“You won’t. Not at the moment – that’s all Alex and Abby.”
“No, Jake, I need to be accepted here first. Before I can be part of something else. I need my own definition.” She was a Green, and her cousins were Callaghans. Her family was known in certain circles, and then – albeit briefly – she became Hugo’s girlfriend and that was when she’d almost forgotten her own name.
“How long for?”
“I don’t know. How long can you give me?”
“I don’t know.”
But him not knowing didn’t matter because he’d started to kiss her, and it was a kiss that stopped all thought, taking over everything as the light started to dim further.
There was a towel Jake had discarded on the bank, that Lainey vaguely noticed him kicking out, before they collapsed onto it, too engrossed in each other to care much about the sand or the dirt.
Her bra and knickers were off before she was aware of how soaked they were, Jake’s shorts joining them. He was warm and hard above her, his hands teasing and tempting her to say things she wasn’t sure he needed to hear.
“We’re in public.”
“It’s about to storm. Anyone out here won’t care.” He persuaded her with another kiss, his mouth then deviating down her collarbone towards her breasts.
The first drop of rain hit her at the same time his fingers started to toy with her clit, the coolness contrasting with the fiery heat of her skin. He was making her combust and she needed the rain to hold onto her sanity.
It wasn’t graceful, or smooth, the promise of a storm enough to add haste to their movements. Jake’s clever fingers pressed inside her, knowing enough by now how to bring her to that fine edge between desire and pleasure. She rushed him to fill her with his cock, needing this, needing him, hearing thunder roll as he entered her fully and without ceremony.
The pinch of pain as he stretched her became pleasure quickly, the rain falling heavier, the sound of the drops a soundtrack to the rush of words that came from both of them. His name was on her lips as she came, hearing his gasp as she tightened around his cock, starting to milk him, making him find his own ending.
Lainey felt his whole body shudder as he exploded inside of her, his teeth nipping her neck and marking her for later. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding them together as the rain fell and the lightning lit up the sky.
Their breathing slowed, still audible even against the thunder. The air was still warm and sticky, even the cold of the river hadn’t been enough to take the heat of the summer’s evening away.
“We need to get back.” Jake whispered the words against her skin. “The storm’s circling, but it’ll be back heavier in twenty minutes once it’s gone round the valley. We need to get Rex back.”
“He can take both of us.” As much as she wanted to stay and enjoy the storm, Rex needed to be back in the stables, and sooner or later, they would start to get cold.
They untangled themselves from each other, him pulling on a pair of shorts that had been next to the towel, Lainey finding her tank and shorts, which were now damp from the rain. Jake stuffed their saturated clothes in the rucksack he’d brought, along with the towel, finding reasons to keep touching her, grazing her skin with his fingers.
“Are we staying at my place or yours?” He said the words as they seated themselves on Rex, providing a warm back rest for her, his arms wrapping round her as she tuck the reins.
“Mine tonight.”
“Then mine tomorrow.”
The horse cantered through the heavy droplets, seemingly oblivious to both his extra passenger and the weather. For the first time in months, Lainey felt a settling of peace around her, even as the thunder began to roll again. This seemed right, only as well as that peace, there was a twinge of excitement building.
She’d never had sex outside before, not in public. She’d never swam in a river in her underwear, even as a child.
Something about Jake Maynard made her cross the boundaries she’d set herself, and she’d never felt more free. She rested her head back as Rex slowed, the gate to the stables still open as she’d left it. It was raining more heavily now, and they were as wet as they would’ve been even if they hadn’t swam in the river.
“I’ll dry him off.” Jake offered her a hand as she dismounted, even though she didn’t need it. “You go inside.”
Lainey nodded, for once relinquishing the need to do everything herself. It was rare that she didn’t look after her horses when she’d ridden them; handing the task over to Jake felt like a lot more.
Unlocking the door, she heard a crack of thunder that made everything else seem hauntingly still. The kitchen was as she left it, the glass of wine half drank by her favourite chair, the bottle still on the countertop.
She froze.
The stillness compared with the rain outside brought something back from her childhood. The night she’d found the strange man in her room there had been heavy rain, and it had been warm like tonight. She knew that small triggers could evoke a memory, bring back emotions that had been buried, and right now she was regressing back to then. Her therapist’s head told her that all this was memory, but that didn’t stop her from walking back out to the stables where Jake was giving Rex a treat.
He turned straight to her without her saying anything, his expression obscured by the weather and the night that had now fallen.
