He kissed her on the top of her head. Warmth flooded down her body. It was so different now between them—less affair-like and more relationship. It didn’t need the words she was struggling to find.
“Look, it’s trying to stand.” The sight took her breath away. There in the flesh, a new life was standing for the very first time. She got to experience it all because of Ben. It felt like she was just taking her own first steps with him. And she was very wobbly just like the cria.
Ben couldn’t believe that he was standing here, Raven resting against him, watching the cria stand and take his first drink from his mom. That was the critical part. It needed that drink of colostrum to give it the best chance at life.
“It’s a boy.” He smiled. That was a good sign. A male would be worth stud prices and could be sold. He had enough breeders for now. And he planned on working in a new bloodline, so he had his eye on some females to buy from another breeder, one from interstate. The little fellow looked solid, tall, and very healthy.
“That’s good?”
“I can sell him as a stud.” He realized Raven probably needed more explanation. “He’s worth a lot of money to me.” It was the best he could do right now. There was so much he needed to explain to her about his life, about farming life, and he couldn’t wait to do so. Will she really want to know? So far, seeing the birth hadn’t put her off, and he couldn’t help but see that as a very good positive.
“What about we go get something to eat and let these two bond in private?”
“Are they okay to be left alone?”
“He’s had his fill of colostrum, he knows what he’s doing, and so does Evie. Best to give them a bit of space. I’ll need to clean away the straw later, but for now, they don’t need anything but each other.”
“Sure, let’s get something to eat.”
“I hope you don’t mind Show food.”
“I’ll eat anything. In fact, I saw some dagwood dogs that looked delicious.”
“Eeew! They don’t look delicious.” He squeezed her tight, looking down at her grinning to see her reaction. Her smile sent a ripple of desire through him. While she was very hot, and he very much wanted to get her naked in the bedroom, this moment right now was something so much more.
“Well, you don’t have to eat one.”
“I won’t. But if you want to eat that crap, I won’t stop you.”
“Good to know.” She paused and looked him square in the eye in a way that sent a few big flutters of nerves moving in his belly. “Boyfriend.” The emphasis on the word sent a mix of emotions through his body.
“I wouldn’t make my girlfriend do anything she didn’t want to.” His heart was skipping beats, and he didn’t know how he managed to respond so cheekily.
She pulled out of his embrace. His heart sunk. That was it.I’ve pushed too quick too soon.
“So… you don’t mind being called my boyfriend? I mean, well, we agreed on something else entirely.”
Do I just say it?The emotions were so strong within him, the connection was there, he was sure that he wanted to get to know Raven more. Fuck it was more than that. But one step at a time. First, they needed to see if they were on the same page and that it was more than a fling that was now going on between them.
“Fine, then.” She went to turn away. He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back.
“Sorry, I was too slow to respond. I want to be called your boyfriend. And I want to call you my girlfriend. And I want to know you more because somehow, I feel connected to you.”
“Good, because I feel the same way.”
“You don’t know how much I wanted to hear that.” He kissed her gently on the lips, enjoying how her sweetness exploded in his mouth. A thought flickered into his mind.How did he bring up that they were from different worlds?Then it dissolved as she kissed him back. Her hands wrapped around his waist and embraced him. It was a relief to get this out in the open as such. How she felt toward him had been eating away at him during the meeting, and the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing had been too. He hadn’t been sure if that was just a bit of teasing started by Jason or not.
“Hey, you two get a room.”
They pulled away. Ben saw Jason coming toward them.
“That’s not the behavior expected of our new president,” said Jason.
“You did get the position?” asked Raven.
“Yes, they all ganged up on me.”
“You’ll be fine, mate. Right, you two off you go, and I won’t ask any questions if you take your time.”
