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I waited for him to say more, and he hovered, seemingly unsure about what he wanted to say. The moment was broken, however, when Mathis walked up leading the big bay gelding.
“Hey Callie, I’m ready, how about you?” he glanced from me to Reeve, and back again, and I didn’t miss the frown that came across his handsome face. To my surprise, he approached Reeve, held out his hand, and introduced himself. “Hey, I’m Mathis.”
Reeve was clearly displeased with this new development, and he cleared his throat before taking Mathis’s outstretched hand. “Reeve Thornton.”
I couldn’t help but to compare the two men as they seemed to size each other up. Mathis stood probably a good foot taller than Reeve, and his build was much thicker than the farrier’s as well. Both were handsome men, but I preferred Mathis’s dark hair and looks to Reeve’s lighter hair and smaller build. There was just something about Mathis that made you take a second look, and sigh in appreciation.
Done with his appraisal, Reeve turned back toward me, and tipped his hat. “Well, Callie, I’ll let you get to it. Just let me know if you have any problems with those shoes.”
I smiled sweetly, partially out of gratitude, and let’s face it, partly to rub it in Mathis’s face, and replied, “I will, thank you, Reeve.”
Mathis watched him leave, before his gold eyes turned back to me with a look of judgement. “Good friend of yours?”
I laughed. Turning to finish cinching up my saddle, I nearly squealed in surprise as Mathis spun me about, pinning me between Pizazz and his hard body. Running his hands down my side, he reached around, grabbing my ass, and then bent his head and took my lips in a harsh kiss. The kiss was so different than the others we’d shared, it startled me, but it wasn’t punishing as Id expected, but rather, it was almost as if he were trying to brand me. I allowed him to deepen the kiss, his tongue sliding into my mouth, but when I felt the overwhelming sense of irritation being funneled into me from Pizazz, I managed to push him away.
“I really need to get going before it gets too late. I don’t want to be on the back forty after dark.”
Saved by a curse, it certainly hadn’t been expected. My lips still tingled from the rough way Mathis had kissed me in the barn, and my body was hyper aware of him where he rode just a few feet to the side of me. Sending a sideways glance at him from beneath the brim of my hat, I tried not to smile. The man looked damn good on a horse. His seat was perfect, body relaxed, and the bay horse beneath him responded flawlessly to his cues. God damn. My mouth watered just looking at him, and an influx of heat invaded my groin. This man was going to be the death of me. I had no self-control, no morals, and no spine when it came to him.
Looking away so I wouldn’t be caught staring, I studied the trees and the pasture. The green of the hills had faded completely to brown as the grasses went dormant in the colder weather. The trees, all except the evergreens, had mostly lost their leaves. A few struggled to hold onto their yellow and red hued leaves, but for the most part, the hills were beginning to look barren. A breeze rustled past us, causing the trees to shiver and shake, creating a soft symphony found only in nature. The smells had changed also. The earth held a moist scent to it, and old leaves and decaying foliage sent a muskiness into the chilly air.
Inhaling deeply, I smiled. I loved the smells and colors of fall, of every season really. I enjoyed the changes the earth underwent with each changing of the weather. Spring was full of renewal and life, summer was heat, freshly cut hay, and a good soak in the creek. Fall was a season of decay, goodbye, and making way for the new. Winter was harsh, a season of survival and hibernation, of family celebration. Each had its cycle, and its meaning, no matter how bittersweet or melancholy.
Riding out on the acres that made up the pastures around my childhood home made me feel nostalgic and made me sorry I’d lost so much time living in New York. There were many things about living in the big city I didn’t regret, however, and the night I’d agreed to go out with Mathis was one of them. I felt his gaze stray to me often, but I focused on my mare, careful to keep the communication between our feelings locked inside, and secret from Mathis. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was crazy.
We had ridden about an hour into the back forty and were now deep in the hills where the mountains were beginning to take over, and the tree cover grew denser with every hundred feet or so. Pulling my mare to a halt, I glanced at Mathis and signaled for him to stop. “Let’s take a quick break.”
Yanking my water bottle from its holder in my saddle bag, I took a deep swig of it before glancing at Mathis where he stood idly patting his horse. Frowning, my gaze roamed over him before it swung to his saddle, and I frowned even deeper.
“Shoot, I forgot to grab you some gear, didn’t I?” I felt terrible, so without thought, I held out my own water bottle. “Here, I guess it’s kinda weird to share with me, but it’s better than nothing.
Mathis tethered his horse to a low branch, before walking up to me. “Considering all the other things we’ve shared, it’s not weird at all, Callie.”
I blushed, and Mathis grinned wickedly. “Yeah, well…” trailing off, I turned to tie my mare, before taking a few feet to the right to survey the land. We were on top of a gentle knoll, looking out through the trees and down onto the valley of the acreage surrounding the house. I couldn’t see the house from where I stood, but I knew right where it was.
I felt a hand slide around my waist, and I stiffened without meaning to. I wasn’t used to having anyone with me, and I certainly wasn’t used to being touched so often, and in such sensual ways. Mathis’s other arm followed suit, and I stood in uncertainty with him right behind me, holding me against his strong chest. He leaned his head down, resting his chin atop my head, and sighed.
“Why do I like being around you so damn much, Callie? Ever since I walked into that damn bookstore, I haven’t been able to get you off my mind.”
I swallowed. Shit. Was he, like, going to profess his lo…no, I couldn’t even think it. No way. I tried to step away from his embrace, but to my chagrin, he held tight.
“You’re not running away from me this time, sweetheart. I am going to hold on so tight, you won’t even want to by the time I’m done.”
My ire rose. “By the time you’re done. Damn its Mathis, if you think you’re going to work for me, just to prove that you can get me, and then walk away, so help me…”
My words were abruptly silenced as he twisted me about roughly and planted his lips on mine, kissing me with so much need and desire, I lost my train of thought, and my strength to fight him. As his lips brandished mine, his hands burned a blazing trail down my body, igniting flames beneath my skin. I moaned against him, recalling just how he felt inside me, when he stopped just as quickly as he started. In shock, and disappointment, I stood where I was, barely able to keep standing, and watched him pace toward his horse, running his hands through his dark silky strands.
“God, Callie, I’m sorry. Every time I’m with you, I swear that this time will be different, this time I will treat you with respect, and keep this attraction between us from making me lose control, yet here I go again, losing myself.”
I was surprised by the look of guilt in his eyes as he faced me. He closed the gap between us, pulling me into his arms, and holding me close to him. “I don’t want you to think there is only sex between us, and I’m determined to make you see that. I mean it, from now on, no sex. Just you and me, two people that are drawn to each other, getting to know one another.”
Against his chest, I smiled. “You know, I’m pretty okay with the sex, Mathis. In fact, I’m more than okay with it.”
Mathis groaned and held me away from him but never removed his hands from my shoulders as he looked down into my face. “No. I mean, yeah, the sex is…its freaking amazing, but that’s not the point. I never meant for things to go as far as they did that first time, or the second…but I want you to see that I respect you. I wasn’t raised to think it’s okay to sleep around, or to take advantage of a woman. My ma would tan my hide if she knew I’d slept with you like that.”
I was frowning now. “Mathis, you never took me as a disrespectable guy, I’m not sure what this is all about, but I told you, I don’t want either of us to get attached.”
Now he was frowning. “So, all you want from me is sex, Callie?”
