Chapter Thirty
Sloan
Suddenly I was out on the field, in the middle of the day, wrapped up in Brady’s arms. I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I looked up at him and for a moment we didn’t say anything. We just stared into each other’s eyes.
“Kiss me,” I said.
He smiled, leaned down and kissed me. And as always, I lost myself in him. When I was with Brady, I didn’t think about anything else.
“You know,” he said as our lips parted. “We’ve had sex in the barn. I don’t see why we can’t have sex in this field.”
I chuckled. I looked around. We were all alone. There was nobody in sight no matter which direction I looked in.
“Well, this grass looks a lot more comfortable than hay.”
Brady took off his shirt, and I reached out to touch him.
“You look like a man that works out. Let me guess, you go to the gym?” I said.
He flexed his muscles with exaggeration. “Naturally. I’m all about pumping that iron,” he said. Then he pulled off my shirt and threw it to the ground.
He examined me and I didn’t feel even a little bit self-conscious. I was so comfortable around him, just as I was. “Hmm, and you look like a woman that doesn’t eat any carbs whatsoever.”
“I don’t touch the stuff,” I said with disgust. “I mean, feel my stomach,” I said and put his hand on my belly. “That is not the stomach of a carb-eating girl. I certainly didn’t eat a full pizza all by myself last night.”
He laughed. “In order for me to fully determine what kind of woman you really are, I might need to see more of you.”
“That can be arranged,” I said and took off my jeans and then my underwear. “Your turn.”
He did the same, and suddenly we were standing in the field completely naked. He took my hand.
“Come on, let’s do something crazy.”
“Uh, if standing in the middle of a field without any clothes on is not crazy to you, then I’m scared to know what is.”
“How about running through a field naked?”
I looked out into the vast field of grass and chuckled. “I’ll race,” I said.
“You’re on. Let’s race to the fence. Ready?”
“Oh, I’m ready. Loser makes me steak.”
“Five, four, three, two, one, GO!”
We ran and laughed all the way the fence. And just like both times on the horse, he let me win right at the end. We fell down to the ground in fits of laughter.
“We’re completely crazy!” I said. “That was amazing.”
“I can honestly say that I’ve never done that before.”
“There’s a first for everything. Speaking of,” I said and crawled up to him on my hands and knees, “there’s another first we still have to try.”
I pushed him down onto his back and sat on top of him. The sun was shining on us, and as he reached up to caress my breasts, I couldn’t help but think that he was the most beautiful man that I’d ever seen. I leaned in and kissed him on the mouth, moving my lips and tongue downward, trying to cover every inch of his body. Then I moved back on top of him, my ecstasy building as I felt him enter me. I felt him groan and as I lay down and ground on top of him, I grabbed the grass for support. He held onto my waist and pulled around so that he was on top, and as I lay there with the sun shining on my face and him hovering over me, filling me up inside, I came harder than I’d ever come before. It was only after we were finished that I looked at him with guilty.
“What’s wrong?” he said.
I chuckled. “For a moment I forgot that we were out in the field. I mean, what if someone saw us? Or heard us?”
He sat up and looked around, then he shook his head. “Nah, we’re still alone. And quite frankly, I don’t really care right now.”
I lay down beside him, our backs on the grass and our heads facing the sky. We held onto each other and pointed at the clouds in the sky.
“Oh look, it’s Snoopy,” I sad as I pointed up.
“What? Where do you see that?” he asked.
“Look up to the left. Can’t you see the cloud that looks like Snoopy? There’s his big mouth and his ears. Can’t you see?”
He chuckled. “No. But I do see a block of cheese. It even has the holes in it.”
“Cheese? I don’t see cheese. Are you sure you don’t see Snoopy?”
“No. I see cheese. Hey, what’s that one?”
“Where?”
“Over there. Doesn’t that look like a loaf of bread?”
I burst out laughing. “I think you might just be hungry.”
“You might be right. And I still owe you a steak. Are you ready to go back?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
We lay like that for another ten minutes or so, until I started getting paranoid that someone might see us. I realized that Brady’s brother actually lived very nearby and the two of them shared the outdoor garden together. It would be incredibly embarrassing if this was the way he was going to meet me for the first time. We got up and quickly made our way back to our clothes. I laughed the entire way, and laughed even harder when Brady couldn’t find his sock again.
“What’s up with you and that sock? Where could it be?”
He laughed. “I have no idea. Oh well, let’s leave it. I’m too hungry right now.”
And so, we walked back, Brady without his shoes and me chuckling to myself the entire way. It had been one of the best afternoons of my life, and I didn’t want it to end. We got back, and I sat outside with a glass of wine while Brady got the steaks ready for the grill. After dinner, he called me inside and took out an old game of Scrabble. We played two games, one normal and one where we made up the words and the meanings. We drank endless cups of coffee and ate an entire box of cookies, and I didn’t think about the calories for even one minute.
Then, after we’d showered and climbed into bed, Brady kissed me gently on the forehead. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to tell him what was going on. I kept starting the conversation and then stopping it. I couldn’t bring myself to speak, and the words just wouldn’t seem to come. I pulled the duvet up and hugged myself into it. I suddenly felt cold at the thought of it all. Every time I rehearsed the sentences in my head, I would freeze as I imagined his reaction. What if he left me? What if he couldn’t handle the truth? After all, it didn’t seem like the rest of the world wanted me now. I lay there, shivering next to him.
“It’s okay, Sloan,” Brady said suddenly. He pulled me closer. “I know that you’re battling to tell me what’s going on. I want you to know that you don’t have to tell me until you’re ready. There’s no rush for this. I’ll be here for you regardless. Come one, let’s just go to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day.”
He kissed me gently and switched the light off. I lay there for a long time, just listening to the sound of his breathing getting more and more shallow as time went on. Soon he was fast asleep, and I was still wide awake. But I slowly felt my eyes begin to close and felt my mind start to drift. And as I finally found myself falling asleep I couldn’t stop thinking that I was falling in love for the first time in my life. I let sleep come because I didn’t know how to deal with it. I decided to think about it in the morning. For now, I wanted nothing more than to sleep curled up beside him.