by Jade Allen
“And then he’ll fire me right after, pretending that it’s about something else,” Olivia said.
“Open your beer,” I told her. I flicked ash into the ashtray and took another lungful of smoke. “If Record Spin fires you, I’ll get Ron to hire you as one of our PR people. The point is: I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to abandon you. Hell; if it wouldn’t be completely insane, I’d ask you to move in with me when the tour is over.” Olivia stared at me in shock, even as her fingers finished the work of opening her beer.
“What?”
“Look,” I said, licking my lips and tasting a mix of my own sweat, the hoppy beer, and the smoke from my cigarette. “I know you’ve always had one foot out the door because you think I’m never serious about anyone and you’re right about that. I’ve never been serious about anything other than my family, the band, and…” I stopped short. “That’s pretty much it.”
“And having a good time,” Olivia added, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “But I’m serious about you. And until you tell me that you don’t want to be with me—not because there’s a scandal, or because you might get fired, or anything other than just your feelings towards me—I’m going to stay serious about you.” I smiled. “Fuck, Olivia—you know, kind of at least, how many girls I’ve been with. You’re the best damn lay I’ve ever had. I’d spend time with you even if you never wanted to have sex with me again. You’re smart and fun and a million fucking other things.”
“Why me?” she held my gaze steadily. “What’s so different about me? You could feel that way for—dozens of girls.”
“I could, but I never have,” I said with a shrug. “You’re just…you. You don’t try to ‘tame’ me, you don’t try to be something you aren’t just to get my attention, you’re genuinely just…” I shrugged again. “I love being around you. I love talking to you.” I swallowed a gulp of beer. “I think I might just love you.”
Olivia had been in the process of bringing her own beer up to take a sip; it slipped out of her hand and I barely managed to catch it before it toppled on the tabletop and spilled everywhere. “Say that again,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I can’t be completely sure,” I said, licking my lips again. “But I think I love you.” Olivia stared at me in complete silence for a full minute. She took the beer from my hand and drank what had to be about half of it all at once.
“If you ever break my heart, Nick, I am going to kill you the slowest way I can figure out,” she told me. I smiled slowly.
“You’ve been killing me all day, sweetheart,” I said. “My cock feels like it’s going to fall off if I ignore it for much longer.” Olivia snorted, shaking her head.
“The bus is empty,” she said, glancing around.
“It is,” I agreed. “Race you to the bunks?” Olivia’s tongue darted out between her lips and I shuddered. Feeling her watching me all night had been such a fucking turn-on; I couldn’t think of anything hotter than watching her staring at me, knowing that in spite of the fact that she was thinking of ending things, she wanted me.
Before I could react, she was up, darting towards the bunks. I abandoned my beer and my cigarette both in pursuit, nearly tangling my legs in the pole that held the table up as I hurried to catch up to her. I lunged forward and managed to grab her waist with my outstretched arms, snatching her back, pulling her body against mine. In minutes we were in my bunk, our clothes coming off, our hands wandering. “You can’t tell me this doesn’t feel just…exactly right,” I said, barely breaking away from Olivia’s lips as I tugged her panties down over her hips and along her legs.
“It—mmm—it feels good,” Olivia murmured, slithering on top of me and straddling my hips. I cupped her tits in my hands, kneading them. I’d spent the whole day, ever since she’d sent me out of her bunk, thinking about her, thinking about what I’d be losing when she made the decision to break up with me.
“If your editor takes you off the assignment,” I said, my breath catching in my throat for a moment as Olivia rubbed the hot, wet folds of her pussy against my cock slowly, “then you should post to our site instead. I’ll get—I’ll get Ron to give you a log-in.”
“That sounds good,” Olivia murmured. “But let’s…let’s not even think about that right now.” I nodded my agreement and then I was thrusting up into her, pushing past the tightening of her muscles to slide deeper and deeper inside of her body. We fell into a rhythm together in the span of a few heartbeats, and my hands wandered all over her body, touching and teasing her. Olivia pulled herself up and began riding me, balancing on her knees, her hands on the wall over my head, giving me the view of a lifetime. I lifted myself up to bury my face against her tits as she rose and fell on me; I reached down between her legs to find her clit with my fingers even as I thrust up into her, pushing deeper and deeper.
I don’t know how long either of us lasted; I knew from the beginning that I’d barely be able to hold myself back. It felt like it was only minutes before I felt every muscle in Olivia’s body starting to tense, little spasms of her inner walls clenching around me like her pussy itself didn’t want me out of it. I held back as she started to come, but within seconds I couldn’t stop myself anymore, and I felt my cock twitching inside of her as white-hot pleasure lit up my nervous system. We kept moving until we both finished, and then I wrapped my arms around Olivia and cradled her body against mine as soon as she collapsed on top of me, panting and gasping and trembling. “You’re still twitching inside me,” she murmured, giggling.
“Woman, that’s the hardest I’ve come in…days.” I kissed her sweaty forehead and pressed her body against mine even more firmly. “Feel better about things?”
“Oh, is that the reason you wanted to fuck me again?” Olivia pulled herself up enough to look down into my eyes.
“Everything is better when we fuck,” I told her. “I kind of want the cigarette I left behind though.” Olivia rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
“It’s a damned good thing you love me,” she told me, looking around the bunk. She grabbed the throw blanket I kept around in case it got colder than normal and draped it around herself as she climbed off of me. As Olivia darted out of the bunk, I thought about what I’d told her; every bit of it was true. I smiled to myself. God. Someone should have put money on me losing my damn mind and falling in love. They’d’ve made a killing on that betting pool. The Olivia was climbing back into the bunk with my cigarettes and the ashtray in hand, and I stopped thinking about anything but having a cigarette and then convincing her to fuck again. I lit a cigarette and Olivia cuddled close to me, letting the throw blanket fall away from her sexy little body, and I smiled to myself. This time last year I would never have believed that I’d ditch an after party to have tons of sex with someone I’ve had tons of sex with at least fifty times. It felt way, way better than I would have ever imagined it would. I wanted more—and I was pretty sure Olivia would oblige.
****
Epilogue
“It’s weird to know I’m getting off of the bus for the last time,” Olivia told me, slinging her backpack onto her shoulders.
“Well not the last last time,” I pointed out, watching as she checked to make sure she’d taken everything out of her bunk. “You’re going to be on it again for the next tour.” She rolled her eyes.
“That’s assuming you still want me on tour with you.” She climbed down and looked up at me, one eyebrow raised in silent challenge.
“You’re our PR person; of course I’m going to want you on tour.” Olivia’s editor had decided to let her work through the rest of the tour—but it would be her last assignment for the magazine. Alex and I had spoken to Ron when the decision came down, and he’d hired her immediately as our public relations person, offering her a standard salary; it was, Olivia had told me after accepting the job, a little less than twice what she’d been making at the magazine.
The fallout wasn’t as bad as she’d thoug
ht it would be. There were still people who trolled her different social accounts, but for the most part the industry as a whole didn’t seem to care; I’d told her it happened all the time, and I was right.
“Hurry your asses up,” Jules called from the front of the bus. “I want to get back into my own bed and not leave it for three days.”
“That actually sounds like a good plan,” I told Olivia. “Let’s go back to my place and stay in bed together for the next week.”
“You’d chafe,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Besides, there’s no food at your place.”
“We can order in,” I insisted. “Besides, now that we’re off tour, we have to keep it exciting somehow, right?” she rolled her eyes and started down the aisle to the front of the bus. I grabbed for her hand and she let me claim it. I looked around, thinking that of all the possible scenarios I could have imagined, ending the tour with a serious girlfriend was the last of my ambitions. But I could understand—finally—why Alex had been the first one off the bus when we’d arrived at the office where our cars were parked, waiting for us. I might even agree to let him bring Mary on the next tour if she wanted to come. There’d be no choice for Olivia; I smirked to myself, thinking that dating our PR person was one way to guarantee as much time with the woman I loved as possible. It was a new desire for me: but as Olivia always pointed out, I was all about novelty. I would do everything I had to, to keep things new between us, if it meant keeping Olivia. I gave her hand a squeeze as we stepped off the bus together. I knew we were going to be fine.
THE END
~Bonus Stories From Red Lily Publishing~
Riding Gabe, The Billionaire Rancher
Vanessa shielded her eyes and squinted at the weathered “Wolff Equine Center” sign. It was so bright that her sunglasses did nothing to reduce the glare bouncing off the old roadway. Nervous and excited, Vanessa mentally ran through the various professional greetings she'd developed on the drive over; she was going to meet her first client.
She’d only moved to Ridge Creek a few days before to work with veterinary legend Hank Mueller and had yet to unpack her bags. The job offer had come out of the blue, and while the prospect of leaving her familiar Los Angeles stomping grounds had not been enticing at first, the cold honest answer was that she needed to break away from her old life and start over. Seven months of wretched existence on the tail end of a breakup had beaten her into a rut—she needed a fresh start. What better way to start over than to move across the country to a small farming town where no one knew her business? The thought made her smile.
Vanessa drove up a winding driveway that dipped and rose through lush pasture. Hank said that a good client, Gabriel, had a problem with his newest intake of horses. Hank had prompted her to check the facility, specifically mentioning to not make ‘girlie-eyes’ at the client; in his gruff kind of way, Hank was a reassuring presence. As for the case, colic was a common equine problem; Vanessa imagined this would be a quick stop-over with pain killers, and then onto the next job.
She bounced in her seat as she rolled further down the driveway, instinctively slamming the brakes when a stunning wood and stone-clad lodge broke through the tree line. Looking like a set prop from a frontier movie, the house sat on a hill of lush lawn and had a sweeping porch that overlooked the rolling valleys that surrounded the property. Further back, Vanessa saw a gigantic barn which seemed like it could house the stables and training area. Wow! This place must have cost a fortune, she thought as she brought the car to a halt.
She parked in front of the house and took a deep breath, addressing her steering wheel as if it were a piece of her, “There is no reason to be nervous. I’m trained for this, and while it’s been a few years since my last equine patient, I know what I'm doing…I think.”
Vanessa got out of her car, pulling her medical bag with her. The tinkling of glass and rustling of plastic spoke of a newly-stocked bag of vials, syringes and tools. She also grabbed her laptop bag and slung the strap over her shoulder. She was in no way afraid to admit if she needed to research symptoms, and with one of the largest veterinary databases just a click away, it seemed silly to not use it.
Slamming the door shut, she pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and made her way up the path toward the house. A large, rugged man opened the door before she even made it up the porch stairs.
“You’re the vet?” he asked, calling down to her. Vanessa looked up at the man’s broad flannel-clad chest; she was too short to quite make it to his eyes without stepping back off the steps.
“I am. Sorry I’m a bit late.” She didn’t like being late, especially to her first job in a new town.
He waved a hand at her. “Ah, no big deal; it always happens to people the first time they come here. I reckon the driveway puts another 10 minutes on the clock,” he said as he jogged down the stairs, reaching for her laptop bag as a gesture of goodwill. “Let me get that for you Miss—?”
Relieved of the cumbersome bag, Vanessa smiled. “Thanks. My name's Dr. Vanessa Burke, but please—call me Vanessa.”
He nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, Vanessa. I’m Gabriel Wolff, but you can call me Gabe.” He motioned to the barn, “Let’s get straight to business. I’ve recently accepted a new batch of former racehorses from Benny Diamond for retraining—”
“Benny Diamond? As in, the Benny Diamond who bred the most successful two-year-old racer, Whisper Free?”
Gabe chuckled, “Yes, as a matter of fact, it is. I’ve been retraining his horses for a while now. The only thing is, three days ago, they all started getting lethargic. Yesterday, one of them looked really unsteady on her feet. I haven’t seen this before.”
“Is your core business retraining ex-racehorses?”
“Yes, mostly. Even though racehorses are often then most unflappable because of their exposure to loud and unusual environments, a lot of trainers don’t have the time or patience to reschool horses to become showjumpers, dressage horses, trail horses, even pony clubbers, and there are lots of people and parents who will fork out good money for a decent horse. I pick them up from the auctions, or trainers send them to me directly. I’d love to fill my pastures with every broken horse I ever find.”
Vanessa had never seen a man so endeared by horses before. Without thinking she placed her small hand on his arm and squeezed, her hand cupping Gabe’s workman’s bicep by accident. He tensed under her touch, but didn’t say anything. “I’ll do my best to figure this out. But you’re going to have to fill me in on their routines, and you can’t leave anything out. The tiniest thing can be the cause.”
A rare grin cracked Gabe’s sullen face, “Hank picked well; I wouldn’t expect anything less. I have a few ranch hands that you can talk to as well. Jimmy is my number two, but today’s his day off. You know, I can grab his number for you before you leave if you need more information—that is, if you don’t need to come back later or tomorrow.” His eyes trailed down Vanessa’s body and she blushed. “But I’m around most of the time.”
Vanessa wasn’t sure if it was the shadow of the barn in the heat, or the way Gabe’s eyes lingered on her curves, but her skin rippled with goosebumps. A man hadn’t looked at her like that in a long time—hell, she wasn’t even sure if her ex ever had in the five years they were together. Gabe held the door to the barn open and motioned for Vanessa to go in first.
They stepped into what looked like the administration area of the barn. The large barn doors were closed and a huge sign was propped on the lock: Closed for Quarantine. Vanessa nodded; Gabe took his business very seriously. Gabe closed the side door and led the way into the stables.
Following his body was hypnotic. Even under his thick shirt and jeans, she could tell he was a walking slab of muscle—even his scent of a hard morning’s work was damn sexy. Better still, he hadn’t merely deemed her as a walking pair of boobs, which was more than she could ever say about her ex and his friends.
****
The stables were large and stu
nning. The barn had been divided internally with walls to create a complex of stables, store rooms and staff facilities. Ten stables ran along one long outer wall of the barn, like a traditional set-up, with another identical line of ten stables facing them. The stables along the barn’s outer wall provided access to individual small yards. Gabe had to be making a freakin’ mint to afford all of this! Vanessa thought.
“Wow, this is beautiful! How many horses do you have now?”
Gabe continued walking and said, “I could probably run about 70 in all my pastures and stables, but for practical purposes, I work with up to 25 in retraining. Five of those are well into their retirement, so they won’t leave this ranch.”
His voice changed on his last words and Vanessa’s heart panged. “Wow, that’s so—amazing of you to do that. I’m sure these horses couldn’t have asked for a better retirement!”
He stopped at a stable and turned toward her, running his hand through his wavy brown hair. “Here’s the horse that I’m worried about the most, Jezzy. She started to get unsteady, and in the last 24 hours, she hasn’t moved much.” Under the lights, Jezzy was a brilliant glossy chestnut with two white socks on her hind legs, but despite her incredible athleticism, the mare hung her head down between her front legs and sighed heavily into the soft bedding.
Vanessa peeked over the stall and clicked her tongue, the universal horse-speak for “Hey buddy, take a look at this,” but Jezzy didn’t even lift her head. “Do you mind if I step in?”
Gabe stood aside and Vanessa unbolted the door. She popped her medical bag on the bedding and plucked a stethoscope from its pocket.
“Any other symptoms?” she asked as she surveyed the stable for scratch marks and signs of struggle. Unless someone had swept the sawdust before she got there, Vanessa was of the opinion that Jezzy stopped moving the moment she had been put to bed the night before.