Chapter 6
At two minutes to midnight, Clay took his pizza out of the air fryer and held it up to his mouth with his right hand, as he bit into the pointed end of the slice, and snapped a picture with his left hand. He chewed his pizza as he pulled up the picture and sent it to Harper.
Harper’s phone pinged, letting her know she’d received a message. She opened her app and laughed when she saw the picture Clay sent. Immediately, she held up her own slice of pizza and snapped a picture of herself. She hit send, finished her slice and went back to bed.
Clay repeatedly checked his messages, hoping Harper would send him a picture in return.
It only took a few moments, and he was rewarded.
When he opened his messenging app and got a look at the photo she’d sent, his smile immediately fell away as his eyes widened.
There was nothing wrong with the picture, in fact it was without a doubt the most beautiful photo he’d ever seen.
Harper was standing in her kitchen, holding up a slice of pizza as she held the phone high above her head, the camera aiming down as she smiled happily up at it.
Simple enough, but what she didn’t realize was that she got almost her entire body in the shot.
Her light auburn hair, her deep blue eyes, the smooth swell of her breast and the tanned skin of her chest and shoulders where the white lace strap of her pale peach-colored nightgown had slipped down off one of her shoulders.
The way the light above the stove shone from behind her and illuminated the outline of her body inside the satiny nightgown and the tops of her knees peeking out from beneath the hem of the gown.
“Dear God,” Clay whispered as he sat heavily on one of the chairs at his kitchen table, his eyes glued to the photo she’d sent.
“She’s too beautiful to be real,” he said, brushing his fingertips across the photo.
Clay quickly saved the photo to his phone, then made a copy excluding her body, leaving only her head and shoulders in the shot, and made it his lock screen.
He didn’t want anyone else to see her like that — ever.
She was his and despite his laid back demeanor, a wave of possessiveness swept through him.
Nobody was ever going to see his mate like that but him.
Clay sat at the kitchen table finishing his pizza, while tapping his phone screen to wake it up and show him Harper’s beautiful smile again when his lock screen was displayed.
When he was finished he went to his bedroom and lay down, knowing he’d have to get some sleep soon if tomorrow turned out to be the day he wanted it to be.
~~~
“Did you not sleep well, baby? You still look tired. You want another piece of gingerbread?” Libby asked.
Harper pressed her lips together as she pretended to think hard about it and took another long sip of her morning coffee.
“Really?” Libby asked.
Harper laughed. “I’m just kidding. Yes, please.”
Libby cut her another square of the still warm from the oven homemade gingerbread and put two large dollops of homemade sweetened whipped cream on top. “You’re going to make me fat, Mom.”
“You’ll work it off with the horses today, I’m sure. Besides, I made it special for your breakfast. So, eat up.”
“I’d eat this even if I wasn’t going to the Bigsby’s today.”
“It’s your favorite,” Libby said as she smiled indulgently at her daughter.
“It is! What’s going on?” Harper asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Why’d you make my favorite? What’s happening?”
“Nothing. I was trying to be nice. Besides, we all love it, too.”
Harper looked at her suspiciously.
“Promise! Nothing is going on.”
“If you say so…”
Harper quickly ate her second serving of gingerbread, then rinsed her plate and put it in the dishwasher. She gathered up her stuff and walked toward the door. “I’ll see you later,” she said.
“Where are you going?”
“To help Dad check the irrigation systems, then to the Bigsby’s.”
“You don’t have to do that today. Dad asked Scotty to bring the boys with him today. He wants to see if any of them show any interest other than just playing in the trees.”
“He did?”
“Yep. He did.”
“Oh. Well, maybe I’ll just run out and help,” Harper said.
“Harper, baby. He’s trying to face the very real fact that you have dreams that don’t fall in line with what he’d envisioned. He’s not in the best of moods, but he’s working through it — I hope. Don’t go out there make him think maybe you’re second guessing.”
Harper shrugged. “He’ll have his way soon enough.
I’m not sure how much longer the Bigsbys can hold on.
They’re going to have to sell the center.
And they can barely keep up with the little bit of maintenance they’re doing on their house, much less the barn.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they sold it all and found a smaller place to just live out their lives on. ”
“And if that happens…”
“When it happens,” Harper corrected.
“Harper, this is your home. You’ll always have a place here in any capacity you want it, but your dad needs to learn that you’re not his only hope for the future here.
He can pass the business to any number of other options, who will also make sure you have a place if you ever want one.
Let him come to terms with that. And if the equine center goes away, you can look at it as an opportunity to spend a little more time on yourself, and less time bouncing between here and there. ”
“That’s true, I guess.”
“Who knows? Maybe you’ll even find your mate,” Libby said, waggling her eyebrows.
Harper tried and failed to smile, then quickly looked away.
Libby leaned her head a little to the side as she advanced on her daughter, paying close attention to her facial expressions. “Harper, is there something you’re not telling me?”
Harper shook her head.
“Then why the sudden sadness when I mentioned a mate?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Sure it is. What’s going on?”
“Just wondering if my mate is even out there. Or maybe he’s found someone he thinks is his mate and it’s not me that’s he’s found.”
“Why would you say that?”
Harper shrugged again. “Just seems like somebody, somewhere would have shown a little interest in me at least. And there’s been nobody. Maybe I don’t have one.”
“Maybe yours is just waiting for the right time. And he’s so special that fate is saving you just for him.”
“Maybe,” Harper said, not really believing it, but knowing that her mother would continue trying to make it seem okay until she was satisfied that Harper wasn’t sad anymore.
The front door opened and Travis leaned inside, without actually stepping in the house with his work boots on. “How much longer you gonna keep this boy waiting?” he called out.
Harper and Libby looked at him, then at each other. “What boy?” Harper asked.
“This boy! Clay’s been out here for thirty minutes leaning on your car waiting for you to come out here.”
Harper’s entire face lit up. “Clay is out there?”
“He is.”
“He’s waiting for me?” Harper asked excitedly.
“He’s sure not out here before dawn to wait for me,” Travis said.
Libby laughed.
Harper grinned at her mother and kissed her cheek quickly, then rushed outside with her purse and a backpack gripped in her hands.
Travis winked at Libby.
Libby blew him a kiss.
Travis pretended to catch it, then pulled the door closed after himself.
Libby hurried over to the window to watch Harper and Clay.
“Y’all got everything you need?” Travis asked as Harper walked over to Clay.
“Yes, sir,” Clay said.
“You remember what I said, you take care of my girl,” Travis said.
“Always,” Clay said, his gaze swinging back and forth between Travis who continued to talk to him, and Harper who was approaching with a delighted, but surprised look on her face.
“I gotta get back to work. Y’all have a good day,” Travis said.
Harper watched her father walk around toward the back of the house where the gate would let him into the plots of trees, then she looked at Clay. “What are you doing here?”
“I decided it would be fun to spend the day with you and your horses again.”
“You really want to spend the day with me, mucking stalls, mowing the pastures, exercising horses, and…”
“Yes. Yes, I do. Yesterday was the best day I can remember.”
“I think you’re secretly a glutton for punishment.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, I might be. But I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be today. So, here I am, with lunch in hand.”
“Lunch? What did you bring?”
“Fried chicken sandwiches with Pimento cheese and bread and butter pickles, chips, and two big jugs of ice water.”
Harper blinked, her senses screaming all kinds of information at her at once. “That’s my all time favorite sandwich.”
“I know.”
“And I love ice water.”
“I know. You’re the only person I know who drinks ice water, all day, every day, even in the winter.”
“You made me lunch.”
“Dad helped. He fried the chicken breasts for me. He said I was doing it wrong. I did make the sandwiches, though. That was all me.”
“Clay Vega, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re trying to sweep me off my feet,” she teased.
Clay grinned at her. “Wouldn’t be fair if I was, would it? Since I know so much inside information already.”
“No, it wouldn’t. But I know you’re just being nice. You already told me you found your mate. I hope she appreciates just how good you’ll no doubt be to her.”
“I didn’t say I’d found my mate.”
“You didn’t say you didn’t, and I scented a lie when you shook your head at me when I asked.”
“Maybe your sniffer is broken.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me, the bitch is ignoring me.”
“What bitch?” Clay asked.
“My Tiger. She’s ignoring me. And she’s got a serious attitude.”
Clay laughed.
“It’s not funny,” she said, taking the ice chest from Clay and putting it in her trunk before getting in her car.
“It kind of is. I mean, she’s a Tiger, she doesn’t have to take shit from anybody,” Clay said.
“I’m her person. She’s my Tiger. She’s got to work with me. It’s about co-working. Co-habitating in here,” Harper said, tapping her head.