Jacob
One of the worst nights of sleep I’ve had in a long time.
Mainly because I couldn’t stop replaying that kiss in my mind. Over and over again. I finally gave up and hopped in the shower around four this morning. Since then, I’ve been doing some work on my phone, mainly poring over satellite images of Grandview Estate to get a feel of the place.
What makes it a bit challenging is that parts of the property are fairly densely treed. I can make out most of the driveway, which is rather curvy, to the point where the trees end and it opens up with meadows on either side of the drive leading to the main lodge. The stables and corral are easy to identify, but the guest cabins are difficult to spot under the tree cover.
On the digital blueprints my lawyer was able to obtain, you could see what the property looked like when it was built. It helps to give a bit of an idea where each building is, but there’s no guarantee modifications or additions haven’t been made. I wish I had my damn laptop, at least I’d be able to put the satellite image and the blueprints side by side on the screen to make it a little easier.
By five fifteen the battery on my phone is almost drained, so I turn off my data. I can charge it in the truck. I shove yesterday’s clothes in my bag, straighten the bed, and go in search of some coffee.
Tossing my bag by the front door, I head for the kitchen. I watched Raj make coffee before, so I know where she keeps the beans. I’m guessing at the quantity I need for a pot, but figure better too many than too few.
The grinder makes a hell of a lot of noise, but since we have to leave in forty-five minutes, I’m not too worried about waking Raj. She probably should be getting up anyway.
I’m just pouring some fresh brew in one of the travel mugs I found in her cupboards, when Raj walks in. I can feel her eyes on my back.
“Morning,” she says, leaning an elbow on the counter and grinning up at me.
She’s in a far better mood than I expected after blowing her off last night.
“Morning to you. Here…” I shove the mug in her direction and grab another from the cupboard.
“I see you’ve made yourself at home in my kitchen,” she observes. “I think I approve, if it means I have fresh coffee waiting for me.”
I glance over at her.
“You know you can get coffee makers that work on a timer, right?”
She rolls her eyes and bumps me aside with her hip, as she reaches for the sugar pot.
“That would mean I don’t get freshly ground coffee.”
She studies me over the rim of her mug as she takes a sip.
“What?” I ask, a little uneasy under her scrutiny.
She lowers her mug.
“You look a little rough.”
I bark out a laugh. “You just noticed now?”
“I’m talking about your eyes. They look tired. Didn’t sleep well?”
“Restless.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.” The little smile tugging at her mouth implies she’s not. “I slept like a baby myself,” she adds with a shrug.
I’ll be damned if she isn’t making fun of me.
“Good. I’m glad,” I mutter.
She’s already opening the fridge when she asks, “Would you like some toast? A yogurt? I can make a quick breakfast burrito too. It’ll only take me ten minutes.”
I glance at the clock. It’s twenty to six.
“If you don’t mind making them. I’ll hook up the trailer and load Buck in the meantime. That way we’re ready to go.”
“No, I don’t mind.”
She stops me, grabbing my arm when I walk past her. Then she hooks the other hand around my neck, goes up on her toes, and kisses me full on the mouth. Before I can wrap my arms around her, she ends the kiss and steps out of reach with a smile.
“See you in a bit.”
Then she turns her back and begins pulling stuff from the fridge.
It takes a second for my legs to work, but the moment they do I hustle outside.
What the hell was that?
I was not expecting that kiss, and now I’m starting to think I put something in motion last night that may not be so easy to put a halt to. At this point I don’t even know if I want to.
I get in the truck and back it down the drive to where I parked the trailer in front of the stables. When I get out, Joey is already walking up.
“Morning.”
“Hey. Would you mind giving me a hand hooking up the trailer?”
“Sure.”
With her help it doesn’t take much time at all to hook it up.
“Want me to load some hay in the back of your truck?” she asks.
“I can do that. If you wouldn’t mind getting Buck ready?”
Ten minutes later, I pull the trailer up to the house. Raj is already waiting outside, her backpack slung over her shoulder, a grocery tote in one hand, and the travel mugs in the other.
“I thought we’d eat on the road,” she suggests as she hands me the coffees before getting in the passenger seat. “I wrapped the burritos so we don’t make a mess.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Even if we don’t encounter any slowdowns on the way, it’ll still take us the better part of three hours, if not more, to get to Russell Springs. The sooner we can get on the road, the better it is.
I wait for her to buckle in before I pull away from the farm.
I’m afraid this three-hour trip is going to feel a whole lot longer than our drive to Bowling Green last week. I can’t afford to let down my guard though. Like I said to Bernie, we are so close, I can taste it. I’m going to have to put last night’s kiss, but even more so this morning’s, out of my mind.
Onyx
I can feel the tension radiating from him.
Maybe I shouldn’t have teased him with that kiss this morning, but he was being a tease last night, leaving me hanging.
There had been an intensity to his kiss, a sense of desperation. Initially, I thought perhaps it had been a while for him—hell, it had been a hell of a long time for me too—but then it occurred to me he could have been careful with me because of my history.
Either way, that kiss was something else.
I haven’t been a nun all these years, but there’s a reason I’ve kept any encounters to a purely physical level. Without emotional investment, I don’t risk making myself vulnerable. For that same reason, kissing is something I’ve tried to avoid. To me, kissing is infinitely more intimate than straightforward sex is.
I let Hamish kiss me all the same. In fact, I was more than ready for him to. I’d have been ready for more too, except that’s when he put the brakes on.
But I’m good with taking things slow. I think it says a lot about him, and the way he sees me.
Still, I feel a hint of guilt, even though I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. Jacob had every opportunity over the past years to make a move. He held all the cards but never made an effort.
“We’re about to drive through Somerset. Do you need me to make a stop?” Hamish asks.
I actually could use a bathroom stop. I shouldn’t have had all that coffee and it’s been a long drive. Plus, if I’m honest, I’m nervous. My palms are sweating.
“Will we make it in time?” I check with Hamish.
“Close enough.”
We stop at a Marathon gas station just outside the city limits. I hustle inside, do my business, and check the cooler for a couple of bottles of water. My eye is drawn to these individually wrapped glasses of white wine. I wouldn’t mind tossing back one or two of those for courage.
When I get back to the truck, I hand Hamish a bottle of water.
“I don’t know how long we’ll be there and how hospitable they are, so I brought you a water. Hope that’s okay.”
“Water’s fine, thanks.”
As he gets back on the road, I twist the cap off my bottle and put it to my mouth. I’m chugging it down when I feel his eyes on me.
“Easy. If we have to make another pee stop, we definitely won’t make it in time,” he points out.
“I should’ve bought that wine,” I grumble, putting the cap back on the bottle and dropping it in the center console.
“Nervous?”
I open my mouth to deny it, but think better of it.
“A little.”
He reaches over and gives my hand a squeeze.
“We’re picking up a horse, that’s all.”
I’m about to tell him it’s not that simple when my phone rings. It’s Janey.
“Where are you?” she asks when I answer.
“Just coming through Somerset. We’ve got another…”
I glance over at Hamish.
“Thirty minutes,” he fills in.
“Thirty minutes,” I echo to Janey.
“Good, that gives me time to try and get closer to the lodge. Mitch has an eye on the gate. He’ll keep track of comings and goings. I’ll keep an eye on you. Text only from here on out.”
“Gotcha,” I confirm, but she already ended the call.
We’d briefly discussed me wearing an earpiece but decided against it. The risks outweigh the benefits in these circumstances.
The remainder of the drive, I try to regulate my breathing so I don’t puke all over Hamish’s truck. I barely pay attention to the landscape until Hamish slows down and turns left onto a paved driveway, where he has to stop at an intimidating gate.
A couple of cameras are mounted on both stone gateposts aimed at us on either side. I resist looking around to see if I can spot Mitch and focus instead on the small speaker attached to a steel post on the driver’s side.
“Names please?”
“Onyx Baqri and Hamish Adrian.”
The gates start swinging open, and Hamish slowly advances until there is enough room for us to go through. The road up ahead curves to the right and disappears into the trees. We can’t see anything beyond the trees from here.
“How long is this driveway?” I ask.
“The property spans the entire peninsula, and this is the only road going to the actual lodge, which is located on the tip. So a fair stretch, I’d say three quarters of a mile.”
I send him a surprised look.
“You’ve done your homework,” I observe.
He shrugs his shoulders. “I prefer getting a lay of the land so I know what I’m getting into.”
Sounds like something someone with a military background might feel the need to do. It would fit with Jacob’s brothers-in-arms comment.
Which reminds me, I haven’t heard from Jacob this morning, which is kind of unusual. I would’ve expected a good luck call, or even last-minute instructions.
“Has Jacob been in touch with you at all?” I ask Hamish.
“Just a message last night. Hey, look.”
He points up ahead where the trees make way for open fields. On the other side, up on a rise, an imposing lodge comes into view. The entire building appears to have been constructed with massive logs.
“Wow,” escapes me.
“Not too shabby,” Hamish rumbles.
Only now do I notice the outbuildings to the left of the lodge. There’s a horse in the corral or paddock in front of what I’m guessing are the stables, and two men leaning on the fencing, their heads turned in our direction.
“Is that Doyle?” I ask.
“Looks like it.”
The agent is not wearing a suit this time, and instead has opted for dark jeans, an ornately embroidered western shirt, and boots that look like they’re polished daily. His version of casual, I guess.
The fellow beside him looks a bit more relaxed, more at home in this environment. I wonder if that could be the vet. The man remains where he is, while Doyle walks toward us, waving us to a parking space beside the stables where two other horse trailers are parked.
Hamish has barely turned off the engine when my door is ripped open and Doyle sticks his head in.
“Ms. Baqri, what an absolute pleasure.”
“Hello, Mr. Doyle, if you’d give me a minute, I can gather my things and get out.”
That appears to fluster him as he backs away from the door. Good. I dislike people getting in my space uninvited. Well, I particularly dislike the agent crowding me.
“Nice slap on the hand,” Hamish shares under his breath.
While I tuck my water bottle in my backpack, he’s already out of the truck and rounding the hood. As I get out of the vehicle, I notice him greeting Doyle.
“I hope your drive was smooth?” the agent asks, turning to me.
“Very uneventful, thank you.”
“Excellent. If you’d allow, I’d like to introduce you to Brian Haley, Arion’s Moon’s trainer.” He turns to Hamish. “Of course, I mean former trainer.”
Hamish says nothing, so I jump in with, “We’d love to meet him.”
Doyle leads the way to where the other man is leaning against the enclosure, watching our approach.
“Ms. Baqri, I’d like you to meet Brian Haley, head trainer here at Grandview Estate.”
“Nice to meet you.”
I take Haley’s offered hand.
“Nice to meet you as well,” I echo before stepping aside and indicating Hamish. “And this is Hamish Adrian, he will be working with Arion’s Moon at Four Oaks.”
The trainer narrow’s his eyes on the man by my side.
“Adrian? You’ve gotta be shitting me.”
He grabs Hamish’s hand and starts pumping it furiously.
Wait a minute, they know each other? I glance at Hamish, who looks a little like a deer in headlights. Why wouldn’t he have mentioned something? It’s not like Haley’s name hadn’t come up.
“Damn, man. I was sorry to hear about the accident. It really did a number on you, didn’t it?”
Hamish grunts an inaudible response, and darts a glance my way.
What the hell is going on?