Chompin' at the Bit (Horse Play #2) (2 page)

Jensen pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly. “Thank you.”

With the air in the room suddenly bogged down with sadness and doubt that suffocated me, I decided to lighten the mood with a little humor. So, after wrapping my arms around his waist, I spoke. “And if she messes with you, I’ll probably kick her ass.”

I felt some of the weight in the room lift as Jensen genuinely chuckled, releasing me and holding my face in his hands delicately. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

“I do,” I quipped. He laughed again, his eyes sparkling more than I’d seen all week. “
There
you are. Welcome back.”

Taking my hand in his, he led me to my bed and pulled me down onto his lap as he sat. “I’m sorry if I’ve been a total ass all week. Even just the thought of seeing her again gets under my skin.” Dropping his eyes to our entwined hands, he brought them up and pressed his lips to the tips of my fingers. “Whatever it is about seeing her again that’s got me feeling all sorts of fucked up … just know that it’s
not
because I want her back.”

“You need closure,” I whispered softly, moving my right hand and running it through his hair. “Seeing her and confronting her will bring you that after how the two of you ended things. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Jensen cupped my jaw, his fingers moving back until they twisted into my hair. Slowly, he pulled my face to his and kissed me. This kiss was different compared to the past few days; it was more reminiscent of the ones from before his anxiety started to kick in. Simultaneously, our mouths opened in a mutual effort to deepen the kiss, and my body twisted toward his as I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck. Desire washed over me, starting in my midsection and quickly blossoming, spreading outward until it completely engulfed me.

“Condoms,” Jensen managed to say between frenzied kisses.

Keeping my left arm around his neck and resting my forehead against his, I moved my right hand to tuck the hair that had curtained our faces behind my ear and nodded. “Yeah,” I whispered, my heart fluttering as I came to the conclusion that we were finally going to make love. Shifting slightly, I made a move for my night stand where I had put the condoms I bought earlier in the week—just in case—but Jensen stopped me, causing my drumming heart to slow and plummet.

Sensing my distress, his eyes found mine again as he kissed me softly. “Pack them.” Relief swept over me as I realized he wasn’t saying
“no,”
 just
“not right now.”
 I nodded slowly as my hope returned.

“I just don’t want our first time to be rushed, and we have to leave soon if we’re going to make it to the rehearsal dinner on time.” Jensen seemed happy when I understood and smiled brightly before turning toward my clock. When he saw the time, he frowned. “We should get loaded up so we can hit the road.”

Within fifteen minutes, we met in the hall where he took my bag to put it in my dad’s truck while I grabbed my dress and followed him out. I locked up and turned to the truck to see Dad standing next to it.

“Hey, Dad,” I said as I went to the passenger side. Jensen closed the back before rushing over to me and taking my dress from me, laying it flat on the backseat so it wouldn’t get rumpled.

“You kids got everything?” Dad inquired.

Jensen nodded. “Sure do. You sure you don’t mind us using your truck?”

“Absolutely. I won’t need it, and it’s definitely more reliable that that rust-bucket Madi refuses to part with.”

I pouted. “It was Grandpa’s truck. I love that thing.”

Jensen laughed. “No you don’t.”

“Sure I do,” I argued before releasing an exasperated breath. “We should be back Sunday night sometime. We’ll both have our phones in case you need to get a hold of us.”

“Nonsense.” Dad shook his head and laughed. “You two have fun and don’t even worry about things here. We can handle everything.”

After hugging my dad, I got into the car while he and Jensen talked for a minute. They said their goodbyes and I waved at Dad before he started back for the barn.

“Ready?” Jensen asked, closing his door and fastening his seatbelt.

“Yeah,” I said. “You?”

Smiling wide, Jensen took my hand in his and kissed the back of it. “I have been looking forward to getting away with you all damn week. I am more than ready to let the weekend begin.”

Chapter 2. Fun & Games

J
ensen let me pick the music, and we fell into a comfortable silence for the first part of our drive. About twenty minutes after hitting the highway, I glanced to my left to see Jensen’s brow was furrowed in concentration. It would seem the closer we got to the city, the more stressed out he was becoming.

“Hey,” I whispered, laying my head back on the seat and reaching over to place my hand over his on the gearshift. “Penny for your thoughts?”

Jensen smiled, but it wasn’t his usual smile that made my knees weak. There was an edge of nervousness surrounding it. “I’m, uh, just thinking about tomorrow.”

“Kaylie?” I inquired carefully.

Sucking in a deep breath, he shrugged. “Among other things.”

“Will she be there tonight?” I had to admit, I was curious to see the woman who had betrayed Jensen in his hour of need. A part of me wanted to rub it in her face that her loss could be my incredible gain, but an even larger part of me wished that Jensen would be able to let her know that he was happier without her and was capable of moving on. Then maybe he could get the closure he needed.

“Um, I actually don’t know. Lilah said she’d be flying out sometime this afternoon, so it might not be until later. I would be more than okay without having to see her tonight.” He turned to me, his eyebrows knit together. “Would you mind if we changed the subject? I just … I don’t want to spend the entire drive talking about her?”

Squeezing his hand, I offered him a warm smile. “Definitely. What do you want to talk about?”

Jensen chuckled, his smile appearing a little more genuine and the corners of his eyes crinkling slightly. “You decide.”

Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth, I tried to think of something to talk about. “Oh! I know!” I exclaimed, slipping my Chucks off and bringing my legs up onto the seat and crossing them. “How about a road trip game?”

I giggled when Jensen grew skeptical, cocking an eyebrow as he glanced briefly at me. “What
kind
of road trip game?”

“Ummm, truth or dare?” I suggested.

His laughter was infectious as it filled the car. “That’s not exactly a car game,” he pointed out. “Plus, how would we do the dares?”

I shrugged. “I guess it would depend on the dare.”

As he stared at the road ahead of him, he contemplated my game choice. “You’re sure you wouldn’t rather play the license plate game or twenty questions? Hell, I’d even go for some eye-spy.”

“Maybe later. Truth or dare?” I asked in an effort to get the game started.

“Um … Truth. Yes. Definitely truth.” I laughed as he convinced himself that truth was the “safer” option.

“What’s your favorite …” I paused for dramatic effect “… part of my body?”

“Oh, this is
dirty
truth or dare. I am so screwed,” he said with a chuckle. “Okay … I would have to say that my favorite part of your body is—”

“Be honest,” I interrupted teasingly, arching my eyebrow.

He glared at me through the corner of his eye without moving his head. “Your eyes.”

“Shut up! Come on, be serious.” I laughed.

“I am. I guess it feels as though, when I’m looking into your eyes—no matter what it is we’re talking about or doing—it’s like you’re letting me in. Almost like we’re able to communicate without speaking.” Suddenly nervous, he ran his fingers through his hair and laughed.

I stared at him for a minute as I absorbed his words and placed my hand on his forearm. “I feel that way too.” There was another moment of silence where we smiled at each other before I continued. “Okay, your turn.”

“All right. Truth of dare?”

“Dare,” I said, curious to see what he would come up with.

I didn’t miss the glint in his eye and the way his cheek dimpled slightly when he smiled deviously. “I dare you to … tell me what you’re most looking forward to this weekend.”

“Um, that’s not really a dare. That’s a truth
disguised
as a dare,” I pointed out.

“I fail to see the difference,” he said with a coy smile.

He was a tricky bastard, I’d give him that much. “This weekend … I guess I’m looking forward meeting the rest of your sister—even if that scares me a little too.” Stopping for a quick breath, I smiled as I stared at him. “But I think what I’m
most
excited about is spending time with you. Alone. With no work or other distractions around.”

“And we don’t get that at home?” he asked.

“No, we do. It’s just, at home my dad could stop by at any minute or we could get called out to the barn for an emergency. But I get you all to myself after dinner tonight. No distractions. After the wedding tomorrow night? Also mine. All day Sunday? Mine.”

The corners of Jensen’s mouth twisted up. “And what is it you have planned for me since you’ll have me all to yourself?”

I shook my head. “Ah, ah, ah,” I taunted. “One question at a time. Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Ugh!” I grumbled. “You’re no fun! I had a really good dare too. Fine. Um, how many women have you slept with?” I asked the question quietly.

He didn’t even flinch when he answered. “Two.”

“Two?”

Looking over his left shoulder and turning on his signal light before changing lanes on the highway, Jensen chuckled. “You seem to forget, I’m only two years older than you, and I was in a serious relationship for a couple years and then incarcerated for three—wait. How many have
you
been with?”

I knew what he was asking, but the way he worded it still made it sound like he wanted to know how many women I’d slept with, so I decided to toy with him. “Um, I’ve never slept with any women. Plus, you didn’t ask if I wanted a truth or a dare.” Not that it would have mattered; he’d have found a way to ask me the question with either choice.

“Okay, smartass. If you choose truth, I’d like to know how many
men
you’ve slept with. And, if you choose dare, then I dare you to tell me how many men you’ve slept with.” He glanced at me for just a moment before turning his eyes back to the road, but in that brief second, I saw that he wasn’t going to let this go. Not that I expected him to; it was only fair after I asked him.

“Four. My high school boyfriend—all of two times. Two guys in college, and then there was Dane. How is it you’ve only slept with two? I mean … you have seen you, right?” I asked, stealthily tacking my questions on to the end of my quick ramble.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he parroted my earlier words. “You didn’t ask truth or dare.”

Maybe this game was stupid. What the hell was I thinking? “All right,” I conceded. “Tru—”

“Truth. I’ve always believed that sex is something that two people in a committed relationship do. It wasn’t something to be taken lightly.”

The use of past tense wasn’t lost on me.

“And now?” I didn’t ask truth or dare, nor was it my turn, but Jensen didn’t seem to catch it.

Jensen sighed, concentrating really hard on the road and not looking at me, for whatever reason. “I’ve decided to just live in the moment. I lost a small portion of my life when I was locked up, and I’m not willing to sacrifice any more of my happiness for fear of missing out again.”

God, I want to kiss him right now.

Jensen looked over at me and smiled, my lower half suddenly reacting quite positively to his smolder and making me a little uncomfortable in my seat. “Not while I’m driving.”

Apparently I still had to work on that whole brain-to-mouth connection—or lack thereof.

“Will you tell me about your family?” I asked, changing the subject.

Chuckling, Jensen glanced at me. “Is that a truth or a dare?”

I shrugged, wrapping my arms around my legs and relaxing my right cheek onto my knees again. “Neither.”

“Bored with it already?”

Smirking, I said, “Meh, I guess without the real dares it’s just not that much fun. It’s basically just truth or truth.”

“True,” he responded, making me laugh loudly before he carried out my request. “Well, you’ve met my parents. We’ve always been pretty close. They’re both actively involved in multiple charities, so there are always events and functions to go to. Fundraisers, galas.”

“That’s so cool.”

“My mom hails from London. Occasionally you’ll hear her native accent slip in, or she’ll call you ‘love,’” he explained, and I smiled.

“Lilah and I were born two years apart and fought throughout most of our childhood. We became close before I left for college.” He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. “But it wasn’t until after the incident with Robert that we became even closer—even if she tells you it’s all me refusing to give her space. Which is likely to happen.”

“She sounds great.” I was even more excited to meet her now. A part of me was a little envious, though; Dad was the only real family I had left. I loved him dearly, and we had a close relationship—as far as fathers and daughters went. But Jensen had it all: both parents, a sister …