Page 40 of Rival

“Alright,” I groan, standing quickly from the bed before I strip her and say fuck it if Clayborn hears us. Adjusting my cock so it’s not aching as bad, I bite my cheek to stop my laugh at her face when she sees what I’m doing. “I’m gonna sneak out. G’night, darlin’.”

She lifts her hand to wave, still focused on my cock, and I wink before shoving the basket aside to slip out of her room.

I realize I’ve left my wallet and keys in the living room, so I do my best to stay as silent as possible, but Clayborn wakes just as I sneak in to grab them.

“Still here?”

“Yeah. Fell asleep on the couch. Gonna head home.”

His mumbled “Night,” is slurred and I watch him haul his ass out of his chair and stumble into the wall before he rights himself and practically falls into his room.

I frown at his retreating back, battling with wanting to keep him drunk so I can get my fix of Edith, but it seems as if his drinking is more regular than just our game nights. I’ll have to talk to Corbin about it tomorrow. Maybe he can talk to him when I organize my little plan of getting Clayborn Hughes out of town so I can play with his gorgeous daughter.

Chapter Eighteen

Edith

I’m standing next to Jaxon as another crack of thunder booms through the field, the two of us staring at the sky, along with a handful of other volunteers.

“Looks like we’re gonna have to call it a day.” Ruth’s husband, Pastor Josiah, steps up to my side and pushes the brim of his hat up.

“Seems like a good idea,” I say, agreeing.

Jaxon bumps my shoulder to gain my attention. “Might be a good afternoon to get some horse-riding lessons in since we got the time. Feel up to it?”

Excitement bubbles up, and I can’t stop from bouncing on my toes. My father believes I won’t be home until just before it’s time for me to prepare dinner and my work at Mason’s got out a bit earlier since he had some errands to run, so I arrived here a whole hour earlier than planned.

“Really? Even with it raining like this? How are we supposed to ride if it’s pouring?”

He laughs instead of answering. Grabbing my hand after waving goodbye to the pastor, we sprint to his truck. As soon as we’re inside, I keep up with my rambling questions.

“How many horsesdoyou have? Are there any that are short? Or smaller? Will we ride together or if there’s a small one, I could probably try that first.”

He places his hand on my thigh and tightens his hold to grab my attention. “You’re getting all worked up for nothing. Since it’s raining, it’s a good time to learn how to saddle and prep your horse for a ride. We can work on mounting and dismounting, proper posture, and names of things. All the not so fun stuff, but it’ll take a few hours and why not now?”

I smile brightly at him, thrilled to learn, and a touch relieved he’s not just going to shove me on the back on a horse and tell me to go. Ever since mine and Mason’s almost fall the other week, Mason hasn’t taken me out riding with him again, choosing to use the truck instead.

It’s probably because I made the whole ordeal more difficult for him and he wouldn’t want to go through it again. The few times he has gone out on Austin, I was left behind, but it gave me time to sit and play with the kittens once I was done with my chores.

Little Bonnie can’t get enough attention right now. It’s like she’s got a built-in engine that never runs out of gas with her continuous purrs. I think even Mason is thankful to have her, though, since she seems to keep Buck out of trouble. That guy has gotten into more things and made more messes than I can count on both hands. I was beginning to worry Mason was going to toss them out if Buck kept it up.

“You just got lost in thought,” Jaxon calls to me, pulling me out of my musings as we bump our way down the country road.

“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking. I told you I’ve been working in the mornings. There are two baby kittens there now, the ones I rescued, and I started thinking about them. Did I tell you I named them?”

Chuckling, he shakes his head. “You did not. What are you calling them?”

“Buck and Bonnie.”

He raises a brow in question and his shoulders start to bounce as he laughs silently.

“What? I thought those were great names for them.” Crossing my arms, I glare, but there isn’t an ounce of heat behind it. I like when Jaxon laughs. Sometimes I think he’s got so much on his plate that he doesn’t ever take the time to just be.

He flicks his eyes at me and grins when he sees my face. “You gotta admit, those are pretty ridiculous names for cats. Why not something like Sox or Mittens or Paws? You gave people names to animals.”

“They’re dignified and if you met them, you’d agree they fit.” I lift my chin and close my eyes as I turn away.

“Bring them by sometime. I’d love to meet them.”