Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
GABE
Inearly choked at the sexual innuendo dripping from Jasmine’s tone.
My throat bobbed with a rough swallow, and I shifted on my feet, glancing nervously at her father, but he hadn’t seemed to notice.
For a moment, I thought I might be reading too much into it, but the twinkle in her eye and her devilish smirk confirmed it hadn’t been my imagination.
Elwood clapped me on the shoulder, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“She’s a wild one,” he warned me, shaking his head with a soft snort of laughter.
“I gave up trying to tame her long ago. She’s as strong willed and hardheaded as that filly you broke when you first came to Honeysuckle Ranch.
” I didn’t much care for him comparing her to an animal, but knowing Jasmine, she’d probably see it as a compliment.
She’d been obsessed with horses for as long as I’d known her.
When I first started working here twelve years ago, she was already a proficient rider but was just starting her barrel racing journey.
She’d just been diagnosed with type I Diabetes, and it was how she chose to cope with her new reality and all the changes that came with it.
I’d only been hired to train the horses, but when I saw she needed more guidance than what she was receiving, I stepped in.
My aunt had been a professional barrel racer, and since I’d spent a lot of time with her and my uncle growing up, I’d learned a lot about the sport.
Once Elwood saw I could help her improve and picked a horse much better suited for barrel racing, that became part of my job.
I’d work with Jasmine in the afternoons when she got home from school, but in the summer, she was up at the crack of dawn ready to go.
I didn’t love getting up an hour earlier than necessary because she insisted on training before breakfast, but her dedication and drive made it worth it.
“So,” Jasmine began, and I blinked away the memory.
We trotted along, her perched on the back of her stunning quarter horse and me on the dappled Appaloosa I’d borrowed.
“You didn’t rat me out to my dad for being at the bar Friday night.
” It sounded like a statement, but she tilted her head inquisitively like she wasn’t completely confident in her assumption.
“Like you said,” I replied, turning away from her.
I couldn’t look into those hazel eyes that I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about all weekend.
I’d had some very inappropriate thoughts about the woman riding next to me, and I worried she’d know somehow if I held her gaze for too long.
“You’re twenty-one years old, a grown woman.
You weren’t doing anything wrong, and you certainly don’t have to answer to anyone else. ”
“Damn straight,” she said with a sly grin and a mischievous glint in her eyes. I laughed and it felt like a release, like coming home. Like something I’d been holding in for far too long. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed like that.
Celeste and I hadn’t laughed together in a long time.
Things fizzled out a few years into our marriage, and we eventually became more like business partners.
At least that gave us some practice as co-parents.
Now, there weren’t any hurt feelings or emotions involved.
It had stung at first, knowing she wanted the divorce because she’d met someone else, but I hadn’t been happy in a long time.
Once I got over the blow to my ego and the shock that she wanted out too, all I felt was relief.
We could simply move on and focus on raising our child.
Jasmine and I rode in silence for a few minutes, simply taking in the scenery around the ranch.
Located along the edge of the Appalachian Mountains, Poplar Ridge boasted picturesque views of rolling hills and the lake in the distance.
Wild honeysuckle—for which the ranch was named— grew abundantly across the lush green landscape as it did most places in Poplar Ridge.
It was a small, tight knit community where everyone knew your name and your neighbors rallied around you in times of need.
It was something I’d missed while living in Dallas.
I was glad to be home and happy to have found my place back on the ranch, employed once more by my best friend.
I’d missed our late-night conversations on his front porch as we sipped bourbon after a long, hard day of work.
I was young when I started working for him and wild as a buck, but he saw my potential.
Our dads had been friends, so I’d known him nearly all my life, though he was seven years older than me, so we were never close growing up.
He took me under his wing when a shoulder injury ended my amateur bull riding career, the one I’d dropped out of veterinary school to pursue.
Despite my failings and less than stellar decision making, he gave me a chance, and during the few years I’d worked for him, he became my closest friend.
His family welcomed me with open arms and treated me like one of their own.
Then I’d abandoned them. I picked up and moved with barely a moment’s notice, trying to do the right thing by Celeste and our unborn child.
And as soon as I returned, the first thing I did was insult Jasmine and essentially infantilized her, though she didn’t hesitate to set me straight.
She didn’t seem upset about it or act like she held it against me, but still, I needed to make it right. I owed her an apology.
“Look, about the other night. I’m sorry. I was out of line questioning you like that. It’s just, in my mind, you’re still a kid.” One dark brow lifted, and she shot me a withering look. It was full of fire and sass, and for some reason, it made my blood heat.
“Do I look like a kid to you?” she challenged, her stare never leaving mine.
I swallowed hard and before I could stop myself, my gaze drifted down her body.
She’d shed the flannel she’d been wearing earlier since the sun had burned off the morning dew and the fog had lifted.
Her plain white tee hugged her like a second skin, clinging to her small, high breasts and nipping in at her waist to highlight her athletic physique.
Her strong, denim-covered thighs gripped the sides of her horse.
It was impossible not to notice the way her hips flared as they rocked and swiveled with the motion of her horse’s leisurely pace.
I quickly averted my gaze and cleared my throat. Heat crept up my neck, and shame flooded my chest. I had no business looking at her like that.
“No. No, you don’t. It’s just, I haven’t seen you in so long, I forgot you were all grown up.
” And whose fault was that? I was the one who’d stayed gone for so long.
Until Friday night, I hadn’t met the adult version of Jasmine.
I didn’t really do social media, so I hadn’t even seen a picture of her in recent years.
That was probably for the best. I felt like enough of a creep for how attracted I was to her at twenty-one.
Though, she had looked older at the bar with her sultry eyes rimmed in kohl, her full lips painted the color of fresh berries, and her womanly curves on full display.
Even now, with her face scrubbed clean of makeup and her hair pulled into a ponytail, I could tell the softness of the face I’d known all those years ago was gone.
In its place were sharper cheekbones, an angular jaw, a fuller mouth, and more defined chin.
There was no denying it. She was all woman now.
And I could never see her any other way again.
Still, I needed to remember that she was my best friend’s daughter. No matter how beautiful she was, no matter how much she had changed, there were some lines you didn’t cross. And it was up to me to make sure those boundaries remained firmly in place.
“I hear you’re still racing,” I said, shifting the conversation to a safer topic. I didn’t want to bring any more attention to how grown up she was.
She straightened in her saddle, and her face lit up.
“I am,” she confirmed. “I think this is the year me and June Bug here will qualify for the pros,” she said, patting Juniper on the neck affectionately.
I loved that she still enjoyed her sport and that the competition hadn’t diminished her excitement for it.
“That’s great,” I said, smiling with genuine pride.
She’d come such a long way and had worked hard to make a name for herself.
I’d worried when I left that it would derail her progress, especially when they struggled to find her a new trainer.
I’d felt so guilty for leaving Woody high and dry, but disappointing Jasmine had gutted me.
Her tear-streaked face and hiccupping sobs haunted me for months after I'd left. But I was back now, and I’d do what I could to support her.
“Maybe I can catch one of your races this season.”
The corners of her lips tipped up, and her gaze flicked to me. “Yeah?” she asked, questioning if I was serious. She tried to act casual, but there was a hint of eagerness in her tone.
“Yeah. I’d love to see all the progress you’ve made.”
“In that case, be prepared to be blown away. I’m a lot better than I was nine years ago,” she announced confidently. Long gone was the timid, uncertain little girl who’d cried the first time she knocked over a barrel. She’d been replaced by the self-assured woman before me.
I chuckled and shook my head as we headed back to the barn. “I have no doubt,” I said, wishing our ride didn’t have to end so soon.