Page 54 of Back in the Saddle

“I was loud? I had to cover your mouth so the whole farm couldn’t hear your cry.” I kissed her hair. “Lucky we still have to talk about the breeding for this season. We can stay in here a bit longer.”

“Shame the horses don’t enjoy sex as much as we do.”

“Such a waste.”

I moved away and pulled up my jeans, smiling to myself. It had been a while since we’d had sex in the office. And fuck, that was hot. I might have to take her up against the door next time, to test how quiet she could be. Next time. I had no doubt there would be one. Her promise to me meant we were building our future, but what we had just done cemented it.

Taylor sat back in the chair. I sat at my desk, turned my monitor so we could both see it and started our discussion. Every now and then I glanced at the handprints on my wooden desktop. My mind would flash back to Taylor bent over it and my dick inside her. A smile would creep out. And I’m sure if my dick wasn’t still recovering, it would twitch.

We spoke about our mares, the client mares and the stallions standing at stud. We didn’t have any control over the clientmares, but as part of our service to them, we would collate and present suggestions. Once they made a decision, we would make the bookings.

I let go of the mouse. “Happy with what we have for the clients?”

“Yes. I’ll call them tomorrow and then email.”

I tilted my head. “You’ll call?”

“Yes. It’s my job as general manager. You started to take it on, and I let you, but I shouldn’t have.”

And I hadn’t pushed back, like with everything else. That was part of our problem. I never pushed back.

“I don’t know why I did that,” I said.

Taylor gave me a gentle smile. “I don’t know why I let you.”

This discussion was good. We had so much we needed to improve on. The fact that we could talk about it without accusations and resentment was important. It was better than where we’d been a few weeks ago, where even when we were trying to be nice, snideness would slip out.

“Maybe if we weren’t married, it would have been different,” she said.

I tensed. “What do you mean?”

“If we had just been business partners, we probably would have held each other to account more often.”

I relaxed my jaw. “True. We would have had more respect for boundaries.”

“We didn’t have that here or at home.”

I shook my head. “No, we didn’t.”

“If I invested as much time in our relationship and our family as I did the farm, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“But we may not have the farm if you didn’t.”

It was a fact I had to face. One that she needed to face too. If it came to it, would she be willing to give the farm and her familylegacy up? We weren’t at that point yet, but we could get there. And if we did, would she actually be able to do it?

She held my gaze. “It’s a piece of land, a business. I love it, yes. But I love you and the children more.”

My chest lightened. “I don’t want to lose the farm, Taylor. I love it here. I love what we have built up. But I don’t want to save the farm and lose us.”

“Me either.”

I reached my hand out. She took it.

“It’s time for us to save both,” I said.

She grinned. “Does that involve you showing me a good time?”

“Like before?” I waggled my eyebrows.

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