turned to look down at him from her new height. “You just probably put them in prison for it, don’t you?” With that, she laughed and nudged the horse with her knees and off they were down the pathway.
Rais watched her ride away, always mesmerized by the sight of Rachel on her horse. They were like one, he thought. Both of them knew exactly what the other was thinking and it was a stunning sight. Rachel’s hair flew out behind her back and she barely held onto the reigns, letting them hang loose while she controlled the horse with those incredible legs of hers.
When she turned the corner in the path and headed out of sight, Rais realized that he’d just been standing there like a lovesick idiot while she rode away. He chuckled but remedied the situation quickly by pulling himself up on his stallion, turning him in the direction she’d just disappeared into. He caught up to her easily since his stallion was much younger and stronger than her mare. He didn’t even mind riding behind her, enjoying the view of her bottom bouncing on the saddle as she pushed the horse to a trot.
They rode through their usual paths, down by the creek, up through the pastures and along the river. The path hadn’t been used as often, but it was still there.
When they reached the creek once again, he pulled up beside her and gently pulled at Dolce’s reigns, slowing her down until they were stopped.
“Why did you do that?” Rachel asked, refusing to get down from the mare’s back.
Rais wasn’t having any of that. He jumped down from his stallion and came around to her. When she refused to come down, he simply reached up and lifted her off the horse.
“I wasn’t finished riding,” she said angrily and pushed her way out of his arms.
“Let’s walk,” he said, ignoring her comment.
She sighed and let Dolce nibble on the grass next to the other horse. “Why?” she asked and took several steps backwards. The sun was starting to warm up the air and her sweatshirt was getting a bit too hot, but she couldn’t pull it off because she knew her shirt was too small underneath.
“Tell me about your job,” he said and pulled a leaf off of the tree.
She did the same, examining the veins on the leaf as she absently walked beside him. “What do you want to know?”
He shrugged slightly as he looked down onto her shiny hair. “Everything. It’s been years since we talked like this and I remember how you would change your career goals about every month when you were a kid. You wanted to be everything ranging from a gourmet chef, neurosurgeon or gardener who would save the world. Besides, I miss talking to you. It’s been too long.”
Rachel knew he was right, but she didn’t want to talk to him. She didn’t want to even be near him. This morning felt like old times, before she realized what he meant to her and before he hurt her by being with so many other women. “I plan parties. I help others figure out what they want and get it for them.”
He heard the resistance in her voice but wasn’t going to accept defeat. He wanted to get to know the woman she’d become and he usually got what he wanted. “And do you enjoy that kind of work?”
She shrugged, afraid to give him any insight into her life. He could use it to hurt her in some way so she was as evasive as possible. She stopped along the path and turned to face him, squinting up at him despite the sunshine. “Rais, what do you want from me?”
He leaned against a tree and looked down at her. He thought of several different ways he could answer her question, but rejected each of them, deciding instead to be bluntly honest with her. “I want you.”
She blinked at his response, not sure she heard him correctly. “Excuse me?”
He almost laughed at her stunned reaction, but held back so she would know that he was completely serious about what he was about to say. “I want you, in my bed. Naked and calling out to me, as excited to be with me as I am to be with you.”
She couldn’t believe how direct he was but she should have known better. “That’s impossible,” she said softly and started walking again.
“Why?” he asked as he fell into step with her.
“Why what?” she