I tap my feet on Milan’s sides and steer him out of the courtyard and onto the path leading to the creek. I can hear the clip-clop of Nikita following behind me. I dig my heels into Milan’s sides again and he starts to canter, and I hear Nikita do the same. As soon as the path widens out, I maneuver my horse so that we are riding next to each other.
Cindy surprises me then. She shouts yah and digs her heels into Nikita’s sides. She stands up in the stirrups and laughs as Nikita breaks into a gallop. For a second, I’m left behind, shaking my head in wonder at Cindy.
Then, I spur Milan on until we catch up to them. We gallop side by side through the fields. Cindy’s hair billows out behind her and she laughs, a sound filled with pure delight. She looks free, like she’s flying, and I love seeing her like this. She looks as if all of her worries have been lifted. There is almost no resemblance to the business-suited, utterly professional woman I saw at The Macau.
I recognize the lightness in her. It’s the same lightness I always feel when I kick back and ride fast. We gallop into a small orchard and Cindy slows down. She looks around at the blooming apple trees, exclaiming at the beauty of the place.
To me, it’s just part of our land, but I try to see it through her eyes and suddenly I see the beauty in it. Maybe she will change me. Maybe she will teach me the secret to seeing the beauty in the everyday stuff.
“Turn left as we leave the orchard,” I shout over the rushing sound of the wind as we fly through it.
Cindy pulls on Nikita’s reins, turning her to the left.
We ride for another few minutes before I start to pull up on Milan’s reins when the creek comes into view. Cindy slows Nikita down too and we approach the creek at a canter.
“It’s beautiful,” Cindy says, her voice filled with awe.
She looks around her, taking in the scattered trees dripping with pale pink blossoms that coat the ground like a blanket. She looks out at the slowly trickling creek and the little Japanese wooden bridge across it.
Even though I have seen this place a hundred times, more maybe, I see it anew through her eyes.
“You look lost in thought,” Cindy says as she dismounts from Nikita and waits for me to get off Milan.
“I was just thinking of Babushka. This is her most favorite place in the world. Until she was too ill to ride she used to come here all of the time. Sometimes she has Valeriya bring her out here on bright sunny days, but it’s become a bittersweet journey for her now. It reminds her of the fact she can no longer ride.”
I take the reins Cindy holds out to me and I lead the horses to the creek for a drink. I tie the horses to a post and Cindy and I walk away a little and sit down on the grass. “In the beginning I was a bit worried that Babushka would see through our act.”
“She doesn’t want to see through it,” Cindy says. “Even if she had her suspicions, she would swallow them down, because she wants to believe you’ve found someone who makes you happy.”
“Well that part isn’t a lie,” I say.
“I do?” she asks, her blue eyes huge and shining.
I grin. “You do.”
“Er … when you say happy … what exactly do you mean?”
I cup her cheek with one hand and look deep into her eyes. “You make me happier than I’ve ever been,” I admit.
“Do you want to know a secret?” she whispers.
I suppress my smile. I love this version of Cindy. So irrepressible.
“No one has made me feel the way you do,” she confesses.
I lean forward and kiss her. A deep, sensual kiss, the melding of two people who are crazy about each other’s bodies. She pulls back.
“Have you ever had sex outdoors, Alex?”
I shrug. “Of course.”
She bites her bottom lip. “Well, I haven’t.”
I don’t take my eyes off that bottom lip. “Then we’ll have to remedy that right away.”
“I totally agree.”
She reaches down, grips her t-shirt, pulls it over her head, and carelessly flings it from her. Still grinning at me, she sends her bra the same way as her t-shirt. I moan low in my throat when I see her topless. Her breasts are white compared to her tanned stomach. Her nipples stand to attention as I push her onto her back and reach down and roll her nipples between my thumb and my fingers.
She closes her eyes, a smile playing across her lips.
I kiss that delicious mouth and she responds passionately, wrapping her arms around my neck and holding me in place, she kisses me deeply. Her tongue slips into my mouth, hooking my tongue and lightly sucking it back into her own mouth. I feel a jolt in my cock.