Page 54 of Forbidden Dreams
“He’s never ridden before,” Brady steps forward telling him, not giving me a chance to say anything, and my heart suddenly goes into my throat as I look up at him. “So he needs?—”
“On it,” Emmett declares, getting off his desk and looking at me. “Do you want me to take care of Harmony also?” He tilts his head to the side.
“She does not,” Brady snaps, almost standing in front of me, “she’s taken care of.”
“Is that so?” Emmett grins at him, knowing he’s pushing his buttons but also enjoying it. “That’s interesting.”
“It’s about to be even more interesting,” Brady grumbles, looking at Charlie who walks between them.
“Okay, you two,” he intercedes. “Emmett, you come and fix Wyatt and get him on a horse.” Then he looks at Brady. “You simmer down there and get your woman a horse.” He looks down at Wyatt. “What color horse you want?” He walks away with Wyatt, leaving Emmett standing in front of Brady.
“The last two stalls,” Emmett instructs. “Get her on the white-and-brown horse. You can take the brown one.” He looks over at me, but Brady moves also to block him. “Careful, he bucks.”
“I got it,” he grits through clenched teeth as Emmett walks down the alleyway, where I hear Wyatt talking.
“Brady,” I hiss his name, “would you stop?”
“He was asking for it.” He tries to defend himself.
“He didn’t say anything wrong,” I say as Brady turns his eyes back to me. “He was going to get me a horse.”
“Yeah, that’s not what he wanted to get you,” Brady retorts, then bends and kisses my neck. “He wanted to give you more than that.”
I walk to him, putting my hands on his abs. “Well, I don’t want anything from anyone but you.” I get on my tippy-toes. “Now, can we go riding?”
“Yeah,” he agrees, slipping his hand in mine as we walk down the other way, away from Wyatt. “I’ll bring out the horses,” he says when he opens the stall, and he grabs the brown-and-white horse.
I take one look at her and gasp. “She’s so pretty,” I observe, looking at her name on top of the stall. “Hi, Mocha,” I say as he walks out holding her reins. We make our way outside with him holding two horses, and I see Wyatt with Charlie on the other side of the fenced area. He’s on a smaller horse while Charlie is on a black one beside him, telling him what to do.
“You good?” he asks. I put my foot in the stirrup and get on the horse and watch Brady do the same thing. I swear I moan out loud, watching his arms bulk up and then seeing him sitting on the horse. He looks over and smirks at me. “Is that right, baby?”
“Um.” I shake my head and look down, trying not to blush in front of him. “It’s just sexy,” I explain softly, my mind going to last night when he bent me over in the shower with the water raining down all over me and ate and fingered me until I cried out.
“Keep whatever you’re thinking, baby, and we’ll do it tonight.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking?” I ask, and he winks.
“Your cheeks go all red.” I put my hand to my cheek as I hear Wyatt call my name.
“Momma,” he hollers, “I’m going with Mr. Charlie to walk the perimeter!” He doesn’t even wait for me to give him permission before he leaves with him.
I take a deep breath as I look over at Brady, who just motions with his head to the side, and I follow him toward the trees. We ride side by side in the quiet of the forest, and I get lost in my thoughts about the past couple of months and what has led me here. All of the shit that I’ve been through in the past six months when all I really wanted was to get on with my life.
“You okay?” he asks, and I shrug.
“I just want to live in peace. I want to wake up and take my son to school without having to look over my shoulder. I want to be able to have a babysitter come over to my house and watch him like a normal person instead of sneaking him out of places. I want to be able to just walk down the street without anyone pointing their fingers at me. I want to live in a place for more than a couple of weeks without having to pack everything up and move again and again.” I smile at him. “How’re you doing?”
“Me?” He points at himself. “I’ve never been more at peace before,” he reveals, shocking me. “It’s as if I was living my life in black and white, and suddenly, it’s in color.” All the breath in me leaves my body, all of it. Here I was thinking, his life’s been turned upside down since I came in it, but he’s telling me the opposite.
“Brady, you don’t mean that,” I tell him, and he just looks over at me.
“Why can’t I mean that?” he asks. “I’ve spent the past ten years hating you.” I look down as fast as I can not to let him see the hurt on my face. “Not because of anything you did, but because you were associated with him. Now for the past month, I’ve been trying not to kick my own ass for doing that.” I avoid looking at him. “Baby, look at me.” His voice is soft, and all I can do is shake my head and blink away the stinging of the tears. “Harmony,” he says my name, which makes it hurt so much more, “I said look at me.”
“No,” I reply, watching my hands but then raising my head and looking ahead. Knowing he’s looking at me, knowing he’s watching me. He stops his horse from walking beside me and then calls my name again.
“Baby, I said look at me.”
“And I said no,” I retort, stopping the horse also because I have no idea where the hell I am. I mean, I’m sure if I followed the path, it would lead me back to the barn.