Page 23 of Easy Rider
I’m on my back, staring up at the ceiling. Happy to stay exactly where I am, as her protector, without moving for as long as she sleeps. Emma adjusts her arm underneath me and cuddles into me. She shifts again. Her thick eyelashes flutter, and she looks up.
“I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t wake up so soon,” I say, stroking her silky hair. “I like you just where you are.”
She grins. “Oh, you do, do you? I think you like me in all kinds of ways.”
“You have a point.” Hugging her, I chuckle, thinking back to before our nap. We’ve been fucking each other’s brains out and making love all morning. “Once we kissed that first time in the barn—”
“Before we were so rudely interrupted.”
“I couldn’t stop at just one taste of you.”
“Neither could I,” Emma purrs. She crawls on top of me, and of course my cock stirs for her. She stares down as she runs her fingers through my hair, pushing it off my face. The tenderness in her eyes takes my breath away.
I glide my hand over her curvy ass, up the planes of her back, to her neck and hair. “Lucky me.” I draw her down and kiss her.
Emma moans, pressing herself against me, gyrating against my cock. And I’m lost again.
“How will I ever let you go?” I groan against her mouth, and Emma answers with a kiss. And soon I forget everything except pleasing her until we wear ourselves out and drift off to sleep again.
***
SOMEHOW, WE ACTUALLYmanage to get out of bed and dressed. I’m still hard for her, but she wants a tour of my house.
It isn’t a huge place, just three bedrooms and two baths, but it’s been entirely remodeled. But what’s unusual is how tense my shoulders are, how I’m almost holding my breath as she comments on each room. I want her to love this place.
The new cherry wood floors, the three-inch molding around the windows, all of it. What the fuck is happening to me? Did I have her somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain when I remodeled? Was Emma the elusive Mrs. Right I wanted to be ready for?
“Come see the outside.” I open the sliding door.
“Let me grab my phone in case Dad calls.” She swipes her phone off the kitchen counter and hurries to me.
We walk outside through the covered patio. I’m about to show her the corral, but she’s already eyeing it and breaks into a huge smile.
“Is that Tweeter?” She tears up the path to him. Tweeter’s ears perk forward. He props his head over the three-rail fence as if he recognizes her too. “I haven’t seen him in forever! I miss riding so much.”
“Do you think you’d still have a horse if you hadn’t moved?”
She tips her head to me and purses her lips. “You know what? Probably.” She pats Tweeter’s neck. “Our house here has a corral. It was easy to just run out the back door, hop on my horse, and ride. I used to disappear for hours.”
“I still do, sometimes,” I say, noticing something for the first time. “You know, when you’re standing next to a horse, you look exactly the same as you did in high school.”
“Well, darn. I only have a condo in Dallas, and my parents don’t have room for horses at their place.” She laughs. “So I guess I’ll just have to hang out with this handsome boy for as long as I can. Isn’t that right, Tweeter?”
“Tweeter’s eighteen now. He x-rays like a colt, though. There’s not a blemish on him,” I say, patting his neck. “I could still get at least seventy-five for him, but I’m not sure I can sell him.” His sorrel coat shines in the sun as Emma kisses his nose.
“Well, I wouldn’t sell him either,” she says, kissing him again.
“I didn’t know the two of you were so close.”
She pivots to me, shielding her eyes from the sun. “I went to a few of your rodeos, you know. I saw you two in action.”
I frown, searching for any memory whatsoever of Emma being at one the shows. “I don’t know how I could’ve forgotten you being... anywhere.”
“We only went to a few of the local rodeos. I’m sure you didn’t see me, but I was there in the stands with Misty.”
I nod, taking it in. “You should’ve let me know you were there.”
“Nah, you were pretty busy back then.” She turns back to Tweeter and gently pets his muzzle. Emma’s right, of course. Ifbusymeans dating, I was seeing a lot of women back then.
