Page 33 of Secret Heart
Emily’s laugh goes straight to my dick. I swipe open the text from Ethan as I take the bubble mix out to the machine.
Surprise calf’s fine. Bachelors are out. Creek looks fine. Kyle and Paul are working on the next bit of fencing.
Why was he the one moving cattle this morning? He’s supposed to have two more weeks until he starts slowly taking things back over. I’d tried to make him take more time, but he’d refused.
Penny hits the top of it again, her eyes lining with tears.
“Hey, Penny girl, it’s all right,” I murmur. “I’ve got more.”
I shoot back a quick text to Ethan.
Sounds good. Glad the creek’s looking okay. Why are you out, though?
I quickly refill the bubble machine. It takes a moment for the bubbles to start again, but then Penny giggles. I kiss her cheek then head back to Emily.
Triston asked for today off.
Confusion twists my lungs and flips my stomach.
He did? He hadn’t said anything to me when we’d worked together yesterday, though he’d been quick to get out of the barns after lunch. He hadn’t said why, and I hadn’t pried. I focus on Penny for a moment, trying to keep the hurt building in my stomach from becoming resentment. I don’t want to hate him. Fuck, that’s the last thing I want.
I don’t text Ethan back. I set my phone to silent and then set it on the porch’s railing before taking my seat beside Emily again. I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her into me, ducking my hand under her shirt and tracing shapes along her side.
“I invited him,” I whisper.
She tenses for a heartbeat then takes another long drink. “What did he say?”
Penny giggles and spins around, holding that damn dog plushie tight to her chest. She tries to catch one of the bubbles and giggles again when it pops in her palm.
“Nothing,” I admit. “But apparently he asked Ethan for today off.”
Vanilla pulses around us as her breath catches in her throat, a small sound that she cuts off before it can gain any true life. I palm her hip. After a minute, she sucks in a heavy, deep breath and sets the half-finished coffee at our feet.
“Let me see the bite,” she whispers.
“It’s fine,” I assure her. “Just like it was yesterday and the day before that.”
She pulls away from me, frowning. Her voice is laced with heated command.
“Let. Me. See. It.”
Fuck, her voice like that turns me on.
I can’t help but smirk even as my dick tries to get interested.
“Yes, ma’am,” I whisper.
Then I kiss her, fast enough she can’t pull away. I twist my hand into her hair and press my thumb into that spot where her jaw meets her throat. The vanilla of her scent pulses again, even more potent than before. Within a few seconds, she goes completely boneless, falling into me as she deepens the kiss. I savor the taste and weight of her, loving the fuck out of knowing she only relaxes like this with me, that I get to be the one who sees her entirely unguarded.
When she pulls away, her cheeks are flushed and her breathing is choppy.
“Let me see it,” she says in a breathy tone that takes my dick from half-hard to fully aching.
I spread my legs a bit and then unbutton the henley, pushing the neckline down far enough that the bite she’d given me a week ago is visible. She’s never broken skin before, always stopping just shy when that need to mark and claim gets overwhelmingly strong. The bite’s fully scabbed and well on its way to healing completely. She still traces over it, her eyebrows furrowed. Worry tightens her lush mouth, and I want to ease away all the stress she takes on.
Her lips part, but I talk over her apology I don’t need.
“You needed it.” I press my thumb to her lips. “Stop stressing. It’s healing just fine.”
