T is for...he's a TOTAL jerk (Grover Beach Team #3) (15 page)

My mouth fell open. “You’re kidding me.”

“It’s a bit of a way. Too far to walk. So buck up, Summers, and get your butt up here.” He smirked, reached over, and grabbed my hand, leaving me no choice as he pulled me forward. Steadying the bike, he let me climb onto the handlebar, which wasn’t as easy as they always make it look in films, and pulled my backpack from my shoulders to carry it during the ride. When I sat with my feet dangling but anchored with an iron grip around the cold metal, he slowly pushed forward and started to pedal, cycling down the street.

We gained speed. This was scary as hell. A shaky whine escaped me.

“Relax. I’ve done this a hundred times.” His nose brushed my hair—or maybe it was my hair wafting into his face from the ride—as he said the soft words into my ear.

“
You
might have, but
I
haven’t,” I croaked. My palms started to sweat, giving me the feeling of losing my hold. “How far do we have to go?”

“Just out of town.
About three miles.”

Tony had to stand for the entire ten-minute ride, because I would have blocked his view if he sat. As the road turned slightly uphill and he had to step even harder into the pedals, he placed his forehead on my left shoulder, and I could not only hear his strained breathing but also feel it through the fabric of my shirt.

The lines of houses finally faded away at our sides, replaced by juicy green lowlands. A wonderfully fresh smell wafted around us, but I wondered what he wanted out here, where there was nothing but grass, trees, and an occasional house every few hundred meters.

A white split rail fence to our right hedged a wide area with a handful of horses in it. The dark animals were beautiful. I watched them grazing
in the warm afternoon sun and didn’t notice that Tony had slowed down until we suddenly stopped at one corner of the fence. A trail led away from the road, following the pasture up to a nice little property.

“Get off. We have to walk from here,” Tony said to me. “The path is too bumpy with you on the handlebar.”

I jumped off his bike and turned around to face him with a questioning look. “Do you know the people who live here?”

“Yeah.”

“And we’re going to visit them?”

“Not them.
But the horses.” Tony leaned his bike against the white fence and started walking toward the house. “You said you needed a live model. So…ta-da.” He sort of sang the last word as he spread his arms like he was presenting me with this paddock and the horses in it.

I smiled. “I never thought I’d actually ever say this, but you’re amazing, Anthony Mitchell.” The urge to hug him rose within me, but I resisted and skipped ahead of him, whistling with two fingers to get the nearest horse’s attention.

It was a gorgeous black stallion with one white hind leg and a blaze in the shape of a sword on its forehead. Tearing out a handful of grass near the hedge and holding it out, I lured the animal closer. The stallion caught the grass between his lips then gave my shoulder a nudge that pushed me a couple of steps backward. He hadn’t looked as tall from the distance.

“Who lives here?” I demanded, following Tony up the path and leaving the horse behind.
“A friend of yours?”

“Not a friend.
Family. And you know her.”

“Her?” I frowned. How would I know any of his relatives? But then it dawned on me. “Miss Jackson?”

“Yep. This is my aunt’s land.” His voice was a little strained. He climbed over the iron barrier close to the nice white house with its dark gray roof and broad windows facing the paddock. “She’s been breeding horses for as long as I can remember.”

Unlike Tony, I didn’t climb over, but ducked through the two metal bars
parallel to the ground. “You sure she doesn’t mind me coming here with you?”

Tony waited until I straightened again. “I called her this morning. She’s happy to help you with your AVE project and thought it was a wonderful idea. Hopefully, this’ll help me get an A in her class this year.”

That surprised me. “Your drawings are brilliant!” I bit my tongue and quickly corrected myself, trying to sound less enthusiastic. “Well, they’re very nice, actually. She doesn’t have a choice but to give you an A.”

“With my aunt being my teacher?
You have no idea how hard she goes on me. It’s totally unfair. Like I have to do everything three times as good as others just to get the same grades.”

“She probably knows that you have it in you and wants to coax it out that way. I think that’s adorable of her.”

Tony cut me a stern glance. “You wouldn’t say that if she was your aunt.” Then he rang the bell and we waited in front of the dark brown door to be welcomed.

Miss Jackson opened the door only half a minute later, her smile widening when she saw us. Just like he had done with Jessie Hunter, Tony kissed his aunt on the cheek as he greeted her. It was lovely to watch him when he cared to show his good manners.

Miss Jackson then shook my hand enthusiastically. “Samantha. It’s so nice to have you out here. Tony told me about your struggles with drawing a horse from memory. I’m sure you’ll find it easy with one of the breeds in the paddock.”

I thanked her for the invitation and the opportunity,
then I happily followed Tony across the yard to a romantic place behind the house.

An overburdened apple tree grew in the middle of a meadow next to the pasture. Several fruits lay on the ground, but most of them still hung on the branches. I settled down in its shade with my back against the tree, breathing in the intense smell of leaves and fruits. Tony handed me my backpack with my drawing utensils. I placed my sketchpad against my
thighs, the pencil clasped tightly, and couldn’t wait to get started. There was only one problem. “The horses are too far away.”

Tony, who had just lain down in the soft grass, blinked at me. He sure knew what I wanted from him. “All right,” he moaned and jerked up again, strolling over to the fence. He put two fingers of each hand in his mouth and whistled so loudly that I flinched. Like I had done before, he then ripped some grass from the ground and waved it at eye level of the nearest horse that had lifted its head at his signal. The brown animal stalked closer, ate the grass, then dipped its head down and started grazing next to the fence.

Tony turned to me. “Happy?”

I gave him a sheepish look, shaking my head.
“The black one?”

“
Argh, Summers! Seriously?”

A smile tugged at my lips as I nodded.

“Fine.” Rolling his eyes, he trudged away. A little later, he came back along the inside of the paddock’s fence, leading the gorgeous stallion on a dark blue halter that the animal hadn’t been wearing before. Tony obviously knew his way around this property and around the horses.

“I’m impressed,” I admitted as he came and sat down beside me.

Tony raised his brows at my empty paper and taunted me, “You should be working.”

With a happy smile on my lips, I started outlining the body of the horse with a few simple sketches, continuously looking up at the model. When the skeletal structure was finished, I began adding layer after layer, shaping the horse into a moving animal. But soon I faced a different problem.

Tony must have noticed my concern when I started chewing on my pencil instead of using it on the paper. “What’s up?” he demanded.

“The horse isn’t moving. I can’t finish this if it stands still like a rock.” I turned a pleading look at him. “Do you think you could make it move somehow?”

He shrugged and rose to his feet. “I can try.” On the way over to the black stallion, he picked up an apple and then swayed it in front of the animal’s mouth. When the horse strained its neck to catch the fruit, Tony pulled his hand away and walked a few steps to the left. He climbed onto the split rail fence and straddled the top batten. “Come here, horsey, horsey, horsey.”

The stallion cocked his ears but otherwise didn’t move.

“It isn’t a cat,” I told Tony, quirking my brows in disbelief.

He grunted, hopped down, and walked back to the horse, teasing it with the fruit once more. “You want this yummy apple?” Then he tossed it as far as he could. “Go get it!”

I giggled. “And it sure as hell isn’t a dog!”

“Really, Miss Summers? Then tell me, what’s
your
plan to improve this situation?” His voice was saccharin sweet.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Walk it?”

Tony heaved a sigh, deliberating. “You’re insane, Summers.” Nevertheless, he grabbed the blue halter and marched off with the stallion in tow. Man and horse walked back and forth a few times while I made changes to my drawing.

“Faster!” I shouted.

Tony started to jog, the stallion trotting beside him.

I let them run for some minutes,
then tried again, “Think you can go a little faster still?”

“No, I don’t think I can, Sam,” Tony gasped, letting go of the horse and bending over, hands braced on his knees. His hair in a sweaty mess, he turned his face to me.

His blue eyes shone in the bright light, his cheeks had turned red, and he bit his bottom lip. He looked gorgeous, just like that day when I had gone to his house to get his notes.

The corners of his mouth went up slightly which made me return a shy smile of my own.

And there I realized with shocking clarity that I was falling for this guy.

Tony left the horse. As he made his way to me, he fished for his cell phone in his pocket and keyed in a number. “Hey…Samantha needs more action. Could you come out and run the horse?...Okay.” Tucking the cell back into his pocket, he grinned. “Plan B is in motion.”

Plan B actually arrived three minutes later with a lunge line and a crop. Miss Jackson smiled and asked me which horse she should train for my drawing. I pointed the black stallion out to her.

“Oh yes, Jostle is the pride of my breeding. Let’s see if he’s up for some activity today.” She cinched the lunge line to his halter and led him away from the fence where the stallion had been rubbing his neck with pleasure.

After giving
him a few minutes to get adjusted to the lunging, Miss Jackson had him trotting and then galloping in a wide circle. It was beautiful. The stallion moved gracefully, the power beneath his smooth, shiny coat visible.

“I don’t think Carry can make the horse run all day, so you’d better start drawing,” Tony said as he sank to the grass next to me and broke my fascination with Jostle’s fluid movements.

I pulled a lollipop from my pocket, unwrapped it, then stuck it in my mouth and started to finalize my picture with swift pencil strokes. Tony watched and sometimes gave me good advice. He had a fantastic eye for detail, light and shadow especially, and he made me correct every line that was misplaced, even by just a millimeter.

“You sound like you’ve drawn many horses in your life,” I mumbled around the candy in my mouth.

“Some,” he replied quietly. “When I was younger, I often came out here to draw. Carry didn’t mind. Some of my pictures still decorate the inside of her house.”

“Did she also teach you how to put a halter onto a horse?”

“Yeah. She wanted to give me riding lessons, too.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m really not a horse person.”

Concentrating on the left front leg and the accurate size of the hoof now, I squinted. “Riding lessons sound good. I would have loved to have my own horse.”

“Carry gives lessons for kids. Her husband died a long time ago. Now she takes in a bunch of kids every summer to teach them how to handle horses, and also draw, if they’re interested.”

“Wow.” I erased a misplaced stroke, wiped the rubber dust away with the back of my fingers, and blew on the picture to get it clean. “That’s really nice of her.”

Tony’s shrug caught the corner of my eye. He crossed his arms behind his head and leaned against the tree trunk, gazing into the sun. “The house is big enough. Liza and I stayed over often as well. She’s afraid of riding, but she loved to groom the horses and braid their manes.”

I hadn’t expected him to mention Liza in front of me, but since he had, I deliberated if I could probe his relationship with her some more. “Susan said you’re still in love with Liza. Is it true?”

Even without looking up, I felt how Tony tensed beside me. I lifted my head and found him staring blankly at my face.

“Too personal, Summers.”

Of course. I bit my lip and lowered my gaze back at my drawing, but his shocked expression haunted me. He thought I didn’t know? Or did it bother him that I did? And what a stupid question was it anyway? Like I hadn’t known he was going to block me.

Like I had hoped he would say no…

Dream on, Sam. He’s not interested in you.

Tony was nice to me now, and I should be happy about it. There would never be anything more.
Because even if his jibes had turned into a playful taunting, I wasn’t his type. That simple.

I suppressed a sigh, chewing on the smooth plastic lollipop stick. It was okay, I told myself. He didn’t have to find me attractive or sweet or whatever.
Because I wouldn’t fall for him either. Mentally, I shrugged it off. It wasn’t too late for me to get out of this. I’d just refuse to develop any stronger feelings for him.

Fortunately for me, my plan worked. I turned all my attention back to the project I had to finish. After a long moment, Tony continued to tell me about his visits at his aunt’s place, which I was glad about. He didn’t hold my getting too personal against me.

“Right over there in the woods”—he nodded to my left—“is a place where we used to hang out a lot. When I came here alone, I often went there to draw the landscape. Only I turned it into a fairy woodland, with trolls and leprechauns peeking out from behind rocks, or little elves sitting on buttercups. I could get really imaginative there.”

“That must be an awesome place.” I looked at him sideways. “Would you mind showing it to me when we’re done here?”

Tony nodded. “If the weather holds out.”

Turning the other way, I saw the dark clouds he meant. They sneaked toward us, promising rain later today.
Nothing to worry about. I would be done with my picture in a few minutes anyway.

Some more pencil strokes with Tony’s instructions and soon I had a beautiful picture of a horse racing across the meadows, leaving rocks and bushes behind. It was perfect; the best drawing I had done in a long time.

“I have some great material about how to draw a body from the skeletal structure until the last layer of skin on my computer. If you like, I can email it to you later,” Tony offered as I added the date and my signature at the bottom of the picture.

“Sure.” I ripped a small piece of paper from my sketchbook and scribbled my email address on it.

“Sammy-dot-Smmrs?” Tony read out loud then arched one amused brow. “Does anyone really call you Sammy?”

“My mom does. And sometimes my aunt does, too.” I put the drawing into the folder and placed it next to my feet on the grass. Then I turned a provocative grin to him. “You don’t think it fits me?”

He looked at me for a moment as though he wanted to say something silly like, ‘That’s the right name for a Golden Retriever’. He thought better of it. “Whatever I’m going to say now probably won’t do me any good.”

“Nope, it probably won’t.” Suddenly, a memory from the morning after camping resurfaced. “Why did you call me Bungee yesterday?”

Tony took a deep breath, staring me straight in the eye. Had I been too personal again? But this was about me and not Liza. I was positive he’d come out with the truth just then, but at the same moment he opened his mouth, Caroline Jackson called me.

“Samantha, if you’re done with your picture, would you like to ride Jostle? I think he’d enjoy a little more exercise.”

My eyes widened at her offer. “I’d love to!”

“His harness is in the stable, the first box on the right. You can go with or without saddle, up to you.”

Was she kidding me?
Without!
I rose from the grass, dusting off my behind, then I beamed down at Tony. “Are you okay if I go horse-riding for a bit? I mean, we’re not in a hurry to get back, are we?”

“Not at all.”

Without another word, I rushed into the stables and found Jostle’s harness in a locker next to the wide rolling gate. As I spun, full of anticipation, I found Tony at the entrance. His hands had disappeared in his pockets as he leaned with one shoulder against the gate.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Do what?” I asked.

“Ride that beast?”

“Yes. Why wouldn’t I?”

It was hard to tell if he wanted to taunt me again or if he really was worried about me when he let his smirk slip.
“Because he’s so big. And you’re so…well…” His voice changed to a wry rumble. “You’re tiny.”

I laughed at that, but in an instant I had jumped onto the cube of pressed hay next to him, held onto the metal bars of the gate and leaned into his face. “Look me in the eye and say that again,” I teased him in a growl.

Our noses almost rubbed against each other. The feeling I got then was weird. My heart sped up, my stomach felt like it took a ride in the washing machine, and my breathing hitched. I knew this feeling. I’d had it last before I’d been kissed for the first time.

Tony chuckled, disarming the situation. “Crazy little girl.” He reached out for the rein in my hand and pulled me down from the cube, then out to the paddock again, as if I was his horse and he was my master.

A little disappointed, I followed him, but that feeling vanished as soon as Caroline Jackson had me harness Jostle and Tony came to help me onto the horse’s back. He held me by my ankle.

“On three,” he said, then counted quickly and catapulted me upward. He shaded his eyes with his hand as he looked up at me. “Feel good?”

I nodded. Jostle’s shoulders were level with the top of Tony’s head, but I wasn’t afraid of horses, small or big ones. It had been years since I’d last sat on one, but riding sure was something you didn’t forget.

Miss Jackson walked with me for a couple of minutes, but when she saw that I could handle Jostle well on my own, she removed the lunge line.

Tony went back to the apple tree and I tapped the stallion softly with my heels, spurring him on. The horse snorted and moved in long strides across the paddock. Reacting excellently to the light pressure of my legs, Jostle let me steer him in a wide circle, then a lying eight, and finally we galloped from one end to the other and back.

A few times I glanced over at Tony. He had grabbed my sketchpad and was idly doodling on it. I didn’t mind. As long as he was occupied, I didn’t have to have a bad conscience for having fun while he had to wait for me. It wasn’t long, though, before he seemed to grow bored of doodling and came over to the fence. He sat on the top batten, placing his feet on the middle one, and leaned his elbows on his thighs.

I reined Jostle in to a casual walk and rode toward Tony. He turned his head from one side to the other as we passed him, locking gazes with me.

“Are you bored?” I asked him after another round, when Caroline had walked back to the house.

“A little,” he confessed. “But you seem to be having the time of your life.”

Smiling back over my shoulder when I was already ten meters away, I said more loudly, “At least the best time since I came back to Grover Beach.” I nudged the stallion with my heels and raced him across the pasture once more,
then I slowed him down in front of Tony and got ready to dismount.

I leaned forward and swung my leg over Jostle’s back. When I slid down, strong hands grabbed me at either side of my waist and coaxed a surprised gasp from me. Tony gently set me down on my feet.

I turned to him, the corners of my mouth lifting. “You think I’m too tiny to manage anything on my own, don’t you?”

I was prepared for a mocking comeback, but not for his soft, intense look. “No,” he answered. “I thought your leg might trouble you again if you jumped down.”

Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. “Thanks,” I said, lower than before.

In the distance we heard the first rumble of thunder. It was still miles away, but it reminded me of the fairy wood he wanted to show me. “Do you think we can make it into the woods and back home before it starts to rain?”

“Possibly. If we follow the path through the woods, we’ll get back to town from a different side. The distance is the same, so it doesn’t matter which way we go.”

Clasping Jostle’s rein behind my back, I rocked back and forth on my heels, grinning. “Sounds like a plan.”

After I had freed the stallion from the harness and sent him back to his companions, we found Caroline Jackson inside and said goodbye. When she shook my hand, I told her thanks for giving me the chance to ride a horse again. She invited me to come back with Tony anytime I wanted, but I doubted that was going to happen.

While Tony got his bike, I went back to the apple tree and grabbed my backpack. Then we strolled toward the woods behind Miss Jackson’s property. The sky was darkening by the minute, but I didn’t intend to stay much longer. I just wanted to see what inspired this boy.

About half a mile into the woods, Tony leaned his mountain bike against a chestnut tree. “We’re going to climb up there.” He pointed toward a rock face ahead. “If you’re not carrying money in that bag, I suggest you leave it here.”

Taking out my cell phone and tucking it into my pocket, I parked my backpack behind his front tire and followed him through the brush toward the rock face. Though it was steep and at least twenty feet high, Tony didn’t hesitate to climb it. There were narrow treads every here and there and roots sprouting from cracks in the rock that one could grip for a better hold.

The lower half obviously was the easier part, and before going on, Tony waited for me on a small platform covered with moss and grass. He reached down, I took his hand, and he hauled me up to him.

With the momentum of the tug, I bumped into him, bracing myself against his chest. He steadied me with a gentle grip on my upper arms.

His pecs twitched under my palms and he tilted his face down to me. I gazed into blue eyes that stood out against the gray rock face behind him. The same butterfly sensation I’d had in the stables returned with such impact that I felt like the ground was slipping away beneath my feet.

But this time something was different. Tony didn’t defuse the fire he ignited in me but seemed intent to fuel it with a single soft whisper. “Careful.”