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  When we get to the barn, the horses are ready to go, but I take Blair inside to see the ponies like she asked.

  “They’re so cute,” she says, smiling from ear to ear as she feeds them apples.

  “You better stop, or Diamond is going to get jealous,” I say and point to the white horse at the end of the stable.

  “Who?” she asks, looking up and seeing the mare. “Oh, wow she’s beautiful.” Her face lights up.

  “She’s yours,” I say and lead her out to her.

  “Mine?” Her eyes are wide with shock, but her face is nothing but happiness.

  “She’s gentle and should be a good first horse for you. She’s smart, so if you give her a command she’ll listen,” I say as I help her mount the horse and give her the reins. “I’ll be right beside you the whole time, so you’ll be fine.”

  “Okay,” she says, sounding a little nervous but excited. “Who is that?” she asks, looking at my horse.

  “This is Memphis. He’s her stud,” I answer and then wiggle my eyebrows at her.

  She rolls her eyes, but she laughs, and every time I hear that sweet sound I know I made the right decision to bring her here.

  I give her a quick lesson on how to lead Diamond, and then we take off at a slow pace. “See how Memphis is ready to go faster? His feet move up and down and he wants to take the lead. But he also doesn’t want to go without his woman, and she’s protecting her rider.”

  “Will he be okay to go slow?” Blair asks as she reaches out to pet Diamond’s mane.

  “He’ll wait for as long as it takes,” I answer without taking my eyes off of her, letting my words sink in.

  As we make our way to the creek, Blair is chatting away about always wanting to ride a horse but never being able to. She tells me about seeing one at a circus she snuck into and how she thought all horses had feathers on their heads until she was in middle school. She talks nonstop, and the sound of her happiness makes me happy, too. I stay quiet, but I hang on every word she has to say.

  The orchard is split in half by a creek big enough to let the horses walk around in, but only about a foot or so deep. When we get to the edge of it, I get down and tie Memphis up to the nearby post. I help Blair down off Diamond and she ties her up with Memphis.

  “We’ll let them take a break, and you can see the orchard,” I say, taking her hand and leading her up to the grove of fruit trees.

  “It smells so sweet,” she says, inhaling the scent of peach blossoms and ripening fruit.

  I bring her wrist to my mouth and kiss it before running my nose across it. “It sure does.”

  There’s a heat building between us, and I don’t know how much longer I can hold it back. I lead her to the middle of the trees so we’re surrounded on all sides.

  “I needed to bring you here,” I say as I stop and slowly pull her into my arms.

  “Why?” she says, and her breathing is a little quick.

  “I wanted to know if your pussy tasted as sweet as a summer peach,” I say, pressing her back against the tree.

  “What?” she asks as her cheeks turn bright red.

  “You heard me,” I say, moving my lips to her neck. My hands move down her body and to the waist of her jeans. “Does it, Blair?”

  “I-um-I,” she stammers as I unbutton her jeans and slowly open them.

  I kiss my way down her neck as she leans back against the tree, and I kneel down in front of her. She doesn’t protest. She only watches me.

  “Have you ever had a man between your legs?” I ask as I pull her jeans off her hips and down her thighs. I leave them bunched up around her ankles and then reach for her panties. “Tell me, Cricket. Do you want me to taste you and find out?” I slide my hands slowly up her thighs and to the edge of her white cotton panties. “How about you just tell me to stop if you don’t like it?”

  “Ryker,” she whispers as her hands go to my shoulders.

  “That ain’t a no, baby girl,” I chuckle as I pull her panties down and reveal her pink little pussy. “Fuck, look how pretty you are.”

  I lean forward and place a kiss on her lips, and her body tenses.

  “Shhh, just relax, Cricket. I know what will make you feel good.”

  Gripping her hips, I pull them towards me as her shoulders lean back against the tree. I push her thighs apart as far as they’ll go and then run my tongue up and down the slit of her pussy lips. I can taste her already, and she’s better than any peach I’ve ever had. This whole goddamn grove can’t compare to the sugary pussy I’ve got in front of me.

  “So much sweeter,” I say against her pussy as I run my tongue between her lips and lick her clit.

  My hands move around to her ass and I pull her as close to my face as humanly possible. I smother myself with her creamy little cunt and nearly lose my mind when she moans out my name.

  I don’t dare take my face from between her legs to tell her how much I like it. Instead, I feel her fingers gripping my hair and holding me closer as I lick and lick and lick.

  “I can’t, it’s—it’s too much,” she moans, but I don’t let up.

  I’ve got her pinned against the tree with her jeans around her ankles and my face buried between her legs. She’s going to cum on me, right out here in this orchard, and make me a goddamn king.

  “Ryker!” she shouts, and I smile against her pussy as her legs shake and her hips jerk.

  She cums hard. It’s more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. She’s loud and doesn’t hold back as her pussy juice runs down her thighs and I lick it up.

  It’s raw and I can tell by her reaction that she’s never had one before. Did she think I would ever let her go after giving me this gift? It would be impossible before, but it’s laughable now.

  She just cemented our forever.

  Chapter 12

  Blair

  We ride in silence back the way we came. My body is still tingling all over. I can’t get over what I let him do to me in the orchard. I kept telling myself I didn’t have a choice, that I was his captive and he could do with me as he wanted. But even I know that wasn’t true. If I had said stop, then I know it would have ended. It’s messing with my mind how much the idea of being under his control is turning me on. The fantasy became real as he got down on his knees and took from me what I’d never given to someone else. Now it belongs only to him. I have a feeling he intends to make sure that it stays that way.

  I lick my lips, tasting the kiss he gave me after he made me orgasm. I peek over at him, and of course he’s staring at me. He’s got a smile on his face. He looks like the cat that ate the canary. I guess I’m the canary in this situation, and the thought of what he did to me makes my face burst into flames. I pull my eyes away from him and focus on the barn. I keep forgetting that I’m his captive and not his lover out on the most romantic date I’ve ever had.

  Ryker is so smug. I didn’t tell him to stop, so I’m sure in his mind it’s a small victory. In mine I don’t know what to think about it. I’m chalking it up to Stockholm syndrome. Though I think that takes time to develop. But maybe I’m just a fast learner?

  I have no idea what I’m feeling or what I’m even doing. He’d told me to tell him to stop and I didn’t. In fact, if he would’ve stopped I might have begged him not to stop. I’ve never felt the way he makes me feel. Which is utterly crazy, because he’s crazy. At least I'm pretty sure he is. Besides wanting to keep me captive and never letting me go, he seems utterly perfect. Too perfect, to be honest. Didn’t I think Fritz was perfect, too? That didn't turn out so well for me.

  I think I tried to believe he was perfect because he was all I knew. What I thought I should want. Now seeing how Ryker is treating me, the lines have become too blurred and I have no idea what’s going on.

  Today has been like we’re a normal couple having a first or second date. I reach out and pet Diamond. He said she was mine, but I know that isn’t really true. I don’t belong here. This isn’t my home and this isn’t my life, no matter how much I would love it to be. If things had been different… If I hadn't been with Fritz and Ryker asked me out like a normal guy…

  Or if he just waited a little after what happened to me and Fritz. Seeing the two of them on Lilith’s desk changed everything in my mind, made me open my eyes to things I should have seen long ago, but I chalked it up to me not knowing how real functional relationships worked, having only seen my mama’s growing up. All I knew was that I wanted nothing like those.

  The thought of before makes me wonder if Roxy is wondering where I am. My roommate was an asshole, but I know he liked my money. Is Fritz even looking for me? What if no one wonders where I am? I’d never thought about it before, but if Fritz thinks we’re over and my roommate doesn’t care that I left, then no one would know if I dropped off the face of the earth. Roxy already said he wanted me to start looking for a new place. For all I know, no one has even reported me missing. Could that really be happening right now?

  I know the answer to that question. I could be gone for months before someone actually noticed, and the thought is depressing. Roxy will probably toss all my crap out and get another roommate without a second thought. I’m not sure how long it would take my mama to notice. At least a few months for sure. If she did notice I hadn’t called in a while, I don’t think she’d even know where to begin to look for me. I've had to tell her multiple times where I went to college. I’m guessing nothing else stuck in her alcohol-soaked mind. Hell, the police would probably think she was some loony woman just rambling about a daughter she knows nothing about. Not one single person in my life would care that I vanished.

  He’d notice.

  I glace back over to Ryker. Why does the thought make my heart flutter? Probably because it feels nice to have someone that would miss me.

  “No one is looking for me, are they?”

  I finally ask the question that I’ve been afraid to voice. I can’t even really say it out loud. It’s almost a whisper, and I’m feeling all kinds of sorry for myself. How sad is that? I left home to start a new life, and look where I ended up. I’ve got no family to speak of, and not a single friend in the world. What do I have besides a degree I don’t even want?

  The only friend I thought I had was Johnny. A flash of him standing behind Ryker the night I ran out of the studio sparks in my mind, but it’s gone before I can grab onto it.

  Ryker looks at me, and his eyes soften. I can see the answer there and he doesn’t have to speak it out loud.

  “You brought me Bear,” I mutter, breaking eye contact with him as the realization hits me.

  He had to have gotten Bear from my apartment. Why hadn’t I even thought about that before? Probably because there were too many other things to think about when I first woke up. I also kept falling under some spell of Ryker’s where I didn’t question things. I’ve been pretending he’s some prince who saved me that night from a horrible boyfriend. If only.

  “I cleared out your stuff. I should have done it the day I found you. That fucking roommate.” He says the last part through clenched teeth. It makes the hair on my arms stand up and I can see the jealousy in his eyes.

  “It was you, wasn’t it?” I shake my head. “The one who threatened Roxy?” Of course it was. Fritz wouldn’t threaten anyone or get jealous over me. He was so passive when it came to confrontation.

  Ryker shrugs, but I can read the tension in his body. He’s pissed just thinking about it.

  “I don’t belong to you!” I yell.

  His horse comes to a stop, and mine follows suit. I know I’m not yelling at him for putting Roxy in his place. I’m upset and angry because that’s what I wanted Fritz to do. To care that I was living with a man. To get jealous over me and to care about my safety.

  Even today I noticed that I carried on talking and talking while Ryker listened. Really listened to me and soaked in everything I said. It wasn’t something I was used to. Normally Fritz did all the talking. I want to like Ryker, but it’s wrong. Besides, he’s hiding something else from me. I can feel it. I already trusted one liar, and I won’t fall for another. I won’t be like my mama. She would take men back who did the most fucked up shit to her, but I’m better than that. It’s why I left that life behind. To make sure I didn’t become like her.

  “Yes, you do,” he says calmly. “You’ve been mine from the first moment I saw you. You’ll always be mine.”

  I nudge my horse to move, not looking back at Ryker. I can’t bear to right now. I’m falling for this man with the things he says, even though none of this is making sense. I need to keep my distance from him. I’ve got to put up a wall and protect my heart. Because a man like him might just crush it. I know with him I could fall fast and hard. It wouldn’t be forced like it was with Fritz. I know because I already feel myself falling.

  “Why couldn’t you have just asked me on a date or something? You could have come after me like a normal guy,” I finally spit out when the silence becomes too much.

  I want to understand Ryker, because without the whole crazy kidnapping thing, I like him. Really like him. And I damn well shouldn’t. I’ve never had an attraction to a man this fast before. Not even with Fritz. It had to build that up over time, but with Ryker it’s sudden and overwhelming. Instead of trying to make myself fall for him like I did with Fritz, I’m fighting everything in me that’s pulling me towards him. I’ve been letting myself get lost in these sweet moments he keeps creating. He’s pushing out the reality of what he’s done, and the lines are all pear-shaped.

  “I have my reasons,” he says in that lazy, laidback tone he has. He says it like he doesn’t have a care in world and it’s all going according to his plan. You know, like felony kidnapping charges just don’t matter in the state of South Carolina.

  “Care to enlighten me?” I challenge.

  I don’t feel so timid with him now, and maybe it’s because of what we did in the peach orchard. Or maybe I’m starting to believe that he really won’t hurt me. Something deep inside of me believes it to be true. Even though I should probably question my own judgment when it comes to men. Worse, I feel like I’m allowed to lose it and won’t be scolded as if I’m a child for doing it. He’ll just let me have my fit and be okay with it.

  “No.” And the one word is final.

  I clench my jaw, getting angry. Fine, if he doesn't want to talk then neither do I.

  I ignore him as we make our way into the barn. He helps me off Diamond, which I’m glad for because I’m still not one hundred percent comfortable doing it on my own. But I still maintain silence, pissed off he won’t answer me.

  When I slide down the horse, he pulls me into his body. I feel his erection drag across my body and dig into my stomach when I’m on my feet. He groans at the contact, but I pull away. He doesn’t like that at all, because he pulls me back against him.

  I open my mouth to say something sassy, but his lips land on mine and I lose my train of thought. The kiss is deep, and I think for a second my feet leave the ground. As he kisses me, and that hard length seems to grow impossibly bigger, I wonder if this time he’s going to get his turn to get off.

  My body shudders with excitement at the idea. God, I shouldn't want it, but somehow the thought of him using me goes straight to my core and my thighs clench together in excitement. It’s like he knows these dark thoughts my mind craves. Desires I didn’t even know I had until he awoke them.

  His kisses aren’t like anything I’ve ever felt before. I thought I’d been kissed, but I was so wrong. His does it like he’s starved for me, like he can’t get enough. His hands dig into my hair, pulling me even closer to him. I can’t help but moan into his mouth as his tongue makes love to mine.

  His chest rumbles, sending a shiver racing though my body. When he pulls his mouth from mine we are both breathing heavily. My nipples are tight, and I can feel exactly how wet my panties are. Need pounds down on me once again like when we were in the peach orchard. How does he do this to me? I feel so out of control, and it’s intoxicating. I can let go and everything falls in his hands. At least this way I can claim I had no choice. There’s no thinking about tomorrow or what comes next. All I have to do is enjoy the moment and not push for the future.

  But that’s not how life works. I let go of him, realizing that I’d wrapped my arms around his neck. I take a step back from him and drop my arms. He closes his eyes for a moment before releasing me completely.

  I turn around to pet Diamond, mad at myself for kissing him back. I’m supposed to be ignoring him. But just as confusion and frustration take hold, his arm wraps around me and pulls my back to his front. The warmth of him melts me, and damn it, I love the way it feels.

  “You can’t ignore me forever,” he whispers in my ear before kissing the place under it sweetly and letting me go.

  Challenge accepted.

  He starts putting the horses away and I wonder if I should help him. I decide it’s best to stay away from Ryker, because when he’s close I can’t think straight. I wander through the barn, looking around a bit. I peek into some stalls, thinking there might be a phone or something.

  I freeze when an older man enters the barn, and all the blood leaves my face. My eyes lock with Johnny’s, and his soften when they meet mine. He slides his hands into his pockets and I shake my head. A humorless laugh leaves me, and I feel tears form.

  “No one’s looking for me,” I say to myself, confirming my thoughts from earlier.

  I walk past Johnny, unable to look at him, and he calls out my name. I keep walking, even though I have no idea where I’m going. I walk in the direction of the house since it’s my only real option. When a hand slides into mine I know it’s Ryker’s without having to look.

  “I will always look for you, Cricket.”

  I fight back tears as we get in the Gator and ride back to the house. I’m not sure if I want to cry because I feel like I’m alone, or because I’m not alone anymore, because if I’m honest, Fritz and I were never really a real him and I.

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