Page 58 of Rescued Hearts

“Well, good news is now you’re bigger. Your legs will fit around a horse.”

She’d prefer to wrap them around him instead, but the feeling that they didn’t know each other very well yet, the worry that it had taken her a very short time with Gray to feel the same way it took her months to feel about Sully, stopped her.

And that scared her. Could she trust her own instincts after making a bad choice before?

She pushed out a laugh. “That’s your argument?”

“That and you’ll be riding with me. You’re safe.”

Those words sent warm sparks through Honor’s chest. They sparkled like a firework and cascaded low between her thighs.

He leaned in. His leathery scent wrapped around her as he brushed his lips over hers in a tender caress. She pushed onto tiptoe to get closer. In a blink, she felt the tension between them rise, snapping with the natural chemistry that seemed to exist between her and Gray.

He gripped her hair, twisting the mass and angling her head to deepen the kiss. She moaned into his mouth and twisted his shirt front in her fingers.

A catcall echoed across the open yard.

Gray groaned and broke away from her. “This is the problem around here. Nobody minds their own business.” But he laughed, a carefree sound that lifted her heart with joy.

His happiness was contagious. She loved spending time with him. Maybe she would enjoy riding a horse with him too.

The instant Gray swung into the saddle behind her, she felt safe and secure in the wreath of his arms. When he gripped the reins, wrapping the leather around his palm, little shocks of desire rode along her nerves. She couldn’t tear her eyes off those roped cords of sinew and veins running up his forearms.

Settling against him snugly, she soon forgot they were moving on the back of a horse and drank in her surroundings. The colors of nature really caught her attention. The mixture of blue sky and smokier blue mountains, the deep green of the pines and the brighter hues of the summer leaves all excited her.

“You’re quiet,” Gray’s rumble came into her ear.

She shivered. “I was thinking about a new jewelry collection based off the colors on the ranch.”

“Really?”

She nodded, her hair catching on the stubble on his jaw. “I have all the supplies to get started on it. I can do that at the festival between customers.”

“I love how enthusiastic you are about your business.”

They continued on in silence, past a big golden willow tree. She mentally added the color to the jewelry collection. “I didn’t know there were willows in this area.”

He cleared his throat in a nervous way that made her twist to see his face.

“Uh…I planted it. For my sister’s twelfth birthday.”

“Really?” She was delighted and charmed by his kindness to his sibling. “You’re really a great brother.”

He coughed out a scoffing sound. “It was the only thing she asked for. My brothers said putting something else with her name on it would only give her a bigger head.”

Honor chuckled. “What do you mean by something else?”

“Willowbrook. When she was three years old, she was convinced the town was named after her.”

Her smile widened.

“I figured having a willow tree on the ranch wouldn’t be that big of a deal.”

“I bet it was a big deal to her.” She ran her fingers over the back of his hand, aware of her body rolling against his and how much it excited her.

Their horse plodded along at a steady pace down the trail carved into the land.

“Gray, can I be bold and ask you something?”

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