Ryan's Love - C.A. Harms Page 0,25
with her eyes closed as her chest moved up and down in small pants.
“Go on,” I urged.
I lifted her as she gripped the saddle, and she yelped when I firmly placed her atop Storm, my father’s Oldenburg stallion. Jackson held him steady as I pulled myself up and took my spot behind Amber. Our bodies were so close together I could feel her ragged breaths as she shifted against me with each one.
Earlier, I’d been worried about bringing her to my parents’ house. I wasn’t sure how they would feel about seeing me with another woman after all this time. When I stopped by last night for dinner, I wanted to make sure it was okay, and their answers shocked me. My mother cried and assured me that moving on was for the best. She then admitted she had worried I would never truly be happy again and that imagining me alone without someone to love me broke her heart.
My father gave me one of those manly hugs and said he looked forward to meeting the woman who was bringing back his son. His words rang true as I too felt Amber was allowing me to feel alive again. She had returned my desire to feel, to love.
Jackson, on the other hand, just kept commenting on how good-looking the girl that caught my attention was. He made sure to throw in the fact he met her first and had already been inside her apartment. The cocky son of a bitch was so full of himself, he chose to leave out the part about only being there to move furniture. Noah, of course, was more of the silent type, yet his eyes showed he was pleased with my choices.
“You ready?” I asked Amber while wrapping my arms around her waist and grabbing the reins.
She nodded, and I looked over one last time to see Jackson grinning from ear to ear.
I nudged Storm lightly with my heel. He began walking, and Amber gripped my forearms tightly.
“I gotchya,” I assured her, yet her grip remained solid on my arms. Her uneasiness was amusing and damn cute.
We trotted up a path my father had created that led to the left of the house and through the tree line. Once we passed the last cluster of trees and overgrown brush, the clearing opened up. Spread out before us was land as far as you could see with one of the lakes on our property off to the left.
“Wow,” Amber gasped. “It’s so beautiful.”
“Yeah, it is,” I agreed. “This place has always been one of my favorites. This ranch has been in my family for so long. My father’s father grew up here.”
Storm took a few steps to the right, and I removed a hand from the reins and placed it on Amber’s thigh. She looked back over her shoulder and smiled.
“Jackson is more involved in the ranch side of things,” I told her. “He chose to follow in my dad’s footsteps. He trains the horses that are brought in and boarded here and teaches riding lessons. Dad still won’t completely let go of the control of the ranch, but one day I think he’ll step back, and then Noah and I will most likely pitch in more. Right now, though, he and Jackson have this place handled.”
She laid her hand on top of mine and began tracing my knuckles with her thumb. That small connection by itself made me feel soothed and at peace.
“My place is about a mile past the tree line over there.” She looked back over her shoulder, and I nudged my head in the direction of my home. She turned slightly, looking toward the spot I indicated, just before she looked at me. My gaze shifted between her gorgeous brown eyes and the fullness of her lips. She lightly licked along her lower lip, and my heart pounded a little faster. The hand I had rested on her thigh lifted almost of its own accord and cupped her face, holding her in place. She turned just a little more, and I lowered my lips to hers.
Amber whimpered when I traced my tongue along the seam of her lips. The moment she opened up for me, my body instantly relaxed. The remnants of something sweet coated her tongue, and I wanted more. She smelled like cookies and the essence of some sort of spice.
Between the soft feel of her skin beneath my palm and her tiny body hugged tightly to mine, I