Page 23 of Redbird

At some point, our new, wild love became something deeper. Like the difference between fresh rain over the mountain and the cool parts of the river that flow even in high summer.

With each year, the current grows deeper.

Peaceful, like a river.

This morning, I feel a mix of that peaceful love and a storm ready to break through. But she’s asleep and I have to be gentle. So I slip one thigh over my shoulder and ease my upper body between her legs. She turns her head to the side, sighs, but stays asleep.

I run my tongue over the seam of her pussy. Her taste blossoms on my tongue. Sweet, a little tart. So addicting that my pulse quickens in response.

I lick her again, pushing my tongue into the softness of her cunt. She moans and her pussy clenches, giving me a little more of her arousal. Mind empty, I lap it clean and push her thighs further apart to spread her wider. Baring her sex so I can run my fingers down the valley and gather her wetness.

She moans as I push my middle finger into her cunt. Her hot inner muscles contract. Pulling me in deeper. Her eyes stay shut as I bend and find her clit with my tongue.

I love when she comes in her sleep. It feels different than when she’s awake. The build is quicker and the release is wetter.

She moans. I can tell by the timbre that she’s still unconscious. Her hand, draped open on the sheet, quivers.

I find her G-spot and work it slowly. Gentle taps, then slow strokes. Just the way she likes it. Her thighs tremble and I glance up to see the muscles of her stomach tighten. My tongue keeps going, my finger strokes her from the inside.

Then she comes. Her body doesn’t seize as it does when she’s awake. Instead, it quivers and the pleasure rolls through her in a wave. Her hand clenches. She gasps and her eyelids flutter.

Her pussy throbs and wetness slips out around my fingers. Soaking my knuckles and the sheet.

I lick her clean and pull my finger free, shifting up to lay beside her. Those blue eyes are hazy and her smile is sleepy. Her body is relaxed into the bed. I know I can fuck her easily, but I don’t. Instead, I brush her hair back and ease her onto her side. My hand moves in slow circles down her back, soothing her to sleep.

“Where…you going?” she mumbles.

“To bring the cattle in,” I say, kissing her head. “You rest.”

Her eyes flutter shut. My hand moves down to her lower belly, where our next child grows.

She told me last night, as we prepared to sleep. I was stretched out on my back in bed. She slipped out of the bathroom and lifted a test. Flipping it to show the little blue cross.

Then she cried, but it was the good kind of tears. She doesn’t cry the bad kind very much anymore.

I fell asleep with her in my arms, thinking about new beginnings. How just when I think I have all that I deserve, she goes and gives me more.

Now, in the early morning, with the sun still below the horizon, I’m awestruck. I can never do for her what she did for me. I was living in a prison of pain and hatred. And she’s had the courage to break my ice and love me despite my coldness.

My beloved.

I lean in and kiss between her hip bones, right below her navel. Then I get dressed for the day, pulling on my work clothes and tying my boots. I take up my hat and that’s when I feel it.

Hard in my pocket.

Something I’ve been working on for the last few months.

I pull it out, uncurling my hand to reveal the second wooden foal I’ve made for her. I smile, in spite of myself. And I leave it on the sheet, in the empty space on my side of the bed.

She’ll find it when she wakes.

Then she’ll come find me, tears in her eyes.

All the pieces of my heart that she repaired are full as I exit the house and enter the yard. The lights above the barn are on and there’s a gathering of men by the stalls. Jensen and Westin wait with their horses, ready to help head up the crew moving the cattle from the western pastures and through the outer yard.

It’s the beginning of a new cycle. The weather is already cooling and soon after, snow will come. Keira will give birth in the late winter and our baby will be old enough to crawl on the porch by summer. Then it’ll be time to tag and brand and head to auction all over again.

The day is long and it’s warm again by the afternoon.

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