Page 127 of Ride the Sky

She’s mine, and I’m hers. There’s no walking away this time.

Soon, I’ll say the words. But first, Fallon heals.

Quietly, I get out of bed and hunt around for my clothes. After we returned home last night, we fucked like animals. Fallon pressed up against the wall, legs spread wide while she moaned my name and scratched her nails down my back. She dripped for me, and like a famished man, I ate it up.

After tossing on some clothes and brewing a pot of coffee, I creep back into the room.

Settling on the edge of the bed, I lean over and press a kiss to her temple.

Her hazel eyes flutter open. “Hi.”

I drop my mouth to her ear, not missing the way she practically purrs as I run my hand over the curve of her spine. “I’ll meet you in the field.”

She nods and lifts a hand to palm my cheek. “Okay.” She stares into my eyes, walls down, guard dropped.

I give her one last slow kiss before forcing my ass out of the cottage. If I stay any longer, we’ll be back in bed and not a damn thing will get done.

Because right now, I have a plan.

A plan to get Fallon back to herself.

It might not be much, but it’s a start.

As I cross through the tall grass of the field, my mind keeps drifting back to last night.

Fallon weeping on the side of the road. Clinging to me like I was her rock.

It broke my goddamn heart. Took everything I had in me to hold it together for her.

I never knew how much she’d been suffering. In bars, when someone touched her wrist, she’d flinch. How, when she suddenly left town, it was because she felt guilty. To spare us the burden of what she was going through. Fuck, I wish I had known. I hate that she hid it from everyone. Pushed her friends and family away to spare us her pain.

But that’s Fallon. Stubborn. Strong.

It’s why I love her. I love her for her beauty, but also her strength. I’ve never known someone braver than Fallon. And that includes me.

What she said last night about hating herself because she didn’t see the real Aiden…that’s how I feel about Rand Younger. Why I have never told anyone what happened. Guilt’s a motherfucker, made even worse when you doubt yourself.

I walk to the barn and outfit Lawless with a custom saddle and extra-long stirrups.

It’s been two and a half months. I should wait. But I can’t. She needs this.

I’m leading Lawless out of the barn when Fallon appears. She limps through the grass, dressed in jeans and a rodeo T-shirt, barefoot and hesitant. Her eyes are puffy from last night’s tears. The crisp morning breeze ruffles her mussed hair.

Seeing me, she stops. I see the hitch of her breath, see fear—joy—flash across her pretty face. “Really?”

“Really.” I give her a look. “You’ll do it with or without me, so it might as well be with me.”

She studies her horse then swallows. “What if I get hurt?”

“If you get hurt, I’ll kill you.”

She smiles. “I always knew you were a sadist.”

She’s right. My love for Fallon is powerful and unwavering, but it’s also feral and ungovernable.

One day, she’ll get hurt again. When that happens, I won’t survive it. But I also won’t survive without her. Which means I run her madness into the ground with her. I protect her and her wild, untamed beauty. Fallon.

My cowgirl.

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