‘I’ve never been on a horse,’ I confessed then.
‘I’d be happy to teach you to ride if you ever wanted to.’
I nodded eagerly. ‘I’d love that.’
We finished eating our picnic, catching each other up on everything that had been going on. Then we poured out a second glass of wine, which we enjoyed with the strawberries and cream.
Contented, we lapsed into silence as we gazed out at the farm. The sky started to shift into hazy pink and orange patterns, the sun lowering towards the horizon. I looked at the beginning of the sunset, thinking how, for the past five years in the city, I hadn’t noticed the sunset much at all. Now, I loved to drink it in, enjoying the beauty around me.
‘I really like living back in the countryside,’ I mused aloud. ‘This place feels more like home than anywhere I’ve lived since childhood.’
‘Good. I want you to have somewhere you feel like you belong. You deserve that.’ Blake wrapped an arm around me and I scooted closer to him on the bench. ‘I’d love it if one day, you felt like you belonged with me,’ he added in a softer tone.
‘You would want that?’ I asked him, smiling at the thought.
‘I wasn’t sure about trusting someone so soon after what happened with Sarah,’ Blake said. ‘But you are nothing like her. I just would want to make sure you really are happy with me?’
I understood why he was asking me that. I had spent years with someone that I didn’t have deep feelings for. ‘I would only be with you if that was the case.’
‘And you forgive me for leaving you for a week?’
‘We both had things to sort out,’ I told him.
‘I want us to work out,’ Blake said then.
‘Oh, yeah?’ I leaned in to kiss him. ‘You going to make a wish on the stars?’ I teased, thinking back to our night looking up at them together.
‘What makes you think I didn’t that first night we laid on the grass together?’ His hazel eyes sparkled as we looked at one another.
‘You can’t have wanted that so early on,’ I said, shaking my head, but I couldn’t help swooning a little bit inside at the idea he might have done.
‘I told you, I wanted you as soon as I saw you in that white dress. What if it gave me ideas?’ He winked and I giggled. I knew he was joking around but I knew if I wore a wedding dress again, I’d want to be 100 per cent certain. And if it was Blake waiting for me at the altar, I had a funny feeling that I would be.
I leaned in again and this time, we shared a kiss that deepened, our tongues caressing each other’s as we held on to one another tightly. I let out a small moan and Blake pulled away to drop kisses behind my ear, on my neck and moving my T-shirt to kiss my collarbone. He pulled away suddenly.
‘Daisy, I need you closer.’ Blake got up and lifted me so I was sitting on the end of the table. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he leaned down to kiss me again, tilting my chin up towards him. He glanced at the farmhouse before looking at me with a pained expression. ‘I want to take your top off but we’re not alone out here like we were before.’
‘Yeah, they might walk Maple soon and put the ponies away,’ I said breathlessly as Blake leaned down to trail kisses along my jawline. I groaned as he moved down my neck again, making me shiver. ‘Let’s go to my room,’ I suggested. He was causing goosebumps to appear on my skin. I wanted him to take my top off too but I didn’t want Willow or, God forbid, my uncle to stumble on us out here. ‘Let’s sneak in so we don’t get stuck talking to anyone,’ I added, pulling Blake up from my neck so I could kiss his lips again. I let out a giggle. ‘Is that bad?’
‘It’s naughty, gorgeous,’ Blake murmured, his eyes twinkling. He gave me a quick kiss and grinned. ‘And I love it, let’s go.’
Laughing, we quickly packed up the picnic and, hand in hand, hurried into the farmhouse as quietly as we could. I could hear everyone still in the kitchen from dinner and before they left to do the final farm chores of the day, we went softly upstairs and into my room, closing the door with relief when no one appeared to have spotted us.
Blake put the basket down and then he wrapped me into his embrace again. ‘I have always been nervous around women,’ he confessed in a hushed tone in between kissing me. ‘I never knew what to say, or my mind would overthink while I was doing this…’ He slipped his hand under my T-shirt and raised an eyebrow. I nodded quickly and he lifted my top off of me. ‘But with you… it’s different.’
I smiled as I reached for his T-shirt. I took it off, my eyes drifting to his toned, tanned chest. ‘I used to be nervous too,’ I agreed. ‘You know sometimes, I can get anxious or panic or freak out… but with you, it’s easy. And fun.’
‘I’m glad,’ he said as he reached for the button of my shorts. He leaned in to kiss me, his tongue massaging mine with such passion, I gasped. He undid my shorts and broke away from me to slip them down my legs. He looked at me in my underwear with darkening eyes. ‘You are a dream. I never thought I could feel like this with a woman. Like I could tell her anything.’
‘I feel the same,’ I assured him as I reached for his shorts and undid them, keeping my eyes on his as I pulled them down his muscular legs.
Blake wrapped his arms around my waist and picked me up, making me gasp again as I hooked my legs around him. He carried me to the bed and put me down gently, leaning over me as I laid back. ‘Our first time in a bedroom – we are getting more restrained,’ he teased as he ran his hands over my body.
‘That sounds far too wholesome,’ I complained with a sigh.
‘You’re right, we definitely can’t have that.’ He reached around me and undid my bra, slipping it off, and began to caress my breasts. Then he leaned down to kiss them, his hand sliding down my stomach to my knickers, stroking me there, making me gasp with want. ‘I never want to be restrained with you,’ he said as he slipped his hand inside my underwear, causing my back to arch. He drew a nipple into his mouth, sucking it hard as his fingers stroked me and I clutched the duvet of the bed as I tingled with desire. ‘God, I want you so much,’ he said as I moaned under his touch.
‘I want you too,’ I gasped. ‘Blake, please.’
