The morning light bled through the shutters, gold and quiet apart from her breath steady and soft and I didn't want to move. Didn't want to break whatever spell had given me this moment, her curled against me like she belonged there, her breathing soft and even, one hand resting over my heart, her leg hooked over mine, and her sweet jasmine scent mixingwith my cologne and the lingering smoke from last night’s fire.
Christ, she was beautiful. Stubborn but beautiful—she was still arguing she didn’t want a new phone. Too beautiful for a man who’d sworn he only wanted sex and no strings and just fun. But here we were. Even in sleep, there was something about her that made my lungs tight with feelings I was still figuring out. Whatever this was between us, it was bigger than anything I'd ever felt. My fingers drifted to her hip, tracing the hem of her shirt, my shirt, which she’d pulled on sometime in the early hours when the fire died down and the cabin went cold. After we’d had sex.
Yet, it was no longer just sex was it. Since we’d started peeling back the layers and realizing we were more.
She shifted against me as her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks, and I knew she was waking up. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, breathing her in. My heart damn near stopped when a sleepy little sound escaped her throat. When she wiped drool from the corner of her mouth I was a goner, wondering how I’d ever thought I didn’t want this kind of sweet.
“Morning, Brownie,” I murmured against her hair, my voice rough, barely more than a gravelly rasp.
“Mmm,” she made a soft humming sound, “too early.” Stretching like a cat before tilting her face up to look at me. Her green eyes were sleepy and warm, and when she smiled, it was like watching the sun rise.
“Yeah, it’s too early to get up.” I brushed my lips across her temple.
“How long have you been awake?” she asked, her voice husky with sleep as her fingertips whispered against my skin and rested over my heart.
“Long enough to count every freckle on your nose.” I traced my finger along the bridge of it, watching her eyes flutter closed at the gentle touch. “Did you know you have exactly seventeen?”
She laughed, the sound vibrating through my chest. “You did not count my freckles.”
“Yep. Fifteen on your nose, two on your left cheek.” I kissed each spot as I named it. “I've memorized every inch of you, baby. In fact, there’s also twenty-one on your shoulders and three above that incredible ass of yours.
Her cheeks flushed pink, and she buried her face against my neck. “You're ridiculous.”
“I'm completely gone for you.” The admission came out rougher than I intended. “Never felt anything like this before, Brownie.”
She lifted her head, her eyes bright with emotion and I wanted to bottle the moment and keep it somewhere safe.
Her hands slid up my chest and I rolled, gently pressing her into the sheets, her beneath me, real and warm and mine as she whispered, “Me neither. It's terrifying and perfect at the same time.”
I cupped her face in my hands, thumbs stroking her cheekbones. “You're everything I never knew I needed.”
When I kissed her, it was soft and reverent. She melted against me, her breath hitching with just the hush of the morning and the rustle of sheets.
“I could stay here forever,” I said, nuzzling her neck. Taking my time to touch every inch with my lips because there was no rush.
“What about the horses? The ranch? Your brothers will send a search party.”
“Let them.” I pulled back to look at her, brushing hair from her face. “Right now, nothing else matters but you.”
And it didn’t. She had become the beginning, the middle and the end of every single one of my days.
I’d spent most of the morning with Tally, working alongside her as she worked with the horse called Maverick. Watching her take control, how damn talented she was made my chest puff up with pride. Pride and something much more, much fuller, much deeper. Then Ray radioed me to say there was an issue with a cow that had fallen as it was being brought down from the high ground. It couldn’t get up and he suspected it’d broken his leg. He wanted me to go out there and decide whether it should be euthanized there and then or whether I thought it was treatable. Rushing over there I put in a call to Rosie, our vet, who thankfully was close by and thankfully thought it would be okay with a splint and a few days immobilized.
The only person around to stay with Tally was Poppy and at around five three in height and probably less than a hundred and ten pounds, I didn’t think much of her chances in protecting either of them. Then again Declan wasn’t much bigger than her, so maybe she could.
That was why, when I rounded the corner to the stables and I saw the back of him walking toward the paddock where Tally was working alone, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The blood turned to ice in my veins as my legs started to pump.
I couldn’t yell her name, or his, because I couldn’t take the chance of spooking the horse she was working with. I had run track at high school, though, so that fucker was mine. As he was a couple feet from the paddock I grabbed his jacket and pulled him around.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing on my property?”
He reared back putting an arm out, like that would stop me. “What the hell.”
“I told you not to come back here. And you should not be walking toward her.” I pointed in the direction of Tally, my gaze pinned to him.
“Wilder?”
Over Declan’s shoulder I saw her walking toward the fence, a determined stride and steam practically coming from her ears.
