I’m sure she’s going to say no.
I offer her my hand and give her the smile she could never resist. “Come on, Wills. Live a little.” The old nickname flows out on its own.
I can see the war on her face, but finally, with a sigh, she takes my hand.
“Fine. But I’ll need to get to a place where I can call the office—and I’ll have to come back for my bag.”
“Done.”
She shakes her head, but she’s still smiling as I help her up onto Pato. I settle her between my thighs, my arms bracketing her as I take the reins.
The position is intimate, and with only a pad underneath us, there’s no choice but for our bodies to melt into each other. When Pato starts moving, she relaxes further back against me.
“I’ll take full responsibility. Scout’s honor.” I hold up three fingers.
“Were you even a Boy Scout?” she says with a slight backward look at me.
“No, but I’m pretty sure I get the gist.”
We ride in silence for a while, the only sounds the steady rhythm of hooves and the wind moving through the grass. The landscape opens up around us—rolling hills, scattered pines, the kind of wide-open spaces that make you feel both infinite and insignificant.
She pulls out her phone, finding that it has reception, and fires off a quick text before silencing it and putting it back in her pocket. As close as we are, I feel every movement of her body, and when she nestles back into the shelter of my arms, a potent feeling of pride and relief fills me.
“Comfortable?” I ask, my breath warm against her ear.
“Surprisingly, yes.”
“Good. Because if you fall off, I can’t promise I won’t laugh.”
“You’re such an ass.”
“One of my many charms. Remember? I thought you were supposed to be keeping a list.”
She laughs, and the sound wraps around me like a blanket.
This is what I’ve been missing for six years—not just her, but the ease, the warmth, the way her presence settles the restlessness inside me.
Her vanilla custard scent drifts over me, the usually soft edges intensified in the cold air. It’s sweet and familiar, and pokes at the old wound in my chest. My Alpha stirs at the press of her body into my chest and the way her hips rest between my legs, every instinct wanting to pull her closer, to hold her there where she fits.
I catch the faint curve of her neck, the skin exposed by her ponytail, and something inside me aches. It takes everything I have not to lean in just a little, to remember how she used to smell, how she used to taste.
God, I missed this. Missed her.
“Do you remember the first time we kissed?” The words slip out before I can stop them.
She stiffens slightly in my arms. “Jake?—”
“I do,” I say, voice softer now. “That was the summer I joined APBRA. I don’t know how we all ended up at the same bonfire, but I spent the whole evening following you around.”
A small smile tugs at her lips, but she doesn’t say anything.
“It took me nearly three hours to get up the nerve to talk to you.”
“I know. I was watching you, too, and kept wondering if you were glaring at me for a reason.”
I squeeze her legs with mine. “Can’t blame me for being nervous. You were pretty much the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, and I’d never really tried to talk to an Omega before.”
“You were an Alpha and bull rider. I never would have guessed that lack of confidence was something you ever struggled with.”
