Have Mercy - Christina Lee Page 0,67
and I allowed him his moment of quiet, not pushing for conversation, until he turned to me with a crooked smile. “So, what’s next?”
“Follow me.” I took off toward the decline with him on my heels. When we got back to level ground, we rode across a large field that we’d considered cultivating into crops or additional pasture for the cows.
We raced a little without being too reckless, and I fell back, letting him win.
When he looked back, the smile on his face made my heart stutter. Fuck, I might’ve already been a goner for Julian—or maybe the idea of him. We were living a fantasy right now on strung-together stolen moments. It couldn’t possibly be anything more real than that. So I should content myself with enjoying the rest of the afternoon.
“Here it is,” I said as we came upon a decent-sized natural pond that George and I had reinforced with a new filtration system as well as clay walls so it wouldn’t cave in. “Told you we had our very own.”
The truth was, the pond was originally part of the ranch, but when I took over my acres of land, I wanted this included in the deal. It was my pond in a way, the place I would wander off to think. And Mom helped convince Dad it was a fair idea, not that he cared about some random pond on his property. But at that point he was being stubborn about everything.
The ranch property line was just beyond the three large cottonwood trees behind us and acted like a barrier of sorts. Or at least I saw it that way—the division between their land and mine. And I had become fiercely protective of it, much like I had my own heart where my family was concerned.
When it got unbearably hot, we came here with Ainsley to cool off in the water, and as soon as we got off the ATVs, that was exactly what we did—toed off our boots and dangled our feet in the water.
“Damn, that feels good,” Julian said. “It’s not the Hamptons or the ocean, but so what? I love it.”
I laughed. “There’s also not a crowd of strangers around us.”
“No argument there.” He splashed some water with his hand. “You should be proud too—of the farm. It’s pretty here.”
I nodded. “I’m perfectly fine growing old here.”
He stared at me, like he hadn’t considered such a proposition. He looked a bit melancholy but also sort of nostalgic, and I couldn’t imagine what he could possibly be thinking.
“What happens as you and Sienna go forward?” he asked, then seemed to reconsider his question. “I don’t want to overstep.”
“No, it’s okay. Good question.” I pulled my feet from the water and moved back from the edge. Julian followed suit. “I don’t think either of us knows the answer, and we haven’t discussed it. It’s never really come up. But if she met someone or wanted out, we’d figure it out.”
“And if you did?”
“This is land I inherited from my family. I don’t want out.”
He gave me a pointed look. “I meant if you met someone.”
“That won’t happen,” I said without any forethought. It was something I’d never allowed myself to consider, other than this short-lived daydream with Julian.
He scoffed. “Why can’t you aspire to more?”
My gaze shot toward the fence dividing us from the ranch. “Not sure how that would go over.”
“But this is your life to live. Shouldn’t you make it your own?” he said with a good amount of conviction. “You already pissed off your family, so why not go all the way?”
I laughed, then sobered as our eyes met and held.
Even on my farm we were still in the open, even though my property was considered the outskirts of the ranch. Anyone could stand on one of the higher ridges and spot us from a distance. But I also desperately wanted to throw caution to the wind. It was one of many reasons I’d wanted us to get away.
“Julian.” I reached for him, and he crushed our lips together. It was a frenzy of tongues and hands and mouths as we wrenched zippers open and shoved hands down pants.
I drew back, attempting to rein in my breaths, and hovered above him, wondering if I’d ever seen anyone sexier lying in the grass beneath the looming tree branches.
“Please.” He yanked on my arms. “Wanna feel you on top of me.”
When I sank down, he sighed, as if the pressure of my weight against him