Chapter Sixteen #5
“So Canyon, what are you doing here?” Leon asked. It was the most animated I’d ever seen Leon. But horses were his entire life, just like they were Canyon’s, so I wasn’t surprised they would get along.
“Barrel racer coming back from a rodeo was in a car accident. She lost an arm. The horse broke a leg but had surgery and was saved. Though now that the leg is better, she’s permanently scared.
Can’t be ridden, can’t be touched, can’t even hear the sound of an engine without freaking out so hard she needs sedating.
” His expression grew sad. “But we’re making progress.
It’s gonna take a long dang time, but we’re getting there. ”
“How do you even go about starting that career?” Jasper said.
Canyon thought about it. “I suppose this is where the term horse whisperer comes from,” he said, “because I can’t really explain it.
I just spend time with the horse and learn to read them, to speak to them, and they reveal their trauma.
It’s a language, I suppose. One that I’m lucky enough to comprehend.
It’s in the way they move or react, their personalities shine through .
. .” He shrugged, like his talent wasn’t incredible.
“Once I understand them, I can start the healing. It’s always a slow progress, and sometimes there’s a limit to how much we can do.
But horses are worth trying for, right? They help us, care for us unconditionally, so it’s only right that when they need help, we be at their service. ”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Jasper said, tapping his Coke bottle to Canyon’s.
“Amen,” Leon echoed.
Seeing Jasper and Leon bonding with Canyon gave something to my soul I didn’t know I needed. This was my old and new life colliding, and to me, it was beautiful.
“Canyon is all about natural horsemanship. He rides with a bitless bridle,” I said, and immediately felt the rush of heat pass through my veins at the memory of a rubber bit clenched in my own teeth.
Jasper must have been thinking of it too, as he discreetly placed his hand on my thigh, then slowly crawled his fingers inward until they pressed against my clit, beginning maddening circular motions.
What was he thinking?
“Are we ready to dance?” I said, jolting to my feet before Jasper made me come right there at the table. Jasper hid his smirk with a napkin, and Canyon got to his feet too.
“Let’s show these Brits how it’s done on this side of the pond,” Canyon said, and I followed him to the building next door. Night had fallen and the string lights around the food trucks looked like fireflies dancing in the night sky. The sound of country music quickly lured us downstairs.
As soon as we entered, the feel of sawdust under my feet and peanut shells discarded on the floor soothed my soul. Luke Combs and Lainey Wilson blasted from the speakers, and Canyon held out his hand. “Miss Hallie, may I have this dance?”
“You may,” I said, and let him lead me to the dance floor. It was packed, but we found a clearing with enough room for Canyon to spin me. I laughed as he threw me around the room.
“Don’t look now, but your man can’t take his eyes off you,” Canyon said a few minutes later, and I looked over my shoulder to see Jasper holding a beer, leaning against a nearby wall with Leon.
Leon was animatedly talking into Jasper’s ear, but Jasper’s eyes were locked on me.
He scraped his teeth along his bottom lip.
It was heady, the power that I had in this moment.
Jasper was dominant, and I was happy to be submissive to him in bed.
I lived for those moments. But right here, right now, the way he was watching me, his empty hand balling at his side as he fought the need to hold me . . . It was addictive.
“Let’s tip him over the edge, hey?” Canyon said, as Willie Nelson played next and the tempo increased. As Canyon spun me around the dance floor, he said, “I think it’s working.” I looked behind me to see Jasper handing his beer bottle to a confused Leon and heading toward me.
He wasn’t . . .
He couldn’t be . . .
“She’s all yours,” Canyon said to Jasper, and gave him my hand.
“What about you?” I said to Canyon.
A woman placed her hand on his shoulder, pulling him her way. “You’re practically my sister, Hals, so I won’t go into it, but . . . I do okay.”
I laughed as he was dragged into the center of the dance floor by a dark-haired beauty and he spun her like he’d just spun me.
When I turned to Jasper, he placed his hand around my waist. “Jasper,” I said, and checked around us.
Leon smirked at us and shook his head. There was nothing but amusement on his face.
Atticus too, if his wink at me from across the dance floor was any indication.
Turning back to Jasper, I said, “We can’t, someone might see. ”
“My security team have checked and we weren’t followed. No one here knows us. We’re safe.”
I looked to our friends again. They were completely unbothered by our closeness. “I feel like the team may be onto our secret relationship.”
“Good,” he said, without looking around.
“Then I don’t have to hold back in doing this.
” Before I even knew what was coming, Jasper pushed me into a dark corner of the room and crushed his mouth to mine.
Safely out of sight, I moaned, gripping onto his muscled biceps before melting into his embrace.
People on the dance floor spun around, the music pounding out a fast beat, but we stood suspended in time, still, and falling into one another’s arms—our own pocket of peace in the chaos.
Jasper eventually broke away, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Are you here to two-step with me?” I asked dubiously.
“I have no fucking clue how to do that, or even dance in general, so I thought I’d just hold you instead.
” His face shone with jealousy. “If one more of these fucking cowboys drools your way, there’s a real danger that I’m going to commit murder tonight.
” I threw my head back, laughing. Lifting my hat from my head, I placed it on his.
I stepped back and looked my fill. Jasper Knighton in a cowboy hat should be illegal.
“Fuck,” I said, and I squeezed my legs together when heat built between them.
Then my gaze softened. “This was my daddy’s hat,” I said, and even over the music, I knew Jasper heard the bittersweet tone of my voice.
Jasper lifted the hat off his head and placed it back on my own.