Sarah gave Bruce the stink-eye as he managed to slide a hand along her thigh when he passed her leading a horse out of the stall. It had been almost a week since the breakfast fiasco, and still, every time she came anywhere near him, heads turned. To make matters worse, he seemed to be enjoying the whole thing. He found creative ways to brush against her and keep her body humming.
She’d gone to the ballet studio the last five nights, and between that and the sex, every not-normally-used muscle in her body ached. As if he hadn’t done enough, Bruce bought her an iPod, downloaded the music from her solo performances, and pumped the compositions through the sound system.
The first night, after running some errands, he’d returned to watch her practice. At the end of the piece, he’d framed her face with his hands and told her he could see her soul when she danced. He’d taken her back to his condo and made tender love to her, worshipping every part of her body.
She shivered at the memory and forced her focus back to cleaning buckets.
Bruce approached and stopped in front of her as Morgan’s car pulled into the lot behind him.
“Sorry you got stuck working on a Saturday. You have to be tired,” he said.
“Becca never calls in sick. I’ll be fine.” Sarah shrugged. “Besides, I won’t dance at the studio again until Monday.”
“True. Morgan and I are leaving soon.”
One day without seeing him shouldn’t seem like it would be forever, but it did. Maybe his travel companion had something to do with that.
Sarah wiped her hands on her jeans and tried to keep his goal of helping more veterans in mind. “I hope this horse works out.”
He held his palm to the side of her face and kissed her. Soft and slow, with the promise of more to come. When he pulled away, he stroked her cheek. “Want to go out on the boat when I get back?”
“For a repeat?”
“Hell, yeah. We never made it to the aft berth where the other bed is,” he said with a glint in his eye. “I intend to get on the road early. Rest up for me.”
Sarah went back to work but kept glancing at Bruce. Morgan laughed and put a hand on his shoulder. The Ice Queen always had her paws on Bruce. Sarah slammed the bucket down.
She lugged the pail inside and brought out another. After Bruce drove off in his truck, Morgan sauntered across the lot and stopped next to her. Sarah kept her head down and squirted water into the pail.
“Well, well. A little workplace romance going on?”
“It’s none of your business,” Sarah said.
“I like to keep up. You know, I’m going to be spending the night with Bruce, and that man has stamina you wouldn’t believe.” Morgan sighed. “Wait, maybe you would know.”
Sarah wiped an arm across her forehead and huffed out a breath. “You can cut the act. Bruce told me you’re just friends.”
“Oh, we are, dear. Friends with…benefits.” She winked and strolled to the stable entrance.
Sarah’s stomach bottomed out. Lie. It had to be a lie. Bruce wouldn’t do something like that. She shut her eyes. Morgan’s hand on his shoulder, the familiar way she touched him, she acted like his booty call. No. The witch lived to mess with her. Probably jealous. Still, Morgan had a clear interest in him and a body that screamed sex.
“You okay?” Lynn asked.
“What? Sorry, I didn’t see you come over.”
“I saw Morgan talking to you, and you looked kinda upset.”
“She has that effect.” Sarah glared at the stables. “She was suggesting she and Bruce…well…never mind.”
Lynn’s eyes narrowed. “She wishes. She’s been after him since the second she came here.”
Ugh. The last thing Sarah wanted to hear.
“Don’t worry about her.” Lynn placed a hand on Sarah’s arm. “Listen, as long as I’ve known Bruce, I’ve never seen him happier.”
“Well, that’s something, I guess.”
“You’re good for him. I was starting to worry he’d never date again. Four years is a long time to mourn.”
Sarah’s heart froze and then jump-started. “Wh-what?”
“His wife. You didn’t know?” Lynn’s eyes grew large. “I just assumed—”
“I can’t believe this.” The blood drained from Sarah’s head. This couldn’t be true. He would have told her.
“I shouldn’t have said anything. He’s so private.” Lynn squeezed Sarah’s arm. “I’m so sorry.”
If he’d kept that a secret, God knew what other ones he had. Maybe friends with benefits. Sarah’s world spun. She’d shared the most intimate parts of herself, and he’d kept something so huge from her. “I need to know. Please, tell me.”
“Come, sit down.” Lynn went to a bench in front of the stables and sat.
Sarah took a seat next to her and forced a deep breath. “What happened?”
“His wife was a nurse. One night, driving home, she was killed in an accident. He never had the chance to even say goodbye. It crushed him.” Lynn tugged at the neckline of her shirt. “Everyone here knows about it. I figured by now you would too.”
Wonderful. Common knowledge to everybody. Except her. A wave of nausea rolled in her stomach. He knew everything about her life, but she didn’t really know too much about his. He’d mentioned his parents were dead, but he never talked about them or how they died. In fact, he didn’t discuss much of anything about growing up. And forget about his time in the service, although she couldn’t blame him for not wanting to relive those experiences.
God, it all made sense now. The hot-and-cold treatment. He must have been battling with guilt. She lowered her head into her hands.
“Please, Sarah. Don’t overreact. He’s a good person, and I can see how much he cares about you.” Lynn rubbed her back. “You know how guys are. They don’t like to talk about feelings.”
“Thanks for telling me.” Sarah stood on shaky legs and dusted off her pants. “I should get back to work.”
Lynn ran a hand through her hair and blew out a breath. “Shit, I’m sorry.”