Chapter Twenty-Six
Sloan
It hadn’t been such a long time since I’d been with Brady, and yet with all the drama in my life, it felt like it had been forever. For the past few days, all I could think about was how my life was falling apart all around me, and how I was never going to recover from what had happened. But the moment my lips touched Brady’s, I forgot all about my problems. The longer we kissed, the more my cares and worries dissolved. I knew that there was no way I could stop myself. I wanted him, and I wasn’t going to wait.
“I want you right now,” I whispered.
“Here? In the barn?” he asked.
She nodded. “I can’t wait.”
He looked around and pulled me toward him.
“Neither can I,” he whispered back and lifted up my shirt.
His hands were all over my body, touching me as if he’d forgotten what it felt like to be with me. I pulled off his shirt and found myself doing the same. I couldn’t get enough of him. I tugged at his jeans and grinned as he pulled them down. I pulled down mine, and as I leaned forward to kiss him, we both tripped on a bale of hay and fell to the ground.
I burst out laughing and pulled him on top of me. A piece of hay was poking into my hips, but I barely noticed it. Brady laughed too and moved on top of me. He pinned me down, spread out my arms to the side, and moved down my body.
“I missed your mouth,” he said as he kissed it.
“I missed your neck,” he said as he moved down toward my neck.
“I missed your collarbone.”
“I missed your breasts,” he whispered and kissed around each one. He tugged gently at my nipples.
“What else did you miss?” I asked when he’d paused to smile at me.
“Oh, so many things. But I’m not sure if I’m going to show you any more.”
“Brady!” I said. “You better show me. Didn’t you miss my stomach?”
He laughed and kissed my stomach. “I missed your stomach.”
He continued all the way until he’d reached the tips of my toes. My body shuddered with every kiss, every lick and every word he whispered. When he’d finished with my toes, he climbed back on top of me, and I pulled him in toward me.
“And mostly,” he said as he slid inside me, “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
Sex with Brady after a week of no sex with Brady was even better than I had remembered it. It was hot and passionate. It was intoxicating and perfect. It was both slow and sweet as well as hot and heavy. Our passion ramped up quickly as we both tried to make up for lost time, our lovemaking reaching a brilliant crescendo as we eagerly reacquainted ourselves with each other’s bodies. By the time we were finished, we were both out of breath. I held onto him for a while longer, not wanting to let him go, and when he moved off me, I pulled him toward me.
“I think I’ve changed my mind,” I said.
“About what?”
“My king-sized bed. I mean, this is actually pretty comfortable too. Although—ow, I just realized that I’m lying naked on a lot of very sharp pieces of hay. Wow, I didn’t feel that the entire time we were having sex.” I also noticed that I hadn’t thought for one minute about any problems. He had somehow managed to numb my mind while igniting my body. I think I finally found a cure to not thinking about things.
He laughed. “I can’t believe we had sex in the barn.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve never had sex here before. I won’t believe you.”
“It’s true,” he said. “I’ve honestly never had sex in this barn before. Or any barn, for that matter. I’m never going to see this place in the same light again.”
He stood up and helped me to my feet. We both searched for our clothes, which we’d somehow managed to fling all over the place. I finally found everything and put it on, and then when I looked to the corner of the room, I burst out laughing.
“Uh, I forgot we had company.”
“What? Where? Who?” Brady said and looked around in panic.
I chuckled. “Betty. Oh dear, I feel so ashamed that she just saw us doing that. I’m sorry, Betty. Poor thing.”
He laughed. “We’ve scarred her for life. Hey, have you seen my sock anywhere?”
“Just the one?”
“Just the one. I found the other. Oh no, there it is . . .”
“Where?” I asked and looked at the direction he was gazing.
“It landed on Betty’s back.”
I giggled as I watched Brady walk over to the horse to get his sock. She didn’t even seem to notice.
“Oh no! I’m sorry, Betty.”
“Come on, let’s get out of here. The horses need to recover after what just happened.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
He raised his eyebrows. “Uh, I seem to recall owning you a steak on my outdoor grill.”
“Oh yeah, how could I forget? Come on; I’m starving. Oh no! I just remembered we have to walk all the way back. I’m really working for this food today,” I said.
“Extra bread rolls for you, then.”
I smiled. I remembered the salad that I had shared with Victoria only a few days ago, and the look she’d given me when I’d suggested getting the sandwich. Not only was I going to eat the bread roll today, but I was going to enjoy it without even an ounce of guilt.
After a long walk, a shower, and then a grilled steak outside, I felt exhausted. Brady caught me yawning and grinned at me.
“Horse riding and walking is exhausting work,” he said.
“Nah, I don’t think that was what tired me out.”
He chuckled. “That’s true. Come on, let’s go to bed.”
When we got to his bedroom, I pulled out his t-shirt from my bag and showed it to him. “Look what made its way with me all the way to New York.”
“My t-shirt? How did that get in your bag?”
She shrugged. “I actually have no idea. But . . . oh, never mind,” I said, suddenly feeling shy.
“What?” he asked. “Sloan, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just . . . well, I don’t want this to come across as weird or anything. But I slept in your shirt when I was back home. It made me feel safe for some reason. I hope you don’t mind. Anyway, I brought it back for you.” My face was flushed with embarrassment. I could not believe that I’d actually said those words to him out loud. But when I looked up, I saw that he was smiling at me.
“That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me. And please don’t give it back to me. It’s yours. Will you wear it tonight?”
I pulled off my clothes and put his t-shirt on. “How does it look?” I said as I twirled around.
“It looks so much better on you than it ever did on me.”
I crawled into bed beside him and felt his warm body against mine. It had been nice wearing his t-shirt at night, but it was far better having him next to me. He switched the light off and kissed me goodnight.
“Brady . . . .” I said after a few minutes.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for not asking me about what’s going on, and for just being there for me.”
“I’ll always be there for you, Sloan.”
I smiled in the dark as I felt his hands reach out to squeeze mine.
“I promise to tell you everything soon. I just didn’t want to think about it today. I wanted nothing more than a full day of just being with you. A problem free day.”
“Did you get that?”
“Oh, I got more than that. Today was perfect.”
“I’m glad. I want you to have fewer problem days and more perfect days.”
“I’ll try. Goodnight, Brady.”
“Goodnight, Sloan.”