Shep pressed the reins against Tadgh’s neck, turning him slightly to the right. “What way?”
She hesitated. “Centered.”
“Yes.”
Another pause. “Okay, then you have to tell me why you’re single. I don’t get it.”
He smiled, even if she couldn’t see it, liking that compliment. Not all women would see him as centered, but he liked how Emma saw him. “I haven’t had the time for a relationship. Work has kept me busy.”
“When was your last relationship?” Her voice lifted a little, indicating to him she was glad to get the subject off her for a little while.
So he indulged her. He knew her secrets. He wouldn’t withhold his. “My last relationship ended just over two years ago. Her name was Sara. We met in college. We were both in the business program.”
“What happened between you?”
Tadgh tripped on a rock but corrected himself quickly. Shep kept his hand on Emma’s thigh, reins loose. “After we finished college, we lived together for five years. Life couldn’t have been better. We were good for a long time.”
“I take it things started to fall apart.”
Shep exhaled a long breath, glancing out at the trees ahead of him. “Sara had big dreams in a big city.”
“You didn’t?”
“Actually,” he corrected her, “I moved to LA for her. We lived there for two years together. But in the end, I wasn’t ‘big city’ enough for her. Sara left River Rock one woman, and the second she entered LA, she became someone else. For a long time, I tried to work it out. She did too. But the breakup was inevitable.”
Emma squirmed back until her bum rested against Shep’s groin. “You moved back home after that, then?”
“That’s right.” Shep fought to keep his mind focused on the conversation.
Emma hesitated; her voice softened. “Do you hate her?”
“No.” Shep bit back a groan at how Emma’s bottom kept brushing against his cock with Tadgh’s stride. “Sara is who she is. I can’t control her behavior. But I can control not allowing that drama into my life.”
“And after you broke up, you never looked back?”
“I haven’t looked back once.” He wrapped his arm around her a little bit tighter. “The past is the past. I don’t act rashly. When I make a decision, it’s final.”
A slight breeze brushed across them, fluttering her hair while she asked, “Do you miss her at all?”
Would I stop missing Jake? he heard between the lines.
Shep hesitated, surprised that when she alluded to Jake, it didn’t bother him more. Truth was, he knew she spoke of Jake from a place of pain, and somehow that softened the subject. He surprisingly wanted her to share it all. “On one hand,” he explained, “there are times I miss what we had. When it was good, it was good.”
“On the other hand?”
“On the other hand, I’m content with being alone. Women can be . . .”
“Difficult?” she offered.
“Complicated,” he corrected gently. “Right now, I’ve got enough trouble on my plate, to be honest. For me to date anyone, the woman would have to be less complicated, and more settled. That wasn’t Sara, that’s why it would never work between us.” And that answer he knew would ease her too, since she didn’t want to get too involved. Emma was full of complications. He shouldn’t want to start anything with her, and yet there they were.
As they reached the edge of another creek, Tadgh paused a moment, and after a gentle nudge, he stepped in the water, and Bentley followed.
Once they cleared the water, she stroked Tadgh’s neck and asked, “Do you mind my asking what else you’ve got on your plate?”
Ah, caught that, did she? “My father passed away a couple of weeks ago.”
“Oh, my God, Shep.” She leaned fully against him now. “I’m so sorry. I did not know about that. Here I am talking all about me, and you’ve got this—”