Waving off the veterinarian who is driving off into the late-afternoon sun, I turn my attention to Cosmo the horse.
“You’ve got to hang in there, be a team player,” I speak to the brown-haired animal as if I can level with him.
“Not sure you’ll get a reply.” Kelsey’s feathery voice breaks my attention.
I instantly form a smile as I watch her walk to me, almost shyly, and today she is gorgeous. But to be honest, every time that I see her, she always seems extra beautiful, attractive, glowing, the perfect image to think of when I’m in the shower, when I wake up—the list goes on.
“Hey.” I walk to her and kiss her cheek. She smells so damn good, a mixture of sugar and spice. Kelsey is also everything nice—well, except when she claws my skin when I’m making her come, but still, that’s pretty fucking nice.
She looks at me oddly. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, you look good today. Real good.” It kind of rolls out a little too eager.
“Thanks.” She nearly blushes but then hums a sound. “But I mean with the stallion.”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
A short sharp laugh escapes her. “The horse. I mean that stallion.”
I scratch my cheek in almost embarrassment. “Oh, right. Cosmo just has a stomach bug or something so we’ll need to change his food. Lucy is away with a friend on a shopping trip for the weekend. We all hope that Cosmo’s health turns around before she gets back. The last thing we need is to have something happen to her horse, it would crush her,” I explain, because as much as my kid sister is strong, none of us want her to have another loss or change this year.
Kelsey presses her lips together, with concern in her eyes, as her hands land in the back pockets of her jeans. “I can understand that. But he looks like he’ll be okay, right?”
“For sure. Now, I believe you are here for a reason.” I turn our attention to the day ahead.
“I am. Rumor has it that Bennett Blisswood has some moves in the romance department, and I’m here to see if there is any truth to that.”
I offer her my hand. “Come on. Just remember that Olive Owl wins awards for being a romantic place to visit, and I just happen to be half the reason for it.”
She smiles as she places her hand in my own. “Careful, Bennett, don’t get overconfident.”
Oh, she has no clue.
Ten minutes later, after a short walk, we arrive at our destination, a clearing among the dried field, with stacks of hay and pumpkins. Hanging lightbulbs surround us for when it turns dark. A plaid blanket is splayed out on the ground, along with a wicker picnic basket with glassware and a bottle of cider. There are a few dark roses too. This is the scene that many people come for, to take engagement photos in the fall or when couples book as part of the romantic package. I’ve never actually tried myself, but now I’m getting the full Olive Owl experience.
Kelsey gently gasps and stops in place. I turn to her and see she is pleasantly surprised by the scene in front of us.
“This is, wow, this is…”
I finish her train of thought. “Going to be the best date of your life.”
She shakes her head as I tow her along and help her get comfy on the blanket. I even have an extra blanket in case she gets cold.
“Pumpkin cider, nonalcoholic edition?” I offer, and she nods yes.
Pouring our drinks, I enjoy that I’ve left her speechless or that she is waiting for me to lead the way today. We owe it to ourselves to see where this goes.
“A toast?” I hand her the champagne glass filled with cider.
“To what?”
“Coffee.” It’s the first thing that comes to my mind, as it has many meanings for us.
She smiles in agreement, and we clink our glasses.
“Mmm, this is good. Who came up with this recipe?” she asks as she looks into her glass.
“My dad, a few years ago. We don’t change something that already works, so the recipe is the same every year,” I explain as I begin to pull out food options from the basket.
A hell of a lot of cheese and crackers, hummus, olives, cookies, and a bag of candy corn to be extra safe.
But she quickly grabs the bag like a hot potato then throws the candy to the side, giving me a polite shrug. “Sorry, it’s become enemy number-one on my stomach the past few days. Apparently coffee bean thinks like their father.”
I chuckle softly. “That’s a relief that we’re over that phase, because I question my sanity every time that I buy that junk.”
“Well, you are saved now.” I notice her look around the winery. “Did you always want to run Olive Owl, or was it kind of expected?”
I slant a shoulder. “It’s all I know, and I think my brothers and I have made it our own too. I studied agriculture in college, with a minor in business. My father learned his lesson from trying to force Grayson to do what he thought was right and made sure that Knox and I knew that we could study what we wanted. Still, I chose the topics that led me right back here. There are still so many possibilities with what we can do with the place too. Make it the full retreat experience one day, maybe even add a spa.” I nudge her arm with my own.
“Well, I do have a few ideas. Mud baths with the Blisswood brothers would be a major revenue point,” she teases me back. “But truthfully, the last few months, the more that I’m here, I get it, why this place is special. It’s easy to fall in love with. It’s better than what I remember when I was growing up.”
“One day this will be coffee bean’s place too,” I mention, and it causes her to freeze slightly.
“Right, because you’re the father.” She seems unsure if this was our entry point to more serious conversation.
“Relax, we don’t have to talk about the baby at all today,” I assure her, because today is about us.
“I know, and that’s probably a good rule. Wait, can I just ask one thing?”
“Absolutely.”
“Have you looked at the links I sent about a gender reveal party?” Excitement fills her voice.
She sends me a lot of links about the baby. I look at every one, and I don’t understand about ninety-five percent of them—well, except the stuff that compares the size of the baby to food, because that just makes common sense. But the gender reveal one, I know she wants to do it, and I’m not going to deny her that.
“The one about the cake or the balloon?”
“Either. I mean, you want to do it? Or am I dragging you into something that isn’t really your idea of fun?” she double-checks with me.
I give her an assuring smile. “We can do it. How does it work exactly?”
“Well, we need someone to know before us, and then they arrange the reveal part… wait, maybe Lucy?”
“Lucy?”
“Yeah, you mention all the time that you and your brothers don’t want her to feel like she’s left out. She can be the one who knows before us.”
A wide smile spreads on my face, as that is a great idea, and I really appreciate that she’s thinking of my sister. “She will taunt us like crazy that she knows, but I think it’s perfect.”
“Great. Okay, baby talk done.” Kelsey re-adjusts in her position on the blanket and grabs a cracker. “You packed the basket or did Helen help?”
“All me,” I proudly answer. “Call it a natural gift but Knox and I just know how to set the scene.”
“Years of experience.” She rolls her eyes.
I grab an olive. “Believe it or not, I’m not a player.”
“I know you’re not, Bennett.” I like how she says my name with conviction. “I mean, from what I’ve seen the last year, you are not what I remember.”
“Blisswood men tend to get better with age,” I promise with a little brash grin thrown on. “But you’re not what I remember either. For starters, your hair is a lot lighter, and you are more… sassy, if that’s possible.”
She laughs at my notion. “True, on all counts. Teenage me hated you a little, I think.”
“Why?”
“It felt like you had it all. Everyone wanted to be around you because you have this infectious personality that people love, and you didn’t care about who was who. Not many people have that talent, to relate to people.”
“I had a good childhood, but I didn’t have it all. Luckily, we don’t have to go back.”
A sad look overcomes her, and she looks away. “Very lucky.”
“Can I ask something?” I hate prying it out of her, but considering our dynamics, I need to know everything. “The reason you kept me at a distance, is it because you like to be in control of situations?” Because I read that somewhere, as a reason for why people sometimes struggle with eating disorders.
She looks at me and she knows what dots my brain is connecting. “Then, yeah. But like I say, it hasn’t been an issue for a long time, years really. And that’s not the reason I kept you at a distance, Bennett.” Her eyes bounce down to the blanket then back up, but she quickly tries to avoid my gaze.
“Then what is?” My hands come to cradle her face because this is our turning point for today, the time we go down the road of questions we’ve been avoiding.
“Nuh-uh, not answering that quite yet,” she taunts me with a smirk.
“Let me guess, is it because I’m a barrel of fun?”
She nods in agreement.
“Because we can talk like friends?”
She nods again.
“My good looks blind you?” I continue to press with a grin.
Kelsey playfully pushes me back until I’m on my back, and I pull her with me. I tuck her between my chest and arm, keeping her close, then we lie there in quiet, just taking in the moment and the clear sky, both completely content.
“You cold?” I don’t wait for an answer and grab the extra blanket next to us, throwing it over our legs.
“Why are we doing this?” she whimsically questions.
“Because we have to start somewhere. There is a lot at play,” I honestly remind her.
Her fingers crawl up my shirt and then jab my chest. “That’s what I mean. Are we only doing this because now your next generation is harboring inside me—?”
I cut her off in one swift move by rolling us until she’s lying beneath me. “No, and you know it too. So what? You and I don’t have a long history like Grayson and Brooke. Who cares that we started as a hookup? Because truthfully, that night was more than that. You were there when I needed solitude. You get that, right?”
“I do,” she softly answers.
“We have attraction, chemistry, we care about each other, and I want more. That isn’t crazy, is it?”
A closed-mouth smile is faint on her lips. “No, it’s not.”
“I’m not asking to go all-in, not today. But can we agree this is the step toward something?” I confidently request, when inside I feel as though I’m pleading.
“Depends. Can do one thing for me?” Her eyes stay fixed deep into my own.
“Anything.”
“Kiss me.”
A curve draws along my mouth because that is a request I very much enjoy. “You never have to ask.”
I lower my mouth to seal my lips onto hers, halfway between gentle and punishing hard. Tasting cider, I get dizzy with lust. I coax her mouth open to offer me more, my tongue sliding in to duel with her own. Her moan is a signal to my body to come alive and scream that I really want this, I want her.
Her arms loop around my neck and her leg moves up, causing my dick to stiffen with excitement and press into her core. I’m not sure when our mouths part or when they reunite, but somehow we are still breathing, despite all of my air entwining with her breath and kisses.
It’s only when I feel her chest moving up and down against my own do I part barely, as she feels like she may explode beneath me.
I quickly trail kisses down her neck and back up to the corner of her mouth as she catches her breath. Retreating my head back slightly, I admire her swollen lips and her eyes looking at me with satisfied thirst.
“Show-off.” She smiles, and we lie there lost in one another’s eyes as my finger glides along her pink cheek.
But then her face turns a shade of white. Kelsey begins to push me away, and I get the hint as she rolls over and scurries to her feet just in time for her vomit to land next to a stack of hay.
My jaw drops in astonishment, as I’m slightly in shock how our perfect kiss took a ninety-degree turn.
In horror, I hear her heaving as the color of cider showers the dirt. I carefully and slowly make my way to her and drop a hand on her back, somehow thinking that may help.
It’s a minute later when she looks up at me, completely drained. She appears embarrassed, proven by the fact she throws a hand over her face.
“Wow, I’ve never had that reaction to my kissing skills,” I quip.
She peeks through two fingers. “That didn’t just happen,” Kelsey mumbles, completely mortified.
I can only humorously stare at her as I begin to rub her arm. “Was I that bad, have I lost my game?”
“No, the opposite. That was the excitement in my body stopping at my belly, high-fiving the baby, then forming some fiesta in my stomach and deciding it needed to come out.”
She groans and slightly shakes her head. I reach for a bottle of water and a few crackers then offer it to her, helping her slowly to sit back down again.
“I’m so sorry,” she says. “Guess you’re going to have to talk to coffee bean that they need to learn to love the family brand.” Kelsey still looks ridiculously cute as sips from the water bottle.
“Damn, does that happen a lot? Throwing up?” I thought she wasn’t getting morning sickness, and we’re out of the first trimester too.
She smirks to herself. “No, I guess only when I get really turned on because an extremely hot guy kisses me.”
I raise a brow, as I like the direction of this conversation. “It’s a reoccurrence?”
“This was the first time. Hopefully now the kissing will be a more frequent occurrence.” Her wide beaming grin spreads, and I very much approve.
“Come on, let’s just lie down for a little,” I suggest.
We return to our backs, and I pull her close as my hand strokes her hair, and we lie there for what feels like hours.
“Can we forget about this? The throwing-up part?” she gently pleads.
“Not a chance. We’re telling the grandkids one day.”
She gives me a disgruntled sound. “I’m sorry this ruined your romantic setting.”
I peer down at her and grin. “Ah, are you saying that yes, Bennett, you know how to set the scene?”
“Yes,” she replies mundanely.
“When you’re feeling better, then I will dance with you right here. I even have a playlist.”
“Even though I probably smell of puke?”
I kiss the top of her head. “Worth it. You are gorgeous even now. Just relax, Kels, we have all the time in the world. Bonus points is I packed mints too.”
She laughs under her breath. “Prepared for anything.”
Sniffing her hair, I relish her, keeping her close. My answer is the simple truth. “Nah, I wasn’t prepared for you.” It’s soft, and I’m not sure she even heard me.
But it’s a simple fact. I didn’t plan for her, and I’m not exactly complaining.