Page 62 of Swallow Your Fear
My core heated, and I wanted nothing more than toclench my thighs to alleviate some of the ache, but that would only make the horse move, and I needed to stay put. To keep Booker’s hands on me.
“Rough,” I managed to get out on a breath.
“That’s my girl.” His fingers tightened the slightest before he released me, and then he was dismounting. He slid the bit out of Onyx’s mouth, then clicked his tongue and patted the horse’s ass. He took off at a gallop, heading back in the direction of the barn.
I swiveled in the saddle to watch Onyx disappear. “How are you going to get back?” My sentence ended on a yelp as Booker lifted me off the horse.
“We’ll ride together,” he said simply as I wrapped my legs around his waist.
He still had the bridle looped over his shoulder as he lowered me to the ground. He gently laid my head in the plush grass, his weight a welcome pressure. As if he couldn’t help himself, he shoved the mask up his face to reveal his mouth and began peppering slow kisses down the side of my neck to my collarbone. “Anything you want,” he repeated in between kisses. “Say the words, and I’ll do it.”
He’d been like this since the night I was taken and nearly killed. Treating me like the most delicate shell on a beach full of abrasive sand. Like one wrong move, and I might shatter. With him, I didn’t think that was possible. He held my head above water when all I wanted to do was sink some days, and every day, I’d gotten better—mentally and physically. But those demons still lurked in his mind. I tried not to feel guilty for it, but it was no secret he felt this way because of what happened to me.
“A dog,” I said, to which his lips froze on my skin before he lifted himself slightly to peer down at me.
“A dog?”
I nodded, a smile pulling at my lips. “I want a dog.”
His cowboy hat fell to the grass as he pulled his mask off the rest of the way to get a better look at me. Once he decided I was being serious, he said, “We’ll have to talk to the guys.”
A gasp escaped me as my smile widened. “We can really get a dog?”
“If that’s what you want?—”
Before he could finish his sentence, I was shoving all my body weight at him to get him onto his back. I rolled on top of him, sprinkling kisses all over his cheeks, nose, and forehead. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Booker let out a chuckle. “Have you never had a dog before?”
I shook my head, ceasing my kisses. “My mother always said they were too messy and I didn’t want it to be outside all the time.”
“Messes can be cleaned,” he declared, hooking a lock of hair behind my ear.
“You’ve proved that a time or two,” I muttered.
He threaded his fingers into my hair in response to my dig, then tugged my head toward his. Before our lips could meet, I was shoving at his chest. “We need to go talk to Austin and Henley.”
He propped up on his elbows as I stood, staring at me. “Can’t wait until tomorrow?”
I popped a hip, waiting for him to get up.
With another low chuckle, he moved to stand, grabbing his mask and cowboy hat off the ground. As I turned for my horse, he caught me by the waist, spinning me around so that my chest was pressed to his. “The lady gets what the lady wants.”
“Because I’myourlady.”
“Damn right, Darlin’. No one else’s.”
After a kiss I lost myself in, we mounted the horse together and rode back to the barn to find Onyx waiting for us by the gate. Once Booker untacked them and sent them back into the pasture, we headed inside the house to find Austin and Henley playing a game of cards at the kitchen island.
“What’s that grin for?” Austin asked, peering up at me from his hand.
I couldn’t help myself as I bounced on the balls of my feet. “We’re getting a dog.”
Henley glanced over his shoulder at us, setting down his cards. “A dog?”
I nodded. “Mhmm. Booker said we could get one, but we wanted to make sure it was okay with you guys.”
Austin glanced at Henley, a silent discussion passing between the two of them with the act.
