Chapter Four
Cowgirl Take Me Away
After easily navigating the twists and turns of the back corridors of the Labyrinthine Den, I carried Wrenley inside the nearest vacant private room.
Designed for more intimate performances, it was decorated like a luxury bedroom.
There was a gigantic king-size bed that dominated most of the space with posh linens that obviously cost more than the ones I purchased at HomeGoods.
An equally large dresser with a mirror took up one wall.
In one corner sat an enormous, yet otherwise innocuous, leather armchair that faced the rest of the room.
A well-provisioned marble spa-like bathroom was visible through an open door toward the right.
Along the wall with the door sat a desk under a massive window that was currently closed.
Thick, magicked blackout curtains ensured no one could see inside.
The color palette was rich and moody, with deep emerald and traces of gold and black.
Like everything in the Labyrinth, there was something theatrical about it, too.
For every whisper of how temporary, fleeting, and unreal this was, there was a promise of enjoyment.
My hooves clicked softly against the polished hardwood of the floor until the sound was muffled by the rug in front of the bed as I carried Wrenley there.
My bull was still wound tight. My tail swished behind me, unsure if it wanted to curl inward or slash the air.
I wanted to punch a wall for allowing this to happen and hold onto Wrenley forever to ensure it never happened again.
As I placed Wrenley gently onto the bed, I allowed instinct to take over while I checked her injuries.
I started at her head, running my hooves over her scalp.
She winced slightly at a tenderness at the back of her head, but it didn’t seem serious as it would have been if it wasn’t for her harpy.
It would likely be fully healed in the next hour or two.
I continued tracing my fingers over the rest of her, checking for anything that required medical intervention.
It was while I was checking her right hand — and trying so hard not to think about how tiny and cute it was in my large ones — that Wrenley spoke up for the first time. “You know, you should really buy a girl dinner first before you go feeling her up like this.”
Her voice was steady and clear with a soft teasing to it. I snorted, but I couldn’t resist the smirk that flirted with my lips. “I’m making sure you aren’t hurt. That was a nasty fall.”
“You don’t have to worry about me like that. I’m fine. I’m also a shifter. We tend to heal pretty quickly, you know.”
I did know, but that didn’t stop my bull. I continued my check of her.
“Thank you for saving me,” Wrenley said quietly. “I didn’t know you could command a room like that.”
“I’m not the biggest fan of bringing that kind of attention to myself, but I would do it again if it meant being there for you,” I kept my eyes on where my fingertips touched her bones as I confessed. “Hell, I would do anything for you, shortcake.”
The words hung in the air between us. I didn’t look up from my work, but I felt something shift in the air like my words were tectonic plates that had just moved.
“I know you would.” Her voice was so soft as if she was afraid that she would fracture the moment if she raised it. “I liked seeing you not act small. You should take up space. You deserve it as much as anyone.”
I nodded, but inwardly, I was placing her words in a lockbox in my heart.
We fell into a comfortable silence as I kept going.
The touches were clinical, but there were still sparks that fluttered with each light caress along her freckled golden skin that I couldn’t ignore.
I wanted to use the tip of my tongue to connect each freckle.
I wanted to… No, I needed to focus and make sure she was okay.
Still, the way that Wrenley watched me… She didn’t protest or say anything after her quick joke. Instead, her topaz eyes followed my movements like a spotlight. Aglow and stunning, there was a hot intensity there that had my stomach doing backflips.
It took only a few minutes to finish my scan and for my bull to feel that Wrenley was indeed okay.
I remained shifted, adrenaline coursing through my veins.
I couldn’t bring myself to pull my hands away from Wrenley, not just yet.
Instead, as I remained kneeling before her, I kept my hand around her foot, the last thing I had checked on her.
Absentmindedly, I started massaging it like I had seen so many of the Massage Therapists do after my football games, a part of me betting my little turtledove was sorest on her feet.
Wrenley’s eyes fluttered closed. She threw her head back, and she let loose a humming moan.
Idle hands truly are the devil’s handiwork, I smiled at the thought.
Then, a laugh bubbled out of her, bright and surprised. She lifted her head to glance down at me. “It’s kind of crazy that it took me getting attacked for us to end up in one of these rooms alone.”
My smile grew. Despite everything it took to get us here, I couldn’t help but feel it was worth it.
“This is the best place to get privacy around here. No one will come here and ask a question or bother us.”
Wrenley’s eyes gleamed as a smirk lifted the corners of her mouth. “No one will bother us, huh?”
We were already tilting toward each other, yet Wrenley moved to sit closer to the edge of the bed. She opened her delicious thighs…
And, that’s when I caught it.
Her scent.
It wasn’t just the strawberry shortcake sweetness that always clung to her skin and made her who she was. It wasn’t even just her minty breath or the artificially fruity perfume she had put on before taking the stage. Underneath everything, it was the sharp, unmistakable scent of arousal.
How long had she been that wet? How had I not smelled it before? I wondered distantly as my brain struggled to stay on task.
I cleared my throat, my voice hoarse and gravely with need. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to work, sweetheart, especially after what just happened.”
“This ain’t that.” Wrenley pushed against my shoulder with her foot. The move took me by such surprise that I fell back onto my ass. Before I could recover from my shock or think how sexy and dominating it was, Wrenley was on me.
In my lap.
Instinctively, I put my hands on her waist, but my brain was fully shutting down.
Her bra snagged on my hoodie, already near its limits from my shift.
The heat radiating off of her made me so painfully hard that I was seeing stars.
Our breaths tangoed together as she was so close my long tongue could have swiped at her lips.
Her words grounded me, helping me keep some bit of sanity. “I’m not Cinnamon Skye right now, cowgirl. I’m Wrenley Hawkins, a girl who wants to give a show to a girl that she likes. Like, like like.”
“Well, I like Cinnamon Skye and Wrenley Hawkins. I have always liked them both.” Then, the words tumbled out of my mouth before I could think to stop them. “Hell, I’ve loved them both actually.”
Her eyes went wide. “Really? Love?”
“Yes,” I whispered, my hand cupping her face.
She leaned into the small touch, and I could have fallen apart right there.
“I have loved you since you opened that door with flour on your cheek. I’m happy that I got to know you and become your best friend.
You are truly my cheerleader in every way.
I couldn’t imagine a life without you, without the opportunity to love you like you deserve every single day. ”
Tears glistened in her eyes. She did her best to blink them away, but her voice still cracked as she said.
“I love you right back, Sweet Tea. I have loved you since then, too. You’ve been my everything, my one and only, since that day.
I have always tried to find any reason to be with you because I…
I wanted to be with you. Is… Is that crazy? ”
I shook my head. It was the most rational thing I had heard all day. Maybe in my whole life.
I tried to clear my throat and swallow around my desire, but everything felt like I was moving through mud.
I attempted to get my thoughts in order, to remember all the reasons why I didn’t want to ruin the friendship and make sure this was perfect, but the only thing I could focus on was Wrenley’s full, pillowy lips inches away from my own.
She was so warm. In my more bovine nose, her scent was like one of those smoky hands in cartoons, beckoning me to shut up and give in. My bull roared in agreement.
“I really want to kiss you right now…” I started. “But —”
I don’t want to take advantage of you being injured.
I don’t want this to be the start of the end.
I don’t want this to be anything shy of perfection for you, or have you think this wasn’t everything for me.
All of these reasons and more popped into my head.
But then, they immediately went out the window with her next words.
“No buts, partner,” Wrenley snapped. When my eyes locked with hers, there was the same boldness I had seen on stage, the same drive when she was concentrating on a particularly difficult recipe, the same stubbornness when she wanted something and someone told her no.
Her eyes flared in the dim lighting of the room.
In probably the sexiest, raspiest voice I had ever heard from her, she said, “The only butt involved here is mine and all the things I have been dreaming of you doing to it, cowgirl. So, I suggest you stop talkin’, and start doing what we both want. ”
The tiny sliver of control I had left snapped like an old rope.
And, I kissed her.