by Tasha Black
Burton was thunderstruck.
“There’s no such thing as a day off on a farm,” he said, quoting Tansy’s favorite saying.
“There is today - for you,” Sage said crisply. “Go for a swim, take a nap, you were up all night saving the farm. The rest of us can hold down the fort for a day.”
“Of course we can,” Tansy agreed.
“Not you,” Sage told Tansy, rolling her eyes. “You’re taking the day off too. Get out of here, both of you.”
“But the bees—” Tansy began.
“I know as much about borrowed bees as you do,” Sage scolded. “You’re not the only one in this family who can use an internet search engine.”
Tansy’s laughter sounded like a waterfall.
Burton took her hand and they walked toward the pond without having to discuss what they were doing.
When they were out of earshot of the others, Tansy squeezed his hand.
“Thank you for what you did,” she said softly.
“It was my pleasure,” he told her. “I’m very relieved that you won’t be selling the farm.”
She didn’t reply. They walked on.
When the pond was in sight, Tansy stopped.
“There’s something I don’t understand,” she said.
“I will explain if I can,” he told her.
She bit her lip.
“I can’t explain if you don’t tell me your question,” he said gently.
She looked up at him appraisingly and must have been satisfied with what she saw.
“Burton,” she said, “you told me that you wanted to sleep late, spend time in nice hotels, and that you wanted… you wanted me to wear dresses…”
Oh.
“Tansy, I’m not sure how to tell you this,” he said. “I only hope you can forgive me.”
She watched him, her blue eyes bright and attentive.
“I was not being completely honest with you when I said those things,” he admitted, looking down at his feet.
“You weren’t?” she asked.
He shook his head, feeling deeply ashamed.
“I didn’t even know you could lie,” she said.
“I didn’t either,” he told her. “Especially to my mate. But I needed you to know that I would be happy with you anywhere. I thought you were only trying to keep the farm so that you could hide us on it.”
“No, Burton, I love this place,” Tansy said.
“So do I,” he told her. “And I love to see you wear your grandmother’s overalls. They have many pockets, which is essential to farming. Also…”
“Also, what?” she teased.
He answered by running his index finger along the top of the bib of her overalls, giving himself a peek at the whisper thin camisole she wore underneath.
She laughed again and he thought his heart would burst.
“Well, it was very nice of you to be willing to sacrifice your enjoyment of my grandmother’s overalls,” she told him, her blue eyes dancing.
“I also thought it was better for you to let go,” he admitted, hoping this part wouldn’t make her angry. But he could not have more secrets from Tansy. “And that it might be easier if I let you believe I didn’t really want to be here.”
“My sister told you about my student loans?” Tansy asked, sounding unhappy.
“No,” he said right away. “But… I might have overheard something I wasn’t supposed to.”
“You’ve been overhearing a lot of things you weren’t supposed to,” Tansy said archly. “I’m going to have to put a bell on you.”
“A bell?” Burton asked.
“Oh, it’s an expression,” Tansy said. “Like when you put a bell on the cat’s collar so it can’t sneak around.”
If there would ever be a better moment to introduce his special gift, Burton couldn’t imagine when it could be. Technically he wasn’t supposed to talk with Tansy about it until they were mated. But Burton was beginning to feel recklessly optimistic that their mating would happen, and soon. He supposed it was safe to share his final secret.
They had reached the pond. The sunlight was brilliant on its surface.
“Let’s get in,” he suggested. “Then we can talk.”
She shrugged and started peeling off her clothes.
Burton watched her, admiring her strong, curvy body and the carefree way she bared it in front of him. Women in movies were always blushing and trying to cover themselves from their men. He liked that his mate was confident under his gaze.
Completely naked at last, Tansy gave him a significant look.
Burton chuckled, realizing he hadn’t removed his own clothing.
He undressed slowly, reveling in the hungry way she observed him.
When he was finished, he joined her at the edge of the pond.
“It’s cold this morning,” Tansy said, dipping her big toe into the water.
“Shall we jump in together?” he offered.
She placed her hand in his.
They bent their knees and jumped at the same time, sailing into the shimmering water together.
Eyes squeezed shut, Burton felt the shock of the chilly water enveloping him and heard the rush of bubbles in their wake.
Still holding hands, they rose to the surface.
Tansy was laughing, her blue eyes sparkling brighter than the sun kissed water.
It was the most natural thing in the world to pull her close, until her perfect breasts were warm against him.
“Burton,” she whispered up at him.
He leaned down slowly, so that she could stop him if she wished.
She waited, lips slightly parted, for his kiss.
Instead he kissed her eyelids, her forehead, her cheeks.
When he drew back slightly she opened her eyes.
“Tansy, I asked you a question night before last,” he told her. “Are you ready for me to ask it again?”
She nodded, glistening tear drops in her eyes threatening to join the rivulets streaming from her hair.
“Tansy Martin, I choose you as my mate,” Burton said. “Will you accept me?”
“Yes,” she said simply.
A universe of joy opened up in his chest at that single word.
He bent to kiss her again, this time claiming her mouth roughly, unafraid.
She went up on her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing herself close to him.
His body responded immediately. Lightning bolts of need shot through him. He clung to her, praying for the strength to take it slowly, attend to her in the way she deserved.
But when she moaned against his mouth and sank her nails into his shoulders he nearly lost control.
He lifted her, folding his arms around her hips as she squealed in surprise, and licked one stiff nipple into his mouth, warming it with his tongue.
Tansy wiggled, maddening him with the subtle movement of her legs against his groin.
He turned his attentions to her other nipple, reveling in Tansy’s light moans.
He walked them over to the bank, where two enormous bushes flanked a thick bed of moss. It wasn’t complete privacy, but even from the pasture no one would be able to see them.
And though Burton had only wanted to go for a swim and spend a pleasant day together before consummating their union properly, he realized he could not wait. Tansy needed him now.
He cradled her head in his hand as he lowered her gently to the bank.
Tansy gazed up at him, her eyes hazy with desire.
“Burton,” she whimpered, arms outstretched for him.
“Don’t worry, my love,” he told her. “I know what you need.”
He knelt in the water, which lapped around her ankles and nuzzled her thighs.
Tansy arched her back and spread her legs wide for him.
Burton smiled, proud that he had given her enough pleasure last time to merit such a warm welcome.
Then he lowered his face to her delicious sex and everything else was forgotten. He lost
himself to the tender exploration of every fold, every quiver of her hips beneath him.
When she was panting and crying out for satisfaction, he crawled up to cage her head in his arms, and covered her body with his.
“Are you ready?” he asked her, his voice cracking with emotion.
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Remember, this is forever,” he warned her.
“I want forever,” she said, gazing up at him with those hypnotic blue eyes.
“Then you shall have it,” he promised her.
24
Tansy
Tansy’s senses were overloaded and her emotions threatened to overwhelm her.
Burton gazed down at her, his eyes blazing with love and lust, his hard body pinning hers to the soft mossy bank. The evidence of his frantic need for her pulsed between them, hard and hot.
She felt her own sex, thrumming with desire, aching to feel him inside her, where he belonged.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he murmured.
She felt him guide himself against her, and she forgot the words that would have told him he couldn’t hurt her, that nothing he could do could ever be wrong.
As he sank into her, she bit back a shriek. The pleasure far outpaced the pinching pain and when he was fully seated she felt herself throbbing and clenching helplessly around him.
“Tansy,” he groaned.
She would have moaned his name but the universe seemed to be turning inside out with her ecstasy. She could only cling to him, praying he would never stop.
Burton moved slowly at first, then faster, filling her with a steady rhythm that sent her further and further toward an edge that almost frightened her with the promise of its intensity.
There was nothing but the shiver of the leaves in the trees around them and the song of Burton’s panting and her moaning as he buried himself in her again and again.
“Please,” she managed when she felt she would die if he didn’t give her what she needed. “Please.”
Burton slid his hand between them, found her throbbing clitoris and rolled his thumb over it in slow circles.
Fireworks flashed behind Tansy’s eyes and when he filled her again the pleasure shattered her.
Burton groaned as she tightened around him, and she felt him swell inside her, then let go, accentuating her ecstasy until she couldn’t tell where hers ended and his began.
The light summer breeze seemed to frenzy around them for a moment, as if it too were overcome.
When it was over, he collapsed on top of her.
“Tansy, my mate, my beautiful mate,” he murmured, lifting himself up slightly to look at her.
She blinked and the world shifted on its axis.
Instead of looking up at him, she was gazing down at herself.
Her own eyes blinked back at her, astonished.
“Close your eyes and go back again,” Burton’s voice said gently inside her head.
She watched as the Tansy below closed her eyes.
She closed her eyes too.
There was a little ripple of awareness.
When she opened her eyes again she was looking up at Burton.
He eyed her warily, concern in his brown eyes.
“Wh-what happened?” she breathed.
“I’m not entirely sure,” he admitted. “But I think it’s because we are mated.”
“Is that… normal?” she asked.
“Hmm,” he said. He rolled off her and lay beside her, his free hand stroking her belly. “It is and it isn’t. What I mean is, this exact happening is not normal for men from Aerie, not at all. But it is common for mates to be able to share our gifts.”
“So, this is your gift?” she asked. “Swapping places?”
“It’s not swapping places, not really,” Burton said. “But it’s… borrowing someone else’s senses. I’ve never done it with a person before.”
“Is this how you keep overhearing things?” Tansy asked, beginning to put it all together.
“Yes, I was going to tell you, but I got distracted,” he said, looking a bit chagrined.
Tansy giggled.
He smiled back at her, looking more unbearably handsome than ever.
“So if you haven’t borrowed the senses of a person before, whose senses did you borrow?” she asked.
“Most times it was Cleo,” he said. “She’s very observant.”
“My little shadow,” Tansy shook her head in admiration of the clever animal. Then something occurred to her. “Do I want to know how many times you’ve spied on me?
“Never on purpose,” Burton said quickly. “Except…”
“Except?” she prodded.
“Except last night when you went to talk to Dolly,” he admitted, looking a little pained. “Cleo was moving so fast, I knew something was happening with you. I tried to keep up with her, but she lost me in the woods. I had to borrow her senses so that I would know what was happening and how I could help.”
And he had helped.
“So you saw everything?” Tansy asked. She felt a little ashamed that he had seen her try to willingly sell out her dreams.
He nodded, the intensity of his gaze making her squirm.
“And I knew why you were doing it.”
Oh. She had all but admitted to Dolly that she was in love with one of the farm hands.
“I didn’t want to lose you,” she admitted.
It was easy to admit her feelings now, in his arms, with everything resolved.
“You never will,” he told her.
She closed her eyes and felt his lips brush her forehead, heard the breeze rustling through the leaves, and the birds calling to each other over the berry fields.
Warmth filled her chest.
Home. She was home.
25
Burton
Burton hummed as he whisked eggs in a bowl.
After spending a lazy day and an exhilarating night together, he and Tansy had gotten up before the sun to swim in the pond again. Then he’d had a shower and she was having one now.
They had decided to turn off Sage’s alarm and take over her morning chores since she had given them yesterday off. Sage’s first task of the morning was gathering fresh eggs and getting everyone fed, so this was where Burton had begun.
Thinking of his night of wild bliss with Tansy, Burton forgot to be gentle with the whisk and sprayed a fine web of raw egg on his clean t-shirt.
He placed the bowl down and took off the shirt, washed it in the sink and hung it on the dish rack.
Humming, he grabbed the bowl and began to stir again, this time more carefully.
Suddenly, he wasn’t looking out of his own eyes anymore.
His mischievous mate had opened her senses to him.
Though they had found many interesting ways to experiment with their shared gift last night, this moment still surprised him and made him smile.
He saw himself, tanned, muscular physique bathed in the pink light of dawn, cradling the metal bowl and whisk, smiling down at his mate.
There was a haze around him that he wasn’t sure was real. It was as if her love accentuated his masculine beauty, drawing a circle of soft focus around him like a film over a camera lens.
At first, swapping senses had been disorienting. But he was getting used to it.
“Hi, he said.
“Hi,” she replied.
They closed their eyes simultaneously.
When he opened his again, he was looking at Tansy. Her hair was still wet from the shower, her already dark hair a beautiful glossy onyx, droplets on her eyelashes.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she warned. “I won’t be able to walk, let alone work.”
He threw his head back and laughed.
She padded into the room, opened the refrigerator and began fishing out leftovers.
He watched as she minced last night’s salad and a good-sized chunk of ham.
“Grab the cheese?” Tansy asked.
He got the ch
eese out of the refrigerator and Tansy snagged a pan from the pot rack.
“Ready to learn how to make an omelet?” she asked.
He nodded.
She lopped off a bit of butter and tossed it into the pan to sizzle.
Burton joined her, watching intently.
“The butter is to keep the egg from sticking to the pan,” Tansy explained.
“It is a lubricant,” Burton said, understanding immediately.
“Uh, yeah,” she said. “Next we pour the eggs in, very slowly,” she said.
He handed her the eggs and watched as she poured them slowly into the pan.
“When they start to bubble in the center, we add the cheese,” she said.
He peeled off slices and handed them to her.
“Now the other stuff,” she said.
He handed her the glass bowl of ham and vegetables.
The kitchen was beginning to smell very good.
“Now what?” Burton asked.
“We give it a few minutes to cook,” Tansy said.
She smiled - he could see her cheek rounding from behind.
That was invitation enough for Burton. He stepped closer still, slid his hands over her hips.
Tansy tilted her head back, resting it against his chest, revealing her elegant neck.
Burton was drowning in pleasure, the feel of his mate in his arms, the scents of the food cooking and the view of the fields out the window, the top branches of the big sycamore tree swaying slightly in the morning breeze.
He pulled Tansy into his head for a moment, showed it all to her as he saw it.
“Home,” he murmured into her hair.
“Home,” she whispered back.
26
Sage
Sage hurried down the hallway, cursing herself for somehow turning her alarm off.
She had always teased Tansy for relying on her cell phone for everything, when a good old-fashioned alarm clock was dependable and impervious to bugs and crashes.
She had no idea why hers hadn’t gone off this morning.
Sage stopped short when she reached the kitchen.
Her little sister stood at the stove.
And Burton stood behind her, his hands on her hips, his lips in her hair.