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“The day you become predictable, Elisha Rowe, would be a very sad day, indeed.” He barely recognizes his own voice, all low and hoarse and wolfish like that.
“Stick with me and I can teach you a thing or two.”
Stick with her. The fog in his mind clears: her flirting is taking a battle-ax to his defenses, devastating his walls in the best-worst of ways, and it scares him how little he rues their demolition.
“You teach me about impulse control?” he drawls, offering her an unimpressed arch of his eyebrows and a slightly disapproving hum under his breath.
Her smile is impish. “Or about not controlling it.”
Ves definitely knows which one he prefers, especially when she looks at him like that. It takes every muscle in his face not to smile at her unrepentant cheek. Unfortunately, it’s about the only physical response he can control, because fuck, he hardens further. Either he underestimated her charm offensive or it’s been longer than he cares to think about since he’s been with a woman.
“Just saying, think about it,” Elisha chirps.
Believe me, I am, Ves thinks. With you right in front of me, how can I do anything but?
He notices that she waits just long enough for the offer to sink in before entering the barn. The sway of her hips is going to kill him. He clears his throat and decides to shift the subject to neutral ground.
“The Kwons leave their barn unlocked?” asks Ves, following her inside where it’s every bit as warm as he knew it would be. The scent of leather and horse musk hangs heavy in the air.
“It’s a safety hazard to lock the stall and barn doors. If there’s a fire or another emergency, the folks arriving to help won’t be able to get inside in time. Didn’t you see all the security lighting outside? Plus the property is padlocked and all the horses are microchipped.”
He’s glad to hear of the precautions in place, but he still feels a little uneasy being in a place he isn’t sure he belongs. “So tell me, what did teenage Elisha get up to when she snuck in?” asks Ves.
“There’s a lot of trails around here, so the stables would be chaotically busy during the day with people getting tack on or taking lessons or mucking out stalls. But the evenings were all ours. Kat knew how much I loved horses and kittens, and, well, you need a few cats around to take care of the vermin.” She pauses, eyeing him. “Do not make a rat joke, I swear to god.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he says swiftly, even though one had been on the tip of his tongue.
“My parents didn’t want to add another responsibility to their plate, so I never had a cat growing up. But the litters in here were so sweet and they always got adopted out super quickly, so Kat let me play with them. I was always jealous that she got to keep a couple for the barn,” she says with a laugh. “How about you? Any pets growing up?”
“My parents didn’t want to shuffle a pet back and forth along with a kid. So I’m not really a cat person, or a dog person, or an anything person, really. And yes, my exes have all pointed out how weird that makes me, so you don’t need to repeat it,” he says with finality.
With a guilty flush she says, “Wasn’t going to.” Then, softer, “Guess Kat could always take two more...”
“What was that?”
“Oh, nothing.” In a particularly squirrelly way, Elisha hastens to a nearby stall. “This pretty lady here is Noelle,” she coos, scratching the black mare behind her inky forelock. Noelle whuffs, nosing against Elisha’s arm in search of treats. “I’ll bring you apple slices tomorrow,” she promises.
To Ves, she explains, “He doesn’t get to ride as much these days, but Grandpa boards her here for free in exchange for Kat’s family using her in lessons. She’s gentle with the older kids and adult beginner riders.”
Ves rubs Noelle’s nose, rewarded with a pleased whicker. “She’s huge.”
“Mm-hmm. She’s a Clydesdale. Kinda what they’re known for. She’s eighteen hands, which is about the same height as me.” Elisha removes the cap from the camera lens, pockets it. “Ever ridden one?”
“Not a Clydesdale, but yeah, my parents used to send me to horse camp every summer when I came home from boarding school. I actually attended one of the best equestrian programs.”
He sees the camera freeze halfway to her eye. “I thought you grew up and went to school in New York City?”
Why does she sound so tentative? “I did,” he confirms.
“So you went to boarding school in the city? The same place where your parents lived?”
There’s no mistaking how aghast she sounds, her pitch rising and then falling as she fails to modulate her voice. But Ves doesn’t know how to answer her implicit Why?
Maybe once upon a time he wished his family could be different, but he’s long realized that it’s easier to accept people and things as they are than to feel sorry for himself over what they’re not. If he hadn’t adjusted his expectations, he would have sunk into bitterness instead of merely embracing resignation. And what good would all that hurt and anger have done, anyway?
Wishes are like dandelion fluff: pretty but useless.
They hadn’t done him any good when he’d been turned away at the New York Public Library after exuberantly racing past the lion statues on the steps, eager for his very first library card, but too young to get one without a parent signature. He’d begged Adeline to take him for weeks, but she could never find the time. He’d hoped to make her proud by getting it all by himself, but instead, hopes dashed, he’d returned home. Dejected and bracing himself for the scolding when his parents realized he’d snuck out with his MetroCard without permission. They hadn’t even noticed.
