THREE
COLT
EVERY GODDAMN STEP of that bareback ride, my cock rubbed against the crack of Raven’s ass and made me want to haul us both off that horse and fuck her right there in the field. She was driving me goddamn nuts, and I don't know why I hadn’t noticed it before now. I’d spent the entire day plastered up against that woman’s body, and my balls fucking burned so bad I thought they might burst.
I’d been knee-deep in my own shit up to now. That’s why I hadn’t approached Raven before. And the pain meds I’d been on since the accident hadn’t helped the situation. I’d finally cut out the medication, which had me feeling like a normal human being again. Even if my leg ached now and again, at least my brain was clear, and my vision… Hell, that was working just fine.
“Think it’s time I get off this horse. I love nothing more than being wedged tight up against you, but I don’t want to push Chase past his limits…or myself.” I breathed that last part.
Raven smiled, turning slightly to lay eyes on me.
Christ, I loved that she did that.
Eyes glued to mine whenever we were talking. Like she was really listening to what I said.
“Far be it for me to torture you.” She wiggled her ass once, then in one swift move, dismounted, grinning up at me with a flirty look.
Shit, I was so done for.
I swung a leg over the horse, landing on my feet as I dismounted, and cupped her hand in mine.
I’d grown too used to touching her in the last hour we’d been riding. Hell if I wanted the contact to stop now.
I had a feeling she liked it, though—the way her fingers tangled with mine, her thumb sliding against my thumb in soft motions.
All the reservations I’d had last night about approaching her, talking to her, had vanished into thin air. Everything about being with her was so damn easy. It’s like we were long-lost friends, together again and picking up right where we’d left off.
“Can you take him to his stable? I've got to get a bale of hay,” Raven asked sweetly.
“Hell if you’re carrying a bale of hay. I’ll get it.” I squeezed her hand once then sauntered off into the barn, taking the rungs of the ladder two at a time into the loft of the barn. The end of last season's harvest was stored up here, and the last few stacks only served as a reminder that haying season was almost upon us again. We’d be out in the field in no time baling and restocking the feed barns.
I paused for a minute, taking in the view out of the small window at the peak of the roof. I’d spent a lot of summer days up here, playing hide-and-seek or just escaping real life for a few hours. The Circle C had been my only home for so long, and the thought of ever leaving it rubbed me the wrong way.
“I’ve never been up here,” Raven hummed a moment later. I swung around, surprised to find her only a few steps behind me. Slivers of dust and sunlight cut across the soft angles of her face. Her skin was such a delicate porcelain shade I wondered if the black hair that trailed down her back was natural. I could picture blond streaks framing her face, dark, intense eyes locking on mine.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that we had met before. But hell, maybe that was just what falling felt like.
Because I had no doubt I sure as shit was fallin’ for this girl.
Without even realizing it, I’d found myself looking forward to talking to her in the paddock in the mornings, seeing her around the barn as she worked with Chase. This girl had a soft heart, a heart I wanted to have a place in.
“The view is breathtaking.” I pulled her to me, pressing my lips to hers like I’d been damn starved. Truth be told, I had been starved for her from the first moment she’d walked away from me.
“Sometimes it doesn't seem real,” she breathed, eyes hovering on the stretch of rolling hayfields that met the horizon beyond. “Coming back here was the best decision I ever made…”
“Back? You haven't always lived here?” I asked.
“No, I was born in Chicago. My dad moved us here when I was little.” Her eyes trailed across the loft to hover on mine. “We were only here a few years, though.”
I nodded. “So how long you been back?”
“Soon as I graduated college, I moved here and started a vet clinic. I’m still establishing clients, but I like the slower pace.”
I nodded, not quite able to place where I’d run into her before. I was beginning to think it must have been at some point in town, at the grocery store or somewhere else. But I didn’t spend a whole lotta time at the grocery store, so I couldn’t figure out where I might know her from.
“You go to school here?” Maybe we’d known each other when she lived here back in the day, but my memories were hazy from back then. Life was so chaotic with Mom and Dad; it was all my sister and I could do to get by each day. That’s where the Circle C came in. This ranch was my saving grace too many times to count. Just like it was now.
“For a few years.” She tucked her head against my shoulder.
I drew in the sweet scent of cherry blossoms. Hell, I loved that scent. “Don’t remember a Raven, and I’m sure I’d remember this face if we had met.” I tipped my chin to the side, assessing her softly. “This face haunts my dreams.”