Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 145155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
“This is Natasha,” he says nervously to her.
She gives me a warm smile. “Lovely to meet you, Natasha.” Oh god, her accent is lovely. Another nail in my fucking coffin.
“Hello,” I stammer. Witty…good one Natasha, you horse-hating freak.
“I would shake your hand but I’m terribly dirty. I’m sorry.” She smiles. Jeez, she’s nice too. How annoying.
“OK, what’s the verdict?” Joshua asks. She starts talking horse jargon and they walk together deep in conversation toward the stable. I stand still on the spot, unsure if I am meant to be going with them or not.
Joshua turns to me. “This way, baby.” He holds his hand out for me. I nod and give him a weak smile and follow him, he puts his arm around me and kisses my temple as we walk.
OK, now I’m confused, he’s not acting like I think he will, maybe this is all in my head. She smiles another warm smile at me, totally unaffected by my presence.
“Sit up here, Presh.” He lifts me so I am sitting up on some high gates away from the horses and I give him a thankful smile. He remembered I’m scared of horses. Why in the hell didn’t I do riding lessons when I was a kid? There is a horse on the ground lying down and they both kneel next to it.
“So, she has had a temperature for the last couple of days and I thought she had an infection or something so I put her on antibiotics, but then when I came to check on her through the night she was down and couldn’t get up.”
Joshua frowns and pats her.
“Sh, sh,” he says to the horse in a calming voice. I sit detached from the situation. It is blatantly obvious how passionate Joshua is about this farm and his horses. I sit and watch them in silence for an hour deep in discussion, and seemingly innocent, and finally my legs are asleep, and I go to jump down.
Josh jumps up. “You OK, babe? Do you want me to take you back to the house?” he asks. Amelie is writing in a notebook and googling something on her iPad.
“No, it’s OK. I can get someone else to take me back if you want.” I smile.
He shakes his head. “No, I will take you back. I want to spend some time with you.”
I smile and nod. OK, I think this is totally in my head. He wouldn’t say that in front of her if he had feelings for her.
“Am, why don’t you come home, and we can come back together later?” he whispers. Hmm, I’m not sure if I like the sound of that. She smiles. “No, thanks. I will stay here, just get someone to bring me some dinner later tonight. I will call you if there is a change.”
He smiles as he stands and puts his hand on her shoulder. “Thanks.” He smiles.
“Bye darling,” she says. Josh bites his lip as he realizes the slip of her tongue and his eyes flick to mine. I instantly look down…don’t be the jealous girlfriend…don’t be the jealous girlfriend. It’s really hard not to be, when I so obviously am. He grabs my hand, and we walk back to the car and head back to the house. We ride in silence.
“You’re very quiet, Presh, you OK?”
I nod. Don’t say it…don’t say it. It’s like a volcano that is poisoning me, and I blurt out the words. “Josh, why aren’t you with Amelie?”
He puts his hand on my leg and sighs. He knew this question was coming. “Because I’m in love with you.”
“Have you ever been with her?” I ask.
He frowns and shakes his head. “Amelie is not the kind of girl you be with, Tash. She’s like you. It’s all or nothing.”
I bite my lip and look down. Not the answer I was looking for. “So why has it been nothing then?” I ask.
He shrugs his shoulders. “Because I have never let myself…let it go there because I was still in love with you, and it wouldn’t be fair to her.” I nod…fair to her…not that he’s not attracted to her.
“So, if we were over you would probably be with her?”
He gives me a sad smile and squeezes my leg. “Don’t do this to yourself. I am with you and I am staying with you and we are planning a future together and Am knows that. She’s fine with it.”
Oh my god…she’s fine with it.
“Does that mean that she has feelings for you?” I ask.
He shrugs. “She would if I were single,” he sighs. “Can we not talk about this, please? Amelie is a dear friend who has been with me for a long time when I have been very lonely. She doesn’t have a deceitful bone in her body and she will respect our relationship. I have spoken about you for years to her, and she knows what you mean to me. She wants me to be happy, Tash.” I smile and nod and internally swear to myself I will never bring this up to him again. He is under her spell and in all things in Joshua’s world I have been wary of I know I have just met my only competition.