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I grab her hand and give her my signature kiss to her wrist, before pulling her to me and planting one on her lips. We’re both breathless by the time we break apart.
“You ready to go for a ride?” I ask, as we walk toward the kitchen.
“Yes, I can’t wait. It’s been years since I’ve ridden a horse.”
“When was the last time?” I ask her, thinking I already know the answer.
“The last time was with you.”
I nod.
I grab the bag and our lunch off the counter. I walk by T’s room to let him know we’re leaving and that he should call if he needs me and keep the door locked and stay inside. I let him know to warm up the leftovers from last night at the diner for lunch. Theonly reason I know he heard me is the slight nod he gives me. Sighing, I close the door behind me.
I stop by the closet and pull out a blanket. I hand Mia the blanket to carry, and she looks at me with a question in her eyes.
“We’re going to have a picnic while we’re out,” I explain to her.
She graces me with a smile, and I return it with my own. I feel like a little kid about to go on an exciting vacation. It’s pathetic, but I don’t give a shit. I’ve waited years for this, and I’m damn well going to enjoy it.
I hold the door open for her, and we walk across the yard to the barn. After saddling the horses, I put everything in the saddlebags.
Mia walks up to Pepper and pets both sides of her face. “Hey, girl, you ready for a ride?” Pepper answers her by butting her head against Mia’s, causing her to laugh. It’s a sound I’ll never get tired of.
I walk up behind Mia and kiss the back of her neck. She leans back against me and lets out a soft moan.
“You need help getting in the saddle?” I murmur against her neck.
Her head rolls to the side so she can look up at me. There’s pleasure in her expression, and it takes everything I have not to lay her down in a pile of hay and fuck her senseless.
She smiles at me when she says, “It may have been years since I’ve ridden, but I think I remember how to climb on a horse.”
“Damn,” I mutter, stepping away from her, not hiding the fact that I wanted to feel her up when I helped her onto Pepper.
She shakes her head and laughs. We walk both the horses out of the barn. Once outside, she grabs on to the horn of the saddle and places her foot on the stirrup and hoists herself up, as if it hasn’t been years since she’s done it. She was always a natural. I swing up on Drakar. We both click our tongues and tap our feet on Drakar and Pepper’s sides to get them moving. When I look over at Mia, she has a look of pure happiness on her face.
“God, I’ve missed this so much,” she says, leaning forward to rub Pepper’s neck.
I promise myself right then and there that we’ll take the horses out any time she wants. More and more of the old Mia is slipping through, and I’m determined to bring out the rest.
“Where are we going?” Mia asks after we travel for a few minutes.
“To our tree,” I tell her simply.
She smiles her beautiful smile at me again and says, “Race you,” then takes off in a fast gallop.
I spur Drakar to go faster, and it doesn’t take me long to catch up with her. There’s a reason T loves Drakar; he’s really fast.
When we’re riding side by side, I look over at Mia and hear her laughing. She lets go of the reins, throws her arms out to the side, and tips her head back. The wind blows through her short hair, and she’s never looked more beautiful than she does in that moment.
We slow Drakar and Pepper when we come up on our spot. We both hop down and unload the stuff from the saddlebags. The horses are left to graze in the field. I lay the blanket down on the ground underneath our weeping willow tree that we claimed when we were younger. Mia turns in circles, looking around.
“It looks just the same,” she says, walking up and taking a seat on the blanket beside me.
Our spot is in a big field. The only tree close by is the weeping willow. The branches hang so low they almost covers us, giving us a sense of privacy. The land is flat, and all you can see are the lavender flowers that fill the field. Mia fell in love with the spot on sight and declared it ours.
“That’s because it is.”
I start pulling out our sandwiches, fruit, cheese, and water bottles. Mia gets on her knees and crawls to the base of the tree. I know what she’s looking for, and I know she’s found it when she reaches out to run her fingers across the inscription on the tree.
