Always Mine (Love in Eden 1)

As Brooks rounded the corral and neared me, I saw him start to relax and a smile ghosted over his lips. He took one hand off the horn of the saddle and patted Buttercup’s neck. I heard him telling her what an amazing horse she was, and then he thanked her for not tossing him on his ass and ruining his new jeans.

I laughed at that because the jeans were nothing special. I’d picked them up at the feed store in Eden that also happened to sell a small variety of clothing. I’d already known his size, since he'd fit into my jeans when he’d had to borrow my clothes the one time. I'd remembered what he’d told me the night we’d made love in my truck about never being allowed to wear jeans as a kid. I'd always assumed he’d chosen to wear those weird slacks. It had never occurred to me that his parents had made him dress a certain way, probably to fit the part of their kid.

When I’d crawled into Brooks's bed this morning and presented him with the jeans, he’d struggled not to cry. He’d kissed me and told me it was the best gift he'd ever gotten. I'd watched him put the jeans on and then study himself in the bathroom mirror. Then I'd worked the jeans right off of him and fucked him from behind. It was a wonder either of us were even still able to use our dicks anymore. On the occasions when I did give his sore ass a break, I was still all over him. And he'd never turned me away. His hunger for me was as insatiable as mine was for him.

But I was eager to do more than just continue to explore each other's bodies. Like the jeans, I wanted to give Brooks the things that no one had ever thought to. Today's riding lesson was the one that should've happened ten years earlier but that had been thwarted by events beyond either of our control. That night was something we still hadn't talked about, and I had no plans to. I was ready to put it in the past, but I doubted Brooks would be able to. After all, he still had it in his mind that I’d tried to kill his father. And since I couldn't tell him the truth, it would always be there between us.

Of course, there wouldn't be an us much longer. Brooks was making progress on his uncle’s finances. He’d be done in a week at the most. I wanted to ask him to slow his work down, but I knew he was starting to get pressure from his father to return home and get back to his job. I didn't know if his father knew where he was, but I’d been there a few times when Brooks had received the phone calls or texts from James. Brooks had remained mostly silent on the phone, and that in itself had been telling. Whatever control James had over his son, it was still alive and well.

But that didn't mean I couldn't give Brooks some memories that he could take home with him, and that I could hang on to once he was gone. Like today's riding lesson and the plans I had for him afterward. I'd already saddled up Grover, so I gave Brooks a few more times around and then opened the gate for the corral. "You ready?" I called.

Brooks looked nervous, but he nodded his head and firmly said, "Yeah, let's do this."

I laughed and climbed on Grover's back. The trail we were taking was wide enough that we could ride side by side. I slowed Grover down so Buttercup could catch up, and as soon as she did, Brooks started in with the questions. One after another they came, all focused on horses and riding and Buttercup. I kept my smile to myself as I remembered all the times that Brooks had done the same when we’d been kids. He’d asked about horses then, too, but I wasn't sure how much he remembered from what I’d told him back then. He was still in the midst of asking about how we chose which horses to breed with which when we reached our destination. I pulled Grover to a halt, which made Buttercup stop. I answered Brooks's question and then said, "We're here."

He looked around him as if noticing for the first time that we’d even left the ranch. I knew he wasn't saying much because the place I'd taken him didn't look impressive from where we were. "Oh," he said as he looked around the barren landscape. "It's nice."

He was the worst liar ever. I leaned over and kissed him. He was just starting to kiss me back when I broke the contact and told him to dismount.