Page 153 of That Rush

“Have they seen you looking that satisfied?”

His hands settle on my hips. “You’re the expert. How do I look?”

“Like a man who intends to brag.”

“I don’t have to.” He glances down at my rumpled skirt before meeting my eyes again. “You’ll be walking beside me.”

I laugh and flatten one stubborn section of his hair. He catches my wrist before I can lower my hand and presses a kiss to the center of my palm.

The afternoon sun feels indecently bright when Aiden opens the tack-room door.

He steps into the yard first and checks for witnesses. Anyone seeing us emerge, flushed and rumpled, would know exactly what we’d been doing.

“Clear?” I ask.

“You sound guilty.”

“I’m conducting a privacy assessment.”

His mouth curves. “Anyone who knows me has already figured out what happened.”

“Then the Slades need fewer hobbies.”

“They have plenty. Interfering is the favorite.”

Standing with him in full daylight feels more intimate than hiding behind the locked door. The tack room was urgent and filthy and exactly what I wanted. This is warm and easy. He takes his time studying my face, even though both of us have people waiting.

“We should get back,” I say. “Josie will come looking for us.”

“My mother has her.”

“That’s not reassuring. Deven can organize a search party using nothing but one raised eyebrow.”

“True.” Aiden takes my hand and laces our fingers together. “She probably already knows where we were.”

“Your family’s complete lack of boundaries is fascinating.”

“You’ll adjust.”

The words are light, but they carry the same quiet confidence as his hand around mine. He presents a future as fact, with a place already waiting for me inside it.

He leads me across the yard toward the foreman’s house. My body is still pleasantly loose, and every few steps, the brush of his thumb over mine sends me straight back to that table.

“You’re smiling,” he says.

“So are you.”

“I got what I wanted.”

“You took my orders in a tack room.”

“I got you.” His gaze slides over me with slow satisfaction. “Mine.”

The word still sparks low in my stomach. I chose it in there. I gave it to him because possession can be powerful when it stays inside the boundaries I draw.

Out here, he says it like the matter is settled.

“Aiden, about that qualification I gave you…”