Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Sutton
My brain is mush at this point. The case I’m working on right now is one that won’t have a good outcome for the patient in the long run, which sucks ass.
Right now, I need a bottle of wine, a steaming bath full of bubbles, and some soothing music.
I’m about to put my plan into action when there’s a knock at my door.
Thankful for the reprieve, I save my work then close my laptop, since it’ll automatically update the main server.
Going to my door, I open it to see Gemini standing there, a smirk on his handsome face. “Heard you’re having a shitty day, wanna go for a ride and learn what wind therapy is all about?” he asks.
“Sounds good as long as there’s food in there somewhere,” I admit as I glance back at my desk to see my empty tumbler and several crumbled wrappers from the protein bars I ate today.
I was so focused on trying to figure out a way to make my problem case work that I never took the time to stop and fix myself some lunch.
He gives me a blinding smile before saying, “Yeah, I think we can arrange that. Go get changed and meet me downstairs, okay?”
“Okay, give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready to go,” I reply.
I dash up the stairs and get out of my business attire and slip into some comfy jeans, top, and toss on my ankle boots.
I grab my leather jacket from the closet and bounce down the stairs and find him in front of the door, waiting on me.
“Will this work?” I ask, spinning in circles so he can see I’m in the only biker bitch outfit I own.
“You’re perfect,” he murmurs, a hungry look on his face. A shiver races through me at the predatory way he’s scanning me from head to toe. “Got a few sandwiches, bottles of water, and bags of chips in the saddlebags. That should tide us over until dinner.”
“Sounds good,” I gurgle out around the lump in my throat.
I’ve been having nightly fantasies about him and I wish I was confident and experienced enough to make the first move, but unfortunately, I’m not.
My ex probably wasn’t the best person to jump into that particular pool considering he was all about his wants and desires, that’s for dang sure.
So, I’ve been waiting on cues from Gemini to know if he really wants to explore this growing sexual tension between us or not.
We take a dirt path around the property.
It isn’t exactly the ride I’d envisioned, but he was right about the wind therapy.
We don’t need to go fast for me to unwind, just having my arms wrapped around his waist, my head on his shoulder, and feeling the fresh air has me relaxing for the first time in a very long time.
I am wearing a helmet, but it’s a fancy one because we can still talk to each other, which is pretty cool all things considered.
“It’s so pretty out here,” I say, feeling the strength of his body as we maneuver around the property. I’ve pretty much stuck to the house to make it easier to protect me, so seeing all the new construction is blowing me away. “Hercules and his crew are busting their butts, aren’t they?” I ask.
“Definitely,” he replies, pulling over to a huge barn.
It’s not painted yet, but considering it’s the typical shape, and I can see where there’s both wooden fencing and the kind I’ve seen around Mr. Bergstrom’s property, I figure this is where the livestock that they’ve talked about these past weeks will be housed.
Once he parks and helps me off, he reaches into the saddlebags and pulls out two insulated containers then with one arm thrown over my shoulder, he leads me into the barn.
“Let’s eat then I’ll show you around in here,” he says, stopping to grab a blanket that’s hanging over a stall.
At my raised brow, he laughs then says, “It’s clean, I promise. ”
A giggle escapes me which has me cupping my mouth. I’m not typically a giggler, I make fun of those women when I read it in a book, but this situation calls for it. “Are barns usually clean?”
“No, they aren’t but we’ve been reconstructing this one so it’s cleaner than the norm,” he says, giving me a wink that has my knees near buckling.
He’s charming when he wants to be and I may be in trouble if he keeps it up.
I already have a difficult time resisting him as it is, but when he does something that’s cute or reminds me of one of the men I read about, I want to pounce and climb him like he’s a tree.
“That’s good for our picnic,” I add as he shoves the barn door to the side and I see inside of the structure. “Wow, Gemini. This is bigger than it looks from the outside. How many animals can you store here?”
“We have recently acquired twenty bison,” he tells me. “We have interviews set up for an overseer and a few ranch hands. Hopefully, we’ll be up and running in the next three months.”
“That fast?” I ask, surprised that things can happen that quickly. I thought it’d take longer than that to get the word out and start their business.
“I have a helping hand,” he confesses. “Rio’s old lady belongs to the circuit and she has a lot of contacts.
One of them raises and auctions off bison and he did me a solid by letting Issy pick from his stock before they went on the auction block.
” He pulls away from me and spreads out the blanket before sitting the mini coolers on it and sits down, patting the ground beside him.
“It’s not the most comfy spot, but we don’t have any hay to cushion the ground with. ”
“I think I’ll survive,” I say as I crouch down before plopping on my ass.
As he disperses the food, I watch his arm muscles flex as he sets each item out. I lift up my hand and check the corner of my mouth to make sure there’s no drool there. He glances up at me and a grin crosses his face. Busted. I play it off and pretend like I didn’t notice him catching me.
“Is that ham and cheese on toasted bread?” I ask, excitement strumming through me. He remembered! I can’t believe his memory is that good. It has always been my go-to, my comfort food since I was a little girl. The only thing I used to pack in my lunch back in the day.
“Yeah, with sliced tomatoes, a bit of Italian dressing, and mayo,” he replies, “just the way you like it, right?”
“I can’t believe you remembered that,” I tell him, reiterating my thoughts as emotions course through me. It’s such a simple thing, but for the majority of my life, I’ve been dispensable, tossed around like I was nothing.
“I remember every little thing about you, Sutton,” he replies, sounding honest and sincere. If I was a fictional heroine, I’d be swooning and batting my eyelashes at him. “Trust me, if my life had been different back then, we’d have already been a couple, and probably had a few kids as well.”
Kids. Something that is a closely held secret for me is that I’ve always wanted a house full of children, with a loving partner by my side to help manage the chaos.
Thinking about how those kids would’ve come about has my face flushing because it brings those nightly fantasies to the forefront of my mind.
“You want kids?” I manage to ask through the lump in my throat.
“As many as possible,” he admits. “With you,” he adds, leaning in to place a kiss on my forehead.
“Oh my,” I murmur as I try, and fail, to focus on my sandwich. Truthfully, if I had a little more wildness in me, I’d throw myself at him right now, but I don’t. Life has taught me to be cautious in every aspect of my life.
“Just telling you the way it’s gonna be,” he says, shrugging.
“Do I get a say in any of this?” I tease as I continue to eat.
He smirks then asks, “What do you think?”
“I think you’ve made your mind up, so I need to get with the program,” I reply, opening my water and taking a long drink.
“You always were the smart one in school,” he says. “Now finish up, I wanna show you the loft.”
* * *
As we ate, the sexual chemistry between us grew by leaps and bounds. We didn’t speak, we simply devoured our food while keeping our eyes glued on each other. Once we packed everything back up, he led me up the ladder to the loft. It’s broad and not anything like what I’d picture it to look like.
Biting my bottom lip as I twirl around on my feet, I stop and stare at him. “What did you want to show me?”
“This,” he states as he walks over to two miniature looking doors and shoves them open.
My jaw drops at the picturesque scene that greets me.
The backdrop is stunning, you see nothing but the mountains.
The mixture of colors is awe inspiring. If I was an artist, I’d spend all of my time out here capturing the landscape on my canvas.
With a light breeze coming through, the scents of the newly added wood, combined with the smell of fresh, crisp air has my senses on overload.
When he steps closer and adds his own unique scent of leather, as well as the smell of freshly laundered clothes, I’m a goner. “Gemini,” I whisper. “Kiss me, please?”
“Been wanting to taste you for ages, sweet girl,” he murmurs, pulling me into his arms. “The things I want to do to you and with you will take an eternity to get through.”
“Then let’s start now,” I bravely reply. His lips descend and I’m lost and quite truthfully, I don’t want to be found.
Nope. I’ve finally gotten what I always wanted—a home.
The shock of electricity that courses through me has everything tingling, because he pours everything into the kiss and I reciprocate, not wanting it to end.
When I can no longer go another second without oxygen, I pull back slightly, gasping for air, but when his forehead presses against me and I feel he’s just as affected, I lean in to kiss him again.
With time suspended, we learn each other, our bodies so close a piece of paper couldn’t be put between us. My hands are at the nape of his neck as I writhe against him wanting more.