Page 21 of Redbird

“Better get to handling it then, sir.”

I shiver deliciously—I love teasing him just as much as he hates being teased. But there’s nothing he can do right now. He’ll need to close up the barn and outbuildings before he can come upstairs.

From below, he gives me a look. The kind that comes with a spanking later. Then he takes Shadow’s reins and disappears around the house, heading to the barn.

Thunderstorms aren’t common up on Sovereign Mountain, but I’ve witnessed a handful and they’re a treat as long as there’s no destruction. Being up on the mountain gives a prime view of lightning for miles. The rain moves over the grass, making it roll like the ocean.

I leave the nursery, moving through the house in my bare feet. When I step out on the porch, the wind whips my loose hair and tears at my skirt. Blowing it up around my thighs.

Carefully, I move down the dusty path and step into the cool barn. Gerard locks Shadow up and pulls the back door shut, securing it against the wind. He turns and his pale eyes fall on me.

Heat moves through me in a wave. God, he looks good. Big, strong, so much taller than me. His t-shirt is stuck to his chest with sweat, his hair windswept. He never cut it as short as I’d wanted at first and now I don’t care. I love having just enough length to curl my fingers through when he’s between my legs. And I love that his temples are dusted with gray.

My toes curl on the cold concrete.

He takes his hat off and beckons me. I go, shivering when he takes me gently by the throat and kisses my mouth.

“You’re beautiful, redbird,” he says.

My heart thumps. He’s never been an eloquent man. He’s never given me a romantic speech or written a poem. But I know how much weight words hold for him. When he says I’m beautiful, he means it.

I run my hand up his chest. Touching the side of his face, scratchy with his beard.

“Should we…go inside?” I whisper.

He glances out of the barn, just as the rain hits the ranch in a torrent. I pull back, shocked by the cold mist coming in. He strides past me and pulls the sliding door shut. For a second, it’s dark. Then our eyes adjust to the light coming in from the windows.

Rain batters at the glass. The horses chew softly in the background.

“I think we’ll be waiting it out in here,” he says.

I’m a little disappointed. Gerard doesn’t like having sex in open places. He’s jealous and it would piss him off if anyone walked in on us. He keeps the shades down and has me in the privacy of our room most nights. Occasionally, we’ll fuck in a field, far out of the way. But never where anyone can see.

“Yes, sir,” I sigh, sinking down on a bench by the door.

He crosses the barn, leaning against the window. I’m not going to pout—he doesn’t like that and it goes against our agreement. So I wait in silence until he glances over and the corner of his mouth twitches in his version of a smile.

“You’re not fooling me, redbird,” he says.

I shrug. “I’m not trying to fool you.”

He shakes his head once. “You’ve got that little crease between your brows.”

I touch the spot in question and sure enough, I do have a little frown line. I force it away, putting on a casual expression.

“I’m not frowning, sir.”

“You are. I know what you want, redbird.”

I shake back my hair and fix my eyes through the window. He slaps his thigh once.

“Come here,” he says.

He’s using the soft version of his commanding tone. The one I like best. I rise and go to him. He turns me around, pulling me back against his body, locking one forearm gently across my chest, right over my collarbones. His chin brushes the top of my hair.

“We don’t have many storms up here,” he says. “But when we do, it’s good for the land.”

“I like them,” I sigh.

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