Disappointed, I smirked at her before I crawled between the sheets of my empty bed, where for the first time in years, I dreamed about hay-filled barns and a girl who smells like wildflowers. . .
The instant I hoist my leg over a large black horse, I feel the most out of place I’ve ever felt, and I’ve handled displacement issues on many occasions. It’s even more awkward than meeting Kylie’s parents a few minutes ago. When my gaze lifts from the brown leather straps the unnamed man is handing me to Kylie, I’d straddle a horse time and time again. A beautiful smile is plastered on her face, and her eyes are crammed with lust.
After winking at me, she pulls on the reins, turning her horse around so we can exit the barn from the other end. Misty follows Kylie’s prompts without so much of a neigh. Charlie doesn’t follow suit. He stays standing firm.
“Go.” I feel like an idiot talking to a horse, but how else do I make him go? “Move.”
The guy who assisted me onto Charlie chuckles before slapping the horse’s hindquarters. My eyes bulge out of my head when Charlie charges for Kylie at a pace faster than I expected. Kylie said riding a horse is no different than riding a bike. She’s full of shit. My ass is bouncing all over the place, making me confident I’ll have bruises in the morning.
“Gently kick him with your boots,” Kylie instructs me when Charlie finally catches up to Misty.
I glare at her, mortified. “I’m not kicking a fucking horse.”
Kylie laughs before demonstrating what she means. When she gives Misty a little nudge with her boots, she gallops faster. “It doesn’t hurt them. I promise.”
Grimacing, I give Charlie a mellow tap with my boots. When he maintains his grandma pace, I nudge him a little harder. This time, he moves closer to a trot.
“You’ve got it.” A beautiful smile fattens up Kylie’s praise.
Charlie sluggishly follows Misty up the hill, occasionally stopping to eat grass on the way. Kylie says I need to teach him who’s the boss, but I’m happy for him to eat the occasional blade of grass if it guarantees me he won’t buck me off.
By the time we make it to an old wooden barn, the sun is setting. I somehow manage to dismount Charlie without breaking my leg in the process. Kylie guides him and Misty into a stall inside the barn. The barn is massive in size, and when I stroll inside, I understand why Kylie always smells like hay. The outer walls of the wooden barn are full to the brim with bales of green hay.
When I massage my ass since it went numb over half an hour ago, Kylie’s giggles boom around the barn.“Come on.”
She gestures for me to follow her. Like a puppy hoping for a treat, I do. I adjust the front of my jeans when she climbs a ladder attached to the side wall. It appears to go into a secret room in the roof. She’s wearing jeans, but her ass is too sexy for my cock not to react.
The room at the top of the ladder reminds me of a kid’s tree house, except it’s three times larger and has a bedding of hay on the ground. Kylie opens a window to rid the room of the musty smell lingering in the air before lighting a handful of scented candles. I wander around the space taking it in. Halfway around, my eyes zoom in on several pencil drawings of a little girl riding a horse taped to the wall.
“Did you draw these?” It’s the fight of my life not to laugh during my question. If Kylie did these, she must not have an artistic bone in her entire body. I’m not joking when I say her pictures are hideous.
She slaps my bicep before pulling me away from her Van Gogh-inspired disaster pieces. After snagging a picnic blanket off a hay bale, she shakes it out until it covers a large section of the floor. She toes off her boots before lying on one side of the blanket. My cock stiffens when she taps the blanket, inviting me to join her.
When I nearly break my neck removing my boots and shirt, her laughter makes me even more eager. I haven’t had her in a week. I can’t wait any longer. I kneel next to her before gliding my body along hers, only stopping when our eyes meet. The friction between us is tortuous, but oh so fucking worth it.
Just as I’m about to seal my mouth over hers, she pushes on my shoulder, sending me toppling off her. Giggling, she turns her eyes to the ceiling. “Stars first.”
Following her gaze, I see millions of stars in the blackened sky. It’s mesmerizing.
I lie down next to Kylie then clasp her hand in mine. The only audible noise for the next several minutes is our shallow breaths as we look out at the sparkling sky through a giant hole in the roof. It’s the most peaceful I’ve ever felt, and it makes me understand why Kylie loves the ranch so much.
After repositioning myself so I’m leaning on my hip, my eyes absorb Kylie’s beautiful profile. She smiles before slanting her head my way. “You’re supposed to be looking at the sky.”
I drag my finger down her blooming cheek. “I found something more beautiful to look at.”
Grinning, she rolls onto her hip before giving me a soft, gentle peck. “You were supposed to be a bit of fun, an adventure. I wasn’t meant to fall in love,” she whispers against my mouth.
I inch back, shocked but fucking ecstatic about her declaration of love. We’ve only been together for three months, but we’ve created a lifetime of memories.
Our next kiss is more heated than our first. I weave my fingers through her hair all caveman-style, yank her head back, then kiss her with everything I have. It’s a hard, brutal kiss that reveals how happy I am that we crossed paths at the most unexpected time. It’s almost our hottest kiss ever, only second to the one she gave me on my bike when we roared down the freeway at a speed too unsafe to be making out.
It takes all my strength to pull away from her delicious mouth, but a very good reason backs up my campaign. “Hand it over.” When I hold out my hand palm side up, Kylie peers at me, blinking and confused. “The list.”
Her lips tug into a vast smile, but her hands remain fisted at her side.
“Don’t act like you don’t have it. I know you carry it on you.”
With a laugh that makes me want to kiss her all over again, she rolls over before delving her hand into her jeans pocket. While biting down on her bottom lip, trying to hold in her smile, she hands me an old, tattered piece of yellow lined paper.
