Her Stand-In Cowboy by Crystal Walton

Author:Crystal Walton [Walton, Crystal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Ainsley took her time brushing down Shiloh. She never needed an excuse to prolong moments with her horse, nor to spend time in her favorite place. The barn had always been a source of comfort for her. If she was honest, it’d even been a hideout at times—tonight clearly being one of them.

She wasn’t exactly avoiding Connor.

Shiloh nickered at her unvoiced thoughts.

“Okay, fine,” she said out loud to the little mind reader. “Maybe I am avoiding him, but can you blame me?” This morning on the porch had been mortifying enough. They’d shared some close moments before—times when his suave confidence had drawn her in and made her wonder about possibilities, but this was different. His eyes were different. The way they’d held her, brought her close. She was positive he was about to kiss her. Worse, she’d stood there waiting for—visibly wanting—him to. The embarrassing moment hadn’t stopped replaying through her head since it’d happened.

Thank heavens she’d left her lipstick stashed inside the house this time. Truly, when your lips are parted like some overeager pucker fish, you don’t need bright pink lipstick drawing any more attention to those suckers. Then again, plain ol’ naturelle style must’ve done a mighty fine job communicating her intent, or Connor wouldn’t have backed away like he’d regretted the mistake before ever making it.

He couldn’t possibly have missed her reaction—before or after he’d withdrawn. But he never showed it. Not once. No awkwardness or backtracking. Not a trace of being uncomfortable around her or distracted at all. Throughout the day, he’d been nothing but… thoughtful, hardworking, focused.

She glanced around the trusses and stall beams he’d spent a good part of the afternoon reinforcing. Despite the substantial progress they’d made today, they had work to do yet. No question. Nonetheless, the scent of new oak boards infused the barn with fresh life it’d been lacking for years.

Ainsley fluttered away tears rising from that beautifully devastating place inside her where hope and doubt intersected. The rust-free nails didn’t only hold a relic of a building together. They undergirded a vision that Connor had embraced with such honest fervency, she could’ve believed they were in this together. Like it was his home too.

Instead of the pushy, business-driven man she’d pinned him to be, he’d undeniably, unsettlingly been a man Ainsley could too easily wish were a real part of her life. A part she wouldn’t be losing at the end of the month.

Shiloh prodded his nose under her hand.

Smiling at her horse’s uncanny intuition, Ainsley set the brush on top of the stall gate and stroked his neck. “See,” she whispered. “You’d be hiding, too, if you were me.”

“Hiding from what?”

Ainsley jumped at the sound of Connor’s voice approaching. She quickly pulled herself together—mostly—before turning around. “Hey. I thought you were inside getting cleaned up.”

He held his arms out with his shower-fresh look on display: damp hair with the slightest curl grazing his forehead, scruff trimmed to the perfect level of tantalizing, an untucked button-down hanging over relaxed jeans.

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