She sucked in a breath when she saw me.
"Yeah?" I said.
"It's been six months," she said. "I forgot."
"Did you?"
"I said I thought about it. I didn't say I remembered accurately."
I frowned. Fuck…needed to get a condom. I thought I still had one handy, even if I hadn’t touched another woman since?—
“Hey,” she said. “I’m uh…I have an IUD. You don’t have to, if that’s?—”
I looked at her.
She looked back, steady, chin slightly lifted the way she did when she'd said something bold and was committed to it.
"You sure?" I said.
"I've been sure for six months." A pause. "I'm clean."
"Me too." I hadn't been with anyone since June. Hadn't wanted to. "You wanna ride me raw?"
Her eyes dropped. Came back up. "Yes."
I didn’t even bother getting to the bed; I sat down on the narrow bench seat right behind me. Patted my thigh.
She came to me without questioning it. Climbed into my lap—straddling me, her knees on either side of my thighs, the bench barely wide enough, her hands braced on my shoulders. Eye level. Close.
"I'm in charge up here," she said, a little too smug.
"Sure," I said.
Her eyes narrowed.
I put my hands on her hips—not guiding, just holding—and looked at her. Waited.
She reached between us. Positioned me. Sank down slow.
We both went absolutely still.
The air went out of me. All of it, gone.
Nothing between us. Just her—warm and tight and real—and six months of waiting collapsed into one moment.
Her breath came out shaky against my neck.
Mine wasn't steady either.
"Sawyer." Barely sound.
"I know." I pressed my mouth to her temple, her cheek, tasted her skin. My hands were gripping her hips harder than I meant to. "I know."
She shifted—just slightly, just a fraction—and I made a sound I hadn't planned.
She pulled back to look at me. Something flickering in her face. Surprise, maybe. Or satisfaction.
"The horse master needs a second," she said.
