The Riding Master by Alexandrea Weis Page B

so cheap.”
    Trent’s warm laughter made her smile. “Just think about this weekend, and when I have you all alone, I will do everything you just did and so much more. I promise you that.”
    Biting back her returning desire, she picked up the phone on the bed next to her, cradling it in her hands. “I was going to tell you to go to hell the other night. I was going to say we could only be friends, and nothing more.”
    “But you don’t feel that way about me anymore, do you?”
    She hesitated before she answered. “No, not after…what we just did.”
    “That’s good, because I would never have let you just give up on me like that. I can be pretty determined, Rayne.”
    She blew out a long breath, stretching out on the bed. “Yeah, I’ve noticed.”
    “Next time you feel the urge to run, talk to me. I want you to come to me whenever you’re nervous or scared. All right?”
    “Sure, Trent.”
    “Promise me, Rayne.” 
    She nodded her head. “I promise.”
    “Good girl.” 
    “I can’t wait to see what we do tomorrow night.” She giggled and wiped her hand over her face. “Might be hard to top this.”
    “I’m afraid I’m going to be tied up in meetings for the next two nights. I have a dinner party to attend tomorrow night at Tyler Moore’s house in Dallas. He’s the CEO who hired me for this job, and he wants to introduce me to a few of his friends in the oil business.”
    “A dinner party at an oil tycoon’s fancy mansion? Poor you.” An image of him rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful fueled Rayne’s doubts about why he was pursuing her.
    “It will be all about business,” Trent’s low voice broke into her thoughts. “Then I have the wrap-up meeting Friday night with Tyler’s department heads to discuss my findings. So we won’t have a chance to speak again until Saturday at the stables.”
    A trickle of disappointment tightened her throat. “I understand. You have a job to do,” she said, sounding upbeat.
    “I’ll be thinking of you the entire time, trust me.”
    “Trust you?” She took a breath, leaving him hanging, and then added, “I’m not there yet, Trent.”
    “But you will be, Rayne. One day you will trust me.”
    “We’ll see.” She sat up in the bed. “But in the meantime, you should get back to work, and I need to feed Frank.”
    “How is fluff face?”
    Rayne spotted Frank waiting at her bedroom door. “Looking hungry?”
    “Better see to him while I get back to my reports. With the way I’m going, I’ll be pulling another all nighter to get everything finished in time for my meetings.”
    “Don’t work too hard,” she offered, feeling a little sad he had to go.
    “Not to worry. I have thoughts of you and this weekend to keep me going.”
    Rayne’s insides ignited with his words. “Do you want to hear something funny?”
    “Absolutely,” he cooed.
    “I think I’m nervous about seeing you again.”
    “Don’t be nervous, Rayne. Tonight was only a prelude of what is to come. Pleasant dreams.” Then Trent hung up, leaving a mystified Rayne staring at her cell phone and wondering how she had let things progress so far.
    “I must be crazy.” She tossed her iPhone to the bed.
    Jumping up, she went to her favorite sweat suit laid out on a flower print high back chair by her bedroom door. After slipping on the gray sweat pants and sweater top, she clapped her hands at Frank.
    “Come on, buddy. Let’s eat.”
    With a happy Frank at her side, she made her way down the short beige hallway to her living room. As she crossed the plush burgundy carpet to her kitchen, the reality of what she had done with Trent hit her and the heat rose in her cheeks.
    “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look him in the face again.” She spotted Frank dancing beside her, anxious for his dinner. “Maybe if you had chewed his face off that first night he came here, I wouldn’t be in this situation.”
    Frank let out a loud “woof.”
    She nodded her head.