World Enough and Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

eyes refused to focus and my fingers didn’t want to cooperate. My mind was a thick cloud of fatigue that even a quad-shot espresso couldn’t quite penetrate.
    I yawned and led him out of his stall into the aisle. I clipped the cross-ties to his halter and went about brushing him, my exhausted muscles protesting every movement as my eyes threatened again and again to close. Though I’d never in my life been so tired, I wasn’t about to complain. I’d managed a precious hour or two of sleep before I’d had to be at work, but not nearly enough to render me functional and coherent.
    Normally, I started my day with some of the more challenging horses. Orion, the warmblood no one had bothered to train for his first five years. Xena, the jumper who was a stubborn mix of dumb as a post and too smart for her own good. Dante, the trainwreck of an ex-racehorse with about three years’ worth of horrible training that needed to be undone. It was better to deal with them early in the day, then move on to the easier horses.
    Those three most likely had today off. I didn’t dare approach any of them when I was in such a foggy state of mind, and if my second espresso didn’t break through, then there was no point in bothering today. A day off wouldn’t kill them.
    So I started with Jester, one of my own horses. A late morning trail ride on a mellow creature like him was just what the doctor ordered and at least stood a chance of waking me up. Worse came to worse, if I was too tired to navigate, Jester knew the way home.
    When I cross-tied him in the aisle, he nudged my hip, nibbling at the pocket of my jeans.
    “No treats yet, silly boy.” I gathered his long forelock and tucked it under his halter so it would stay out of his eyes. He again tried to investigate my pocket and I gently pushed him away. “You have to work before you get a treat, you know that.” The look he gave me could only be described as pouty. I laughed and scratched his neck before grabbing a brush to clean him up.
    While I groomed and saddled him, my mind wandered, and for all my inability to think coherently, one thing kept itself firmly planted at the forefront of my mind: Last night.
    With my number in his phone, the taste of his kiss on my lips, and the promise of a rematch to finish what we’d started, Connor had left with the rising sun. He’d left me smiling, aching… and wondering.
    I wanted more. I wanted to feel him inside me. I wanted him to fulfill all the promises and fantasies he’d whispered in my ear in that strained, nearly-there voice.
    But then what?
    Though casual sex had never been my thing, after last night, I could certainly see myself sleeping with Connor with nothing except physical pleasure in mind. The fact that I’d never had a strictly sexual fling before seemed like a ridiculous reason to forego a chance at doing just that with him. With all the orgasms he’d given me and all the things he could do with his mouth and hands, if all he wanted was something sexual, I was more than willing to oblige.
    But what if he wanted more?
    I was only a few months out of a long relationship. A long, miserable relationship. I’d given Matt entirely too much of myself, up to and including leaving my hometown to follow him to the Pacific Northwest, and I was still picking up the pieces from that. I wasn’t ready to give anyone anything I couldn’t take back on a moment’s notice.
    Susan’s voice shook me back into the present. “So, how did it go?”
    I looked up, pretending she hadn’t startled the hell out of me. She had a bridle on her shoulder and her arms folded across her chest, a knowing grin on her face.
    “How did what go?” I asked.
    “You know, with Connor?” Her eyebrows lifted. “Last night?”
    I chewed the inside of my cheek to suppress a smirk, trying to I focus on buckling Jester’s girth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    She shifted her weight and the bridle on her shoulder jingled. “Woman,