Filed To Story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
My face brightens instantly and I bite my lip against my joy, not wanting him to see quite how happy he’s made me. I feel as if I’ve gained a little bit of an upper hand here, and I don’t want to waste it.
Still, I can’t be rude.
“Thank you,” I say, dipping my head before dashing up the stairs to get ready.
Twenty minutes later, I skip down the stairs to the main floor again and then look around. The door to Kent’s office is closed, but I hear a whistle and turn towards the kitchen.
There, leaning against the wall, is Jerome. My face breaks out into a smile Jerome, good. He’s always nice to me, and funny to boot.
“Are you ready?” he asks with a grin, standing up straight.
“Yup!” I say, hurrying down the hall with a big smile.
He pauses, the left side of his smile deepening as he looks at me, taking in my excitement. I stand in front of him for a moment, wondering why he’s looking at me like that what he’s waiting for and then Jerome just laughs, shaking his head and moving towards the garage.
“Come on,” he says. “Let’s get going. Not every day that I get an assignment to go play with horses in the country.”
“Oh,” I say, following him into the garage. “Are you riding too?”
“No,” he answers, holding the passenger side door of one of Kent’s Escalades open for me. “No way Kent would let me ride one of his precious thoroughbreds.”
He closes my door then and comes around the car, opening the driver’s seat and climbing in.
I consider Jerome, suddenly curious. “Sounds like you know what you’re talking about, though, if you know their breeds.”
Jerome smirks at me as we pull out of the garage. “I spent four years on the rodeo circuit as a teenager,” he says, “which is another reason why Kent won’t let me touch a horse. He knows I know what I’m doing, but he doesn’t want anyone riding his herd like a cowboy would.”
I laugh as Jerome circles a hand above his head, miming a lasso.
“Wow,” I say, shaking my head at him and grinning. “I had no idea Kent had such…variety amongst his ranks.”
“Stick with me, kid,” Jerome murmurs, giving me a friendly smile. “I’m full of surprises.”
With that, we head down the road, and I study Jerome as we go. Had I just never noticed it before? Or is Jerome kind of…cute?
“Good, Fay! Good!” Jerome says, his voice eager and encouraging.
Kent’s trainer couldn’t come on short notice, so Jerome is putting me through some exercises on the horse. He watched me ride a bit and then told me to my surprise that I’m too reliant on the reins.
“You hold onto them,” he had said, smirking at me, “like the handlebars on a bike. Like they’re going to keep you from falling off.”
I had frowned at him. “Well,” I said, hesitating. “Aren’t they?”
Jerome had laughed, looking up at me from his place on the ground next to Heathcliff. “No, Fay,” he said. “The best riders barely even use the reins. You’ve got to learn how to communicate from here.”
With that, he’d shocked me by smacking my thigh.
Jerome hadn’t noticed my surprise, though, instead moving to Heathcliff’s head and unbuckling his bridle, replacing it with a halter a head harness that has no reins at all. Then, he attached a long, long lead rope to a ring on that halter so that we could do some exercises without reins.
So now I’m bouncing around arena as Heathcliff trots in circles around Jerome, who stands at the center, the end of the long lead in his hand.
It was scary, at first, not having anything to hold onto. Jerome even made me put my arms out to the side like a bird, to make me avoid clinging to Heathcliff’s mane for safety. But then, as I got the hang of it, I started to understand what he meant.
I really had been holding on to the reins for dear life. But really, it was all about balance and holding on with my legs and my knees.
My arms still out to the side, I shoot Jerome a happy look and he laughs, pleased to see me catching on.
“Well done, Fay!” He shouts to me. “Can you kick him into a canter?”
I hesitate, not sure if I want to go faster. Jerome, seeing my hesitation, laughs at me derisively. He doesn’t quite call me a coward but…well, it’s implied.
I clench my teeth and screw my courage together, giving Heathcliff a little nudge with my heels. He responds immediately, picking up the pace into a rolling little canter.
I laugh, putting my weight into the balls of my feet and my heels, standing in the stirrups and feeling a bit of a thrill as the wind whips against my face. Jerome whoops with joy and I can’t help myself as I laugh a little along with him.
“Okay, Fay!” he shouts out to me. “Go ahead and sit back down, put your weight at the back of the saddle to slow him.”
I work to do as he says, bouncing a little, awkwardly, as Heathcliff slows to a trot and then a walk. I’m still laughing with joy as Jerome walks over to us, gathering up the length of the long lead as he goes.
“Atta girl,” he says, smiling up at me. “You’re riding like a real cowgirl now.”
I brush the hair out of my face, tucking it back beneath my little velvet helmet.
“Oh yeah?” I ask, grinning down at him. “You going to teach me how to rope steers next?”
“I’ll teach you anything you want,” Jerome says, coming close to Heathcliff’s shoulder and smiling up at me. “Pretty girl like you, though?” he says, raising his eyebrow, “you should learn how to barrel race. That’s what all the rodeo beauties do, and they make good money if they’re fast enough.”
His smile deepens as he sees me blush. I’m not used to being told I’m pretty. I have to admit though…I didn’t hate it.
“What’s barrel racing?” I ask, studying Jerome’s face as he explains the process of girls competing to see who can be the fastest to run a loop around two barrels and return to the start.
Jerome’s a good looking guy older than me, but only by a few years, with sandy brown hair and a light smattering of freckles over his nose. He’s strong-jawed and, like most of Kent’s guys, quite fit.
I stop hearing what he’s saying as I look at him more. Does he really think I’m pretty? Or was he just saying it as a joke?
Suddenly, Jerome’s smile deepens as he realizes that I’m not paying attention to a word he’s saying. That I’m just staring at his handsome face.
“Sorry,” I say, blinking at him and blushing again. “Um, can you repeat that?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he says, laughing a little and holding up a hand to help me dismount. “Come on, let’s let Heathcliff get his rest.”
I nod and take Jerome’s hand, swinging my right leg over Heathcliff’s withers and hopping down, my butt sliding against the saddle as I go. Much more elegant a dismount, I think, then the time Kent had helped me down and my butt had slid against him as I’d almost fallen.
Still, I remember, just for a moment, the feeling of Kent’s hands on my waist.
Distracting myself from the thought, I grin up at Jerome. “I think I’m getting better at this,” I say, genuinely proud of myself.
“You’re doing great, Fay,” he says, his eyes lingering on my face a little. Then he clears his throat and looks towards the barn, tugging on Heathcliff’s halter to ask him to walk forward. “We’ll get you racing in no time.”
I walk alongside Jerome, happily chatting with him as we get Heathcliff back into his stall, unsaddled, and ready for his afternoon of peace and quiet.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.