Flame- Wild Hearts

by Marie Scully

  “You’re not a terrible drawer now,” Liam points out. “How did you learn?”

  “Practice and I needed an outlet. Pictures never change even if the people in them do. Having the ability to capture a moment in time… there’s something to that.”

  “Will you draw something for me?” he asks, squeezing my hand.

  “Only if you’re really nice to me,” I joke.

  Being out here it feels as if we’re the only two people in the universe. I feel Liam lean against me, propped up on one arm. While I’m gazing at the thousands of stars that fill the sky, his gaze is hot against my skin. Without allowing my eyes to wander, I ask, “What are you looking at? You would think you’d be looking at the view above us.”

  “I think I have the best view next to me,” he says. I can feel the desire in his eyes and still something else I can’t place. There go those pesky butterflies again. When most guys say that to a girl, it’s just a line. But with Liam, it feels as if he genuinely believes it.

  “What else are you thinking about?” I ask as my mind pictures possibilities.

  “That I want to kiss you again,” he says but still doesn’t make a move. Turning my head to face him, I decide that I don’t want words—I want action. Grabbing his shirt as his nose crinkles up in surprise, I pull him towards me and move my lips against his hungrily.

  His eagerness matches my own, and he braces his weight with arms either side of me so as not to crush me. Our lips and tongues continue to meet feverishly, each encounter growing more breathless. He moves from my lips to my cheek. Making feather-light kisses, so different from the way he was kissing my lips, he moves from my cheeks to my neck. I move so he can get closer and sigh, enjoying the feeling of ecstasy. Moving my leg from underneath him, I wrap it around his back, pulling him even closer.

  “You should tell me to stop,” he whispers against my ear. I shift a little, and he lifts himself up, giving me room. He moves to pull further away, misunderstanding my movement, but I grab his arm, and his question-filled eyes meet mine. Reaching for the hem of my shirt, I quickly tug it from my body, revealing the lacy black bra underneath.

  His hungry gaze moves across my body like a wolf on the prowl and he lifts his own shirt. Now it’s my turn to be on top. Giving him a light shove, I push him back to the ground and run my fingers over his chest. He growls his approval. While my hands explore, his do the same. We don’t miss an inch of each other’s bodies.

  Finally, he rolls back on top of me, our lips never leaving each other’s. With a flick of his fingers, the button of my jeans is released, the zipper next, and then in one fluid movement, my jeans are entirely removed from my body. The almost non-existent cover of my panties goes next, till I am completely bare to him. I don’t have any time to feel self-conscious as he pulls my legs apart. Before he leans forward, he asks if anyone has kissed me there before, and I shake my head.

  While Liam wouldn’t be my first lover, the others all pale in comparison to him. They had all been too much tongue and wet like an eager puppy in all the wrong ways. Very rarely had I reached climax with them, but I have a feeling that with Liam, it will all be different. His grin tells me that he’s happy about that as he bends forward, moving his lips over me.

  With only a small flick of his tongue, he almost has me coming, my body hot everywhere. Closing my eyes to the scene above me, I let myself fully experience the pleasure. Flick after flick sends pleasure racing through my body, and when he pulls away unexpectedly, I moan my displeasure. Opening my eyes, I glare at him, willing him back to where he’d come from. Smiling he commands, “Not yet.”

  Moving back up my body, he removes my bra as his fingers move to where his mouth just was.

  One finger, two fingers, three fingers move effectively inside me, like his tongue, knowing where to go. Arching my back like a cat, I move down. In and out. Pleasure building. My body moves without coherent thought, no longer caring how it gets pleasure, just needing it.

  My fingers dig tighter into the blanket, tugging grass from the ground. Liam says nothing as he forges on with the task at hand, drawing moans from me that grow louder and louder. Finally, as I get closer, his fingers pull out, and I open my eyes as my body moves back towards his hand. Irritation fills my mind. What is he waiting for?

  His cocky smile finds me.

  “Why did you stop?” The question falls from my lips. My hand itches to finish what his mouth and fingers started. Instead, I have another thought. I push myself off the ground, and I move towards him. Surprise and interest flicker across his face simultaneously. Reaching into his pants packet I pull out the condom, throwing it next to us on the ground. Quickly I move to unzip his jeans and release his standing cock.

  I hold his gaze as his eyes question my next move. Before I can lose my nerve, dropping my head, I wrap my lips around the pulsing marble. His gasp urges me on. Slowly I move my mouth up and down, torturing him as he did me. His hand moves to my head, tugging my hair in his fingers. Each move I go farther down his shaft. From his breathing, I can tell he’s close. It wouldn’t take much more convincing for him to come. But before he can find his pleasure, I tug my lips away. His hand releases my hair, surprised.

  Nodding down, I say, “You can finish that.” The next second, he pounces on me like a tiger, pinning me to the ground. Moving my face forward, I pull his lips back to mine as he enters me in one swift move.

  His cock finishes what his mouth and lips started—in only a few strokes, we both fall apart in each other’s arms.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Danny

  The following morning, I hear the voices of Ben, Jimmy, and Liam coming from the kitchen. “Good morning,” I proclaim to the group. Ben and Jimmy look thrown off at my chipper mood. Liam holds the coffee mug to his lips to hide the smile forming, while Ben reaches in the cabinet for a coffee mug and pours me a healthy amount of liquid gold.

  Jimmy looks at me then at Liam, then at Ben and then back to me. “It’s way too early to be this happy, Danny. I’m going to go back to bed and not get out till I’m just as happy as you.”

  Before he can take two steps away, Ben grabs the collar of his shirt and tugs him back. “Not a chance. You won’t get up again if you go back to bed. You have chores—go do them.”

  “You’re not Dad,” he argues and tries to squirm away, but Ben holds tight. After a few more seconds of pulling, Jimmy gives up, mumbling, “Fine. Fine. I’ll do it,” hissing the last word.

  Ben releases him and he stomps forward, turning to glare at his brother before retreating from the room and out the front door.

  Ben looks between us and says, “He should be happy I’m not Dad. He would have kicked his ass for that.”

  Looking at Liam, my heart beats a little faster as memories from last night take over. For a few more minutes I make small talk with him and Ben, but my mind is in overdrive from the night before and flooded with different emotions. Making an excuse I leave the kitchen. Maybe I’ll go to the barn and gather my thoughts.

  It doesn’t take long for Liam to come chasing after me, yelling, “Where do you think you’re going? We have a bet to finalize.”

  “Ahh true. Are you sure you want to spend the day with me again? You’re not bored of me yet?”

  Grabbing my hand, he pulls me towards his car, looking back to say, “I don’t think I could ever get bored of you. Don’t worry about work today; I talked Ben into doing most of it. Don’t worry though—you’ll still get paid. I just owe him a favor.”

  “Did you now? How did you manage that?” I ask, opening the car door and sliding against the leather.

  “I may have offered him the convertible this weekend to take Megan out to try to suck up to her.”

  “Oh, a convertible. I haven’t seen you in that one yet,” I say, giving him a look that says he has one too many cars.

  Giving a chuckle, he replies, “I’m saving that for if I royally mess up as well.”

  I pull the seat belt again
st my chest and we head towards Liam’s house. “Will your dad and sister be home?” I ask, suddenly nervous.

  He shakes his head. “No, Dad’s out of town on business and Lex should have something going on with work or friends. Most of the time, she gets to make her own schedule.”

  I roll down my window and stick my hand out, enjoying the wind flowing through my fingers. “How’s training?” I ask. “Ben told me that the horse you’re working with is known to be unreadable.”

  “In the past, he had people give up on him too quickly. Kind of like with people—after a while you get used to people throwing in the towel, so you stop trying and really caring. It’s taken a few hard months, but he’s starting to come around. He still won’t let me near him for longer than five minutes, but we’ll get there.”

  “Do you think he’ll ever race?” The question just comes out. It seems like most things I just say to Liam without thinking.

  His facial expression becomes thoughtful, his nose crinkles, and I can practically hear the wheels turning as he thinks about what he’s noticed about the horse. “Honestly, I don’t know. The owner is getting tired of waiting. It’s going to get to the point where he may just sell him. If that does happen, I’ll end up buying him. Something about that horse calls to me.”

  I nod, understanding. I feel a similar way with Flame.

  I can see Liam’s large, plantation-sized home in the distance. But instead of continuing in the direction of the house, he turns right down a gravel road. I glance at him, trying to read where we’re going. I remember the stables being nearer the house.

  He feels my eyes on him because he says, “There are four stables on the property. The ones near the house are my sister’s horses. The other two hold the rest of them. Some of them are ours, while others we board.”

  “How many do you have total?” I ask in awe as we continue the drive.

  “Including my sister’s, twenty-three that are ours. She has three. Two of them she’s had since we were kids. One was a gift from our mom. Eight of them are my father’s and mine. Not that he does anything with them. They’re just there because he thinks that’s what people expect of him. Plus, they make money for him. The others are all boarders.”

  He pulls through an old wooden gate, and the large stables come into view. They sit opposite each other. They’re much newer than the ones at Ben’s home.

  “How often do you race against Ben’s family?”

  “Not as often as most people would think. I don’t do as many races here as I used to, and they don’t travel as far out.”

  Pulling to the side, he parks the car and we both get out. He leads me to the nearest stable.

  Horses of every color and marking pop their heads out to greet us as we enter.

  “They’re all spoiled and expect a treat from all the new people that visit them. Puppy-dog eyes have nothing on these guys.”

  I follow Liam through the stable, and we stop at the second-to-last stall. “Star,” I say, reading the name tag attached to the door.

  Liam opens the door, releasing Star. Looking over him, I realize how he got his name. He’s all black with a large white shape on his side that resembles a star. He is a gorgeous horse. Feeling his coat, I find he’s as soft as he looks. We saddle him up and head out.

  After a few hours of riding my body is tired and ready for a nap.

  “Nice job,” Liam says as he helps me dismount. “You worn out?”

  “Me? Never,” I say, meaning it.

  “You going to miss me while I’m out of town for the next race?” Liam asks.

  “We’ll see,” I reply, but if I was being honest, I think I will.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Liam

  The announcer’s voice continues to distract me as I rewatch the video recording of the race from this morning for the tenth time since getting on the plane home. I’ve been watching it, taking notes, then yanking the earbuds out once more, and trying to do something else. Then, after a few minutes of doing something new, I have to watch it again. It’s driving me nuts. I’m obsessing and I know it. I’ve lost plenty of races; it comes with the territory. No one can win them all—not that my dad got the memo. He called me immediately after the race, and I was reminded once more about the expectations he has for me. He thinks my head wasn’t in the race. That it was on Danny. I have been thinking of Danny while I’ve been gone, but when I got on Desert Rain’s back, my mind was purely in race mode. Both the horse and I were in it to win. It just so happened that the better horse and rider won.

  Feeling for the volume bottom, I silence the sound and just watch the video, hoping that maybe something will stand out. We started off strong and then midway fell back. That was the moment we lost. Not at the final second, but right there. I pause the video and zoom in.

  We’re almost back on the ground, as I feel the shift in the landing gear. I leave the earbuds in and continue trying to remember what happened at that specific moment, but nothing comes to mind.

  “Welcome to Lexington, Kentucky. Thank you for flying American. We look forward to flying with you again soon.” The cheerful flight attendant’s voice is muffled by the earbuds, but I still get the point. Half the plane jumps to their feet, ready to get off. Sliding up, I put the phone in my back pocket and stretch my legs, now tighter than before after being squished on the plane. Row after row vacate the plane till mine is next. Reaching into the overhead, I pull my carry-on out and finally leave the metal tube myself. My back pocket starts vibrating with notifications. If I had to guess, five of them are from my dad still raging about the race.

  Exiting the airport, the sound of traffic fills the air, but it represents being on the ground once more, so I’ll take it. Once on the bus that will take me to the parking lot, I pull out the phone and see who’s been blowing it up. As I suspected, most were from my dad. One each from Ben and Megan. And one from Danny. I slide open Danny’s message first.

  My lips crave hers as I read the words: Great race. I’m proud of you. Flame says that both you and Desert Rain deserve an apple.

  The bus pulls to a stop inside the garage, and I start the search for the car. Row C, number 1423. Once located, I throw the bag in the backseat and pull away. I need to get home and catch up on some work. But my body has other ideas and I end up pulling into Wild Horse Ranch. After all the shit with my dad, I know that Danny will get my mind off it.

  After turning off the car’s engine, I slide from the driver’s seat and take in the warm sun against my skin, breathing in the wild air. There’s an immediate sense of calm once I reach Ben’s home. It’s been that way for years. Any time my father got too much, I ended up here. They always had the door open for me, no matter the time.

  “Nice race, handsome.”

  I look over to find Danny coming from the barn, wiping her hands on her jeans. It’s been two weeks since I’ve seen her as I’ve been traveling for work. We talked over the phone and texted throughout the nights, but I still went to bed thinking about seeing her in person.

  “I don’t know if I’d go that far. Third isn’t something to brag about,” I say, thinking back to the conversation I had with my father last night. He wasn’t impressed by the race in the least and spent over an hour informing me what I did wrong and where I need improvement. This coming from a man who’s spent hardly any time on a horse.

  Once I reach Danny, I try to release my negative thoughts and wrap my arms around her, pulling her close. She smells like wildflowers. She leans back into my arms while moving her own around me.

  “I would say that’s pretty good. Considering you were competing against some pretty big names.” She flips her head to one side. “But what do I know? I just work here.”

  “Oh yeah?” I lean in. “You sure you didn’t pick up one or two things about horse racing while working here?” I ask, knowing the answer.

  “Maybe one or two,” she replies, grinning.

  I release her and take hold of her hand, pulling her t
owards the barn. Once there, she moves to lean back against the wall. I move a step towards her.

  She whispers, “If we get caught, I’m blaming it on you.”

  I take another step. “Why are we whispering?” I ask as quietly as her.

  “Don’t you think it makes it more exciting?”

  “Maybe a little,” I observe, still whispering. I lean in. “But I think I know a better way to make it exciting.”

  “How?” she asks, leaning a little closer.

  “Like this,” I say as our lips meet. I can taste her desire as our tongues dance. Nipping her bottom lip, she moans into my mouth and I release her lips, moving down her jaw with small, light kisses to her neck. All the while she makes soft mewing sounds and holds me closer, curling against me.

  “I just want to say that I saw you two go in together. I sure hope no one is doing anything that will cause the horses to need therapy.”

  Now it’s my turn to moan. Just not in the right way. Danny leans her head into my shoulder and whispers towards my ear, “I swear he interrupts us every time.”

  I kiss the top of her head. “I know. I think it’s a plot.”

  She giggles. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard her do that.

  Ben’s voice drifts through the barn once more. “Come out with your hands up and no one gets scarred for life.”

  I might kill him. This may be the day. Ben’s getting far too much joy out of it. I’ll remember this once he and Megan get back together. It’s only a matter of time.

  “All right. All right. You caught us. We’re coming out,” I yell, taking a step away from Danny and lifting my hands in the air in mock fright.

  I whisper for her ears alone, “Come over tonight and have dinner. I’ll cook.”