Page 231 of Forbidden Heroes

“You're going to be sore for a while. Rest while I tend to the horses and when I get back, we can eat something. Talk this over.”

I see a hint of confusion and doubt in her eyes as sleep takes hold. I force myself to walk out of the house. I know the horses are fine but I need some air and some time to wrap my head around what just happened. I can't help either of us with the bank of fog clogging up my thoughts.

I took Harper bareback and gave her every last drop of my sperm. It will be a miracle if she doesn’t end up carrying my child.

Because I lost control, I may have changed the course of our lives, and things are about to change. For better or for worse is the big question.

Eight

Harper

Tired and confused, I wake the next morning to an empty bed. Boone never made it back to the house last night. I shower and make my way down to the kitchen to find it empty too with only a note beside the pie I spotted when I first arrived.

Out all day tending to horses. Be back soon. Stay close to home.

I snort an unladylike sound that would earn me a good stern look from Austin if he were here. I flip the small piece of notebook paper over but don’t find any Love Boone. Or, Wow yesterday was fantastic, great first blow job.

“Well, that’s disappointing.” I poured my heart out and then he sends me off to bed like some errant child who needs a nap.

I think about the way he practically ravaged me yesterday. A starving man would have had more finesse. Not that I didn’t like it—I loved it—but there were signs in the way he took me. Like he couldn’t control the need in him any better than I could.

I want to laugh and cry all at once. If he didn’t sleep inside with me, where did he sleep? I walk around the house, which is eerily quiet. Not another soul in sight. Not even the ranch hands. What if he’s gone back to the other house, wrangled up Austin and Hunter to come to get me? Worse, what if he’s left, shunning me once and for all?

Taunting him, making him chase me probably wasn’t the smartest but it got him moving. And now? Now he was off somewhere avoiding me.

I head back upstairs, change into a flirty sundress that exposes more skin than my jeans and t-shirt and head out for a long walk.

I head to the corral first, only to find it empty and the next three stables void of human life. “Well, what the fuck!” I take a deep breath, but musk from the horses and fresh mountain air do little to relax me.

I close my eyes, feeling the tension of not finding Boone anywhere drift away on the current of air.

With one last look around, I wander off to the back of the cabin and follow a familiar path down to the river.

Yesterday I felt like I was a part of something that had a real shot. I only had to break through his tough exterior to find the man and his feelings. I finally thought I had when he took me bare, but what do I know? He’d made sure I took every last drop of his milk inside me. I felt wanted, protected with how he encased me with his large, powerful body. Like he wanted to shield me away from the world while we shared our moment of ecstasy.

The gurgling sound of water over rocks welcomes me as I round the bend in the path. Slow-moving water runs over rocks, and I take a hint from Mother Nature to just let things be. But my insides are tied in knots. Large rocks I like to use for sunbathing line the edge of the river. I find my usual spot is in shadow, with dark clouds covering the sun.

“Crap.” Entrenched in all my scattered thoughts, I lost track of the time and the weather. Rumbling, dark clouds move in and bolts of lightning are already splitting the sky in the distance. Boone is going to be so mad at me. How many times has he told me to watch the skyline in the this close to summer? That tornadoes and flash thunderstorms can sneak up out of nowhere.

I feel my body tingle with electricity in the air. I don’t have much time before the storm hits.

“Shit.”

No sooner do I think it does fat, heavy drops of water start to pelt me and everything in sight. I move to slip down from the rock. Useless sandals cause me to slip and I’m off the rock, loose gravel and sand not so much cushioning my fall.

Holy shit, that hurt. I mean, I could have landed on the other side, where the grass would have caught me but as luck would have it I take a nose dive off the side that hurts the most. I take stock in my hands and shins to make sure nothing is bleeding but when I try to stand and make my way back up the embankment, I find I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. My foot is stuck between a gnarled root and the rock I love so much. Kind of ironic.

I tug and try to free myself, but nothing is budging.

My heart starts to race. It’s raining harder and the river is rising. I feel the water start to tease over my toes when it wasn’t even anywhere near me a few minutes ago.

Two words enter my head—flash flood. Now I am starting to panic. I mean, fuck. What was I thinking? All I can think about is getting back to Boone. How much I want to tell him I love the rough cowboy and imperfect as he is. Feel his warm hands on my body, him claiming my mouth in the heated, hungry way.

Water is already at the hem of my dress, and the rush of currents hitting me and making my other foot slip. “Oh, God,” I cry out when a log, or what I hope to God is a log rams into my side hard enough to burn. I make it another thirty seconds before I scream again, this time for Boone, for God, for anyone to hear me before I drown.

Numbness starts to seep in and I begin to lose feeling in my legs. It’s so cold. Shivers rack my body. I’m almost swimming in place now. Gasping for air through the rush of water raging against me and the heavy rain pelting down from above. Please God, help me. I pray, plead and beg. I’m so close to finding happiness I don’t want to lose it and if I get out of here in one piece, I’m going to do whatever it takes to make that stubborn ass man see me. I mean really see me.

Swirling my arms through the murky water, wondering if freshwater crocs are a thing, the sound of a motor breaks through my mental freak out. Or I hope. It’s so cold, my brain could be hallucinating.

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