Chapter Thirty-three
I catch up to Rosie, her body looking tiny on the back of a horse as big as Mars, but she’s a natural and Mars is gentle with her.
Rosie had been begging for a ride since I picked her up from the nanny’s an hour ago, and I couldn’t say no to the sweet little girl.
It’s the first day after all that shit in the past is behind me, so why not spend the freedom with my favorite little lady?
She has a wild spirit I hope she’ll keep forever.
We’d stopped at the grocery store on the way back to pick up dinner since the plan had been disrupted with everything that had happened, but the three of us will be surprising Silas tonight.
“Juni!” I turn to see Darcy trotting toward us on the back of her own mare, a speckled gray Quarter horse that’s as elegant as she is.
“Hey,” I smile at my friend, calling Rosie to wait until she catches up with us.
“Going for a ride?” She pulls to a stop beside me.
“Want to come?” I nod. “We’re just going to the falls.”
“Girl day!” Rosie hollers.
Darcy chuckles fondly, “I’d love to come.”
The air turns a few degrees colder in the shade of the trees, a welcome reprieve from the hot Montana sun, and the dry, hard earth crunches under hooves. It’s a gentle, easy ride with Rosie trotting on ahead while Darcy and I ride side by side.
“I heard about what happened yesterday,” Darcy says quietly, keeping her eyes on the little girl ahead of us. She doesn’t stray too far and probably knows these woods far better than I’m giving her credit for. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
I nod, keeping my voice low. “It needed to happen.”
“Sorry?” Darcy frowns, flicking her eyes toward me.
“I think if it didn’t, I’d still be waiting for the other shoe to drop. Cal was never going to let me go easily. I knew that.”
“Yeah, but to threaten you?” She shakes her head, “He tried to kidnap you.”
“He did,” I wet my lips, “but he didn’t. He just sped up his own downfall.”
“So what does that mean for you now?”
Word clearly hadn’t reached her about Silas and me.
“I’m staying.” The words zap happiness through me, a warmth that makes my whole body tingle. “Silas and I… well, I don’t know what we are, but I’m happy here.”
“Ada was right,” Darcy breathes, “You two are together.”
“I guess so,” I confirm.
“I thought you wanted to travel.”
“I thought so too,” We take a turn in the trail and slowly, the thunderous sound of water falling over rocks reaches my ears. “And I still can if I want to.”
“Wow.” The word sounds a little sharp, and I turn to her, trying to gauge her emotions.
“You don’t seem happy?” I frown.
“No!” She shakes her head, offering me a kind smile, “Sorry! It’s not like that at all.”
“Are you sure?”
Her eyes soften but I can see the tension at her brow, throwing it off, “I’ve watched that man break time and time again, you know?”
“You were here when his wife left?”
“I was,” she nods, “Saw how bad it hurt him. I wasn’t sure he would ever move on. Guess he just needed the right person. I’m happy for you both.”
“Thank you,” I swallow thickly, returning my attention to Rosie. We make it to the falls, and I hop off Ginger, tying her up to a post so I can help Rosie down from Mars.
“Stay away from the water,” I remind her, making sure she’s looking and listening to me.
She huffs but nods, “Can I find flowers?”
“Only where I can see you,” I tell her.
“Okay, Miss Juni!” She grins and then runs off toward the wildflowers growing at the edge of the tree line.
Darcy lowers onto a rock just before the water’s edge, looking toward the falls.
“I’m in awe of you, Juniper,” she says quietly when I join her, positioning myself so I can see both her and Rosie picking flowers.
“What? Why?”
“Anyone else would have disappeared. But not you. You faced it and overcame it. That’s brave. I think I would have run the moment I was found.”
“I’ve never felt safe,” I admit, “not growing up, not with Cal. Until I came here. Even with the threats, I felt safe. Running seemed like a bad idea.”
“This place does that,” she nods, “I can’t say I had the easiest ride before I came here.”
“A man?”
“Took everything from me. I found this vacancy online and booked a one-way ticket, praying I’d get the job.”
“I’d say that was pretty brave.”
She chuckles, “Maybe. Or it was running. Either way, I didn’t look back.
Just restarted. I have Silas to thank for giving me this job; I think Roman was skeptical.
I left everything behind, all my papers, everything, and it was Silas who convinced his brother to give me a chance.
So here I was, in a cabin on a ranch that was bigger than anything I’d ever seen and in charge of the care of hundreds of animals.
It was terrifying, but it’s been years now and I’m still here. ”
“You’re still here,” I bump my shoulder with hers, hoping to give her a little comfort. The shadows are in her eyes. No one truly outruns their past; it may be left behind, but the memories and the scars remain.
“So are you,” she remains facing the water, and we stay for another twenty minutes or so, Rosie gathering as many flowers as she can.
She packs them into her satchel but keeps a small yellow bundle in her hand before she skips to where we are sitting and hands them to me.
I’m about to tell her how beautiful they are when Darcy abruptly stands, heading back for the horses.
“We should head back.” She says, “Sun will go down soon.”
Rosie mimics my frown, pointed in her direction.
“Thank you,” I whisper to the little girl, holding the flowers in one hand while I guide her back to Mars with the other and help her back into the saddle. Darcy leads the way back while I hang back with Rosie, smiling at the flower heads sticking out of the top of the bag.
“We need to put them in a vase,” I tell her. “Lots of water.”
She nods eagerly, “Can they go on the table? I think they’ll be pretty there.”
“I think that can be arranged,” I wink.
We break out of the border of the trees; the ranch stretching out before us, and Darcy heads left without a goodbye, disappearing behind the stables and out of view.
I let her go. We’re friends, but I’m not sure we’re close enough for me to be able to help with some of that weight on her shoulders.
I’ll offer, of course, and if she wants my ear, she can have it.
I lead Rosie to the stables where I help her off and then get the horses away and fed before I take her hand and start back toward the house.
The closer we get to Silas’s cabin, the easier it becomes to hear the music playing.
The notes travel through the open windows, the upbeat country song joining the sounds of the ranch around us.
We step inside and move into the kitchen where I find Silas and he’s singing.
It’s low, barely above a whisper, but he matches the lyrics, utterly lost in his task.
“Look what I got, Dad!” Rosie hollers loudly, startling him. His head snaps toward us, and Rosie presents the bouquet of wildflowers to him.
Leaving them to it, I head through to wash up for dinner, listening to them in the kitchen. Caleb has since joined them and is telling his sister the name of each flower she has picked. When I return, the flowers are sitting proudly in a vase on the table.
“Did you know Daddy is a vampire?” Rosie says to me matter of fact.
“A vampire, you say?” I widen my eyes to add a dramatic flare, pulling the ingredients we had bought from the fridge. “I did not know that.”
“Yep,” she pops the P. “Have you seen his teeth!?”
She stares at me so seriously and points to her canines.
“These ones. They’re sharp. Only vampires have sharp teeth. You’re a vampire, aren’t you, Dad?”
“Sure am,” Silas slowly closes the gap toward me, his moves sure, his smile purposely showing those teeth Rosie was just telling me about.
My whole body reacts to his presence, skin prickling in anticipation, heart notching up in speed.
“Go wash up. We have dinner to make.” He tells his children, but his eyes never leave me.
The sound of their feet running joins the music, but I’m lost in the amber of his eyes.
“A vampire,” His tongue runs along his bottom lip, and he comes to a stop in front of me, “perfect to do this.”
He leans down and my lips part, anticipating his kiss, but he doesn’t find my mouth. Instead, he goes for my neck, and I feel the sharp point of one of his teeth scrape over my pulse point.
A breathy kind of moan leaves me when his tongue licks over the sting.
“Did you have a good ride?” He asks, voice vibrating against my throat as one hand slips to my waist and he tugs me closer, until my chest is touching his.
“Yes,” I tilt my head to the side, allowing him further access to my neck.
“Did you miss me, Honeybee?” He trails his lips to my collarbone, the point scraping over my skin there.
“Terribly,” I press my thighs together in hopes of stifling the ache blooming between them.
I feel him grin against me, “Tell me how badly.”
“Fuck,” my voice shakes from me, my knees turning to jelly, and I reach out to grasp the counter.
“Later, baby,” he chuckles.
My cheeks heat, my need for him turning desperate. I reach for his cock, palming the length of him above the material of his jeans, and he stumbles slightly, his breath catching in his throat.
His body responds just like mine does.
His mouth slams against mine, my hand getting trapped between us as his tongue sweeps past my lips. It’s tongue and teeth and yearning.
Behind me, I hear the sound of little feet and break the kiss, putting distance between us.
He wipes his thumb along his bottom lip, throwing me a wink before he turns around and ushers the kids into the kitchen so we can all cook together.
We move through the prep and cooking with ease; the kids helping where they can, their smiles wide, their laughter so loud it drowns out the music still playing.
Silas touches me whenever he gets a chance, a brush of his hand on my spine, our fingers touching on the counter as we prepare vegetables and the longer we remain here, the harder it is to pretend he hasn’t stolen every piece of my heart.