“Violet?” I called as I rushed down the stairs to see the front door wide open. I hurried over to it, glancing outside to see the stables on fire.

“Violet!” I called, running towards them on bare feet, knowing instinctively that she had gone in to save the horses.

“Oh my god,” I said when I got to the stables to see the back of them in flames. The stable door was open and I ran in, covering my nose and my mouth with my shirt to protect my lungs from the smoke. I could barely see as I ran in, searching frantically for Violet.

“Violet!” I cried. I heard a noise—a whimper over in the corner. I ran to see Violet surrounded by flames, nearly climbing the wall to get away from them.

“Hold on,” I said to her, my heart pounding in my chest. Any second, she would be engulfed if I didn’t get to her in time. I didn’t think about anything but saving Violet, keeping her safe—I rushed into the fire, lifting her easily into my arms and carrying her through the stables. I cursed when I saw that the door frame had caught fire. I searched around for something to cover Violet, grabbing a horse blanket off the wall and throwing it over both of us as I ran through yet another wave of flames. I threw the blanket off when we were outside, lowering Violet to the ground. She was unconscious, her eyes closed, her breathing choked and ragged.

“Violet,” I said to her, touching her cheek. She was warm, her skin pink. I looked all over for burns, but her clothes didn’t appear to be singed and the skin that was revealed to me looked smooth and pale, unblemished. “Wake up.”

She gave a heavy, rasping cough, her face and body covered in dark ash. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at me, her head in my lap. I glanced over at the stables to see that they were completely in flames, that we had only missed being completely devoured by a few seconds. I looked back at Violet as she got up, standing up as well. I crossed my arms over my chest as I stared at her.

“Are you okay?” I asked her. She nodded.

“Are you?”

“Yes, no thanks to you,” I snapped. “What the hell were you doing in there?”

“I let the horses out,” she said, her brow furrowing, eyes narrowing in annoyance. “Otherwise, they would have died. I did you a favor.”

“You know you could have died? How could you be so—”

“Go ahead. Finish your sentence,” she said when I cut myself off. I glared at her.

“It was stupid to go in there. You know that.”

“I saved your horses from burning to death, asshole,” she spat. “And this is all you have to say?”

“I saved your life, Violet. Now is not the time to call names.”

“Fuck you,” she said, turning around and walking toward the house, where my family was gathered outside, watching the stables burn. I checked my body, noting that my clothing was singed, but I didn’t seem to be burnt anywhere. I sighed and joined my family at the door, staring at the stable.

“What happened?” my mom asked.

“No idea. Violet ran in and saved the horses. The place is completely gone. Did you call the fire department?”

“Yeah, they’re on their way,” Abigail said, without taking her eyes off of the stables. I waited with them for the fire department to get there, thinking about Violet, how terrified I had become when I’d learned she’d gone into the flames. I’d been frustrated with the thought of her dying, losing her in such a tragic way, and I found myself feeling guilty over the way I had snapped at her after she’d gotten up. I glanced upstairs to see that the light was still on in her room and decided to go upstairs and apologize. No matter who she was or what she was doing, I had hated the thought of losing her, and I hated the thought of her angry at me now that I’d come to that realization.

“I’m going to make sure that Violet is okay,” I said. My mother nodded, talking to the firemen as I went upstairs. I knocked on her door but she didn’t answer.

“Violet, come to the door,” I said to her. She didn’t answer, but I could sense her there.

“Violet,” I said firmly. “Come on.”

Still, no answer. I sighed, pushing the door open, freezing when I saw her wearing only her panties, her large, full breasts on display. For a moment, I stared at her, at the curves of her hips, thick enough to grab handfuls of while riding against her.

“What the fuck are you doing?” she asked, stomping toward me, throwing her clothes in my face as she slammed the door closed. I stood there for a moment, stunned by what I had seen.

“Violet, I’m so—I’m so sorry,” I said to her through the door. She didn’t answer. I went back to my bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed, closing my eyes, picturing what I had just seen—Violet’s body was so full, so soft, her skin milky and creamy all over. Her breasts had been perfect, ripe and glorious, with big pink nipples that would be perfect for sucking on. My cock grew hard as I thought about it, even harder when my mind traveled upward to her face, her lips, how she had tasted when I’d kissed her. All at once I wanted Violet more than anything I had ever wanted before. I knew I was in trouble, that it was a bad idea, but I couldn’t help it—I craved Violet so bad that it wouldn’t let me relax, and I had to pull out my cock and stroke it, thinking about Violet and her perfect curves.

In the morning, I found her downstairs. She blushed the moment she saw me, looking away from me. There was an angry look on her face, and I wanted to wipe it off as soon as I saw it. I had been hoping that I would wake up and my want and need for Violet would be gone, but it was as strong as ever as I gazed at her over the table.

“What are you looking at?” she asked me.

“You,” I said simply. “Violet, really, I’m so sorry for last night. I cannot tell you how sorry I am.”

“I bet you are,” she said, starting to eat, looking down at her plate.

“What does that mean?” I asked her.

“What did you say to Lola? I don’t look like your type? I’m sure it wasn’t a pleasant eyeful.”

“Violet—”

My mother entered the room then, cutting me off before I had a chance to tell Violet that in my mind, her body was perfect. I wanted to see more of it, including all the parts that she didn’t like. I had laid awake the night before thinking about taking those panties off, kissing her breasts, her soft belly, her thighs. But I couldn’t tell her that with my mother in the room, so I only stared at her, holding her eye.

“So what are the two of you doing today?” my mother asked, breaking my gaze.

“I’m going to show Violet the field,” I said.

“You haven’t shown her the field yet?” mom asked, her mouth hanging open. “She’s been here for days.”

“We didn’t find the time,” I told her. Truthfully, I didn’t want to share the field with Violet until the right time. Now felt like that time—after last night, the emotions I’d gone through when I was afraid for her, how I’d snapped—I wanted to make it up to her by giving her this one thing that I knew without a doubt she would love.

“What field?” Violet asked. I smiled at her.

“You’ll see,” I said. I wanted to surprise her with the beauty of the field, wanted it to take her breath away as it had mine every time I saw it. She grumbled something as we finished eating, then got up to leave the house. Violet stretched and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Just the sight of her made something in my chest flutter now that I’d almost lost her. She met my eye and I glanced away from her quickly, gesturing for her to follow me out the door. She did so with her arms crossed over her chest, her lips in a slight pout, as if she dreaded spending the day with me.

“Violet, I’m s—”

“If you say you’re sorry again, I’m going to smack you,” she said grumpily. I had to laugh.

“Fine,” I said. “I’m not sorry. Not at all, actually.”

She raised her eyebrows. “No?”

“Nope,” I said, shaking my head, my hands in my pockets as we walked across the property to the field, which was hidden from the rest of the estate by a thick copse of trees, and could only be found if one knew where the path was.

“I do want to say something about last night,” I told her.

“You going to call me stupid again?”

“I did not call you stupid,” I said calmly. “I told you that you did something stupid. You could have killed yourself.”

“Somehow you expected that I would just let the horses burn to death,” she said. “Just because I’m a city girl. Like I wouldn’t be brave enough to save them. I couldn’t just let them die, Cooper.”

“I know,” I said. “I know. Are you going to let me say what I want to say?”

“Depends,” she said. “Is it going to annoy me?”

“Probably.”

She looked up at my face, curious despite herself.

“What is it?” she asked as we entered the path through the trees that led to the field.

“I think—I think that your body is perfect,” I said to her. “I think that everything about it is perfect.”

She didn’t say anything, but stared at me, her eyes wandering. She licked her lips and I nodded forward, indicating she should look at what was in front of us.

“Oh,” she gasped when she turned to look, her hand covering her mouth. “Tulips.”

“This is our tulip field,” I said to her, looking over the rows of multi-colored flowers that stretched back for hundreds of feet. There was every color imaginable in the field, from vivid yellow to burnt orange, pink for lovers and deep scarlet for passion. I glanced at her face as she stared out over the flowers.

“Wow,” she said. “I didn’t know this was here.”

“My father did this for my mother back when we were kids. That’s why it’s hidden back here. It was supposed to be a surprise.”

“It’s so beautiful,” she said in wonder. I smiled as she stepped forward, fingering the soft petals of a bright pink flower. Her face broke into a wide smile, almost child-like, as she looked back at me over her shoulder.

“What do you do with these flowers? Anything?”

“Ma brings them in sometimes, sets them out. In the spring we let people come out to pick them for free. Dad liked to open it up just before Mother’s Day.”

“Your dad sounds amazing,” she said softly. “I wish I’d gotten to meet him.”

“He spent most of his time down here. Hated New York. He liked the business branch and he felt like he belonged on the ranch.”

“Why did you move to New York?” she asked. “You could have stayed out here, right? Run things with him?”

“I wanted to try something different. I thought that I wanted to get away, be a businessman, be powerful. But I’m here now and I’m starting to realize that I don’t—I don’t want to go back. At all.”

“So why go back?” she asked softly. I took a deep breath, remembering then, thinking about what she was there for. I found that I couldn’t bring myself to get particularly angry at her after what had happened the night before.

I didn’t respond to her question, but let her walk through the tulip fields, picking what she wanted. I heard her humming to herself as she worked, occasionally just brushing her fingers over petals, choosing exactly the right ones. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her in her yellow summer dress, and I found myself smiling, too, at the happy, contented look on her face.

“You miss out on this sort of thing in the city, don’t you?” I asked her as she meandered through the rows. She nodded at me, a slightly sad look on her face.

“There’s nothing like this in the city. Not even Central Park—”

“This place is untouched,” I said to her. “Perfect. It’s another reason I want to stay here. I always thought—one day I’m going to get married in this tulip field.”

“You? Married?” she asked.

“Is that strange to you?” I asked her.

“You flirt with every skinny thing that moves,” she said dismissively. I crossed my arms over my chest.

“You think you know a lot about me, don’t you?”

“I’ve seen you with women. I know one thing, at least.”

“What’s that?” I asked her. She looked over at me, her eyes meeting mine.

“You’re never going to want to settle down and get married, Cooper. Guys like you don’t want to pick on woman and be saddled with her. You could have everything you want—why would you choose that? To get married in a tulip field? One day of romance and then you’re trapped with a woman.”

I stared at her. She wasn’t speaking angrily, or trying to be rude. Her tone was matter-of-fact, as if she was sure of these things about me. I had to shake my head.

“If you knew anything about me, Violet, you’d know that I love my family. I want a family.”

She looked back at me, studying my face.

“Really?” she asked. “So the girl in the bar, Mercy, Lola?”

“Just for fun. That’s all,” I said. I had no idea why I was defending myself against her accusations—I didn’t owe her an explanation as to who I was. But it bothered me some that she thought I wasn’t capable of love, when in reality it was everything that I wanted.

“What about me?” she asked softly. “Just for fun?”

I didn’t say anything. Instead, I picked a yellow flower close to me, putting it to my nose. Then I offered it to her. She gave me a small smile and took it, accepting the answer for now.