Page 33 of The Brave and the Reckless (Bravetown #1)

“Sorry, but we have to go,” Noah said. His hands slid around my waist, fingers digging in much deeper than usual now that I wore just a thin cotton top.

My legs automatically kicked high the second they left the ground, but there was no skirt to maneuver.

I still landed in the saddle just as rehearsed.

“Don’t make me ride through the storm. Please.”

“Trying not to.” Noah saddled up and leaned over to take Crumble’s reins from me.

Great sign if I wasn’t even allowed to steer my own horse.

Something passed over Noah’s features and he turned his head from side to side, regarding the trail.

“All right. I know a place. It’s closer than the park, but we might still get wet. ”

“I prefer wet over struck by lightning.”

We made it out from the tree cover within minutes.

The blue skies and sunlight had been replaced by low-hanging clouds in bruising shades of gray.

Noah sped the horses a little, and Crumble wasn’t walking quite as smoothly anymore, forcing me to clench my thighs around the saddle and white-knuckle the pommel to stay balanced.

By the time the first raindrops fell, we’d reached the corner of a three-rail fence that promised some form of civilization nearby.

Thunder rumbled again and Crumble whinnied, practically shaking her head “no”.

Noah reached over to pat the side of her neck and cooed soothing words at her.

His white T-shirt stretched taut over his arms while he kept my horse calm without taking his eyes off the road ahead.

I bet he didn’t even have to think about it.

I’d known, logically, that he was a small-town boy who was good with horses, but within Bravetown’s perimeter, it hardly mattered.

We were all in costume, doing our jobs. At the very most, we were roommates who knew each other’s eating habits.

We had our little idiosyncrasies, but were all part of the same thing.

Out here, Noah was the amalgamation of years and years of a life completely different to mine.

He grew up outside, with animals and with nature, whereas my mother had taken me to the park every now and again to see a bit of greenery.

When it rained out here, it affected his life, it became something he knew how to work around.

At home, rain was something I watched through the window and dodged with an umbrella as I sprinted from our front door to a cab.

I’d thought life outside the city would bore me to death, but I could have watched Noah ride ahead of me all day, just to see all the little ways he interacted with the world.

This man had no idea how surreal he was .

The raindrops turned to thin white threads, washing the colors from the world.

My hair and my clothes stuck to my skin.

I’d just opened my mouth to ask if we’d be there soon when I spotted the pale blue buildings between the trees, at the center of the fence lines.

Three buildings. With each step forward, more of the property came into view.

A long driveway with paddocks on either side led to a tall, picture-book farmhouse with a wraparound porch and dark blue shutters on the windows.

The other two buildings seemed to be a barn and horse stables.

More of Tennessee’s jade hills rolled out behind the farm.

If it hadn’t been for the weather, you could have used this as a computer wallpaper.

The entry sign above the driveway read Forever Young Ranch, with a horseshoe replacing the U.

It only clicked when Noah led us down the driveway and my eyes caught his last name on the dented mailbox.

“Is this your parents’ place?” I had to shout over the rushing rain.

“It used to be,” he replied. “It’s mine now. It’s a bit run-down, but it’s dry.”

The implication of his words wasn’t lost on me. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s fine. It’s been years.” He looked back over his shoulder and shot me an easy smile to reassure me, only for his gaze to drop along with the corners of his mouth. “Let’s get you out of this rain.”

N OAH

“Thank you,” Esra sighed as I handed her one of my old shirts. She stood in the small bathroom, wrapped in a large towel, her tan skin glowing from sunlight and cool rain, her hair curling more than usual.

“Do you need anything else?”

“Something to drink that isn’t water maybe.”

“I can make you some tea. There’s peppermint, green tea, or Earl Grey, I think.”

She smirked. “Okay, yeah. I’ve never had a boy offer to make me tea before.”

“Right. You meant a drink. Sorry. I might have some lukewarm beer left over, but I don’t really…”

“No, tea sounds nice.”

“Okay.”

I knew this wasn’t a social visit. We were only here because of the storm brewing outside. But it was still the first time I’d brought anyone home in years without them being here to work. It was the first time I’d brought a girl home. Ever. I wasn’t prepared for this.

I kept some bare necessities here in case I worked late and ended up spending the night, but until I got some busted pipes replaced, only one of the bathrooms was remotely operational and the heating wasn’t getting fixed until next year. Esra hadn’t complained about not getting a hot shower though.

Her wet clothes were draped over the side of the tub. They wouldn’t dry properly like that.

I’d changed upstairs and had discarded my own drenched clothes in the sink, but I also didn’t need them to make it back to Bravetown once the weather cleared up.

I slipped past her and unfolded the old laundry rack stashed behind the broken washing machine.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said.

“I do. I’m sorry. This is my fault.” I tried not to dwell on the fabrics I was touching as I hung them up to dry. Even if I was hanging her underwear and that meant she was really just wearing a towel right now. “We should have stayed at the park.”

“Should have, could have, would have,” she mused.

Fabric rustled behind me. She was changing right there. If I turned around right now…

“Don’t you mind people seeing you naked?”

“Not really. It’s just a body. It’s not that deep,” she said.

“Is that med school talking?”

“Kind of. Actually, no. It’s probably part of the whole mindset that made me want to go to med school in the first place.” She hummed. “You can turn around now. I’m all covered up.”

I did, not prepared for the somersault my pulse did at the sight of her.

Esra naked would have been one thing. But Esra standing in my shirt?

The plaid fabric hit mid-thigh for her, her smooth legs bare down to the boots.

She hadn’t buttoned it up all the way, exposing a perfect triangle of skin down to the valley between her breasts, but the rest of the shirt swallowed her.

It triggered some sort of caveman instinct in my brain.

This woman was wearing my clothes in my house and all I wanted was to get her some tea and some chocolate and shield her from the weather.

“Tea?” She tilted her head, completely oblivious to the ways she fucked with my mind .

Five minutes later, I trailed her through the rooms while she cradled a steaming mug to her chest. I couldn’t help but imagine what she must be seeing.

Downstairs still needed a lot more work than upstairs.

The kitchen was covered in buckets and tools and dust. The doorframes needed to be sanded down and refinished.

Some lamps were only light bulbs dangling from the ceiling.

It had to look like a complete dump to her.

She leaned through the doorframe into the dining room– or what I hoped would be the dining room someday.

Right now, it was just white walls and mismatched old wooden chairs that I picked up whenever I found them cheap or free.

They usually just needed some screws tightened and a fresh coat of wax to make them as good as new.

“Is this what you and Sanny were doing when you came into the saloon covered in paint?”

“Yeah, we’re fixing the place up again. He didn’t tell you about it?”

“No.” She turned, but not in time to hide the flicker of hurt. She wandered down the hallway, leaning into each room to get a look. “So you want to be a farmer?”

“No, we’re turning it into a therapy ranch.”

“You and my brother?”

“Yeah.”

Her steps faltered for a moment, but she caught herself on the doorframe to the office– which was just an old desk shoved into the corner, surrounded by boxes. Esra sighed and nodded. “That’s why you’re training Tornado to be a therapy horse.”

“Yes. ”

The rain drummed against the windows on three sides of the large living-room space, driving home just how still Esra had fallen.

She ran a hand over the mantel above the fireplace and circled the old sofa to look out at the backyard.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever witnessed her stay completely silent for this long.

Even when she’d been quietly riding beside me earlier, she’d constantly let out little sounds of wonder, had greeted a bug that landed on her hand and hummed her approval when the sunlight hit her face.

I usually liked silence, but I hated hers.

“If it makes you feel better, Sinan hasn’t talked much about you either. Not in detail. I think he’s been trying to keep this place separate from his family life.”

“Maybe.” Esra turned, leaning her back against the window frame. “Will you tell me about this place? What’s your plan?”