Our kisses weren’t pretty. They were hungry, passionate, and intense. It was like we were trying to cement the words we’d just said with our bodies. Like if we kissed hard enough, we might actually merge and physically become one, just as it felt like our souls already had.
I didn’t know what had brought this all on, but I knew he’d meant it when he’d said that he loved me. I also knew that I’d meant it when I’d said the same thing to him.
We’d both stumbled into this relationship unexpectedly. Finding love when I was supposed to be learning how to ride a horse with my sister had definitely taken me by surprise, but I really couldn’t imagine life without him now.
Maybe it had been unexpected, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t right. In fact, it felt like the rightest, most natural thing that had ever happened to me.
I loved him with everything I had, and I wasn’t even afraid of it. In the past, I’d been too scared to really open my heart to anyone in any meaningful way, but it wasn’t like that with Harrison.
Despite him not telling me who he was from the start, I trusted him. We’d talked a lot about it over the last few weeks, and we’d realized that we’d both felt the connection between us from the very beginning.
I would’ve been terrified of losing him as well, so I couldn’t exactly fault him for being hesitant to tell me. Besides, I knew he hadn’t lied to me about anything else. We’d gone over just about everything we’d ever talked about, and the only thing he’d held back was how successful he really was.
It was difficult to believe he’d really sold the Hynes Group, but I knew he’d been contemplating doing it for a couple of years. While I was slightly anxious about what it would mean for us now that he would be out here permanently and I still had to live and work in the city, I wasn’t scared that it would break us apart.
There was nothing in the world that could keep me from this man. Living a couple of hours away from him certainly wasn’t.
As he gripped my hips and ground his hard-on against me, I moaned into his mouth. He took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, toying with the waistband of my panties as he drove me out of my mind.
My nipples were peaked against his chest, and every brush of it against them while we kissed sent sparks through me. Then there was the press of his bulge against me down below that made it even more difficult to think straight.
Abandoning all pretense of rational thought, I surrendered to him, writhing and squirming while hanging onto him like a freaking koala with my arms and legs both locked around him. His lips were soft on mine, but his kisses were hard and insistent.
With his hips starting a rolling motion, he drove me right to the edge, even though our underwear was still on. I ran my hands down the defined muscles in his back, arching mine to get closer to him.
“Harrison,” I moaned between labored breaths and deep kisses. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Now?” he groaned, sounding tortured as he lifted his head away from mine. “Can it wait? This won’t take long.”
I smiled when his lips formed the most adorable pout. “No, I don’t think it can wait any longer. You’re going to want to hear it.”
“Okay, shoot,” he said, his hips stilling as he looked into my eyes. “Let’s hear this very important thing that can’t wait ten more minutes.”
Playfully shoving his shoulder with mine, I pressed a kiss to his mouth. “It’s not going to be only ten minutes and you know it. Besides, you’re going to want to hear this.”
A soft grin appeared on his lips as he inclined his head. “Fair enough. It may take a little longer than ten minutes, but don’t keep me waiting. You’re killing me here.”
“I’m on the pill,” I said, then waited for the realization of what I was saying to dawn.
It started with all the lightness and humor fading from his eyes, leaving behind a burning intensity as they stared into mine. His jaw clenched and relaxed, and he lowered his forehead gently to mine.
“If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, then the answer to the question you haven’t asked yet is yes, I’m clean. The only person I’ve been with since my last test is you.”
“I’m clean too,” I said. “It felt like it was time to tell you that I was on the pill, so I got tested this week.”
“Does that mean…” he trailed off, swallowing hard before he looked at me again. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” I said confidently. “I’ve never done anything without a condom before, but I’m sure that I want you to be the first. I trust you, and I love you.”
“I love you too,” he whispered back, then brought his lips back to mine in a kiss that was entirely different to what they’d been before.
This kiss was soft and gentle, tender and loving. It also seemed to set the tone for the rest of the morning that we spent in bed. While there was still plenty of heat between us, things slowed down from there.
His touch was feather light as he unhooked my bra and pulled the straps off over my arms, his mouth leaving a trail of kisses on my skin when he sat back to roll my panties off my hips. Our gazes kept locking, our eyes only leaving the other’s when it was absolutely necessary for them to do so.
Once I was completely naked, I sat up and crawled into his lap, my hands in his hair and my mouth on his as I pushed him down so his back was on the mattress. Mimicking what he’d done earlier, I kissed my way from his mouth, down his throat to his chest while I reached for his boxer-briefs.
Being careful to lift the elastic over his cock, I ran my lips down to his stomach while using my feet to pull the underwear all the way off. I glanced up into his eyes as I positioned myself between his legs and wrapped my fist around his shaft.
His lips parted and his tongue came out to swipe across them, but he didn’t stop me. My gaze stayed on his as I took his tip into my mouth, sucking gently at first while I started stroking him with my hand.
A long, loud groan ripped out of him when I took him in as far as I could before pulling back again. One of my hands rested on his stomach, and he slid his fingers between mine and squeezed as his head strained back into the pillow.
The column of his throat moved as he swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing as his muscles tensed. I’d seen him like this so many times now, but it somehow got sexier every time I saw it.
Knowing that this was the man I loved added an extra layer of depth to it today. I loved him, and I loved giving him pleasure. Loved seeing the effect of the pleasure I was giving on him.
If he had let me, I could’ve kept at it at all day. As soon as his hips started thrusting though, he tapped out and hauled my mouth back to his.
Sliding both his hands into mine, he helped me balance with my legs on either side of him as I lowered myself down. All without breaking our kiss.
I moaned into his mouth when his tip parted me, trembling as I sank down on him until he was seated deep inside me. I was still surprised that I could take all of him without it hurting, but it didn’t. It felt too damn good to hurt.
We started moving at the same time, our moans and heavy breathing filling the air in between kisses. Harrison didn’t let go of my hands once, holding them tight while he made love to me.
My first orgasm hit shortly after that thought—that we were making love. My body stiffened and trembled, my toes curling as I whispered his name.
He moaned right along with me, those hazel eyes of his liquid pools of heat, need, and love as they looked into mine when I opened them again. Slowing the pace until I could catch my breath, he released one of my hands to tunnel his into my hair, bringing my lips to his in a searing kiss.
When his hips started moving faster again, I met each of his thrusts with my own until my mind splintered into a million pieces. Pleasure overwhelmed me, making me shake as I came undone once more.
He was there with me, his brow furrowing as his muscles tensed. It was the first time that there was nothing between us when he came, and I was amazed
at how much more I could feel his orgasm like this. It triggered these delicious little aftershocks in me, and when I finally laid my head down on his chest, I was totally and utterly spent.
We were both slick with sweat, but neither of us seemed to mind. We just lay there, relishing the feeling of being together without having to rush to take care of a condom or to go somewhere.
A while later, he pressed a kiss to my forehead and slid a finger beneath my chin to prompt me to look up at him. I managed, but I was still so boneless that I didn’t even try to move much more than that.
“I love you,” he said softly when our eyes met.
I smiled lazily, nuzzling the stubbly underside of his jaw. “I love you too, but please tell me you didn’t have any big plans for today.”
“Nah.” He kissed me and then laid his head back down on the pillow. “Let’s have a nap. When we wake up, we can have lunch and then we can come right back here.”
“That sounds like the best plan I’ve ever heard,” I replied, surrendering to the urge to let my lids close. “Do you mind if I sleep right here?”
“Still inside you and with you still on top of me?” he asked before a chuckle vibrated in his chest. “I wouldn’t want you anywhere else. Sleep now, baby. We can talk more about everything when we wake up.”
I drifted off after that, and when we woke up, we did exactly what he’d said. We made lunch naked. Then we talked more about the sale of his company and about how my week had been. Once we’d eaten, we went back to bed and stayed there until late afternoon.
Over beers while watching the sunset, we finally turned to our future now that we’d said those all-important words to one another. We even started making some tentative plans together. When we went to bed that night, I fell asleep in his arms and wondered if we’d ever get to the point where I’d get to be here with him every night.
39
HARRISON
Almost six months after Ashton’s death, Keira and I were on the farm. There was a lot of activity around there these days, and today was the day when we’d finally see all the hard work we’d put in starting to pay off.
She wrapped her arms around me from behind where I stood at the top of the driveway, peering around my back after kissing between my shoulder blades. “Are you excited for today?”
“I am,” I said, folding my hands over her arms around my waist. “It’s all I’ve wanted for a while now. I just hope it turns out okay.”
“It’s going to be perfect,” she said without an ounce of doubt in her voice. “We’ve done everything we possibly can to be ready and they’ll be here soon. It’s going to be quite the weekend.”
“Yeah.” I turned to face her, giving her a chaste kiss before I nodded toward the barn. “Should we go do a last walkthrough? I’m sure they’re going to want to head there first.”
“We’ve done three last walkthroughs,” she said, laughing as she nodded. “But sure. Let’s go do one more. I think we should go make sure everything is still fine at the dormitories as well, though. They probably have to go put their stuff down before we can take them to the barn.”
“Good point,” I agreed, taking her hand as we started walking. “We built the dorms in the right place, didn’t we? You’re sure we shouldn’t have built it closer to the stream?”
“I’m sure.” She glanced up at me. “All my research said it was better to build a little further away from any large bodies of water if possible. These are kids we’ll be dealing with. We don’t want to take any risks with one of them wandering off and falling in the stream.”
“It’s only knee deep there,” I said. “The view just would’ve been much better.”
“Now they’ll have that view from the mess hall,” she reasoned. “Besides, it’s a little too late to move it now. Don’t you think? They’ll be here in less than an hour.”
I sighed but grinned as I slung my arm around her shoulders. “You’re right. We might need more than an hour to move an entire camp that’s taken us months to build.”
“Of course, I’m right.” She laughed. “I usually am. One would think you’ve learned that by now.”
One of the new grooms I’d hired jogged up to us, grinning as he swiped his hat from his head. “We’ve rounded up all the ponies and all the tack has been polished. Is there anything else you need from us before they get here?”
I shook my head. “Just make sure there’s plenty of food and water for all the horses and all the ponies. You and the others are ready for when they get here?”
“We’re ready, sir,” he said.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get any of these kids to stop calling me sir. I liked to think we’d get there, though. The grooms and the extra staff I’d hired to help me run the camp were all kids who had aged out of the system and had a passion for animals and the outdoors.
The vetting process had been rough, and gaining their trust had been even more difficult, but things were going well at the moment. There had been a few hits and misses, and I’d almost given up on this plan more than once, but in the end, we’d powered through it all.
Keira had been with me every step of the way, and she’d really gained everybody’s respect around here as more than just my girlfriend. The groom nodded now while she spoke to him.
“Things are going to be chaotic until we can get everyone settled, so just try to stay calm, okay?”
“We will, Keira.” He smiled. “A lot of us have been to camps like this before.”
He went beet red and then shook his head as his gaze darted to me. “No, well, not like this. Just organized in this way. For kids in homes, you know? None of them were this nice and I definitely wasn’t given the opportunity to learn how to ride.”
She’d won the battle to get them to call her by her name. The same battle I was still losing. They also weren’t as scared of her anymore as they were of me.
I sighed, but there was no doubt about it. Her people skills were miles better than mine.
“I understood what you meant, Steven,” she said. “We’re just about to go check out the dorms. Can you do me a favor and take point on rounding everybody up when we see the buses?”
He gave a short salute. “I can do that. See you over there.”
“I’m really proud of you, you know?” she said, resting her head against my shoulder and looking up at me when we started walking again. “This was a massive undertaking, but you’ve done it. I still can’t believe you actually did it.”
“It meant a lot to me to get it done,” I replied. “It’s simple. Ashton was always talking about how the outdoors could save lives if people let it. He was passionate about teaching people how to ride and he hated it when they couldn’t. I’m only doing what I think he would’ve liked to do if he could’ve.”
“Well, I’m not sure Ashton would’ve dealt very well with three dozen kids for an entire weekend, but I get what you’re saying.”
I shrugged, but she was right. “We’re breaking them up into smaller groups for the actual lessons. He’d have been able to handle eight at a time. He was a really good teacher. Did you know he basically taught me?”
Her smile turned sad. “No, I didn’t know that. It’s incredible that you’re doing this in his memory. You’ve accomplished so much already, but you seem to be most proud of this. Even though you won’t be making any money from it.”
“I don’t need to make any more money,” I said, making a face at her when she rolled her eyes. “What? I’m being serious. I’m not trying to sound like a prick or an asshole. It’s just the truth.”
“I know it is. I’m just not sure I’m ever going to get used to hearing you say that so matter-of-fact.”
I smirked before pulling her closer to my side. “Well, if I play my cards right, you might just have a good, long time to get used to it.”
“You think?” she asked, a teasing note to her voice. “I was actually just sticking around for the camp to open up. I’m leaving later.”
> “No, you’re not.” I laughed, my fingers digging in to tickle her while we walked. She doubled over, laughing as she tried to get away from me. “Take it back, woman. Say you’ll never leave.”
“Fine,” she shrieked. “I’ll never leave. Let me go.”
I stopped tickling her but didn’t let her go. Whenever she could get out to the farm, I couldn’t stop touching her. We were working on a plan to get her out here a lot more often, but it was still in the works. Along with a few others I didn’t have time to think about today.
The dorms consisted of six cabins, sleeping six children each. They’d been constructed out of wood by local builders, who had also helped me to build the mess hall and to extend the barn and stables.
Where we’d had space for eight horses before, we could now keep sixteen. Hence the necessity for extra full-time help. I’d also bought six ponies at an auction on a whim. They’d sold for nearly nothing and I didn’t trust the look of the other guy who’d been eyeing them. I could’ve sworn I’d seen him around the cattle auctions before and that he worked in the meat industry.
Right or wrong about who he was, I’d bought the ponies anyway. I figured some of the groups might have some smaller kids in them who’d prefer a pony to a horse, and that some kids might not want to ride when they got here at all. If they didn’t want to, they could always just hang out with the ponies.
Temporary and permanent staff hustled around the dorms and mess hall, making sure everything was set up for the arrival of our first group of visitors. Mariana winked at me from the deck of the mess hall. She stood with a clipboard in her hand and seemed to be relishing her role as coordinator, a role she had assigned to herself, but I was grateful for her help.
The scent of hamburgers grilling for lunch permeated the air, and Keira moaned softly. “Wow. That smells delicious. Do you think the kids will mind if we eat with them?”
“Probably. I think one of the things they’re going to be looking forward to about being here is the freedom. There’s not much freedom if we’re constantly around.”
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