Convincing her

Jen happily walked into the mansion where they were greeted by a couple of maids. After going through the process of showing the girls to their rooms, Lucas pulled Jen to his own room for some alone time.

Meanwhile, Rachel who was feeling slightly suffocated from the two hour drive went downstairs to find a way to elevate her boredom. Fortunately she ran into a maid who was tidying up the living room.

"Excuse me?" Rachel said and smiled when the maid turned to look at her.

"Yes miss?" she responded.

"Can I get bottled water?" Rachel asked.

"Ofcourse, do you want it chilled or warm?

"I'd like it to very cold" Rachel replied. Although summer was almost ending, the days were still very hot.

" I'll get it for you right away" the maid said and walked briskly to where Rachel assumed was the kitchen.

After a few minutes she returned with a bottle of water and a glass on a tray.

"I won't be using the glass, thank you" Rachel said with a smile as she picked up the bottle of water and the serviet that was on the tray.

"Oh, there's no problem," the girl said slightly flustered.

"By the way, is there anywhere I can go for a walk? I need a breath of fresh air" Rachel asked.

"There are gardens out back, i'll lead you there" the girl offered and Rachel smiled in gratitude before following her out.

Once they got out the back of the house, Rachel was greeted by a very beautiful well maintained garden.

"This is pretty" Rachel commented.

"Miss, you can walk around here, the stables aren't too far away if you want to see the horses, I would accompany you but I-"

"It's alright, thank you very much" Rachel said with a smile. The girl was slightly mesmerised before she came back to her senses. She finally came to when Rachel had already walked quite a distance away from her.

She smiled in amusement as it was the first time she had seen so many girls being brought over and was surprised by how polite and distant Rachel seemed to be. After shrugging her shoulders she walked back into the house to complete her chores.

It was almost evening so it was not as hot as it was when they left the hotel earlier. Rachel explored the gardens till she reached the end of them and saw a large clearing that was very green and had a couple of trees scattered around.

At a distance, she saw a large wooden shed where she assumed was where the stables were.

She curiously looked in that direction and wondered if it would be okay to take a look at the horses. When she looked at the long white skirt and the long sleeved off shoulder peach coloured crop top she became hesitant.

After some deliberation she decided to walk in that direction, if she got tired halfway she would just go back to the house.

After walking for five minutes Rachel leaned against a tree to catch her breath. She looked at the ankle length heeled boots she was wearing and couldn't help but feel she was being ambitious if she thought she could finish the walk to the stables.

There was a large flat topped rock next to tree that seemed to be placed there so that people could sit as it looked too convenient to be a coincidence.

Rachel sat and opened her bottle of water and downed half of it in one go. A cool breeze passed through rustling the leaves on the tree and pushing her loose hair away from her face. She closed her eyes as her slightly damp skin started feeling cooler.

She removed her shoes and sat cross legged on the rock and became lost in her thoughts. As she sat there contemplating whether she should ask Lucas if she could buy land there for herself, she saw movement coming from the stable.

As she narrowed her eyes in an attempt to see the figure clearly, she noticed that it was quickly moving in her direction, and soon enough she was able to see a black horse galloping in her direction, and on top of that horse was the figure of a man.

She watched in fascination as the pair moved in synchrony and couldn't help but admire how he looked at ease on such a tall horse. She then saw them change direction and gallop towards her. Rachel did not move as she sat on the smooth rock and watched as the horse's speed gradually slowed down before coming to a stop in front of her.

She tilted her head back to look at the man on top of the horse and was met by pitch lack eyes that stared back at her. The man looked at her with curiosity before getting off the horse and tied the reins to a thick branch of the tree.

He then walked towards Rachel and stood in front of her and extended his hand towards her.

"I'm Brian" he introduced himself. Rachel stared at his tattooed arm and extended her own to shake it.

"I'm Rachel" she said and looked at his face. They both studied each other for a couple of seconds before Brian broke the silence.

"Are you here with Lucas?" Brian asked and Rachel nodded in response.

"Oh, so you are the girlfriend?" Brian asked as he sat next to her. Rachel's body froze for a second before she calmed herself down.

"Oh no, I'm his girlfriend's friend" Rachel replied and turned to look at him.

She saw that both his arms were tattooed and she suspected he had more on his torso as she could see hints of them from the neckline of his v-neck t-shirt and some were even scattered on the side and back of his neck.

She couldn't help but look at them for a long time since she had never met anyone who was so heavily tattooed. She was curious as to whether they would feel different from the rest of his skin and what they meant.

Brian noticed her stare but did not mind since he was used to it. Whenever he went out with his family he would receive stares since he was from a military family but as he too looked at the blonde beauty whose cold expression had turned into a curious one he felt like he wanted to know her.

For the first time in years, Rachel was curious about the opposite sex.

[A/N: It's innocent curiosity guys hehehe].