I close my eyes tight against the pain and numbness in my foot as Rowan cradles it in his hand. “Is it broken?” My voice comes out in a harsh whisper. I keep my eyes closed to counteract the lurching feeling in my stomach. Please don’t let it be a broken bone. Please don’t let it be a broken bone. I feel Rowan cradling it in his hands, and the warmth starts to come back.
Rowan chuckles and then lets out a full on laugh. I open my eyes to see him pulling my shoe out of the stirrup that’s still attached to Symphony. “Here’s your shoe, young lady,” he says with a glimmer in his eye. “I do think you twisted your ankle pretty good, but if I get you back up on Symphony, we can get you back—”
“No! No more horses!” I almost shout the words back at him. “I can walk.” He raises an eyebrow but helps me up to my feet. The ankle is sore, but I can put weight on it after he helps me back into my boot. The biggest thing that’s hurt is my pride. And I’m not sure that will heal up in the same time my ankle will.
Rowan takes me by the arm and walks me up to Symphony. “Take the reins in your hands then. You gotta walk her back to the stable. Don’t tell her I said so, but horses naturally need some guidance, and she won’t do too well if you start traipsing back there without her.”
I roll my eyes. “God, fine. Help me back up on the horse.” He smiles broadly and draws me into a quick kiss, sending warmth that spreads through my veins and pools in the place between my legs that he’s so adept at stimulating. Even as he helps me back onto the horse, my body is craving him again despite the ache in my foot.
For some reason, as I ride back, I’m less nervous than I was before.
Even with something I built up like this, the worst has already happened. By the time we get back, the two of us are talking and laughing again, and he’s sweeping me off of my feet and into his beautiful estate.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“What’s happening between us...” She starts and then purses her lips like she does when she’s thinking. There’s still snow on her hair, and I wonder why that damn woman didn’t wear a hat when we went riding. It’s like she enjoys being cold. But she has been wearing the slippers I gave her. And that thought alone makes me smile. “What’s happening between us...” She starts again as she takes her jacket off and I beat the snow off of my boots. But she doesn’t finish. There are things that are caught up in her mind, and for whatever reason, they won’t come out yet. There are tears in the corners of her eyes, and she turns away, maybe hoping I won’t see them.
I have the fleeting thought that I ought not to be messing with a woman who has to leave. But I’m overpowered by the thought of her skin against mine, her hot body melting against me, the wild and reckless abandon of the way she makes love.
“It’s amazing,” I say as I put my shoes up on the shelf in the mudroom. Like everything else in this damn house, it’s made of dark reclaimed wood. I wish Cadence could stay here and be the person who appreciates it all, lives in this rich, silent world I built to house a family and keep it safe.
She turns around and shrugs out of her coat. “What’s amazing?”
“Us, here. This. What’s happening between us. It’s amazing. That’s what you were going to say, right?” I stand up and go to her, even though she’s awkwardly kicking off her boots.
“That’s all true--but--“
“If it’s all true, don’t say a damn thing more.” I brush one hand against her cheek, and she leans into me. Her skin is still cold and flushed from riding, and I bet her fine ass is sore, after riding for the first time and then dramatically falling to the ground like a thirteen year-old girl whose never seen a horse before. I smile at her and kiss those sweet, juicy lips. Just tasting her makes my cock stiffen, the fire lighting deep inside my body. Those lips make me think about spreading her apart and tasting her again, flipping her over and riding her until she’s shaking against me.
That’s the thing about this fine woman, as fiery and deep as a fine whiskey. She’d probably kick my ass if she knew how much I think about whiskey when I’m kissing her. Maybe she wouldn’t if she knew how much I liked whiskey.
She doesn’t say anything, but I feel her body starting to melt against mine, her hands finding the muscles of my arms, then roaming down my back and squeezing my ass hard.
“Seeing you out there today...” I growl the words and bite her lip before I finish my thought. “Your legs across that great big horse, using your body to ride her--“