Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 88262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
And I pulled him close, catching his mouth in a kiss.
The breeze blew past us as the heat of my lips touched his. This still felt so forbidden that something in my stomach went molten.
Kissing him, here, on this land. In this air that smelled like granite and wet earth.
“Let’s ride,” he said.
Knew he was my fucking favorite.
As soon as we’d gotten on the horses, it was obvious to me that Veil was even better than I’d remembered her.
I knew her well, and she happily went into a slow trot as Max started to get a feel for riding Jasper.
“Doing okay?” I asked him.
“I think so,” he said. “Not as natural of a rider as you are. But Jasper is forgiving.”
“Keep it slow. He shouldn’t give you any issues.”
I led us out down the long, curving path across the land. From here, it looked like we were riding toward the endless mountains, but that we could never reach them. Their height framed the land, but we never seemed to get any closer.
It was a part of the trail I’d always loved. It made the property seem almost infinitely vast.
Always approaching the mountain, but never reaching it.
Almost ready to tell him everything, but not quite yet.
The path was lined with spruce, hemlock, and juniper. The air smelled more like pine the further down you went, and before long we couldn’t see the house anymore.
As if we were explorers, out here all on our own. It could have been any year, any time.
I pulled in a lungful of air, glancing back toward Max on Jasper, the slow clop of his hooves never too far away.
Each intake of breath felt like a question: was it time to tell him the final things he needed to know about me, or not? But each time, I breathed out, not starting the conversation. Not feeling ready, and knowing I never would.
The bitter truth was that I knew Max would never have been afraid to tell me a goddamned thing.
The first night I met Max, I thought he was terrified of me, but I realized now that Max Burnett wasn’t afraid of fucking anything. Not like I was. Being in a plane made him nervous, and finding a stranger trying to break into his house definitely wasn’t his favorite thing.
But Max had the courage to say what he felt. He didn’t hide between the cracks of the world, the way I had for years. The way the whole goddamn Lyons family always had. Like it was a tradition.
Like it was written in our blood.
“Mind if I ride?” I called out to Max.
When I looked back he gave me a slightly confused look, but he nodded, his gaze looking so kind from under the brim of his hat.
My heart felt so full it threatened to burst.
I needed to ride. Just for a bit. Just to feel the air on my skin.
I got Veil into a canter, softened in my seat, and leaned a little forward, using my legs to signal her to gallop.
And soon, she took to the air like she was flying. She went on down the path, carrying me through the land, past the ridges of rock and shrub that I’d had memorized for years. As I rode, I paid attention to the sound of her gallop and her breath, and each time she pounded the dirt I felt it with more and more certainty.
It had to be now.
I had to tell him, now.
Everything was about to change, or it had already changed. I looked over the grey and green of my land, knowing one thing for sure: it truly didn’t feel like home, anymore.
Things were about to be vastly different than I’d ever known.
And I couldn’t go forward without knowing that Max knew who I was.
Whether he left, or stayed.
He had to know.
I pulled the reins and directed Veil to head down one of the back-looping paths that would take me back around to Max and Jasper. The sky was pure blue and only getting bluer, as the sun rose, but I knew how things could work, up here.
It was the calm before the storm.
That small, low strip of white-grey at the corner of the world could roll through and become a storm within hours, and I always had to know that. Always had to be ready.
I found Max and Jasper as Veil galloped back around, and I turned her, bringing her to a slow again.
Looking at Max’s eyes felt different now.
Those eyes that held so much.
Those eyes that might look at me differently very soon, but I had to face that possibility.
“You have to know me,” I told him. “I have more to tell you, Max.”
I guided us back to the spot in the dirt where it had happened.
We’d put away Jasper and Veil, made sure they were fed and watered, and walked over to the place I still remembered, from that day.