Chapter Twenty-One
Jenna blew out a breath, grabbed the lantern, and descended the stairs. Her heart thudded faster with each step. She wasn’t sure if it was the storm or the thought of seeing Axel again.
Since the electricity was still on, she turned off the lantern and hung it back on the hook at the base of the stairs.
As she entered the main area of the barn, she found the horses gone and the doors were locked so no one could get in without a key, and the only keys were on her and Tim’s truck keychains.
Gosh, Axel worked fast, she’d have to hustle to keep up to him.
In the tack room, she found Axel’s wet clothing laid over the back of an old chair. The sight of his shirt draped over the chair sent a strange warmth through her. It was a reminder that he was here, in her space, part of her world again.
The overalls were gone, but Tim’s boots were still there. They hadn’t fit. She knew they wouldn’t. Axel’s feet were so much bigger than her late husband’s feet.
She located her old boots and slipped them on.
As she stepped back into the main area of the barn, she heard the horses neighing softly from the stable area.
Suddenly Axel’s voice drifted along the cool air. She was surprised that he was talking to the horses.
His voice was low and soothing, a tone she hadn’t heard in years. Gentle, patient, almost reverent.
Quietly she strolled down the long hallway and halted. All the horses were sticking their heads out of their stable watching him as he stood in the alleyway with the last horse, the one who’d gotten wet.
Axel wore Tim’s coveralls. The oversized fabric clung in places and hung loose in others, making him look rugged and strangely vulnerable all at once.
Because they were oversized and designed to cover clothes, they fit him perfectly.
He stood in the old wool socks she’d mentioned that were in the tack room and she hoped his feet weren’t too cold.
“I remember Nick saying to never let a wet horse go without being groomed and dried before tucking her in for the night. We’ll just wait for Jenna, and she can show me how,” he said softly to the horse, whose ears flicked back and forth as it listened.
How interesting. Axel, a man who had only been concerned with cars and trucks and carpentry, seemed to have a way with horses. Obviously, a tender side of him still existed even after being imprisoned for so many years.
She kept quiet as he tied the horse’s lead to a bar so she couldn’t wander off. Then he made his way to the next horse, whose head was sticking out of her stall. He stroked her muzzle. The horse’s eyes closed, loving his touches.
The tenderness in his touches made her chest ache. He wasn’t just the man she remembered; he was someone new, someone deeper.
“You are a sweet filly, aren't you?” he said gently.
The horse answered with a neigh.
“Good girl. Now I've got to move on, or all of the other horses will get jealous. We don't want that or there could be a riot.”
A quiet laugh bubbled up before she could stop it. He still had that spark, that playful charm she’d fallen for.
He moved on to the next and then the next. Her breath caught. The way he moved among the horses, calm and sure, made something inside her soften.
Lightning flashed at the windows, and the lightbulbs shone brightly along the aisle, but Jenna kept to the shadows, not wanting to interfere. She just loved how her heart burst with appreciation that he would take the time with her horses.
When he neared the end of the stalls, he turned from the last horse and stopped when he saw her.
The way his gaze locked onto hers made her breath catch. It was as if the storm outside had suddenly moved inside her chest.
“Hey, I didn't see you there,” he said.
He smiled at her and her insides brightened with awareness. That smile. It was familiar and it was devastating, unravelling something deep inside of her that she’d been trying to hold together for years.
The barn felt too quiet, too intimate and her every heartbeat echoed louder than the rain on the roof. Her pulse stumbled. The thought of standing close to him again made her skin prickle with anticipation.
“Hey, can you show me how the grooming is done? I know they aren’t supposed to be wet for long, or it can cause skin issues,” he asked in that throaty voice she loved so much.
“Hey yourself. Sure, I can show you. Thanks for tucking in the horses,” she praised.
His eyes glittered and he gave a soft nod.
“No problem. I figured I should let them get used to me if I'm going to become one of Jenna’s cowboys.”
The words Jenna’s cowboys curled through her like a spark. It was playful on the surface but threaded with something that felt dangerously close to longing.
His grin widened and her breath caught at the sexy lines erupting at the sides of his luscious looking mouth. Those lines hadn't been there when he’d gone to prison. Life had carved those lines into his face, and she swore he hadn't looked hotter than right now.
“You look flushed. Are you okay? You should have wrapped a blanket around you.” He said in a thick voice.
“Uh huh,” she answered.
Her heart was pounding at an insane pace and even more heat rushed to her cheeks. She prayed he couldn’t see how much of it had nothing to do with the cold.
“That shirt sure does look good on you.”
“Thanks. Maybe we should get on with the grooming. I’ll get the stuff we need.” Because if they didn’t get started, she’d end up kissing the guy.
“Okay, what should I do with her?”
“She’s fine where she is. Hold on a minute. Be right back.”
Mercy, she had to show him how to groom a horse. They would be close together. So close.
Jenna tried to calm her breathing, but it was fast.
Her hands trembled slightly as she gathered the brushes in the tack room. Excitement and fear tangled in her stomach as she returned to Axel and found him stroking the horse’s muzzle.
She forced herself to remain professional outwards as she neared him, trying oh so hard to ignore his unique scent. Trying so hard to ignore the electrical jolt every time his arm brushed hers.
Quickly she began to point out how to groom a wet horse.
And yes, the nearness was awkward and intimate, especially because she wasn’t wearing her panties.
That knowledge made her hyper-aware of every movement, every shift of the flannel brushing her skin.
Thankfully though, his shirt was like a mid-thigh length dress on her and covered her naughty parts nicely.
But to her surprise, he appeared professional and picked up very quickly what she showed him that needed to be done. Half an hour later, they both finished the brushing routine, and she led the dry and happy horse into her stall, where she proceeded to drink water.
Jenna closed the stable door and joined Axel who’d headed to the front of the barn where they both washed their hands at the sink. Standing side by side at the sink felt strangely intimate and felt like slipping into an old rhythm she’d forgotten she missed.
Once Axel was finished, he stepped to the entrance way and gazed out the small diagonal window in the barn door. She noted he stood near the same spot where he’d gone down on her this morning.
Her breath hitched at the memory of that moment as it flashed through her, vivid enough to make her knees weaken. Heat fused through her entire body as she remembered how wonderful he’d made her feel with his ultra-hot mouth buried between her thighs.
“It’s really pissing cats and dogs out there.
Do you want to head back to the house in this rain?
I can head over and get the raincoats. You wouldn’t have to get wet.
I would come back to the house with you and stay in one of the other bedrooms, or on the couch, if you prefer.
Or would you prefer to bunk here for the night? Strictly professional of course.”
The offer wasn’t casual. She heard the hesitation, the hope, the fear woven through his voice.
She swallowed, feeling overwhelmingly excited. She wanted Axel to make love to her. She wanted to feel loved. To push away the sadness that had been clutching her heart over the past years.
Her marriage with Tim had been quite rocky and she had never truly felt loved by him, except at the beginning until they’d married.
Now that he was gone, she could see that every time she had pulled away from him, threatening to leave him due to his stepping out of their marriage with other women, he had loved bombed her back into his bed.
The last time being he said he was ready for a family. And he knew she wanted a family. She should have left him, but she had stayed and once again fallen for his charms.
A dull ache spread through her chest. She’d spent so long feeling unseen, unloved, and now the contrast was blinding.
And now she was pregnant and Axel was here and how was she going to tell him? The truth hovered between them like a fragile secret she wasn’t ready to break open.
“Jenna? What's wrong? If you're worried I might touch you again, I promise hands off.”
The promise sounded strained, like it cost him something. That only made her want him more.
The bulge against his pants between his thighs promised he wanted her...
Maybe she should...
“I'll stay. But I want you naked.”
The words left her before she could second-guess them. Suddenly she felt bold, reckless, fueled by years of buried longing.
“Excuse me?” he replied so quickly that she didn’t think he’d actually let what she’d said sink in. And then there it was. Shock splashed across his face.
Then arousal as he got her meaning.
His Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed.
“I promised Nick I'd keep my pecker in my pants, baby doll.”
The laughter burst out of her, bright and unexpected. It was like a crack of sunlight through years of storm clouds.
Oh, it felt wonderful to suddenly be happy. She had had so much sadness and anger over the years and especially recently with Tim's passing and now with Sam gone.