This was a problem waiting to happen.
Obviously.
It was a little relieving for him to see her looking well and happy in the daylight. He still wanted to speak to her—get close, look her in the eyes, and make sure things were okay. It wasn’t a game he should play, and nothing good would come out of the fact he had a growing emotional attachment to this job, but whatever.
Chris was who he was.
Someone who cared.
He gave a fuck.
Before he reconsidered, he asked the man ahead of him, “Can we go inside the stables?”
“Didn’t you want a drink?”
“Sure, soon. The stables?”
“Why not?”
He expected his current guard to follow him inside the stables, as that had been his entire tour today in a nutshell, but someone called the guy’s name just as they came up to the entrance where one could hear the horses hooves scuffing the floor inside.
“Jesús, venir!”
Chris had no idea what the man across the way was shouting to his guard, but whatever it was, Jesús was quick to give him a nod before he said, “I’ll be back in a moment—you’re good to look around, sí?”
“Perfectly fine,” Chris replied.
Even better that he got to do it alone, now.
“Do not wander off.”
“Of course, not.”
He was right where he wanted to be.
As soon as Jesús’s back was turned, Chris headed inside the stables. His gaze swept the space, taking in the horses, and the equipment lining one wall. A bucket of apple slices rested on the floor near one station, and the scent of animals and hay clung to the air with every breath he drew in.
Another time, and he might have admired the stables, and the beautiful creatures it housed. He always had a healthy appreciation for horses and had gone riding a time or two in the past. But as he was running low on time, and couldn’t chance getting caught alone with Valeria, he didn’t bother to enjoy the stables.
Instead, he found the woman in question down the corridor stepping into a stall beside a white and beige speckled horse.
“Ah, caballo,” Valeria said as the sounds of a brush being dragged over the horse’s hide echoed from the stall, “you’re a bonito boy today. You like the brush, huh?”
Chris didn’t even hesitate, simply headed down the corridor, and slipped into the stall where Valeria was brushing the horse down. Her gaze flew to him, her eyes widening as her pink lips fell open in a perfect O at the sight of him. No, he certainly didn’t have time to admire the stables, or to have small talk, but he enjoyed the sight of this woman in front of him in her surprise.
There was something beautiful about that.
About her.
“You can’t be in here,” she blurted, her breath gone.
Chris leaned back enough to peek out the stall which gave him a perfect view of the stable doors that were still wide open. “No one is here to stop me.”
His stare went back to her.
She swallowed hard.
“What do you want?”
“To talk,” he replied.
Valeria took a little step back, but she didn’t have very far to go. The horse next to them pranced in place wanting his attention back with that brush. “Do you understand that my husband will hurt—”
“Oh, he’s made it clear what he intends to do if I get too close to you, yes.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, those dark brown eyes of hers—like melting pools of russet—drifting over him like she wasn’t sure what to do with Chris. “That’s fine and great for you,” she returned, “but I am more concerned about what he might do to me.”
That made Chris stiffen.
“He hurts you?”
Valeria’s cheek twitched. “I ... I shouldn’t talk about it.”
“Yeah,” he said, taking one step closer to her as he spoke, “I’m not at all worried about your husband, Val. He’s a problem—an issue for me to take care of. I’m not even here for him, not really.”
Her gaze locked onto his.
Chris stepped close enough to her that her back hit the wall of the stall, and she needed to stare up at him. There was no getting away now, and he wanted something to be very clear to her. For one, because he needed for her to trust him. And for two, because this would only work if she understood what was about to happen.
“W-what are you doing?” she whispered.
Chris hadn’t intended to crowd Valeria because he wanted to make her uncomfortable, but because he needed to make sure she wouldn’t run, not when he had the chance to do this. The funny thing?
She wasn’t uncomfortable.
Not in the slightest.
Staring at him, those pupils of hers blew wide, showcasing his own reflection back to him. Her tongue peeked out to wet the seam of her lips, the action making his chest grow tight with something unusual—lust. That was before he noticed the way she looked him over, curious, yet wary, and still with interest. He bet if he touched her pulse point at her throat, he’d find her sweet heart racing like crazy.
What are you doing?
Get out of your head, asshole.
Focus.
His thoughts brought him back to the present, but barely. Because now, he concerned himself with the way Valeria’s skinny jeans molded to her shapely legs, and the low dip of her flimsy blouse that gave a peek at the valley between her breasts. Her skin, the golden sheen dotting it, pebbled from his attention, and he had the greatest urge to touch her, or God forbid ... fucking taste her.
Wow.
Valeria made a small noise.
Chris’s gaze flew back up to hers. “What’s that for?”
“Me? What is that for?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“The way you stare at me ...”
Chris’s brow furrowed. “You’re an exceptionally beautiful woman. Does no one tell you that?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Hadn’t she learned, yet?
“But I still did.”
She sucked in a shaky breath. “It has been a long time since someone looked at me like that.”
“Shame, that,” he murmured. “Beautiful things should be admired by the ones who care for them, and they should be told often of their worth and value.”
Valeria dropped his stare. “I’m not worth very much here.”
“Or is it you aren’t valued?”
Their stares met again.
Chris inched closer, because he wanted her pressed against the wall, and also because something at the neckline of her shirt had caught his attention. A mark that marred her skin, but he had to be sure. Lifting his hand, a shiver that raced through Valeria when his fingertips glided along the fabric of her blouse to move it aside.
Sure enough ...
He found three bruises there, a dark red that told him they were recent. He made a rough noise under his breath, though it came out thick between them and loaded with things he wasn’t sure he should say yet. Perhaps a part of him had still assumed this woman might want to be here, but he doubt she wanted to also be abused.
Now, he didn’t wonder at all.
“I’m not here for your husband,” Chris said quietly, meeting Valeria’s stare again, but not dropping his hand to stop from touching her. He liked the heat of her body, and the silkiness of her skin, and considering the way she trembled, and her breaths came out harder while she watched him, he could tell she liked it, too. “Despite what they might say, I didn’t come here for them. I came for you.”