Chapter Three

    His kaleidoscope of blue eyes peered down at me. Wow. He was taller than me. That was amazing. I was pretty tall for a girl, hovering around 5’9’’. Our gazes was locked, neither one of us could pull away, or wanted to. He was the magnet, I was the metal.
Someone cleared their throat. I didn’t even flinch, but I wasn’t able to look away until Trey did. He didn’t let go or loosen his hold on me at all. Jaydon stood there, looking slightly uncomfortable.
“ Uh, Chey, I was just wondering…Does this have to do with…Last night?” She said brokenly, almost hypnotized by Trey.
“ Yeah. I’ll tell you later.” I said, glancing back up at Trey.
“ Oh. OK. Well, I’ll get Jordan and we’ll do your stalls for you.” She said, giving Trey one last lingering look before walking away. Jordan ( Jaydon’s current boy ) would have to watch out. He might have some competition with Trey.
“ Don’t worry. She just looks. She wouldn’t leave him.” Trey’s deep voice rumbled in his chest, making me tingle. Until I realized what he had said.
“ What?!” I exclaimed and took a step back, fighting the urge to stay in his arms.
“ You’re worried about Jaydon. I’m just saying she won’t do anything stupid.”
“ You can read my mind?” I cried. How embarrassing! After I had been thinking all those things about him!
“ No, no! Not everything. Just things you don’t guard. That’s the first time I’ve heard you.” He held his hands up in surrender.
I glared at him for a moment but then relaxed. I realized I believed him.
“ You need a place to stay.” I said it instead of asking. I already knew the answer.
“ Yeah. But I can sleep in my truck or in my trailer.” He said and fell in step with me as I started walking. I glanced over at him. He smiled back, revealing a dimple in his right cheek. My heart stuttered.
“ You can’t do that.” I protested and led him to where the foreman of Rolling Meadows was doing some paper work.
“ Ben, this is Trey. I want to hire him as a stable hand. And I want his paint mare to have free board. Ok?” I asked. I knew Ben would have to agree because I was Boss’s daughter.
“ Sure Cheyenne. You know he’s a good guy?” Ben’s fatherly gaze scraped Trey from boots to the roots of his hair. I gazed over at him into his eyes and felt a connection deeper than anything I had ever felt. I knew I would know if he wasn’t a good guy.
“ Yeah. He has my approval.” I answered, still lost in Trey’s gaze.
“ Great. Sign here.” Ben grabbed a paper and set out a pen. Trey finally looked away and I blinked, flustered that he was that enthralling to me. I didn’t understand how he could hold me captive with just his eyes.
“ Cheyenne, why don’t you show our new employee to his room?”
I nodded, not risking looking at Trey again, fearing being captured in his eyes again. As soon as Trey was done signing the paper, I turned and starting walking toward the small cabins we either rented out or let employees stay in. We crossed the yard behind the second barn and I turned, headed toward the cluster of about six cabins, not extremely close together, but in the generally vicinity of each other.
“ Here.” I stopped at the only empty cabin. He was lucky to have the cabin to himself. I was going to share one with Jaydon now that it was summer, unless we wanted to have a party in the main house.
“ Cheyenne.” Trey saying my name made my heart skip and then start pounding, just like the hooves of the race horse, barreling down the practice track a little ways away.
“ Yeah?”
“ We were meant for each other.”
His words stopped me cold.
“ What?”
He looked down and seemed embarrassed.
“ I cant help it. I’m sorry. I just wanted to let you know that’s what she told me.”
“ She? She who?” I snapped, getting pretty ticked off. Not that I was complaining, Trey seemed as sweet as he was hott, but I didn’t appreciate someone telling me who was meant for me.
“ You know who I’m talking about.”
“ Oh. Her.” I said more calmly. The woman in my dream. That had marked me. Which reminded me that my parents were going to kill me.
“ Shoot.” I snapped.
“ I’m sorry. I can’t help it. That’s what she said.” Trey said, looking like he was in pain. My heart suddenly constricted as his face showed pain. I tried to breathe in, but suddenly I felt like he had just said those words to me and I was the one with the hurt feelings. Not meaning too, I reached out and laid my hand on his chest, on his heart.
That’s not what I was talking about. I said silently. He looked into my eyes, his eyes slightly hopeful and the pain eased a little in my chest.
I don’t want to rush it. He answered. I didn’t blink. I couldn’t. As long as he was looking at me, I was unable to look away.
“How do you do that?” I asked, ignoring his comment for a moment.
“ Do what?” He asked innocently, raising one eyebrow.
“ The hypnotic thing. I know Jaydon felt it too. There’s just something about you. When I look into your eyes, I cant look away until you do.”
Trey grinned and leaned back on the cabin door, looking like a model. Again.
“ Yeah. I effect her. Its part of my gift. Let’s just say I can be persuasive about things. It effects everyone…” He trailed off and I waited expectantly.
“ Except people with other gifts. Like you.” His grin grew, and turned slightly confident. His voice dropped lower. “ So anything you feel for me is all you, babe.”
I blushed and suddenly I noticed we were closer than before, my hand still on his chest, leaning on him, our mouths just a couple of inches away from each other.
“ What about feelings? Can we share those?” I asked, thinking about just a minute before.
“ Yeah. You can share how you feel with anyone else that has a gift. But most of the time that doesn’t happen until you’ve known that person for a while. Why? Did you feel something?”
I nibbled on my lower lip. “ Yeah. Just a second ago.” I admitted.
Trey’s eyes sparkled. “ That’s amazing. The only other people I know of that have done that so soon were really powerful. Have you tried your powers?” His eyes glowed.
“ Uh no. I just got marked last night. In my dream.” I said softly.
“ Just last night?” He exclaimed.
“ Yeah. I guess so. I had this when I woke up this morning.” I flipped my hand over that the palm was facing up, showing the beautiful mark. Trey inhaled and grabbed my arm, pulling my hand up closer to his face.
“ I don’t believe this!” He exclaimed. “ This is exactly what Crystal showed me about two weeks ago and said that Lady Light said we needed to find the person baring this mark.”
I was guessing the woman in my dream was called Lady Light. That was fitting.
He continued to stare at the mark like it was the most important thing ever.
“ What does it mean?” I asked curiously.
“ It means you’re special. You are chosen by Lady Light herself.”
I gazed up at him in awe, but not as the same reasons as he was staring at me. He was staring at me because my mark was different, I was staring at him because we were even closer now and he was making me tingle all over.
“ What am I chosen for?” I asked.
“ You are destined to defeat an evil.” He said, seeming a little reluctant to share.
“ What kind of evil?” I asked, my eyes wide.
“ You’ll know when you see it. But I do know you’ll need all the help you can get. There are not many on our side anymore. That’s why Crystal and I are here. To help you. We are now devoted to teaching and helping you.” He said, but I saw the hidden meaning in his words and his eyes.
He was saying that he would help me. No matter what. Trey very slowly lifted my wrist up to his mouth and kissed my wonderful mark. He never broke eye contact. His full lips on my skin made my heart pound and my knees weak. I couldn’t believe how corny I was being.
“ Hey Sugar!” Another deep voice called. I jumped and turned toward David as he rushed toward me.
“ David! Geez. Why are you running around?” I asked one of our other stable hands. And let me explain about the ‘sugar’ part. That’s just how David is. There was never anything between us. He was just a good ol’ southern boy.
“ You’re dad said for you to come to arena 12 immediately.” David said, looking at Trey with raised eyebrows.
“ Oh. This is Trey. He’s our new hand.” I explained quickly.
“ Nice to meet you.” David said, smiling as Trey dropped my wrist and stepped forward to shake hands with David.
“ I’ll see you later.” I said to Trey and started walking to arena 12. We had so many arenas we had to number them.
“ Cheyenne! Good, you’re here. Ben told me that you hired a new hand today?” My dad called as I walked over to arena 12 where a guy was riding a beautiful black horse.
“ Yeah. His name is Trey. He’s a really good guy.” I answered and crossed my arms on fence, watching the guy canter the magnificent black horse around. Wow. He was good, whoever he was.
“ Well that’s good. Do you think he would mind sharing with this young fellow? I think they’ll be good buddies. I just hired him today also.” He stopped and motioned the rider over. My heart stopped for the second time today. This boy was as equally gorgeous as Trey. What was going on here?