Secret Agent Boyfriend by Addison Fox

Author:Addison Fox [Fox, Addison]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-02-28T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Derek stayed true to his promise. In exchange for skipping out on spending the afternoon with Landry’s family, he helped out wherever he was needed in the stables. The work was sweaty and tiring, but he took pride in the finished product—a stable that positively sparkled.

“We’ve got an opening if you want it.” Noah’s grin was infectious when he handed over a cold bottle of water. “You’re a natural in here.”

“It was time well spent. I can feel my muscles.”

“There’s something to that, isn’t there?” Noah took a seat opposite him in the small stable office, his skin as covered in dirt as Derek’s.

Noah’s gaze traveled the office walls. “It’s something my mother’s struggled with.” When Derek said nothing, Noah added, “My interest in working here. Taking care of the horses and the grounds. She has some idea that it’s beneath me.”

“Parents don’t understand everything.”

“Do yours?”

“I got pretty lucky.” Again, he was reminded that his own upbringing was fairly idyllic. But even amid the seeming perfection, there had been holes. “But parents don’t always know how to express their feelings. My mother didn’t like a woman I used to be engaged to.”

He’d deliberately pushed those early days with Sarah out of his mind, but his mother hadn’t been crazy about his choice and had made sure he knew about it, too.

“What happened?”

“Let’s just say I figured out before it was too late that you can’t share your life with someone who wishes you were a different person.”

“That’s for damn sure.” Noah waved his water bottle. “You introduce your mother to Landry yet?”

“Not yet. But soon.”

Derek knew he was only playing a part, but suddenly he had a vision of bringing Landry home to meet his parents. The two of them, seated at his mother’s dining room table, sharing a meal as his mother trod that delicate balance between being nosy and interested, and his father kept a sweet, supportive smile pasted on his face.

“What about you? You ever get close enough to getting married?”

“Not yet. That’s my mother’s other bone of contention with me. She hates my job and is upset she doesn’t have any grandchildren. She’s accused me of being a rolling stone.” Noah took a last long swig of his water, a hard laugh bouncing off the stable doors. “I just tell her she’s obsessed.”

Noah snagged two more waters out of a cooler by his side and tossed Derek one. “So we’ve mucked stalls all day, groomed horses and even shared nagging mother stories. You going to finally give in and tell me what you really do? Because I find it hard to believe you’re a simple, carefree, jet-setting playboy.”

“Will I ruin your image of me if I say no?”

“Nah. I figured you from the first. But watching you the last few days and how much Landry digs you have only confirmed it.”

“That was your clue?”

“Hell, yeah. The woman’s dated far too many jet-setting playboys. They bore her to tears. And you don’t.”

The door was open—all Derek had to do was step through it.

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