Kimber's Daughter - Tommy Shelby x Reader Fan Fic

Chapter 35

"You'll have to think of a name for her."

Tommy stepped forward slowly and I moved beside him, both of us approaching the mare in the arena stalls. Her grey coat looked even paler in the overcast light of Small Heath.

"I still can't believe she's mine," I said softly.

"You'd best get used to it, Kimber. Here, I'll show you how to saddle her up."

Tommy moved his hands over mine, showing me how to carry the saddle, how to tighten the girth and adjust the stirrups. His skin against mine set all my nerve endings alight, and it took me a moment to focus and remember what he was telling me. I thought the spark between us would have fizzled out after last night, now the tension had broke, but it seemed to only rebuild again each time.

"You've really never saddled one before?" Tommy asked.

"Nobody would teach me how." I swallowed. "They knew it would anger my father." Tommy was silent, jaw clenched around a cigarette. "I got pretty good at washing them though," I said light-heartedly. "Managed to figure that out for myself."

Tommy didn't speak for a moment as he adjusted the bridle. Then, "I couldn't understand why you didn't leave that day we set you free. Go back home. I think I do now."

"I don't want him to die, Tommy." I was quiet. "I hate him. But I don't want to kill him."

He was my father, after all. And no matter how angry I was with him, how much I hated how he'd treated me my whole life, I could almost understand him. Our world was dangerous. He'd brought a child into it. He'd tried to protect me, and even though the way he went about it had made me miserable, his intentions hadn't been bad. Or maybe I just felt guilty now that I'd betrayed him. Even after them kidnapping me, I'd chosen the Shelby's over my own father.

Tommy tilted his head to look at me. "And if you had to choose between him or one of us?"

"Polly asked me almost the same thing, after you'd been shot."

"You killed one of his men," Tommy said. He was impassive once more, emotions totally concealed. "If you stay with us, you'll have to kill more."

I stepped closer beside him, ready to mount the horse. "I've made my decision, Tommy," I told him quietly. "I just haven't reconciled it all in my mind yet."

Tommy took a deep breath and sighed. He raised his eyebrows and held out his hands. "Jump on."

I placed my knee into his hands and he lifted me onto the horse. I had proper riding clothes now, courtesy of the bags of clothes Tommy had bought me, and so the thick layer of my jodhpurs created a barrier between his fingers and my thigh. A shiver still ran through me.

I tried to appear more confident than I felt as I squeezed the mare into motion and we headed to the indoor arena.

"Do you own these premises?" I asked Tommy, who was walking beside us.

"Not these ones," he answered. "We just pay a fee to house her and feed her. Our racing stables are all full, and Aunt Pol frowns on us mixing business with pleasure."

"She must hate me then," I said.

"Actually, I think she quite likes you. Said you've got the brains for the books, at least."

"I'll need to do those when we're back." Tommy stayed at the entrance to the arena, so I had to turn around on horse back to address him. "And when it comes to horses, I don't understand how you could ever distinguish between business and pleasure."

Tommy's eyes twinkled. "I'll show you where we house the racers later. Then you'll understand."

**

Half a day later, and we were at the racehorse stables, lingering in a barn full of haybales after Tommy gave me a tour. My head began to spin.

"So the track rider and the jockey are separate people?" I asked.

"Usually," Tommy said.

"And nobody else can ride the horses?"

"Not until they're retired."

I frowned. "But I did."

"Believe it or not, Kimber, I'm used to bending the rules for you." His fingers grazed against mine.

"I don't believe it for a minute," I breathed.

Tommy brought my fingers to his lips and kissed my hand. "Do you need me to remind you?"

I glanced around. "Here?"

"Why not?" He wrapped his arms around my waist. "Nobody would disturb us."

"And here I thought you didn't mix business with pleasure."

"Aunt Polly doesn't," Tommy corrected me, nuzzling into my neck. "I really couldn't give a shit."

I sighed into Tommy. I couldn't blame him for being insatiable, because I was too. Now I'd had a taste of him all I wanted was to be his, wrapped up in each other. The taste of whiskey and cigarettes on his lips, the scent of woodsmoke on his skin, his electric blue eyes rolling back in his head. I was just as addicted to him as I was to the feeling of knowing I had power over him, that I could make him feel this way.

I made Thomas Shelby vulnerable.