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I handed him a fork while I opened each of the containers. We took turns taking a bite from each pie. Both were equally delicious.
I couldn’t help but stare when a bit of cherry filling stuck to his upper lip and his tongue swiped over it. Great. I’d be riding home with a hard-on. Not that I’d let him know that. I didn’t need to make my house guest uncomfortable.
He stared longingly at Blossom after we’d finished the pie. “I still can’t believe she’s here. I don’t know that I can ever repay you for keeping her.”
“I don’t need repayment,” I said, my arm slipping behind the bench. “It’s worth it to see you happy.”
“Thank you,” he said. He turned to me. Since moving in to the house and spending time with his horse again, color had returned to his face and he’d filled out a bit. I didn’t know what sort of diet he’d been on before he got here, but I doubted it was as filling as the home cooking that he was getting now.
He placed a hand on my thigh. His touch was tentative and innocent, not flirty, not overly forward. “I mean it, Reese. She means so much to me. I... I’d almost given up hope that I’d find her again.”
My stomach swooped with a feeling of rightness. I’d debated keeping Blossom over the years, but every time I contemplated selling her, I pictured his face when I’d driven off that day.
Now, seeing him with her and the care and love he had for that animal, it was worth it.
“I kept her for you,” I admitted. “It never sat right with me, the way your mom sold her off. I never felt right with the sale, but that day I knew if I refused to take her she would have found someone else.”
Perry sucked in a breath. “Thank you,” he said.
I saw an opportunity and I took it. I leaned forward, put my thumb and forefinger to his chin, and lifted his lips to mine.
Chapter 8
Perry
The ride back to the house was quiet. Reese pointed out a few more landmarks, and told me a story or two about his life on the ranch and growing up with his brother. I listened, but my mind was still clouded with thoughts.
My lips tingled from the kiss, and I couldn’t help but touch them every so often.
Reese sent me more than one glance, a hunger in his eyes that I was sure meant that he wanted me.
I’d never seen that look in someone’s eyes before outside the movies. At least not focused on me.
At the stable, we removed our horses’ tack, brushed them down, and tucked them in for the night. Blossom stuck her head out her stall window and I kissed her on the nose. When I stood straight and found Reese staring at me with a blank look on his face, my cheeks heated.
He closed the space between us with two steps and swept me into his arms, one hand cupping my cheek, the other arm encircling me and bringing me closer to him. My feet almost lifted off the ground as I stared up at him. My breath caught.
He searched my face for something. I was like putty in his arms. I tilted my face upwards, my lips begging for his.
I had to look more wanton than I ever had before, but I couldn’t stop myself. I did want him, desperately.
“Tell me what you want, Perry,” he said.
“You,” I breathed. “Just you.”
He kissed me. My lips molded against his as if we were made for one another. His hands were on my hips holding me against him, and I felt his hardness through his jeans. I couldn’t determine where he began and I ended.
I was ready for him to take me right there in the barn, strip me bare and bend me over a bale of hay. I would welcome it. Discomfort and chafing be damned, I wanted him inside me.
Instead, he laced his fingers into mine and walked with me out of the barn. Inside the house, we shucked off our boots and coats. He dropped the saddle bags on the bench in the entry way. Then he led me upstairs. We went past my room and into his.
His room was bright due to the large window that faced the side of the house. From there he could see the driveway and the barn. The walls were painted a simple white. The bed dominated the room. A California King, I think it was called. Ten of me could fit in there.
I couldn’t stop staring at it.
“If this isn’t something you want, just say the word, Perry, and we’ll stop.”
“No. I do. I want. You.” I took a deep breath, trying to make my mouth work while my heart was racing. “I want you.” The words came out with finality, leaving him no question for how I felt.
