Four
Rachel let the screen door slam behind her, ignoring Eric’s full-body flinch at the sound cracking the quiet night.
She’d suffered through Gran’s tirade about “young people making their own decisions” and “refusing the burden of legacy” until she was full to bursting, every vein in her body pumping with silent rage.
Waiting for the old woman to settle in her chair had been the most she could manage—damn her earlier plan.
Thank God she mentioned showing Eric the pregnant cow, and Gran bought it.
Without waiting for the minotaur to catch up, Rachel stormed away from the farmhouse, practically sprinting down the hill and through the paddock. She only paused to fumble with the heavy barn door latch, throwing her whole body weight into flinging it open.
The familiar smell of manure and dirt gave her some comfort, her shoulders dropping from her ears and steps slowing as she called out soothing hellos and good evenings to her herd.
Her herd. How many summers had she thought of these ladies as her responsibility? Her home? Her family? They felt simultaneously matronly and innocent—not quite her babies, but her curious lambs looking to her guidance. Gran rarely came all the way down to the barn these days anyway.
No, these girls were Rachel’s. And she’d be damned to let some corporation farm them out with no thought to their future or well-being.
Right. Eyes on the prize.
Rachel spun around, taking another stabilizing breath and fixing Eric with what she hoped was a “let’s get down to business” look.
But goddamn, she couldn’t fix her gaze any one place on that minotaur.
As soon as she’d registered the juxtaposition of the bull’s head on a man’s muscular body, something primal in her, low and hot, twisted to life and made her nearly start drooling.
And she had to nonchalantly put that Grecian body between her legs like it didn’t mean anything?
Of course, he was blushing—the damn farm boy. All those glitzy touches and big city money, and he was still greener than the pastures he came from.
“Ready to show me what you got?” Was her voice shaking? He couldn’t tell. Right?
He nodded, blush darkening his red-brown hide to a burnished brown. It stretched from his wide cheeks to his thick neck, disappearing beneath the collar of his shirt. He shuffled from his boots, revealing well-manicured black hooves that padded softly on the dirt floor.
“We should set some ground rules first.” He unbuckled the gold watch, slipping it into a boot before performing a few warm-up stretches.
“No,” Rachel shook her head, feeling the whip of her ponytail. “The more surprised I am, the better. You’re just supposed to teach me to fall, not how to ride.”
“Show me how you fall, then.” Eric nodded in the direction of the haphazard hay bales on the far end of the barn. “You won’t get much more padding in the ring than this.”
Doing her best to pry the icy fingers of fear off her spine, Rachel strutted to the bales, hooked her hands into the twine and hauled herself up a few feet. This was just the first test—she couldn’t balk now.
“Wait!” Eric stumbled to catch up to her, reaching out a helpless hand as she launched herself from the sixth bale up.
Too late, Rachel realized she had no idea how to land, and her limbs flailed in slow motion as the hard floor rose up to meet her. She was going to break something and that’d be the end of it. How could she have been this—
Sturdy warmth coated in an expensive scent enveloped her.
She let out a delayed shriek, pressing her no-longer-endangered limbs against the soft shroud.
Firm muscle met her touch, flexing and flickering beneath her fingertips.
Slowly, she opened her eyes only to be immediately lost in the hot honeyed gaze of the minotaur sprawled out beneath her.
“You caught me.” She sounded stupid.
“Are you okay? Anything hurt?” His soft brow wrinkled in concern, careful hands running over her body to check for bruises and breaks. The heat from him through her clothes was too much—it wasn’t injury she wanted him searching for in her skin.
In the tussle, Eric’s shirt had come undone some buttons down his chest, pecks on chiseled display, a tantalizing bead of sweat sliding between them.
Rachel couldn’t look away, reaching a curious finger to trace its path.
He shivered beneath her, an answering twitch between her legs all the encouragement she needed.
“Rachel.” His voice was low, tight with restraint and something else—something she wanted to answer with her own foreign need.
Just as she’d leapt from the bales with no further thought, Rachel pushed herself the distance between her mouth and his, pressing a curious kiss to the flat, wide lips half-parted for her.
Eric groaned against her, answering the kiss with urgency, roaming hands fixing to her hips and hauling her against him.
God, even through his jeans she could feel the bulk of him—a girthy promise to leave her breathless and screaming.
She let instinct and desire take over, dragging her hands over his chest, his broad shoulders, up his neck and to his cheeks, pausing there as he broke their kiss to nuzzle into her palms. He looked at her the entire time, never breaking that hot honeyed gaze, as if she might disappear any moment, and he wanted to memorize her before she had the chance.
But all that sugar caramelized when Rachel reached for the base of his horns.
More curious than anything, she gripped the bone just above the soft base, running a firm fist up before she found her hands thrown above her head, Eric flipping them so he caged her on the dirt beneath him.
His one hand was enough to cage both her wrists, no matter how she twisted in his grip.
She had no choice but to writhe and whimper beneath him, grinding against the ever-growing bulge in his pants as he nipped and licked and sucked his way down her neck, easily doing away with the snaps on her flannel to reveal the flushed chest beneath.
He made a low hum of approval, and Rachel couldn’t help the way her hips bucked against him at the noise, desperate for more, for him to release her from this never-ending tension twisting her higher and higher.
Eric continued his exploration over her body, nipping his flat teeth carefully over her collar bone and down the heaving flesh of her breast, flicking a questing rough tongue over her tight nipple.
The shock of it—the texture, the length, the sudden friction where before there’d just been want—finally granted her the moment to break a hand free.
Or maybe he’d simply let her break free.
The possibility sent fresh waves of desire through her, soaking her already wet panties at the thought of this great, hulking beast responding to her with such gentleness—that if she wanted free, he would set her loose.
If she wanted more, he’d meet her there.
But when Rachel reached for Eric’s buckle, he grabbed her hand again, breaking another feverish kiss to bump his forehead carefully against hers.
“Rachel,” he said again, voice tight with want. “I can’t—”
“Oh.” She deflated, freezing on the spot. Without waiting for him to explain, she wriggled out from under him. Again, he did nothing to hold her there, even going so far as to help her up and dust her off as she hurried to re-snapped her shirt.
“It’s not that I don’t want to—”
“It’s fine.” Rachel shook her head, waving a terse hand through the air. She refused to look at him. What had she been thinking anyway? This was not what he meant when he’d demanded she ride him—they had shit to do, and here she was taking the city slicker for a roll in the hay instead.
“Please, look at me.” He caught her hand again as she whisked her hat off the floor, circling her wrist loosely and tracing a careful finger over her tendons and veins.
It sent a shiver down her spine, and she looked at him despite the shame flushing through her.
“They’re watching,” he said, voice low, tilting a horn in the direction of the gathered herd just beyond the bars.
Sure enough, to Rachel’s further humiliation, the cows had gathered from their various resting places around the barn, pressing toward where she’d been grinding against Eric a moment ago.
“Alright, ya perverts.” She clapped her hands loudly, waving them in the air to break up the herd. They stared back, dark eyes wide and innocent.
Rachel sighed, running a hand over her face. “Well, may as well teach me what we came in here for.”
Eric smiled at her, shaking his head lightly. “Able to turn on a dime, both of you.”
“Maybe don’t compare me to Gran now that we…” She coughed, flushing at the unspoken thought.
“Right, of course. Duh. Um.” Eric fiddled with his own shirt, redoing the crooked buttons before absently dusting himself off. “So, the basics of a safe fall, then.”