Page 12

Chapter twelve

Spoiled fruit is the sweetest

Lorilei

“I feel like I’ve been a rotten friend.” Sophia leans heavily on her crutches as I help her back into her bed.

“Seriously? It took two people and twenty minutes for you to pee. I think your body needs to heal before worrying about anyone else.” Pulling the covers back, I hold up her cast leg so she can sit on the mattress.

She isn’t as pale as she was a few days ago. In the almost two weeks since I’ve been here, I think she’s improving rapidly.

I bet she’ll be walking just fine by August.

Damn.

Why does it make my belly twinge to think of leaving?

I’m enjoying the riding lessons. And Mason seems to not mind them, since he offers almost daily.

He even told me yesterday I was a fast learner and let me out of the round pen to trot Hank up and down to the main road.

It was exhilarating.

“Yea, but—” Sophia leans back, but doesn’t slump. “—I vaguely remember you telling me your mom was selling your family house. Is she really following through with it?” She seals her lips around the straw of her water bottle and looks up at me.

Propping her crutches against the end of her bed, I let myself slouch into the seat across from her. “I guess. This will be like, I don’t know, marriage number five for her since my dad died?” My shoulders raise and lower in a shrug. “Who knows if they’re even going to get hitched. He could just be one of the ‘in-betweens.’ She’s like a revolving door. It’s gross.”

Sophia giggles, then drops her drink to her lap with a gasp. “Is that why you never have a boyfriend?”

A flash of heat covers my cheeks as the memory of Mason’s hand cupping my ass flashes through.

“I don’t want to be like her. She left me to fend for myself while she ran off to the different corners of the earth.” Is it so wrong I’d want to be with one person who makes me feel like I’m the center of their universe?

Frat guys don’t do that. I’ve been in enough classes with them through the years to hear them all brag about sleeping with multiple women in a night.

Sophia smiles and gets a far away expression. “I’d love to find a guy like that, too.”

There’s a string sticking out of the hem of my jeans I find very interesting. Nerves jangle through me as I try to phrase my next question as nonchalantly as possible.

“So, what were your parents like? I mean, when your mom was here.” It’s strange, I want to know more about Mason, but don’t at the same time.

I shouldn’t.

But, he’s both warm and mysterious. His eyes are soft when he looks at me, but he keeps his distance and doesn’t talk much.

He’s just so hard to read.

“Icky.” Sophia laughs and waves her hand. “Well, not really. They were always hanging on each other.” Her voice drops to match the frown that lowers her lips. “It was really hard on Dad when she died. Thinking about it, I’d like to find a love like theirs. He was always doing corny stuff like writing her poems and bringing in flowers.” The shiny gleam of tears spills against her nose and she wipes them away with the back of her knuckle.

My heart breaks for him. A romantic? That tall quiet man?

The one with the deep voice and tight jeans.

It makes me want to hug him.

“So, I know you said it was a drunk driver. Whatever happened to the guy?” I hope they burn in hell for what they did to Mason.

And Sophia.

Why did his name come up first?

What is going on with me?

“Well. That’s complicated. It was my uncle Cade.” Sophia finds something sticking out of the edge of her blanket and fidgets with it. “It killed his girlfriend. I was too young to understand all of the details, but it made a mess of things. Uncle Cade served a few years in jail, then left, and hasn’t been back.”

I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach. Getting a glimpse at the pain that Mason has endured hurts to fathom.

No wonder he stays distant.

“So, um, your dad…he never dated anyone since?” Dang that little thread on my jeans really needs my attention.

Sophia snorts. “Hard to meet women when he’s out on the fence lines all the time. I only see him interact with anyone when he’s helping me at the competitions. Even then, he always looks like he has ants crawling on his skin.”

I get it. I’m not a huge fan of crowds, either.

It’s been almost blissful getting to enjoy the silence here. When the only noises are the cows or occasional dog bark, it’s easy to get lost in the peace.

In fact, tonight Sawyer is going to his friend’s again, and Mason is out late on the range.

Sophia may have more energy than she used to, but she still gets sleepy early.

After leaving her for the night, I have the place to myself.

There’s only a handful of dishes, so I don’t bother with them.

I’ll do a load in the morning when there’s more.

Soaking myself in the big tub in my bedroom sounds much more luxurious.

When the water is full, I slide out of my clothes and let my hair loose from my braid.

Oh, it’s hot!

It takes lots of rapid breathing to ease myself past my knees, but once my back rests against the cool porcelain, it’s worth the little bit of burn.

Before I know it, I find myself scrolling idly on my phone for love poems.

What would it be like to have someone write them for me?

I don’t think it sounds silly. To have someone feel something so passionately that they put it down on paper?

That the thought of me drives him so crazy that he has to put it into words?

My fingers trail down my wet body into the scalding bath to drift a light path up and down the seam of my pussy.

What would it feel like? To be desired so deeply?

Not just wanted. Needed.

There’s an ache that builds deep within me as my hand moves between my thighs.

But, even as the frenzied waves beat against the sides of the basin, and his name lingers on my lips, it remains.

Hollow, longing to be fulfilled.