Page 38 of Not Part of the Plan
“Sad and cagey,” Jax assessed. “There’s something going on with her.”
“And you know how I justlovegetting involved in my employees’ personal lives,” Joey grumbled wryly.
“How does she get here?” Niko wondered. “Does she have a car?”
“Says she gets dropped off,” Joey said. “But I’ve seen her walking up the lane, so unless someone drops her off at the road, I think she walks.”
“At least she doesn’t look as hungry,” Jax commented.
Joey looked embarrassed as she scuffed the toe of her boot into the sawdust. “I’ve been bringing in food and leaving it in the office.”
“I fucking knew it!” Jax said, poking her in the chest with his finger. “I knew you didn’t finish off all the pot roast leftovers, you little liar!”
Waffles yipped in protest at his mother being called a liar.
“Ugh!” Joey shrugged out of his grasp. “I knew I’d regret marrying an emotional eater!”
Jax grinned. “Please, the only thing you regret about marrying me is not doing it sooner.”
Joey softened against him. “Prove it.” Jax leaned in to kiss her, and Niko cleared his throat.
“I’m just going to go over here,” he said, pointing toward Joey’s office and the smell of fresh coffee.
“Relax, Niko. We save the really hot stuff for the tack room,” Joey snickered.
“Remind me to stay out of the tack room.”
A beautiful horse with a glossy chestnut coat and perfect white star on her nose shoved her head out of her stall, nodding her big head at Joey.
“Hey there, beautiful,” Joey said, stroking a hand down the horse’s neck. “When’s that baby coming, Calypso?”
Calypso shook her great head, tossing her mane. She was hugely pregnant with the first foal of the Pierce Acres breeding program. A monumental start thanks to Jax’s efforts to win Joey over with the gift of two spectacular specimens of horseflesh. Calypso and her stallion, Apollo, would cement the Pierces’ place in the world of horse breeding.
“She looks like she could go at any time,” Jax said, offering a carrot to Calypso, who took it gently with her velvet muzzle.
“Sammy the vet was here this week,” Joey said. “She’s predicting probably another week.”
“We’ll keep an eye on her,” Jax promised.
“So this is where the party is.” Emma, in stylish gray suede booties, picked her way over the straw-strewn brick to join them in front of Calypso.
Niko reacted to her the same way a dog offered a treat, eagerly with every fiber of his being focused on that delicious morsel.Shit, he was in serious trouble.
Emma was dressed for work in sexy black motorcycle pants and a slim fitting black sleeveless shell. Her hair, yet to be pinned back, floated in auburn curls around her face and down past her shoulders. And Niko couldn’t stop staring at her.
The air in the barn changed as if a weather system had moved in.
“Don’t step in any shit,” Joey warned Emma with the stern point of her finger.
Emma glanced down at her shoes and grimaced. “God forbid. I wanted to check in with you about ladies’ night tomorrow.”
“Is that still on?” Joey frowned.
Emma sighed and tapped her foot impatiently.
“Get your head out of your horse’s ass,” Emma smirked. “We’re throwing Phoebe a bachelorette party, and you’re not getting out of it.”
“I hate being social,” Joey whined.
