“I have.”

“And that is a story I haven’t heard.”

And so he spent the next few hours exchanging stories with his sister, that they would have known if they’d had a chance to grow up together.

And Gabe did his best not to think about what if.

* * *

GABE HAD RIDDEN his horse until he was saddle sore on Sunday. And that was a hell of a feat for him. But he had nothing else to do, and he had a feeling that if he didn’t exhaust himself, he would wind up at Jamie’s cabin sometime that night, begging her to give him another chance to kiss those lips.

She’d been reticent, and very, very cool with him when he’d first shown up at her place Saturday.

And he wasn’t going to push. Not after the crying thing.

He’d never really been involved with a woman beyond a night or two before. And he’d certainly never had to figure out how to work with one that he’d had sex with.

Had sex with, held while she cried. Yeah, he wasn’t familiar with the protocol for all this.

And Jamie wasn’t exactly giving him a road map.

Jamie seemed perfectly happy to be unreadable.

A ball of prickles.

At least, until she was naked. When she was soft and sweet underneath his body. Responsive and pliant and vocal.

Yeah. His memories of that night were perfect.

Until he got to the crying.

He shook his head, shuffling the papers around on his desk in the rustic office. He’d been doing a lot of research and thinking a lot about his conversation with McKenna. And he was formulating some plans. But he wanted to talk to Jamie first.

He’d shot her a quick text this morning telling her to meet him in the office, and she was due any minute.

Jamie walked in without knocking, but it was less of a stride, and much more of a subdued walk.

It was a subtle thing, but her entrance lacked her usual... Jamie.

She was wearing her typical uniform. A pair of work jeans and a black tank top with a scoop neck. It didn’t show off much of her body, not thanks to the sports bra she wore underneath it. Now he knew she wore sports bras. He thought it was a tank top layer underneath the other one, but he’d been wrong.

He knew what her breasts looked like, though. They didn’t spill up over the top of her shirt, but they were a perfect handful when he got her naked. Firm and sweet. Better than any dessert.

He firmed up his jaw, not about to embarrass himself by getting hard for her in his office.

He had limits.

At least, he wanted to have them.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” he responded.

“So what are we doing?”

“Jamie, I need you to help me. I need you to help me think bigger.”

She frowned. “Why me?”

“Because you think big. Look, here I am. You’re strong willed and you care a hell of a lot about these animals. You understand horses. I know you understand what they meant to people who are lonely. Who are afraid or aimless. I lost touch with that. For a long time, and you reminded me. And you’re exactly the person I want to help work on this project, because you never forgot. Because you know. You understand.”