gotten carried away.
“What’s the caveat?”
“I need to know you trust me. I can’t be with you if we can’t trust each other. I’m not asking you to tell me about the wolf — you will when you’re ready — but I need to know that you trust me. I can’t wake up alone again and find another note dismissing me like I’m nothing more than a casual one-night stand. I don’t have anything against them, but this is more than that. And you know it.” She paused before adding in a small voice, “You hurt me yesterday.”
Her vulnerability made Aidan feel small, but at the same time the trust it took to share that with him made him feel like a giant of a man. She humbled him. “I’m sorry, Maggie. I was hurt and angry. I thought you’d betrayed us. Used me to get to the wolf and vice versa. I knew, deep down, it wasn’t like that. I knew if you’d already written the story you had no reason to still be here, but I’ve lived my life hidden away for so long, the instinct to protect both myself and the wolf overrode my better judgment. I can’t promise I won’t screw up again, but I can promise to try.”
Instead of responding, she fused her mouth to his, kissing him with the same desperate passion he’d shown her. They were still wrapped in each other when Sly entered the barn, clearing his throat delicately and continuing on with the horse as though he hadn’t seen them jump apart, blushing and twittering like children caught with their hands in the cookie jar. They worked side by side in the stable for a while, stealing glances at each other. Aidan would’ve sworn she intentionally aimed her heart-shaped bottom at him on purpose. Who’d have thought manual labor could be so seductive?
Finally, Sly suggested the two of them go for a ride to use some of that extra energy exercising the horses and let him get some actual work done. Aidan smiled, enjoying the play and Sly’s self-declared role as chaperone, and saddled Jezebel and Delilah, his two most prized mares. Sadly, Delilah got the least of his attention, as Jez had his heartstrings.
“Can you handle a spirited horse, Mags? Delilah really doesn’t get to run as much as she should, she’ll want to get her head. I’d rather you take a gentler mount, but she’s the only girl I have that can keep up with Jez.”
“Just watch me.” They led the horses out into the sun-streaked meadow and Maggie urged Delilah into a sprint. Aidan watched, both in awe and arousal, as the line between horse and rider blurred. His heart galloped as he heard her shout to the sky, and he let the anxious Jezebel run full out to catch up with them. They rode in harmony, the only sound the horses’ hooves as they both took turns taking the lead. Aidan was impressed with Maggie’s style and skill, remembering belatedly that her early childhood had probably included riding lessons.
As they entered the tree line, they had to slow the horses or risk injuring them, which gave them a chance to talk. She told him about her best friend, Jenna McAllister. And how she’d felt bad about keeping things from her when they’d spoken the night before. How that guilt combined with the hurt and the anger had prompted her to start packing.
They rode along quietly side by side for a bit. Aidan was mildly surprised to find he enjoyed sharing the silence with her almost as much as he had enjoyed the laughter. In only a few short months, weeks really, Maggie had given him laughter, silence, companionship. All she’d asked for in return was to be trusted. They slowed and stopped, allowing a mother doe and her fawn to pass. Aidan thought it sadly poetic.
“After my mother died, I was lost and didn’t know who I was anymore. When I received the inheritance, I drifted around trying to work through my grief and figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. First, I idled through Europe using the money those horrible women never wanted me to have, but I bored of that easily. They have so
“What’s the caveat?”
“I need to know you trust me. I can’t be with you if we can’t trust each other. I’m not asking you to tell me about the wolf — you will when you’re ready — but I need to know that you trust me. I can’t wake up alone again and find another note dismissing me like I’m nothing more than a casual one-night stand. I don’t have anything against them, but this is more than that. And you know it.” She paused before adding in a small voice, “You hurt me yesterday.”
Her vulnerability made Aidan feel small, but at the same time the trust it took to share that with him made him feel like a giant of a man. She humbled him. “I’m sorry, Maggie. I was hurt and angry. I thought you’d betrayed us. Used me to get to the wolf and vice versa. I knew, deep down, it wasn’t like that. I knew if you’d already written the story you had no reason to still be here, but I’ve lived my life hidden away for so long, the instinct to protect both myself and the wolf overrode my better judgment. I can’t promise I won’t screw up again, but I can promise to try.”
Instead of responding, she fused her mouth to his, kissing him with the same desperate passion he’d shown her. They were still wrapped in each other when Sly entered the barn, clearing his throat delicately and continuing on with the horse as though he hadn’t seen them jump apart, blushing and twittering like children caught with their hands in the cookie jar. They worked side by side in the stable for a while, stealing glances at each other. Aidan would’ve sworn she intentionally aimed her heart-shaped bottom at him on purpose. Who’d have thought manual labor could be so seductive?
Finally, Sly suggested the two of them go for a ride to use some of that extra energy exercising the horses and let him get some actual work done. Aidan smiled, enjoying the play and Sly’s self-declared role as chaperone, and saddled Jezebel and Delilah, his two most prized mares. Sadly, Delilah got the least of his attention, as Jez had his heartstrings.
“Can you handle a spirited horse, Mags? Delilah really doesn’t get to run as much as she should, she’ll want to get her head. I’d rather you take a gentler mount, but she’s the only girl I have that can keep up with Jez.”
“Just watch me.” They led the horses out into the sun-streaked meadow and Maggie urged Delilah into a sprint. Aidan watched, both in awe and arousal, as the line between horse and rider blurred. His heart galloped as he heard her shout to the sky, and he let the anxious Jezebel run full out to catch up with them. They rode in harmony, the only sound the horses’ hooves as they both took turns taking the lead. Aidan was impressed with Maggie’s style and skill, remembering belatedly that her early childhood had probably included riding lessons.
As they entered the tree line, they had to slow the horses or risk injuring them, which gave them a chance to talk. She told him about her best friend, Jenna McAllister. And how she’d felt bad about keeping things from her when they’d spoken the night before. How that guilt combined with the hurt and the anger had prompted her to start packing.
They rode along quietly side by side for a bit. Aidan was mildly surprised to find he enjoyed sharing the silence with her almost as much as he had enjoyed the laughter. In only a few short months, weeks really, Maggie had given him laughter, silence, companionship. All she’d asked for in return was to be trusted. They slowed and stopped, allowing a mother doe and her fawn to pass. Aidan thought it sadly poetic.
“After my mother died, I was lost and didn’t know who I was anymore. When I received the inheritance, I drifted around trying to work through my grief and figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. First, I idled through Europe using the money those horrible women never wanted me to have, but I bored of that easily. They have so
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