Chompin' at the Bit (Horse Play #2) (35 page)

We’d been home from Calgary for a week, and while Madison and I were hoping for a low-key weekend with Wayne and Tom gone, we actually found ourselves quite busy. We hardly saw each other except for first thing in the mornings, at lunch, and in the evenings. With Madison taking care of all the lessons, as well as her usual responsibilities, she seemed a little more stressed than usual, and was tossing and turning in her sleep almost every night since we returned as a result.

I moved my hand down her body, up over her hip, and traced my fingers over her bare thigh below the hemline of her shorts. She shivered. “Come on, we have to get up and get ready for work. I’ll make you breakfast.” I stood from the bed and entered the bathroom to brush my teeth. “What are you in the mood for?” I mumbled around my toothbrush, leaning against the doorframe to watch her.

Groaning again, she propped herself up on her elbows and frowned, shaking her head. “Um, nothing … I’m not feeling very hungry, actually.”

I laughed, rinsing my toothbrush off and watching her through the mirror. “Sweetheart, you have to eat.”

Slowly, she pushed herself up before turning to put her feet on the floor. “I know. I guess just eggs. Plain though.” She was acting odd, and I watched her carefully as she stood up, pulling her white tank down over her exposed midriff. “I’m just going to use the washroom, and then I’ll be right out, okay?”

After pulling my T-shirt on, I nodded. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just really tired.” she said, placing a hand flat on my chest in passing, before closing herself in the ensuite.

Upon hearing the soft click of the washroom door, Bones woke up, his oversized ears perking forward and his tail wagging as he looked between the door and me from his dog bed. Finally, he decided I was the better option than the closed door, and he got up, clumsily running across the room with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

After opening the patio door for him, I started on Madison’s eggs. Thinking back on her change in appetite the last few days had me starting to worry about what fate might have in store for us. If I really thought back on it—not something I relished doing—Kaylie had shown similar signs right before I found out she was pregnant.

Lately, Madison wasn’t overly excited about certain foods, even choosing plain buttered toast over a flavorful plate of pasta the night before. She assured me that it was her lack of sleep and stress that had cut her appetite in half, and that as soon as things settled down and Jillian returned she’d be back to normal. I was starting to think otherwise, however.

I was just scrambling the plain eggs when she entered the kitchen, seeming a little more sullen than before. “Madi?” I watched as she walked past me to grab her coffee. The lost look in her eyes as she stared blankly at the coffee filling her cup concerned me.

“I don’t think we have to worry anymore,” she said quietly. There was something in her voice that cut through my heart like a thousand knives: sorrow.

I turned the burner to low and turned to her. “What?”

Sighing, she shrugged. “I had cramps off and on all day yesterday—”

“You didn’t say anything.”

“Because I wasn’t sure if it was worth mentioning. Anyway, I’ve started spotting. So, we can stop worrying. We’re in the clear. Dodged the bullet.” There was little to no inflection to her voice, making it harder to read her than usual. Dropping her eyes from me, probably in hopes that I wouldn’t see what looked like sadness in them, she took a sip of her coffee.

“Hey,” I said, crossing the kitchen and crouching in front of her. “Are you okay? This is what we wanted … right?”

A lone tear fell from her eye, and with a laugh she brushed it away. “This is so stupid! We’ve been together a month.” Shaking her head at herself she brought her coffee to her lips and took another sip. “I’ll be fine.” Slowly, she turned to me with a nervous look in her eyes. “How are
you
?”

I cradled her face in my hands. “I’m happy if you’re happy. I knew this was tearing you up inside—what with wanting to compete again. We have plenty of time to think about kids. So, if you’re okay with how this turned out, then I’m okay. Okay?” I tacked that last one on just to make her smile or even laugh.

It worked; she laughed genuinely, nodding and throwing her arms around my neck. “You always know just what to say.”

As the days went by, Madison’s mood seemed to return to normal. Her appetite was still touch and go, but she assured me that that wasn’t too unusual during this time of the month. I took her word for it. How would I know any different? I wasn’t a woman.

By Wednesday, the pregnancy scare didn’t come up again. Madison adjusted back into her old work routines, taking Starla over a few low rails during their sessions. It was as though our little scare never happened.

I came out of our ensuite washroom to find Madison sitting up in bed, smiling. My breath faltered slightly as my eyes roved over her near naked form. The way her milky skin contrasted against the deep blue lace of the negligee she
wasn’t
wearing when I crawled out of bed a few minutes earlier had my eyes practically falling out of my head. As she drew in breath after breath, I found myself ogling her supple breasts as they spilled over the top of her little outfit. They looked huge. I wanted to touch and kiss and lick and bite them.
A lot
.

“What are you doing?” I asked, leaning on the doorframe and trying to be cool, even if my groin instantly reacted to the sight of her and outed me.

Something mischievous gleamed in her eyes as she moved to her hands and knees, crawling seductively to the end of the bed.

“Where’s the dog?”

Madison smiled. “I put him outside. Come here.”

“Baby,” I said, pushing off the doorframe and walking slowly toward her. “We should have breakfast and then head to work.” I stopped at the foot of the bed where she was now perched on her knees, her almost-green eyes level with mine.

“So we’ll be a little late,” she said, slipping her hands beneath the T-shirt I had just slipped on. “Come on, you know you want to.”

I was so lost in her eyes that I found myself succumbing to her sexual advances. She didn’t even give me a chance to respond before crushing her lips to mine, and that was pretty much the end of me convincing her we shouldn’t carry on down this road. I slipped my arms around her, laying my palms flat against her lower back and running them over the curve of her ass until I gripped her upper thighs. In a flash, I pulled her upward, eliciting a squeal of surprise from her as she fell back onto the bed.

After pushing myself between her legs, I began lightly biting at her throat as my right hand moved up over her blue lacy nightie, palming her amazing tit.
Fuck …
It felt even better than it looked. So soft and full …
perfect
.

“I want you,” She whispered through panted breaths as I teased her nipple through the thin fabric.

I growled. “I want you t—”

Suddenly there was a knock at the front door, and our heads both snapped toward our open bedroom door, our eyes wide, just waiting for Wayne to let himself in.

“Oh shit! Get off! Get off! Get off!” Madison hissed, pushing at my chest until I stood at the foot of the bed. She rolled over the mattress until she fell behind the bed, her head popping back up over the top with her hair in disarray. If I wasn’t so terrified, I might have laughed. “Go to the bathroom and take care of”—she gestured to the pop-tent I had sprung—“that.” After scrambling to her feet, she rushed to the dresser and quickly changed into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top before bolting from the room.

Not surprisingly, the father of the girl you were about to bone showing up instantly killed a person’s erection. I stayed hidden in the washroom for a few more minutes, washing up and running my hands through my hair—not that it did anything. When I thought it might be safe, I emerged, changed into jeans and a fresh shirt, and made my way out to the kitchen to find Madison scrambling some eggs while Bones lay under the table chewing on his rawhide bone.

“Where’s your dad?” I asked, looking around the room as I made my way to the coffee.

Madison turned to me with a smile. “Oh, he was just wondering if I was heading in to town to do some grocery shopping this week. He’s got a busy couple of days lined up, and asked if I’d mind picking some things up for him. I planned to go later today, I’ll just need to stop by his place and see what all he needs beforehand.”

Turning the burner off, Madison removed the skillet and plated our eggs just as the toaster popped. She quickly buttered the toast and brought breakfast to the table. I was pleasantly surprised to see cheese on the eggs, because it meant she must have been feeling better.

With breakfast finished, we started taking the horses out so we could muck out the stalls. By nine, Madi’s first lesson was to begin, so she excused herself to make her way over to the arena. Wayne and I finished up the stalls, filling the water buckets and laying a few flakes of hay in each one before I grabbed the broom and swept up the aisle. Bones hopped sideways beside the broom, snapping his jaws at it every time it would pass him; he apparently thought it was all a big game.

“I’ve got a bit more invoicing and paperwork to do this morning, and I need to call the farrier for a few horses that need their hooves trimmed. Oliver threw a shoe last week. Plus, I have to call your dad to come and take a look at Hails today. Madison wants to see if she’s ready for some low rails. Can you manage things for a bit?”

“Definitely. Let me know if you need anything,” I told him before he left for his office. “Well, Bones. What should we do?” Sitting down, he looked up at me with his ears perked forward and his head cocked to the left. “No suggestions?” His tongue flopped out the side of his mouth as he panted. “Well, let’s go for a walk around the grounds, then. And after, we’ll go watch a lesson or two.”

Bones hopped to his feet and trotted beside me as we exited the barn. Along one of the paths, I found a large stick. I picked it up, waved it in front of Bones until he seemed interested, and then tossed it. He dashed off after it, retrieved it and then stood waiting for me. Clearly, he didn’t understand the game yet. I stopped, knelt down and called him to me. He came running back, stick in mouth, and gave it to me with very little fight. Standing back up, he kept his eyes glued on the stick in my hand, his paws dancing in place as he waited for me to throw it again. We continued to play for a while longer as we circled the grounds and made our way back to the barn where his attention was quickly drawn to one of the barn cats as it raced through the long grass.

My whistle brought Bones’ focus back to me, and I nodded toward the door of the new barn as I walked through it. He looked torn on whether or not he should come with me or chase the cat. When the cat hissed at him, he decided I was the safer option.

Earlier, as I finished up the stalls, I noticed that our grain and alfalfa cube levels were running low, so I knew a trip to the feed store was in order. While I made my list, Bones barked and chased a few birds away. I was just on my way to the storage shed for a few bales of straw to restock what had been used this morning when I saw Madison standing outside, talking with her client. Her eyes caught mine, and she smiled before returning her attention to the woman.

By twelve-thirty, I had finished trimming the overgrown grass around both barns and was feeling pretty damn hungry. Lunch was still a half hour away, and that seemed like forever to me as my stomach protested loudly, so I decided to stop in the viewing gallery and see if maybe there was something behind the snack bar. Luckily, I found a protein bar and hoped it would tide me over.

After taking my first bite, I wandered back outside to search for Bones. His absence wasn’t too surprising as he had a tendency to hide out in Wayne’s office or follow him back up to the house.

I continued to search the empty grounds for any sign of the dog, and was just passing by the open main door to the new barn when a slender hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me roughly inside. Before I could question what was happening, Madison had me pressed against the wall, her lips ravaging mine while her hands rapidly worked to undo my pants.

I mumbled against her voracious mouth. “Madi, what are you doing?”

She pulled her face back and smiled up at me. “I’ve been watching you all damn morning, and I just can’t take it anymore,” she confessed, her voice soft and breathy as she yanked my pants open and slipped her hand inside.

My head fell back against the wall with a soft thud as her delicate fingers wrapped themselves around my cock and began to move up and down … up and motherfucking down. “Shit, baby,” I moaned, my hands reaching out and cradling her face to draw her mouth up to mine.

Our lips united passionately as my fingers worked their way into her loose hair, pulling her closer to me in an effort to deepen our already fevered kiss. She moaned and whimpered into my mouth, each one sounding even more glorious than the last. My hands slid from her hair, travelling down her body until I was cupping her ass to lift her off the ground and turn her around. Having no other choice when her feet left the floor, she withdrew her hand from my pants.