I’ll lay off the peppers myself.”

“Good man,” I said. “Actually, I like it as is. Too much hot sauce kills the flavor.”

“I’m with you on that,” he said. “Though every once in a while, I like it good and hot.”

“If I want hot, I’ll get Thai.”

“You like Thai?”

“Love it.”

“Good to know,” he said. “There’s a place about three blocks from my apartment that is to die for.”

I picked up some noodles with my chopsticks. “And why haven’t you taken me there yet?”

“Didn’t know you were into Thai, but I’ll certainly keep it in mind now.” He paused to take a drink. “Do you like Japanese?”

“I love Japanese,” I said. “Susan got me hooked on sushi. Blame her.”

“Ever had teppanyaki?”

I shook my head. “What’s that?”

“That’s where the chef cooks the food right in front of you on a big metal grill,” he said. “It’s half entertainment, half meal, and the food is fucking fantastic.”

“I’ve never had that, no,” I said.

“Well, we’ll have to change that, won’t we?” He smiled.

“Yes, we—” My cell phone rang. I pulled it out of my purse and Susan’s name came up on the caller ID. “It’s Susan, so it might be about work. Do you mind if I take it?”

“Not at all.”

I put the phone to my ear and kept my voice extra low to keep from bothering anyone else. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey,” she said. “Listen, I hate to do this, but could I ask a huge favor?”

“That depends, what do you need?”

“I had to take off from the barn early to take care of some things down in Tacoma with my mom, and I got hung up,” she said. “There’s no way I’m getting back before midnight, but Mouse still needs his meds.”

I suppressed a groan. “Need me to swing by and take care of it?”

“Could you?”

I sighed. Convenient or not, Mouse needed his medication, and Leslie and Gavin certainly couldn’t be trusted to do it properly. That, and Susan would do it for me if one of my horses ever needed it.

“Hold on a sec.” Putting my hand over the phone, I looked at Connor. “I need to run by work tonight. Do you mind if we stop there after we’re done here?”

“Sure, no problem,” he said.

I smiled. “Thanks.” To Susan, I said, “Sure, I’ll head over there in a little while.”

“I owe you big time,” she said. “His medicine’s in my locker in the tack room. Key is in my saddlebag. You know the drill.”

After I hung up, I sighed. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Besides, now I get to see where you work.”

“A barn, some horses, and a bunch of fences,” I said. “Terribly exciting.”

“Beats the hell out of a desk surrounded by cubicle walls and even more desks under the luxurious glow of fluorescent lights.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Good point.”

After we’d finished our Phở, we headed out to the barn. I would have preferred to go straight back to my apartment, which was much closer than the barn, but duty called. And I couldn’t complain about an extra half hour each way in the car with Connor. I enjoyed his company, and we’d make up for lost time when we got home, I was sure.

When we got to the barn, I flipped the switch beside the door. The lights down the center of the aisle came to life, and a few horses nickered and murmured, looking over their stall doors to see who was there.

“So, this is it.” I made a sweeping gesture around the barn. “This is where I work.”

He looked around. “I still say it beats the hell out of working in an office.”

“I’ll give you that,” I said. “I did my time behind a desk. This is my dream job. Anyway, let me take care of Susan’s horse and we’ll get out of here.”

I went into the tack room and fished Susan’s locker key out of her saddlebag. As she’d indicated, Mouse’s medicine was just inside her locker. I took it all out into the aisle and set it beside the cross ties. Then I went into Mouse’s stall and brought him out.

“Need a hand?” Connor asked.

“Nah, I’ve got it.” After I’d clipped the cross ties to Mouse’s halter, I picked up Mouse’s foot and knelt, resting his leg across my thigh. I took off the protective rubber boot and set it aside, then cleaned around the wounded area with a gauze pad before putting the antiseptic on it and cleaning it again. Fortunately, he was fairly docile when it came to things like this, so aside from trying to chew my belt, he didn’t put up much of a fuss. Occasionally, he flinched or tried to pull away, but he could have been a lot worse.

Connor leaned against the wall and watched me. “So what’s wrong with his foot?”

“He stepped on a nail.” I slid the boot back on and buckled it in place. “Got a nasty abscess, so it needs an antiseptic twice a day.”

“An abscess in his foot?” he said. “That sounds pleasant.”

“You should have seen it the first day.” I screwed the cap on the antiseptic and stood. “It was a mess.” To Mouse, I said, “Wasn’t it, baby?” He nuzzled me, then tried to eat the antiseptic bottle. I held it out of his reach. “No, sweetheart, that’s not for you to eat. You know that.”

Connor chuckled.

Smiling self-consciously, I said, “Sorry, I always talk to them.”

He shrugged, stepping aside so I could lead Mouse back to his stall. “It’s just cute to see the softer side of Dani Blake.”

I winked at him over my shoulder as I took the horse’s halter off. “You’ve
seen
my softer side.”

“You’re right, I have, and I like seeing it.” He put an arm around my waist and kissed my cheek. “I think I’d like to see it again soon.”