Page 134 of Finding Home
It’s becoming a risk I’m willing to take with her.
Can I make her stay?
If she breaks my heart, then it’s just another lesson I’ve learned too late.
I don’t give her a choice before I interlock her hand in mine again and use my other to guide Storm out of the barn and into the open field. The skies are gray as if it might rain any minute.
I gesture to Storm. “I’ll help you up.”
She looks from me to the horse and back to me before taking slow steps across the tall grass to get on him. She reaches up to grab the pommel and hooks one foot in the stirrup.Standing behind her, I grip her waist to give her a little boost up.
She mounts the horse as if she’s done it a hundred times before, like she’s been riding all her life.
The idea of it excites me, while simultaneously turning me on. Riding is my life outside of the bar; and seeing her onmyhorse only ignites the feelings racing through me that have been growing for her. If I didn’t want everything with her before this, I sure as fuck do now.
“How does it feel?” I ask, keeping the reins tight in my hand.
“This feels like nothing I ever imagined.” She laughs. “I’ve never been on a horse before. It’s scary. It’s exciting. It’s…can we go?”
This woman.
I nod, guiding Storm through the field at a slow walking pace. I’m unable to take my eyes off Blair as she looks forward. Every so often her eyes trail down to the top of the horse's head, making sure the horse is good. I can tell by her white knuckles that she’s holding on for her life.
“I can see why you like this,” she says. “It feels…calming.”
“Most of the time it is. Other times it’s exhilarating. When Storm and I need to blow off steam it’s fast and wild.”
“That sounds…wow. I hope to feel that someday.”
I stop walking, which forces Storm to stop too. Turning my body to face Blair, I give her a look.Thelook in my eyes asking if she’s ready for that right now, letting a grin form on my face.
“Oh no.” She waves her hand around, keeping the other tight on the pommel. “You’re going to have me killed.”
I reach up, cupping the outside of her hand gripping the pommel, and pull myself up behind her. Swinging my leg around the other side of the horse until I’m sitting directly behind her in the saddle. My other arm reaches around, caging her in. She leans back, melting into me, and I fight the urge to just hold her up here. Not move or go anywhere. Just simply hold her the way I want to.
Bringing my lips to the shell of her ear, I pause, inhaling her scent. She smells like sugar from working today. The kind of sweet I want to devour.
“Are you going to be a good girl and hold on tight for me?” I whisper.
I want to regret the words as soon as they leave my lips, because now I’m more turned on than ever. With Blair, any filter I have is out the window. Her back stiffens, and I don’t miss the way she sucks in a sharp breath before placing one hand on my thigh and adjusting her grip under my hand on the pommel.
She nods, before turning her head to the side, looking at me out of the corner of her eyes in front of me. “Let’s ride, cowboy.”
Pressing a kiss to her shoulder, I take the reins in one hand and wrap my other hand around her midsection to hold her against me while urging Storm to move quickly.
He takes off the only way he knows how with my command.
Blair’s grip on my thigh tightens as we move in perfect rhythm through the field. I guide the horse onto an open trail, where we gallop at a steady pace until we reach the outside of the lake. She turns her head to take in the view, and I can tell she has a look of wonder in her eyes while she takes it all in. With her back pressed to my chest, I feel the worry drain from her body as she slowly inhales the crisp mountain air before releasing it.
For a small town, there’s so much to see.
One lake, but fifty different ways to view it.
One woman in my arms, and a hundred different ways to love her.
Is that what this is?
My heartbeat pounds in my chest while my hold on her tightens. This feeling is stronger than ever. The need to tell her. I can do it right here and now. Whispering the feelings I have in her ear with just three little words.
