Page 10 of The First Day of Breeding Season
Even though I’m striding real fucking fast, and my legs are much longer than hers, she catches up faster than I expect, even with a quick stop at her car to grab her backpack.
All of which I’m painfully aware of.
It’s a terrible idea to have her stay in the main house with me. Terrible. Truly one of my worst ideas ever.
But it’s the only possibility my stunned-simple brain is able to come up with right now.
There’s a whole wing that Noah and Paisley lived in before they finished construction on their new home. It’s not like I’m putting her right next to my room.
Just down the back porch, though.
I climb the steps and take my boots off in the mud room, carefully not looking at her.
She’s so fucking pretty.
Her generous hips in those jean shorts are something straight out of my long-buried fantasies. There’s something about the ripped edge, the soft white threads brushing against the lush tops of her thighs, that make it hard for me to breathe.
Real smart to move that kind of temptation into your house.
It’s not like I have any other choice. Not one I can live with, anyway. I lead her through the kitchen and down the hall, past the living room. The walls feel like they’re closing in with every step she takes beside me. Now that we’re inside, I swear I keep catching a honey scent off her, and I’m taking deeper and deeper breaths, trying to inhale more of her.
“This can be your room,” I mutter, pushing the door open.
It’s nothing fancy—bed, dresser, view of the rolling hills—but the look of relief on her face is startling.
Almost as if she wasn’t sure she’d have a place to stay tonight, I think, and the confused irritation humming under my skin twists, crystallizing into white hot rage. Why doesn’t she have anyone else in her life? Who is her family, and why did they put her in this precarious position?
As those thoughts riot through my mind, she slides her backpack off her shoulder and drops it on the bed.
Her t-shirt twists with it, pulling up her torso, and I get an unexpected flash of soft, smooth skin on her side.
She tugs the cotton down to meet the waist of her jean shorts again, then stretches her arms over her head and it rides right back up again.
This time, her curvy tummy narrows in a bit at the top, nipping in with a shadow that makes my mouth water to taste her there.
I jerk my head up, inspecting the ceiling. That’s safer.
“I need to go,” I say, and my voice comes out low, rough, and desperate. “There’s a lot to do before tomorrow.”
“Can I help?”
“No.” That comes out too harshly. “You stay here. I’ll send the housekeeper to get you settled. Tomorrow, be ready to leave at seven in the morning. We’ll be gone all day.”
She sucks in a breath, and even though I’m not looking at her, I can feel her excitement level rising. “So, we’re…”
For better or worse, yes. Tomorrow’s the first day of breeding season. I nod. “Tomorrow, we turn the bulls loose in the pasture.”
“I can’t wait,” she breathes.
Desperate need claws at the inside of my chest. I don’t know how to soothe it, so I do the next best thing—I turn on my heel and leave, hoping I can outrun it.
CHAPTER 5
BRYNN
It’s hard to catch my breath after Drew storms down the hall, his heavy footsteps not stopping until he’s out of the house.
I swear I feel the walls shake as he marches off the porch, but that’s not real. He doesn’t even slam the door, something I braced myself for, but it doesn’t come.
