Stepbrother Soldier: A Forbidden Military Romance Novel (10 page)

“I’ll do whatever
it takes to help,” Ashton said, drawing his eyes to mine. I reached out and
took his hand, the contact feeling more natural now.

“Well, you can start by telling me everything you know about what
happened in the Navy. And I want to go into town to check my e-mail and start
getting in touch with people today,” I said. Ashton flinched.

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea yet…maybe we
should wait a little while,” he said.

“Why? Wait for what?” I asked. I’d put the hardest part behind me,
which was just
saying
the words for
the first time. Now, he wanted to wait?

“Well, he might be monitoring you. I don’t know, he’s got friends in
high places. If you use your personal accounts and they trace it….”

“Then, what? He’ll know where I am? So what? Let him. What’s he gonna
do, kill me? Even
he
couldn’t sweep
that under the rug,” I said. “We’re going to expose him, anyway. Let him find
me.”

“She’s right,” Jane said, leaning in towards us. “Ain’t no use hiding.
Longer you hide, harder it’s gonna get to come forward. If you want to do
something, sooner’s always better’n later.”

“Alright, alright,” Ashton said, pushing his seat
back as he stood. “Let’s go, then.”

“I need to get dressed,” I said, gesturing to the
old-fashioned nightgown I was wearing.

“Hold on, now. I have a better idea for you two,” Jane said, a strange
sparkle in her eye. “You, my dear, need a little more time. I like your spirit,
I like that you want to just jump right back into it, but I’m older, and I’m
smarter, and I think you ought to take a day.”

“I can’t wait, though! Every second…”

“Doesn’t matter. You gone through somethin’ awful, you don’t just
throw yourself into the pit right back again. You two go on a horse ride, huh?
Somethin’ nice and easy to give you a little rest. Tomorrow, first thing,
Ashton, take ‘er down to the library and she can get to work. Now, you don’t
have to listen to me, no. But if you were smart, you would. Just trust me, you
gonna feel a lot better after a nice long day of riding.”

I wasn’t so sure, but I also already had deep respect for Jane, and
kind of felt like I would move to Guam and start harvesting seahorses if she
told me it was the right thing to do. I was itching to get moving again, to
reach out and start figuring out how exactly to attack the Admiral, but then
again the idea of having one whole day to just be myself, out in nature, where
nothing could catch me…that seemed quite nice.

Ashton seemed enamored with the idea. I could tell by the way his eyes
lit on mine, all full of hope, that he would much prefer to spend a day on
horseback than ferrying me to town.
One
day won’t change anything,
I thought to myself, desperately wanting to
please everyone, including myself. It had been a long time since I got to ride
horseback, and it was something I’d always enjoyed.

Besides, I figured, nothing really good ever came from acting too
quickly. It had only been a day and a half, after all, since the Admiral
attacked me, and I still needed to let things settle. A day of physical
activity, outdoors, would probably do me good.

“Okay, okay,” I said, using the same resigned tone that Ashton has
used when I asked him to take me to town. “That’s not the worst idea. Another
day won’t make that much difference, and we will be plenty safe here, right?”

“Safe as you’d be anywhere else, I reckon. Give me a minute here and
I’ll take you out to the barn. I think I got some extra boots…”

13

It was a nice day, a bit chilly but I would have been comfortable in
the shorts I’d worn the day before. I wished I had other clothes to wear; the
ones I had felt dirty, both from the long day of travel I’d endured in them and
from the fact that I’d been wearing them when the Admiral attacked me. I
figured we could pick up new clothes in town the next day. Just before I pulled
my shirt on, though, there was a knock at the door to the bedroom.

“I got some old jeans and a shirt here for ya,” Jane’s voice came from
the other side. “I ain’t worn ‘em since I was your age, they’ll probably fit
okay. I’ll leave them out here by the door.”

It was like she was a mind-reader, that woman could tell what you
really needed before you even had a chance to ask. The clothes she’d left
smelled like mothballs, but they did fit (though I certainly wouldn’t call it a
‘perfect fit’). The jeans were a little short, and the flannel button-down was
far from my usual wardrobe choice, but I was grateful just to have something
new to put on.

She’d also left a pair of riding boots, only a half a size away from
my size, and a pair of socks. When I finished dressing, I looked at myself in
the mirror. I almost couldn’t recognize myself. It wasn’t just the strange
clothes; it was the whole experience of seeing myself in the strange room, bags
under my eyes from stress.

But somehow, overall, I felt…new. I felt like a different girl than
I’d been two days ago, but not necessarily a
worse
girl. Maybe Jane’s words in the kitchen had sunk in more than
I knew, because looking in the mirror then, I felt strong.

I met Jane and Ashton in the living room. She’d found clothes for him,
too, it seemed, and I had to stifle a giggle. The pants he was wearing were way
too tight for his lean but muscled frame, and the shirt was a ridiculous shade
of purple. He was wearing an old cowboy hat, too, and boots. He looked like a
gay rancher. A
handsome
gay rancher,
but a gay rancher nonetheless.

“Lookin’ good,” Jane said, herding us out the front door and around
the house. “I think you should ride Torpo, Ashton, if I recall, you aren’t the
best rider around. Christy, you a good rider? Much experience?”

“I was, I guess, when I was younger, but I don’t
think I’ve been on a horse in ten years,” I said.

“Well, Jessup will do for you, then. He’s a mite skittish, but he
likes the ladies, alright, and he’ll be a good one for ya,” Jane said as we
approached the barn. You could already smell the deep, rich aroma of horses and
hay. She threw open the door, letting sunlight stream into the wooden building.

It all reminded me vividly of my childhood; we’d had one horse growing
up on the farm, a beautiful speckled mare named Crystal (I’d named her, way
back before I could have known that ‘Crystal’ was a name popular among
strippers). Like so much else in Jane’s home, it all felt welcoming and earthy
and safe.

I wandered down the rows of stalls until my eyes fixed on a grey horse
who was leaning over his stall curiously, staring at me as I stared at him. I
reached out and stroked his muzzle, feeling his warm breath against my hand.

“Well, that seals it,” Jane said from behind me. I read the plaque on
the stall;
Jessup.
So this was the
horse she was going to set me up with, anyway.

“Know how to saddle up?” She asked, gesturing to a row of saddles and
tack equipment against the far wall. I nodded.

“I don’t,” Ashton said, standing near the horse that Jane had
recommended for him, a strong-looking black stallion.
Suiting,
I thought, admiring the way the horse’s sleek black coat
seemed to accentuate Ashton’s bright blue eyes and fair skin.

“I’ll help you,” I said, moving towards the tack wall. Soon, we were
suited up in helmets and both horses were saddled and waiting impatiently just
outside the barn.

“There’s not much for scenery, but this trail here,” Jane said,
pointing to a well-worn path marked with hoofprints, “will take you through
those little woods over there.”

Off in the distance, there was a small but lush-looking line of trees.
As soon as I mounted Jessup he started moving, eager to be of use. I reigned
him in, waiting for Ashton to join me. He mounted in one easy, fluid motion,
and I was surprised at my body’s reaction to the visual of him astride the
formidable horse. He just looked so
good,
despite the silly outfit, and I recognized my own excitement. It was a
little scary, to be honest, but deep down I was already rejoicing.
I’m not broken after all,
I thought.

We waved at Jane as we started trotting down the path, the feel of
Jessup’s strong body underneath me a sort of magic. I’d felt better looking in
the mirror that morning, but now I felt almost invincible. I remembered the
feeling from my childhood.

For some people, horses were scary, but I’d always felt a deep
connection to them, and riding Crystal as a young girl had always filled me
with the same sense of invincibility. I urged Jessup to move faster, looking
over my shoulder to check on Ashton. He was keeping up, looking somewhat less
confident than I felt but very much in control of the gigantic steed underneath
him.

The beautiful thing was that we didn’t even have to speak. What would
we have said? Talked more about what happened, what we were going to do? I’d
had enough of that topic. I just wanted to be near Ashton without having to
talk to him, strange as that sounds. The steady clop of the horses’ hooves
against the hard, dusty ground was as good as conversation to me.

I pulled back on the reins as we approached the woods, which couldn’t
have been more than two acres altogether but still offered a happy respite from
the otherwise bland landscape. It reminded me of the woods on the farmhouse in
Kansas, which inevitably reminded me of losing my virginity to Ashton.

Jessup and I moved easily through the trees, the ground there soft
with pine needles. No longer trotting, I sat back against the saddle, enjoying
the smell and feel of the woods. It took me a few minutes before I realized I
was enjoying something else, too.

I’d forgotten all about the way a saddle feels between your legs,
gently swaying back and forth in time with the horses’ movement. As a young
girl, it hadn’t been so strong, but now, with my sexual awakening so new and
fresh in my mind and body, I felt a stirring in my lower tummy as I rode.

The hard leather rubbed between my legs, and even though the denim
jeans were heavy I could feel my pussy reacting ever-so-slightly. I closed my
eyes, fighting the urge to chase the feeling away. I was afraid to feel good
like that again, but I was more afraid of never feeling it again. I didn’t
think I’d be ready so soon, but my body was telling me that I was.

Flashes of the Admiral’s assault on my body jarred my thoughts, but I
gritted my teeth, letting the flashes come and go, giving them no place to take
root and ruin the burgeoning desire inside me. I looked back at Ashton again;
he was leaning forward, one hand stroking Torpo’s neck. His muscles underneath
the silly purple shirt were taut, his strong hands wrapped around the reins,
the tight jeans making his thigh muscles stand out even more than usual.

My heart skipped a beat and I turned back to the path in front of me,
feeling myself flush. I thought of the Admiral’s tongue in my mouth, let the
thought dissolve almost as quickly as it came. Light was streaming between the
trees, speckling the ground, alighting on my body. The slow pace, the rubbing,
the dappled sunlight, all started to lull me into a semi-sleepy state, and I
let my mind drift up and down: flashes of the Admiral, flashes of Ashton, a
sort of low-level war going on inside my mind.

We had been riding for about two hours when we finally reached what
seemed to be the end of the forest; the horses turned automatically on a
looping path that would take us back out.

“Aren’t you boiling?” Ashton called from behind me. His voice jerked
me out of my daze; the day
had
turned
rather warm, and the heavy flannel I was wearing was growing sweaty. I turned
back to Ashton; he’d taken off the purple shirt, had it draped in front of the
saddle.

One glance at his bare torso was all it took to finish the struggle in
my brain: if you could only have seen how he looked in that moment! Deep blue
eyes, crooked grin, his face half-shadowed by the cowboy hat, chest sculpted
like a Greek god, his hands bunched around the reins, controlling the majestic
black horse. It was like something off the cover of a cheesy romance story,
except it was real life, and it was
my
life.

My man.

There was no question about it now: I was ready. Between the visual of
Ashton and the friction of the rocking saddle underneath my slit, the last
thing on my mind was the Admiral or anything he’d done to me.

Relief washed through me; have you ever actually been
happy
to be horny? I wanted to feel
normal again, and if it was going to start with a return to the desire to fuck
the brains out of my stepbrother, that was fine. It may not be anyone else’s
normal, but it would do for me.

At that point, I was more than ready for the ride to be over. I
clicked my heels against Jessup’s haunches, speeding him up, letting my pussy
slide up and down against the saddle, my clit slowly coming to life.

“What’s the rush?” Ashton called from behind me; I heard Torpo’s hoof
beats speed up to match Jessup’s. I didn’t respond, just looked over my
shoulder once more. Now, Ashton was leaning forward, his broad shoulders
bunched up, his bottom lip between his teeth as he concentrated on maneuvering
through the forest. My heart just about exploded, and I fought the urge to kick
Jessup into a full trot.

“I just…I want to get back,” I called out, my mind racing with dirty
thoughts. We cleared the woods in 45 minutes and were out on the wide plain
once more; reining Jessup back, I turned once more to Ashton.

“Can you gallop?” I asked, aware of the edge in my voice, wondering if
it was obvious from my flushed face and jittery demeanor what was going through
my mind. Ashton shook his head no.

“I’m not that comfortable on horses,” he
admitted.

“Well, you could have fooled me. It’s easy, really, just hold yourself
up in your stirrups,” I said, demonstrating on my own saddle. He mimicked my
movement; his strong thighs were perfect for the demanding exercise. The jeans
were tight enough to leave just enough to the imagination. It was all I could
do not to dismount right there and pull him down onto the ground and pull them
off. I wasn’t just horny; I was practically salivating with desire.

Turning once more, I kicked Jessup’s haunches and he burst into a
gallop, raising dust around us in the cloud. Wind swept my hair back and I
closed my eyes, letting the sense of freedom whip through me as we raced
underneath the wide, blue sky.

Opening my eyes once more, I noticed that Ashton and Torpo had caught
up to me and were galloping in step with Jessup and I; Ashton’s muscles rippled
as he held himself steady, his eyes fixed on the horizon. My own thighs quaked
slightly as another wave of desire ripped through me. We couldn’t get back fast
enough, in my opinion.

Soon, we could make out the farmhouse in the distance. I wondered,
briefly, if we should have stayed in the forest; if Jane was around, we might
not have much privacy. But it was too late now, and it was far too late for me
to ignore the yearning in my body.

“Hold up,” Ashton called, breathless, from my side. I pulled back on
Jessup’s reins, slowing to a trot. “Shit, that’s a workout.”

“Yeah,” I said back, distracted. I didn’t want to slow down. I was
burning up. Every minute was torture. Now, with my pussy once more pressing up
and down against the saddle, I could feel myself growing wet. My legs were
already sore from riding, but that pain was nothing compared to the desire. The
farmhouse grew larger and larger as we approached; we’d gotten back in half the
time it took us to get to the end of the trail. I could make out Jane’s figure
in the back of the house, hanging up clothes on a line.

It took another 15 long minutes to get to the barn. I dismounted
quickly, just as Jane appeared around the side of the wooden building.

“I didn’t expect you back so soon,” she said.
“You musta hustled.”

“Yeah, I…I, uh, forgot how fun it is to race,” I said, my legs
buckling slightly as I got re-accustomed to standing. Beside me, Ashton hopped
off as well. His chest was slick with sweat now, a strong, masculine scent
seeming to radiate from his body. It smelled like everything I wanted. My heart
was racing.