Chapter Eight #2
“I can’t imagine being on the rodeo circuit,” he said. “What’s it like? Other than people wanting a piece of you.”
“Busy,” she replied. “It’s not just about loading up your horse and getting to your next stop.
It’s a business like everything else. I have an agent and publicist. There are nonstop meetings with sponsors and event organizers.
I loved it for so long. To be honest, it’s been all I’ve known since I was adopted.
” She licked at the salt on her margarita glass, and he became transfixed at the trail of her tongue along the glass. “But I’ve been excited for the change.”
He didn’t miss the way her face dimmed, similar to how she looked in the car when she touched on the subject earlier.
He frowned, wondering about that expression.
He wanted to peel away the layers she seemed to be burying herself under so he could see what she was thinking and why she looked so cautious all of a sudden.
Yolanda returned again, this time with their food.
“This smells so good,” Carly told the woman.
“Gracias,” Yolanda replied. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
They took a few bites of their food before Jesse said, “Your homestead is beautiful. I looked at the property myself when I was considering the move back to the area, but it sold quickly after I saw it. Your doing, I take it.” He grinned at her, and she lifted her glass in mock salute.
“Sorry,” Carly said. She put a dab of sour cream on top of her quesadilla and ate some more, a satisfied smile popping on her lips. “This is delicious.”
A tiny bit of sour cream was left over at the corner of her mouth, and he resisted the urge to lean over and lick it off. Instead, he focused on cutting into his burrito.
“Do you have any plans for your property?” he asked after a few minutes.
Please don’t say anything rodeo, please don’t say anything rodeo.
Jesse knew it was Carly’s career, but he hated the idea that she would go back to a job where she’d been injured multiple times.
“Well…” Carly’s eyes sparkled in the candlelight. He found it hard to look away. “It’s a bit of a pipe dream.”
“Tell me,” he said. He wanted to know everything about this woman. Her ambitions, her long-term goals. All of it.
Carly wiped at her mouth, and the taunting sour cream disappeared. “I… I want to open a horse-riding school for foster kids. I was in the system, and it was one of the worst times of my life. I’m thankful every day that I was adopted out. Others aren’t so fortunate.”
Jesse’s heart turned a little. This woman was incredible.
“That’s an amazing dream to have and one worthy of pursuing,” he said. “You said earlier that you were adopted…”
“Yes. My parents were killed in an accident when I was five. I didn’t have any relatives on either side of the family that wanted to take me, and I ended up in foster care for a few years.”
“I’m so sorry,” Jesse replied, his face etched with regret. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
“It’s okay.” Carly gave him a gentle smile.
“I’m over it now, but as a kid I wasn’t in a good place for a long time.
I was bounced from home to home. Some places were decent.
Other places…weren’t. By the time I was eight, I was angry with the world.
I missed my parents like crazy. I’d lost everything over the years, even the few mementos I’d had from my earliest childhood.
I had a teddy bear that I absolutely loved named Oatmeal.
One of the biological kids took it in one of my foster homes, and when I demanded it back because it was mine, my foster dad called me a liar and locked me in a closet for the night. ” She frowned, lost in the memory.
Jesse fought the urge to beg for the name of the SOB, so he could track the man down and make him suffer as he’d made Carly. But she pulled herself out of her sad thoughts and gave a self-conscious turn of the lips.
“I started acting out a lot, which caused me to be in even more homes. And then one day, I landed in the home of Suzie Hawkins and her husband, Arthur. They had already adopted my sisters by the time I came along. I made it very easy for them to hate me, but they never did. They didn’t give up on me.
They introduced me to horses.” She laughed.
“I was terrified the first time I was on one, but there was also a freedom to it that I hadn’t known.
Before I knew it, I was following Suzie and Arthur all over their property, practically living in their stables, and for the first time in a very long time, I started to feel safe.
I didn’t trust them, mind you. I’d learned early on how easy things could get taken away, and I thought they’d be taken away too. ”
He could see the emotion flitter across her eyes before she continued.
“Then on my tenth birthday, they officially adopted me and I took Suzie’s last name.
It was the best day of my life.” She smiled at him, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Everything turned out for the best in the end. Suzie and Arthur loved me and my sisters. They took us all in and gave us a chance. It didn’t matter where we came from or what problems we brought with us, they gave us back our lives.
That’s what I want to do with my riding school.
I want to rescue horses that are bound for the slaughterhouse and unite them with kids who are also feeling lost in the world. ”
Tenderness spread over Jesse. Carly was truly amazing.
He’d heard a lot of horror stories over the years about kids in the system, but she’d not only survived it, she became the strong, extraordinary woman who sat across from him today.
And after everything she’d been through, she still wanted to give back, to give kids some hope when they might not have any left.
He suddenly had a vision of a future with her, Oscar…
maybe even a few adopted kids of their own.
Jesse quickly grabbed another sip of his beer. He was getting way too ahead of himself.
She shifted in her chair. “Wow…that’s a lot to unload on a first date. Sorry about that. I think the margarita’s making my tongue a little loose.”
He shook his head. “I’m glad you told me, and I’m happy you got the property instead of me.”
She threw back her head and laughed. Maybe he imagined it, but he thought he saw a flash of relief in her eyes when she looked at him again. He wondered how open she’d been with other men about her past, if they’d judged her for some reason. They were fools if they had.
Time flew much more quickly than Jesse ever could have wanted, and before he knew it, they were driving back to her home, still talking as they went.
As he walked Carly to her porch, she said, “I had a really good time tonight.”
He mentally did a victory dance. “I’m glad to hear it since I’m out of practice.”
She stepped up onto the porch stairs and turned to face him. The moonlight cascaded through the curls on her head, turning her dark brown hair to honey-dipped gold.
“You have any tips on how I can improve?” He meant to say it lightly, instead it came out low and rough.
“No notes from me. I give you an A plus,” she joked with a sensual turn of her lips. He wanted to kiss her badly.
“I want to see you again,” he blurted, inwardly cringing. “I mean…can I see you again?”
She didn’t hold back her grin as she said, “I’d like that very much.”
He glanced down at her mouth again. He wanted to feel it. Needed to.
But did women want to kiss someone on the first date these days? Should he try?
Dammit! He should have asked Grayson this before he left.
“I…” he started to say before he stepped away. “I’ll call you. Good night.”
He didn’t look back, but he heard her murmur, “Good night?”
She sounded as confused as he felt.