Page 77 of Paper Horses

My pulse raced, the air sticking in my throat until it filled my lungs in a ragged inhale. Eight months together and he knew with certainty, but then again, so did I.

“So you’re saying you love me?”

He gave me a crooked grin that caused my insides to bunch uncomfortably. “You could say that.”

“I’ll marry you, Hudson, and you can spend the rest of your life reminding me why I love that tongue so much.”

His laugh was a bellow that echoed through the open space. He leaned closer, rubbing his nose against mine. “I promise you, Olivia, I will ensure you remember every chance I get.”

“Look at that, you did it.”

I jumped from my memory-induced focus, seeing that I’d prepped the horse, even securing the bridle as if my hands remembered just like my mind had.

“Do you remember the first time you proposed to me?” I asked, the memory so vivid I could smell the cool Pennsylvania air.

“You mean the day you thought you could race me?”

I turned to him, seeing a smirk forming that had my insides doing the same thing they had in the memory.

“Yeah, that day. Were you serious?”

He closed the space between us, his hat throwing a shadow over his face and darkening his eyes.

“Deadly.”

“But we were so young and we’d only been dating a short time. How could you have been so sure?”

His hand encased my neck, and he dragged my face to his, brushing his lips over mine and never breaking his eye contact with me. “I knew the day I met you, Olivia. There was no doubt in my mind that you were the one, and I wasn’t about to let you walk away from me with that hand-drawn map and confused freshman look. I claimed you that day and every day after until you removed that claim.”

“I never removed it.”

His fingers spread over my neck, and I wondered if he could feel the blood rushing through my veins.

“No, you didn’t.” He tugged me forward, his lips crashing into mine. “Fuck, Olivia, I would have asked you to marry me that first day if I’d thought you wouldn’t think I was insane.”

“Maybe a little, but I might have considered it. You were pretty cute.”

He chuckled against my mouth, deepening our kiss until he stepped away from me.

“Think you remember how to ride on your own?”

“Definitely.”

“Enough to race me?”

I tipped my head back and laughed, the sensation so reminiscent of when I was young and carefree, letting Hudson make everything all right.

He landed a kiss on my cheek and slapped my bottom before walking to his horse.

“Show me what you’ve got, Olivia.”

I watched as he mounted his horse, smoothing his hand down its mane before grabbing the reins. A melancholy reminder slid into my periphery—a few days from now, I would have to leave all of this.

Hudson's lips turned as if he had read my thoughts. “Focus,” he said, his grimace tugging that thought closer. “Focus on now, Olivia. We’ll figure the rest out.”

With that, he turned his horse and headed out of the stable. Figure the rest out. Words that held confidence, a surety that we could surmount the pending separation. I wasn’t so certain, but I latched onto his words and hiked myself onto the horse, intent on enjoying every minute I could with this man.

Chapter 19