Innocence Lost (Lone Mountain Ranch Book 1)

Chapter 5

Kylie felt a yawn coming on, so she flicked on the radio to help energize herself. She had less than an hour to go.

Kylie loved listening to country music when she was a kid. It brought back fond memories of her childhood growing up in the small, rural community in Idaho filled with country music, open fields for riding, and the friendliest people. It was so different from the city life she led now.

Appropriately enough the song was about love. The car continued up the road, and the words made Kylie wonder, Did Zane even love me? He has never said those words to me once the entire time we have been together. He wrote plenty of love songs, which he told her he wrote for her. Now, she questioned if that was the truth. Maybe they were actually about the other woman in his life. Kylie would never know for sure. It would be hard for her to believe Zane again after what he did to her. She had never felt so stupid in her life.

Kylie loved Zane. That much she knew. Now she realized love was not enough for her. She also needed trust. Zane ruined their trust with one single kiss. Maybe for him it was always lust, not love. Maybe he only enjoyed having a warm bed to come home to after being on a bus with the guys for so long. Although, if all the rumors were true, it did not seem like he had trouble keeping his own bed warm while on tour.

Zane was certainly an amazing physical lover. She wondered if she would ever feel his touch again. Kylie wondered how many months had passed since she last fucked Zane. Too many to count, and she was really craving it. Her skin flushed with desire. A throbbing sensation grew between Kylie's legs as she drove.

Tonight, she needed to satisfy the hunger that had been bubbling under the surface for way too long. Her emotions were getting the best of her, and she needed a release. The aching between her legs and the aching in her heart were so intertwined, she could not separate the two anymore. Kylie squeezed her thighs together. A shiver rippled through her body.

Kylie turned up the volume, hoping to overpower her thoughts with the music. She distracted herself by tapping her fingers against the wheel to the beat of the song. She needed to stop crying, so she would not look like a crazy, hot mess when she checked in. She took a deep breath and calmed herself.

She could not wait to be alone, all alone, for maybe the first time in her life. It would give her time to figure out what she wanted for her future.

The driveway to Lone Mountain Ranch was marked by a low, white brick fence, and a discreet sign on the left. Rows of sycamore trees lined the driveway. Kylie would have missed the entrance if she had not been staring at this very image of the ranch all week long on her work computer.

Kylie pulled in and immediately noticed how peaceful the ranch was. A sense of calm washed over her. After the intense and emotionally draining drive, she was ready for peace and quiet. She drove slowly towards the main office. In the distance, she could see the barn and corrals. Beyond them, Lone Mountain shot up out of nowhere, the sun was starting to set behind it, and the remaining rays highlighted the top of the mountain perfectly, as if it was an angel in a renaissance painting surrounded with a halo of light.

Immediately on her right, two horses enjoyed their last free moments of the evening in a fenced in field. One was a chestnut horse with a reddish-brown body and a mane and tail in the same color. The other one was a cremello, a pale cream horse with a white tail and mane and crystal clear blue eyes. Kylie was glad that her knowledge of horses was coming back to her. She stopped for a moment to watch the two playing together. They looked so happy as they nibbled at each other's necks and frolicked in the field. The pit in her stomach released, and she knew Olivia was right. This was exactly what she needed.

She continued down the drive, watching the horses out of the corner of her eye, when she noticed a man working on a fence along the road. Kylie felt like a bolt of lightning had hit her at the sight of him. He was wearing fitted, black Wranglers, a red and black plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up over his large biceps, and a black cowboy hat and boots. He looked even hotter than the cowboys on the website. Kylie was excited.