14. Abi
14
ABI
I return a well-groomed Paddy to his paddock. He looks at me with the same confusion Aurora and Scout did when I’d put them away without a ride. I give him several pats and feed him the last of the carrots Sadie brought.
“Good boy, Paddy. Another time.”
I hang the lead ropes back in the tack room and force myself to forget all the things I told Flynn in here earlier. I can’t believe I let my mouth run away with itself like that.
I also can’t believe I let Flynn hold me for that long.
His initial hug was a surprise, but when his strong arms banded around my back, pulling me into his solid chest, any resolve, any fight, I’d usually have put up crumbled. I let myself have that moment of weakness, but when I finally managed to stop crying I should have stepped away.
I shouldn’t have leaned closer.
I shouldn’t have let him trail his fingers through my hair.
And most of all, I shouldn’t have enjoyed that entire experience so much.
Not even when he eventually released me and immediately turned to Paddy. It took me a moment to realise why, but when I did, it stupidly increased my enjoyment of the moment ten-fold. Knowing I got him hard, even crying on his shirt, sent a pang of longing through me so intense I nearly threw myself on him then and there.
Instead I watched his thick fingers work their way through Paddy’s mane and pat the gentle old horse on the neck.
I shake thoughts of Flynn, his body and the things I do to his body, out of my brain as I prepare myself to cross over to where he’s loading his motorbike onto the back of the blue ute I parked beside.
“Where are we going?” I ask, pausing beside him and resting my hands on my hips.
“I’m taking you to my favourite place,” he says, sending me a cheeky smile. “It’ll give us more space.”
“More space?”
“Yup. We’ll need it.”
He doesn’t elaborate, just strides around the ute to finish strapping down the bike. When that’s done, he disappears inside the shed and returns a moment later, blowing dust off a motorbike helmet. He shoots me another grin and my stomach turns over. I can’t figure out if it’s because I’m terrified of what I’ve got myself in for, or because that is just what Flynn’s smile does to me now.
We climb into the ute and head out the driveway. Flynn pauses at the driveway entrance and sends a text .
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“Yep, just letting Vi know where we’re going.”
“I’m starting to have regrets,” I say. I add in a smile but it’s wavering.
“You’ll be fine.” He reaches over and pats my knee. The gesture is supposed to be funny, but the spike of electricity that shoots up my thigh is anything but.
Flynn’s eyes land on his hand and he must realise he’s left it lingering because he yanks it back like I’ve burned him.
He accelerates out of the driveway, tyres skidding in the gravel.
We don’t travel far. It’s further away from town than Wildflower Ridge, and we pull off the road, stopping at a roadside gate. Flynn unbuckles his seatbelt and moves to get out of the ute.
“I can get it,” I say, rushing to get out before he does. I close the gate again once he’s driven the ute through, then climb back in beside him. “I’m not completely useless you know.”
“I know.” He sighs. “Sorry. I’m so used to doing it myself.”
We drive slowly across the paddock. We’re heading for a ridge line and as we crest over the top I can’t help the gasp that slips from my lips.
“This is gorgeous,” I say, taking in the long expanse of wild coastline spread out in front of us. “I didn’t know Wildflower Ridge reached the coast.”
“It doesn’t.” Flynn rubs the back of his neck, looking like he really doesn’t want to elaborate.
“Are we allowed to be here?”
“Well, no one’s ever told me I can’t be here. ”
“Flynn!” I spin to face him in the seat. He’s still driving, slowly making his way down the slope to where the paddock ends and the beach begins.
“It’s Constellation Station,” he says. “The Sheridan’s are our neighbours. They were friends with my parents. I was friends with their sons when I was a kid. We used to come out here all the time. I don’t know if they know I still do, though the tyre tracks through the paddock are a bit of a giveaway.”
“What if we get caught?”
“George and Clarissa won’t have an issue. It’ll only be Max who has a problem and frankly, I give zero shits about any opinion Max Sheridan has. Katie and Olivia call him Max fucking-bastard Sheridan for a reason.” His hands clench on the steering wheel for a moment, his knuckles flashing white, before he unclenches them and parks the ute. “Come on, Abigail.”
“You know you can call me Abi, right?” The words tumble out of my mouth before I have a moment to think them through. I kind of like how he always calls me Abigail. I like that he didn’t just assume he can call me Abi because Dallas does. It makes sense that Katie calls me that, because that’s how Dallas would have told her about me.
“I wasn’t sure, to be honest,” he says. His hand tangles in his hair and I flash back to how it felt in my own. God, I have got to stop these runaway thoughts. “I didn’t want to assume.”
A smile tugs at my lips and I let it unfurl. “I appreciate the thought, but Abi is fine.”
“Is it what you prefer though?”
“Maybe a bit of both,” I shoot back. “Depending on the occasion. ”
His eyes flash with something dark and lustful and the tension spooling in my belly tightens a little more. “I can do that, Abigail.”
I might melt right here in the front seat of his ute.
Then, in a flash, smouldering Flynn is gone and the usual easy-going, flirty Flynn is back. “Come on, Abi. We haven’t got all day.”
He jumps out of the ute before I have a chance to refute his argument, but when I reach the back tailgate where he’s already releasing the straps securing the bike in place I can’t help myself.
“We actually do have all day,” I say.
He gives me an appraising look. “I mean, yes. But also I wasn’t sure how long you’d be able to tolerate me so I figured I should get on with it.”
“Get on with what?” That uneasy feeling I had earlier, the one that feels like I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into, kills any of the residual lust in my system.
Flynn hands me the helmet. “It’s time to teach you how to ride.”