Page 35 of The Brave and the Reckless (Bravetown #1)

“Speaking of…” Esra scooted up and pointed at the bags. “Do you mind if I check the weather, or do you want to consult with the crows first?”

“Are you making fun of me?” I asked and handed her phone over.

“I’m making fun of the principle. It just sounds so silly.

I’m actually genuinely impressed by the skill.

” Judging by the fact that she was tapping around on her phone, she had no idea what those words meant to me.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever impressed anyone.

“It looks like we might be stuck here for a few more hours.”

I angled to check the weather app on her phone. “We’ll have to spend the night. We’re not riding back after dark, especially not after all this rain. God knows what state the roads are in.”

“Tennessee,” she shouted out, hand shooting into the air, full trivia mode, “the state the roads are in.”

“You’re full of jokes today.” I chuckled and pushed to my feet. “I’ll check on the horses and make sure they’re okay for the night. Can you text Renee? Even if we make it back in time for the show tomorrow, Tornado won’t be able to pull it off after all this.”

“Sure you don’t need help with the horses?”

“It’ll take me ten minutes.” I hesitated for a moment, too aware of how she’d shut down earlier and not wanting to repeat that. “You should also text your brother where you are. I told him that I was taking you on a trail ride. He might start worrying.”

E SRA

Despite what he’d said, Noah wasn’t back within ten minutes.

He wasn’t even back within fifteen. I’d texted Sinan and Renee to let them know we were stuck at the ranch, and I read three articles about the different kinds of equine-assisted therapy by the time Noah was gone close to twenty minutes, and I decided that he may have been struck by lightning.

I traced my earlier steps back to the kitchen and the side door we’d come in from.

I cracked it open, surprised by the crescendo of the rain as it drummed to the ground and into large puddles.

Through the curtain of water, I spotted Noah by the stable doors.

Not burned to a crisp by lightning but also not really moving .

“Noah?” I called his name, but the rain and the distance drowned out my voice.

The floorboards creaked under my boots as I stepped outside to the very edge of the roofed porch.

Some water still managed to splash against my naked legs, but I got a slightly better view.

It looked like Noah was pushing his shoulder into the door.

He was completely soaked again. So much for not needing help.

My boots were caked in mud by the time I made it close enough for him to spot me.

“Go back inside! You’re getting wet all over again,” Noah shouted over the rain.

“Too late.” I lifted my arms demonstratively. The shirt he’d gotten me was already drenched.

“You’ll get sick.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Go back.”

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

“The door is stuck,” he finally replied.

Inside the stables, Tornado and Crumble neighed. The wind was pushing the rain through the open door and water was pooling down the center aisle of the stables. If it kept raining like this, it wouldn’t be long before it reached the horses.

“Stay there. I’ll push from inside. On three.” I slipped past him and took the opposite door handle. “One, two, three.” We both pushed against the sliding doors. They only budged half an inch. I blinked up at the mechanics, water dripping down my nose. “Do you think something’s stuck in there?”

“No, it’s just rust. I haven’t gotten round to fixing anything out here yet. ”

“I don’t suppose you have any vinegar or baking powder here?” Not that it would have even worked in this rain. The acid would have been washed off before it could attack the rust.

“On three,” Noah said, and I steeled my grip around the door handle again.

We got another half-inch this time, a full inch by the third time we pushed.

“I need to change position.” I flexed my right knee, which had been bearing most of my weight. The hours in the saddle had already taken their toll, but the easily ignored subliminal ache was morphing into sharp pain now.

“Come here. We’ll try together.” Noah directed me in front of him, my hands right below his on the handle. Despite the rain, the heat of his body still engulfed me as he positioned his feet between mine. “One, two, three.”

I threw my weight against the door, expecting another inch at most, but this time, the thing rolled forward. It banged shut and I tried to catch my misplaced momentum. I even managed to land my steps without rolling my ankles. But my feet slipped away in the mud.

I landed with an oomph– not mine.

Noah had gone down with me. His arms wrapped around my waist. He’d absorbed most of the fall while I dropped cushioned to his chest.

“Oh god, are you okay?” I scrambled to my knees. My hands roamed over his shoulders and down his arms, feeling for any bones in places they shouldn’t be. “Are you hurt?”

“Just slipped,” he chuckled and caught my hands in his. “You good, princess? ”

“Are you sure? Did you fall on your wrists? How’s your neck?” I asked, still fretting.

Noah pushed himself up on his elbows and regarded me with a furrowed brow.

A slow grin spread on his lips. He seemed okay.

Of course he was okay. He wasn’t me. I took a slow, trembling breath to calm my nerves.

Noah was fine, and he had no clue that he’d probably shielded me from a trip to the ER by cushioning my fall.

His hand whipped up faster than I could react. He booped my nose, a wet dollop of dirt hitting me right in the face.

“Never played outside in the mud, Esra?”

“No.” I wiped the cold mud off my nose and glared at him. My momentary panic washed away. “Oh, you’re so dead.” I swung my leg over his hips while grabbing two fistfuls of mud. He laughed, barely even trying to field off my hands as I slapped the mud on to his broad chest and spread it up his neck.

“You’re playing dirty,” he huffed, mud-coated hands grabbing hold of my legs.

“Who’s making jokes now?” I dipped my hands back into the sludge and slid them around the sides of his face. He just let me spread the dirt over his cheeks and stubble. No protest whatsoever. “You know, women in New York would probably pay good money to get an organic Tennessee mud facial.”

“I’m not joking.” His hands roamed up the sides of my legs, leaving a coat of mud in their wake. “This is a very dirty trick to keep me pinned down.”

I glanced down, only then realizing what he meant.

The rain had soaked me to the point where I couldn’t tell where my shirt stopped and my skin started.

That strange sensation extended to the fact that I wasn’t wearing any clothes other than the shirt.

Something Noah was clearly aware of as I straddled his lap.

“Shit. I’m so sorry. My bad.” I scrambled backward and pressed my hands into his chest to push away, but Noah’s hands tightened around my thighs, keeping me rooted in place.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I don’t want you to think I’m throwing myself at you. You’ve made it perfectly clear that you don’t want me to wear your hat. And now I’m literally sitting on you, like I’m trying to ride you.”

Noah’s eyes narrowed, but they kept me locked in place just like his hands.

In one swift move, he flipped us over. My back met the soft ground, but he kept my legs angled around his hips, his weight pressing against my bared lower half.

There was no missing the feeling of his rough jeans against my sensitive skin now.

“Do you want this? Do you want me ?” he asked.

“Noah,” I sighed, writhing under him, relishing the feel of his weight and his heat bearing down on me.

His large hand splayed out across my collar bone and slid down my center. The snap buttons of the plaid shirt popped open one after another as he dragged his touch to my navel. If the shirt hadn’t been clinging to me, water like glue against my skin, it would have fallen open.

“Ask me for what you want, Esra.”

I groaned his name, fully aware that he was getting a kick out of it when I begged for his touch. My skin was prickling, sensitive to every raindrop, every fingertip that pressed into my belly, and it wasn’t enough .

“Ask me,” he repeated, voice stern enough to send a shiver down my spine.

“Noah,” I breathed and couldn’t believe the words about to come out of my mouth considering the sheer amount of dirt on both of our faces, but this man was really turning my brain to goo, “could you please kiss me?”

Noah’s mouth crashed down over mine, no hesitation, no playfulness.

Pure desire. I hadn’t understood desire up until now.

When you hungered for a touch, a kiss, so much, another person became the sole focus of every cell in your body.

I wanted him. I craved him. He kissed me and with his body covering mine, the storm stopped.

I pulled at him, at his shirt, at his hair, pulled him on top of me until I could wrap my legs around his waist again.

He ground down. I gasped when his hips pressed into me, giving me a sense of how much he wanted this, too. The second my mouth dropped open, his moved. He trailed kisses down my jaw to my neck, and let his teeth join his lips. His hand slid in under the shirt, cupping my breast and squeezing.

“More. Please.” I reached down to undo his jeans, hesitating after the button only because I was dragging dirt over his clothes.

Nothing about this was sanitary. Years of good sense clashed with my need for Noah.

I’d never experienced anything like this.

This was so much more than some lowered inhibitions.

The way I wanted him was raw and primal.

Noah plucked my hands off him, cuffing both wrists in one hand and pinning them above my head.