“Better than I expected. I could tell she was having a great time, and so was I.” I grinned at the memory of her sitting across from me in the restaurant, both of us smelling like horses and stale sweat. But that had been a turn on. I liked that she didn’t mind getting dirty. “But now she won’t say one word to me without me forcing a conversation on her. She hasn’t met my eyes since that night. I don’t know what to do.”
Lacey watched me for a long moment, her eyebrows drawing together slowly. She pressed her lips into a narrow line. Without warning, her eyes were shooting arrows at me, the look on her face so mean, I damned near stepped back.
“Did you sleep with her after this date last Friday?”
I kicked at the dirt, looking down like some little kid in trouble with his mama. “Yeah, we may have ended up in bed together.”
“Goddamn it, Pete Gains. What the hell is wrong with you?” She stepped close and nailed me hard in the arm with her fist.
I yowled and slid away from her before she could give me another one. “Damn, Lace-”
“It’s no wonder she’s been so fucking uncomfortable around you. What the hell did you think would happen? You’re lucky she didn’t quit outright.” She shook her head, eyes still shooting fire. “I told you to keep your dick in your pants!”
I swallowed instead of answering. I’d really messed this up. Maybe more than I could fix. But I had to try. I wanted Emma in my life, and not just as my employee.
“I really like her, Lacey,” I said in a low voice. “I need to know how to make this right.”
She sighed, the fire going down a bit in her eyes as her face softened. She didn’t look like she was going to hit me anymore, which was good because the girl could punch. “Emma probably doesn’t know how to act around you now. You’re her boss. And, you slept with her. She probably thinks she’ll be fired or you’ll expect sex from her to keep her on at the ranch.”
“I’d never do that!” I said.
“But she doesn’t know that, Pete. You have to talk to her.”
I dropped my shoulders into a deep slump, the way they’d been since Saturday night. I knew Lacey was right. I couldn’t let this fester any longer.
Without another word on the matter, I walked straight to the barn to find Emma. She’d been jumping like hot grease on a skillet all week, anything to keep from sticking around when I turned up. But I caught her scrubbing out water troughs on her knees out back of the barn. Her back stiffened when she heard me walk up, but she didn’t turn, just clenched her jaw and kept scrubbing out a trough that was already sparkling clean.
“Can we talk a minute, Emma?” I asked.
She stiffened some more, but when she turned to look up at me, that serene, unaffected look was back on her face, her tight jaw the only thing telling me she was uncomfortable. I wanted to drop to my knees and kiss her again. I wanted to scoop her up into my arms and carry her back to my bed. I knew how she tasted and felt underneath me. The knowledge was driving me insane. I wanted that warmth again. But the smiley, giggling girl I’d briefly glimpsed through the open door of the safe was gone. She was closed off. We were right back where we started. Except now I knew how badly I needed her.
“Things have been off this week. I’m sure you noticed.” I paused, but she just stared up at me with those green eyes, her gorgeous mouth sealed shut. “I want to talk…about what happened.”
She blinked. “Everything’s fine. I just want to do my work.”
“I know,” I said. “But I want us to be on good terms, too.” I could see her hardening against me. If I kept on like this, I’d lose her for good. I hadn’t realized until this moment how close she was to just bolting from the farm and never coming back. “I don’t want to talk about it on the ranch. Can I take you to the Texan tomorrow morning?” The change of scenery had worked before. I was hoping it would work for me when I really needed it to. And, there was no danger of anything happening between us in the morning before starting our duties on the ranch.
She shook her head, her eyes flashing in the sun, so green I felt a tingling in my gut. “That’s not a good idea, Pete.”
“It’s just breakfast. I really want us to be able to talk.”
She clenched her jaw again. But she didn’t say no right away.
“Please, Emma.”
Her tense shoulders loosened, sinking down a little. She looked exhausted suddenly. I wanted to tell her to go home for the day, but I knew she never would. Not with the horses out in the pasture and the barn not put back together again for the night.
“Okay,” she said, not seeming pleased about it. “Just breakfast.”
“Just breakfast,” I agreed, unable to keep from grinning as that warmth licked at my body from the strength of her unwavering stare. I turned on my booted heel and left before she could change her mind.
I moved through the rest of the day like a man newly released from death row — a little stunned at the reprieve, but happy as a pig in slop despite how completely off my game I felt. I had another shot, and I didn’t mean to blow it. I aimed to get this figured out. Somehow.
At the end of the day, Lacey was waiting for me on the porch, an ice cold beer in hand. She had another one on the ground next to her chair that she handed to me after I sank into my own seat. We clinked the necks of our bottles together and then took long swigs of the frosty, bubbly liquid that was like heaven after so many hours out in the sun.
I watched Emma leave the barn and walk to her car. She waved, then got in and drove away, leaving nothing but dust behind her. A part of me ached at seeing her leave. Though I knew she was the type who’d never leave a job without putting in notice, I worried just the same.
“Did you set things right with her?” Lacey asked. “She still seemed off today.”