Page 31 of Ashes of the Past
What am I doing? Why am I crying in front of this man?
The panic takes over, but the way I feel in his arms is like…home. It feels like there’s an unspoken promise that nothing can harm me right now. The warmth of his body grounds me in the moment.
“It’s okay,” he murmurs, his hand running up and down my back. “It’s all okay.”
I take a shuddering breath, then another, my grip on him loosening slightly. I don’t want to look up into his eyes because I’m afraid of what I’ll see there.
I’m afraid he’ll kiss me again, and that…that can’t happen. I cannot kiss this jerk of a man ever again. Cowboys are off-limits, and I’m technically his boss.
“I just…I got scared,” I whisper. “Seeing him like that…”
“I know,” he says, pulling back just enough to look at me. “But he’s tough. You know that. It’ll take more than a spooked horse to keep him down.”
Don’t look into his eyes. Don’t do it! Keep your eyes down and pull away from him. Do it now!
I nod, a small, shaky laugh escaping my lips. “You’re right. He’s stubborn as hell.”
“Runs in the family,” he teases.
And he has the audacity to crack jokes to make me feel like I didn’t just break all kinds of rules that I’ve set for myself by letting this man see my emotions.
Normally, I’d feel embarrassed and even a little guilty for not having my emotions in check, but for whatever reason, I don’t feel that way now.
For a moment, we just stand there, the world around us fading into the background. I take a step back and removemyself from his arms. I immediately feel empty and cold, so I wrap my arms around myself.
“Thanks. I…I don’t know what I would do if…anything happened to him.”
“I get it,” he says quietly.
The sound of the screen door slamming breaks the silence, and we both step back further. Olivia is walking toward us, a determined look on her face. She smiles and giggles for a second. As she shakes her head, I can feel the anxiety slipping away.
“Grandpa’s fine,” she announces. “He’s already complaining about the taste of the antiseptic.”
“That sounds about right,” I say with a laugh.
I can feel the tightness in my chest breaking loose as I smile back at my daughter. Relief washes over me.
“Told you he’d be okay,” Jack says with a chuckle.
“Yeah. You did,” I reply with a roll of my eyes.
He flashes a cocky grin at me before he winks and walks off toward the barn. I suck in a quick breath at how that simple thing just made my entire body heat up.
He’s off-limits. He’s off-limits. He’s off-limits.
Jack Renfrew can be such an asshole and extremely off-limits for a variety of reasons, but why in the hell can’t my body get on track with my brain?
Chapter Twelve
Jack
There’s nothing more peaceful than getting up at four in the morning before the rest of the world, just as the sun is starting to rise every morning. A thermos of coffee, the early morning silence is the best way to start my day.
I’ve always been an early riser, as the ranch manager, it’s important to set a good example and be the first one to get to work. The air is crisp, carrying the scent of dew and hay. I pull my hat lower against the early morning chill and head toward the barn, my boots crunching on the gravel. There’s always something to be done, and I like to get a jump on it before the day gets away from me.
As I’m checking the feed bins, I hear the soft creak of the barn door behind me. I glance over my shoulder and stop short when I see Brynn stepping inside. She’s dressed in jeans and a flannel, her hair tied back in a loose braid, and she’s heading straight for the tack room. It’s barely been ten minutes since I came out here, and she’s already up and moving.
“What are you doing?” I ask, my voice breaking the quiet.
