Chapter 19
nineteen
. . .
Wren
“Did you seriously try to sprint me out right at the end?” Axel said over his laughter as we both pulled up on the reins and brought our horses down to a walk.
He’d started training with me in the mornings over the last two weeks.
Butch was back in town to tend to the animals, and I needed to focus on my conditioning if I was going to put my best foot forward when I returned to North Carolina.
I wasn’t sure what it was that I was looking for, but redemption was definitely at the top of the list. The last competition had been a disaster, and I was determined to prove that I wasn’t afraid to come back, and neither was Wrax.
The work had never been an issue for me. I liked pushing myself physically. And Wrax had always been the same way. We had similar work ethics.
And Axel and I had trained together for years.
So this felt natural.
Actually, it was the most comfortable I’d felt training in a long time. I was enjoying it. There was no question that I would always complete a workout, but having a good time while doing it was not always guaranteed.
“Suck it up, Cowboy. Of course I’m going to sprint you out at the end.” I chuckled as we both slipped off our horses, and I tried to calm my breathing.
“Some things never change,” he said with a smirk. “Sort of like you being breathless every time you’re around me.”
I rolled my eyes dramatically. “Whatever. You seemed pretty breathless yourself out in the barn last night.”
We’d found a routine where we’d eat dinner together after work, take the horses out for a ride, and then make out like teenagers in the barn after.
And then we’d go to our own homes to sleep.
I’d been tempted to ask him to come to my apartment last night, but I didn’t know if that would complicate things. This was just supposed to be fun. Light. No strings.
I’d never been good at that.
I’d always been a girl with a plan. A plan for training and competing. A plan for relationships.
A plan for life.
But here I was, staring up at the most beautiful man on the planet, doing my best to act like I wasn’t completely head over heels in love with him.
“I mean, you pulled out those magic lips and dropped to your knees in the barn. What the hell do you expect?” he teased as he snaked an arm around my waist and tugged me closer.
“You’re ridiculous.” I pushed myself up and gave him a chaste kiss. “I need to go take a shower. I’m looking forward to meeting your nephew today and seeing Emerson.”
They were coming to town for the weekend.
“You’re going to love Cutler, but he has a handle he likes to be called. It’s Beefcake. And Melody told him that she’s practically a professional equestrian now, so he’s going to want you to take him out for a ride.”
“Happy to do it,” I said as we walked back toward the house.
“Benji said that Brenton is really enjoying working with you, too. That was really kind of you, Wren,” he said.
Benji had asked me if I’d work with his six-year-old son to overcome his fear of horses.
He’d had a little scare on a horse when he was four, and he hadn’t been back on one since.
I was happy to show him that horses were our friends.
I demonstrated that we had a mutual respect with them built on care and trust. He was doing great, and I loved working with him.
“Yeah, he’s such a sweet kiddo.”
“Well, at the rate you were getting bombarded by parents at the Honey Biscuit Café yesterday, you’re going to have to start turning people away,” he said as we walked side by side, and his pinky finger hooked around mine. “Everyone wants to train with the famed Wren Waterstone now.”
We paused in front of the stairs leading to my apartment, just as the sun was coming up. “I’m really enjoying working with the kids. It’s important to teach them when they’re young about how to connect with a large animal.”
“Speaking of large animals…” he said as he glanced down at his tented shorts.
“Oh my gosh,” I said, laughing. “He’s got a mind of his own.”
“Trust me, this is new. He definitely likes you.”
“Are you claiming it’s not like this all the time?” I bit my bottom lip as I stepped up on the first step.
“Yeah. It’s like he’s been given a second life now that you’re here.” He laughed. “I’m going to grab a shower. Do you want to meet at my place for breakfast or yours?”
We did this every day before work now.
“I’ll make breakfast,” I said, watching him walk toward his house.
“Sounds good. I’ll see you soon.”
“Hey, Cowboy,” I called out.
He stopped and turned around to face me. “Yeah?”
“It’s silly to waste the water at two places, isn’t it?” I glanced around to make sure Butch wasn’t nearby.
Axel took a few steps toward me, a sexy-as-hell grin spread across his face. “You want me to shower with you, beautiful?”
I nodded, just as he took off running at me. I pivoted and sprinted up the stairs, and he caught me right as I pushed the door open.
He was all over me as he kicked the door closed and pressed me up against the wall. “Fuck, Wren. I’m so hard right now. I could come just thinking of you naked in the shower.”
We’d yet to be fully naked with one another—we’d been in our undies in the river, and most nights we just made out in the barn with our clothes on.
“What are you waiting for?” I whispered, pushing his wavy hair out of his face. He walked backward, my hands in his, as he led me toward the bathroom. He opened the glass door and turned on the shower before peeling his tee over his head and kicking off his boots. I did the same thing.
I found a hair tie and piled all my hair on top of my head and wrapped the elastic around it before we both stepped under the hot spray of water.
Axel moved me so my back was pressed against the shower wall, and he filled his hands with body wash before sliding them over my shoulders first, and then down over my breasts and my belly.
His gaze never left mine. He moved his large hands over my neck, tilting my head back and letting the water rinse away the suds before his lips moved there.
He did this over every inch of my body. His hands everywhere. His tongue tracing its way down as he dropped to his knees. He looked up at me with beads of water bouncing off his golden skin, green eyes that could see into my soul.
“I want to taste you. It’s been too long since the last time I made you come on my tongue.” He smiled, and my breaths were coming hard and fast. “Do you trust me?”
“With my life.” My words were unwavering but breathless. I could feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment. There was no hiding how much I wanted him.
“Spread those pretty little thighs, beautiful.”
I could barely breathe.
He buried his face between my legs, and his tongue swiped along my most sensitive area, from one end to the other. He hiked my legs one at a time over his shoulders, and my hands tangled in his wavy hair.
His tongue swirled around my clit before teasing my entrance. The little groans escaping his lips were driving me wild.
I’d never felt so wanted. So desired.
His hands gripped my ass as his tongue slipped inside and fucked me relentlessly.
In and out.
Over and over.
“Axel,” I gasped as my head hit the back wall and my eyes closed.
The sensation was too much and not enough, all at the same time.
As if he knew exactly what I needed, his fingers moved to my clit, forming little circles as his tongue moved faster.
My legs started to shake.
My hands fell from his hair to the wall beside me as my entire body tingled with the most powerful sensation.
I cried out his name on a gasp as my thighs tightened around him and I fell apart, rocking against him as I rode out every last bit of pleasure.
Holy shit.
I’d never experienced an orgasm that was so overwhelming before.
My body was still quivering when he pulled back and looked up at me. His gaze was soft in understanding, as if he knew everything I was feeling.
Like he understood that in this moment, I’d realized that everything made sense for the first time in a long time.
I’d been feeling so lost—and right now, I didn’t feel that at all.
I felt like I was home.
Because Axel Chadwick is my home.
He set my feet on the ground, and my bottom lip quivered. I willed myself not to break down. Not after what we’d just shared.
But I was feeling all of it.
“Hey, hey,” he said, placing a hand on each side of my cheeks. He didn’t look concerned, because this man knew me well enough to know that I wasn’t upset.
It was a different kind of emotion.
“You’re okay, Wren. I’ve got you.”
“I know you do,” I sobbed as he pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me. “I’m sorry for what I did to you and to us. I missed you so much, Axel.”
“I know, baby. I missed you, too.” He kissed the top of my head and just held me there under the spray of water. “I’m not going anywhere. I promise you. I’m right here.”
I held on to him as tight as I could.
Because I was unequivocally in love with this man, and I knew how empty my life had been when he wasn’t in it.
And I just wanted to stay right there forever.
Axel wrapped me up in a towel and carried me to my bed and held me there for thirty minutes after my breakdown in the shower.
I explained that I’d just been overcome with emotion. We joked that it was the powerful orgasm that had caused me to break down. But we both knew differently. It was the fact that we’d found our way back to one another.
And we didn’t know what the future held, which was terrifying.
We had breakfast and got to work a little later than usual, which brought on all sorts of jokes from Benji, Coby, and Jonah. They knew something was going on. We didn’t comment, but we didn’t deny it, either.
And now we’d just pulled up at his aunt and uncle’s house to see Emerson and her husband and her son, who’d just arrived in town tonight. The rest of the family would see them this weekend, but she’d asked Axel to bring me by tonight, as we hadn’t seen one another in a long time.
I’d missed her.
“Hello!” Axel called out as we stepped inside. “We’re here.”
I heard laughter and talking in the distance, mixed with a little country music playing through the speakers.
A little boy ran around the corner before coming to an abrupt stop in front of us.
“This must be your girl, Uncle A,” he said as he took me in.
“I guess you’d have to ask her.” Axel chuckled.
“I’m Cutler, but you can call me Beefcake. And you must be Wren. It’s nice to meet you,” he said as he extended his hand to me, and I shook it. “He’s told me all about you. Even when you two weren’t speaking.”
“Are you seriously giving up all my secrets?” Axel said.
I chuckled. “Well, he told me all about you, too. I’m Wren. Nice to meet you, Beefcake.”
I chuckled, because he was by far the cutest little guy I’d ever seen. He had dark, slicked-back hair, big chocolate eyes, and a smile that could light up any room. He oozed charisma and confidence, which surprised me, seeing as Axel had told me he was only eight years old.
He wore dark jeans, cowboy boots, and a white tee, just like his uncle.
Axel stared at his nephew before turning to me. “He asked me once if I had a girl, and I told him about you.”
I couldn’t hide the smile on my face. “I’m glad he didn’t name someone else. I’ve been his girl since we were kids.”
“He told me all about it. You’re his horse girl,” he said before turning to his uncle. “And you were right. She’s real pretty. Real, real pretty. Just like my girl, Gracie.”
“You’ve got a girl?” I asked.
“I sure do. And one day I’m going to marry that girl,” he said with all the confidence in the world. “You going to marry your girl someday, Uncle A?”
My eyes widened as I glanced at Axel, who looked completely relaxed.
“I’d marry her tomorrow if she wanted me to. But do you remember what I told you? Some girls are meant to get on the back of their horse and run through the fields and chase their dreams.” He winked at me.
I smiled at him, because this man just got me, and that was a rare gift in life to find someone who could just get you.
Before I could respond, Emerson came around the corner, and her face lit up when she saw me. Axel had told me that he’d shared with her everything that had happened with my brother. Axel and his cousin were close, and I wasn’t surprised that he’d talked to her about it.
“Look at you, Wren. You look just as gorgeous as ever.” She wrapped her arms around me, and I was surprised when I heard her sniffle a few times as she hugged me, but I hugged her right back.
“Mama, are you crying?” Cutler asked.
“I just missed my friend, sweetheart. And sometimes missing someone makes you realize how much you love them.”
No truer words had ever been spoken.