Dropping the brush into the bucket, I stepped out of the stall and wiped my hands on my jeans. “You gonna breed Lady?”
With a bright-eyed smile, he nodded his head. “I think so. There’s something about that horse. I feel like with the right match, we could have a good racehorse on our hands. This Scott guy dabbles in racing as well. He told me he has the perfect stud.
Sighing, I shook my head. “I don’t know. Isn’t your prodigal sister coming in this afternoon?”
“So? My parents are picking Ava up.”
With a short chuckle, I grabbed my cowboy hat and motioned for him to lead the way.
“Did Ava mention if she was coming back for good or just for Christmas?”
Walker laughed. “If I know my sister . . . she’s fixin’ to drop some kind of bombshell that will rock my father’s world.”
“Damn if that ain’t the truth.”
The drive to Mason wasn’t a long one and we sat in silence most of the trip. “You gonna tell me what happened when you went to see that girl?”
“Her name is Taylor, and no . . . I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Fair enough.”
We drove another few miles in silence.
“I don’t understand women at all,” I blurted out.
“Join the club.”
My hand rubbed the back of my neck as I let out a frustrated breath. “I mean . . . I made a mistake and I tried to tell her that. I acted like an asshole and I fully admitted to it. She knows I love her and I know she loves me.”
“But?”
“She’s angry and punishing me.”
Walker let out a roar of laughter. “You think she is punishing you? Why?”
“I asked her for a second chance and she told me to leave. Made it seem like she didn’t love me. Then she tried to prove it to herself.”
Walker turned his attention to me and asked, “How?”
“She slept with some asshole she worked with.”
“Damn. Did she tell you that?”
My body tensed as the memory came back. Fisting my hands, I looked out the window. “No. I waited outside her apartment and saw her coming home with him. He went up and never came back down until late in the middle of the night.”
“How do you know?”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to admit to Walker I had sat in my truck all night watching Taylor’s place. Swallowing hard, I stared out the passenger window.
“Holy shit. You stalked her.”
My head turned to look at him. “I didn’t stalk her, you dickhead. I sat in my truck all night and just watched her apartment.”
Walker pinched his brows together. “You stalked her.”
“Whatever. Call it what you want. The point is she slept with him and I know she regrets it.”
Walker pulled over to the side of the road and put the truck in park. “And how in the world do you know she regrets it?”
“After the guy left I stayed there for a while. Taylor opened her balcony door and sat out there for a bit and she . . . well . . . she cried the entire time. I wanted so badly to go to her.”
“Dude, why didn’t you?”
With a shrug of my shoulders, I replied, “I don’t know. She told me to leave and the last thing I wanted her to find out was that I had spent the night outside her apartment.”
“Stalking her.”
Clenching my teeth, I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t stalking her!”
Maybe I was a little.
“Have you called her since?”
“Nah . . . I figured if she really wanted to talk to me she’d call. I’m always the one calling her and it’s clear she wants to move on.”
Walker reached for the gearshift and put it in Drive. “Jase, if there is one thing I learned from your sister it is that what you think women want is usually the exact opposite of what they want.”
“So you don’t think she really wanted me to leave?”
With a nod, he said, “I don’t. And when you did it probably made her angry and then that made her turn to this work guy. Clearly she didn’t want to be with him . . . or he hurt her in some way.”
The thought had me livid. “I’ll fucking kill him if he hurt her.”
“Down boy,” Walker said with a chuckle and pulled back onto the highway. “I think if things are meant to be with this girl they’ll work themselves out, but you might have to push it along. Especially if she lives in Austin.”
With a gruff laugh, I nodded. “Yeah. It’s not like fate is going to have me run into her in Llano.”
“Never ever doubt fate, especially when she teams up with destiny.”
My heart felt so heavy as I smiled weakly.
“This is it.”
Dipping my head down, I glanced up at the sign.
Reynolds Breeding.
“Do they know we’re coming?”
Walker grunted. “Of course they do. Jesus, Jase. I’m not that unprofessional to just show up.”
With a shrug, I grinned and mumbled, “Just checking.”
As we pulled up, I couldn’t believe the massive house in front of me. “Wow. This place is nice.”