Rey could smell breakfast before she had even stepped out of the shower: freshly fried eggs and sausage, to be exact, with a trace of butter that her senses presumed to be from toast. Breathing in the steam that lingered within the small space that was Ben's master bathroom, her mouth watered as the hearty aroma nipped at her taste buds.

Given the fact that her parental guardian was a renowned workaholic, the times during which she'd been able to recall smelling anything homemade at her apartment were rare. And those few times when Maz did actually cook felt more like a national holiday than the average, every day meal.

She hurriedly wrung the water from her drenched hair with a towel, leaving it to air dry to its natural wave. After dabbing the remainder of her body off, she proceeded to reach for her cheekiest pair of berry-blue boyshorts, brandishing blush-colored hearts from her duffle with an ivory tank. Bending to grab the pair of skinny jeans and hoodie that was left in the bag, a devious grin rippled across her face.

"Then, again, maybe not," Rey murmured and withdrew her hand from the articles of clothing, bearing in mind all that'd transpired between her and Ben the night before.

That fine line of refraining to engage in explicit acts of pleasure had officially been crossed, and Rey wondered how easy it would be to coax Ben into a recap before their trip to the ranch if she were to forego the other items of apparel during breakfast.

She tidied up what she could of her discarded belongings, including the borrowed towel and t-shirt of Ben's, before joining him in the kitchen. During her brief walk down the short corridor, leading from the dwelling's bedroom and bathroom to the kitchen and main sitting space, she realized that his apartment was just as plain as the timeline was to his Facebook.

Not much of the décor stemmed beyond the pad's basic necessities. There were a few photographs and blue ribbons nestled inside designated shadow boxes, situated accordingly on top of shelves among books in the 5-tier bookshelf that stood flanking the sliding door to the balcony.

A rustic-looking entertainment stand along the adjacent wall supported the 50-inch flat-screen television.  A spherical-shaped coffee table sat at the center of the charcoal, micro suede sofa and matching loveseat, harboring stacks of ungraded papers and a few agricultural textbooks. Two end tables were stationed at opposing sides of the sofa, each sustaining an hour glass-shaped lamp with an alabaster linen lampshade, matching the hue of the balcony's drawn-open curtains.

Rey made a mental note to examine the photographs at a closer range before she and Ben were obliged to leave. Now, her awareness was drawn to the fierce growl that extended from the hollow crater inside her stomach, and to the zesty aroma of breakfast sausage coming from the kitchen to her right. A small island counter, brandishing a pair of barstools, segregated the kitchen space from the rest of the main sitting space.

Ben was standing across from it, shirtless, his back facing her. Observing how oblivious he remained to her presence as he was busily distributing their food onto individual serving plates, Rey took the opportunity to come up behind him undetected. Drawing her bottom lip beneath an incisor, she padded her way quietly towards him, releasing a soft giggle when he flinched as her fingers came in contact with the bare skin of his shoulders.

"Something smells delicious," she purred, conferring soft kisses along the shallow rut between his shoulder blades. "What are you making?"

"Eggs," Ben murmured, unable to suppress his stiffening muscles as her fingers firmly massaged the plain of his shoulders up to the curvature of his neck. When she had finished, she lowered her hands to tunnel between his arms and sides, settling on his chest. It made the simple task of serving scrambled eggs from the skillet appear as if he was engaging in some sort of mad science experiment. "And sausage and toast."

"Sounds perfect," Rey uttered, rising upon her tiptoes to kiss where the exposed vertebrae protruded subtly at the base of his neck. Her lips quirked into a smile when she felt his muscles tremble as she drew her body closer to his, pressing her concealed breasts against the flesh of his back. "You're trembling for some reason."

Ben cleared his throat, consciously aware of how her mixture of words and motions was easily luring his cock into full mass. "Well, you are making it a little hard to concentrate," he chided sweetly from over his shoulder.

"Am I now?" Rey goaded, beaming a devilish smile as she drifted her hands to the waistband of his linen sleep pants. Brazenly, she teased the blunt tips of her nails along the brim. "I can stop if you want me to."

Ben swallowed thickly and shook his head. He moved to deposit the skillet to a bare space on the countertop before Rey seized his forearm firmly with her hand, urging him to cease his movement. 

"You can't quit working though," she commanded, slipping the fingers of her available hand beneath the bands of his trousers and briefs. "If you stop, I stop."

Ben bit his bottom lip and smirked. "I think I'll take my chances," he stated hoarsely. He suddenly whirled around without warning, scooping Rey up into his arms in a swift, fluid motion.

She gave a startled squeak and laughed as she threw her arms around his neck, legs strongly secured around his waist. He planted her bottom to the island countertop behind her, easing his punishing grip on her thighs once the cool surface came in contact with the bare flesh of her legs.

Now that Ben was able to take in the skimpy attire she'd chosen, his eyes progressively dimmed from their usual shade of honey to an intense brown. He grinned wolfishly, greedily taking in how the pebbled nubs of her nipples peaked through the thin fabric of her tanktop, and how the tight-knit of her boyshort undies clung mercifully to her upper thighs. It was then, he realized, that he'd developed a newfound fettish for that particular sort of lingerie.

"Do you have any idea what you do to me?" He growled, his voice conveying his intense passion. He seized her lips before she was able to reply, drawing her into a needy, vehement kiss.

She moaned contentedly over his lips, savoring the flavor as their tongues intermingled. Her hands blindly gravitated to the sides of his torso, legs remaining wound around his waist. She pressed her heels into the backs of his thighs, urging their bodies closer together. And when the hard bulge of his swollen cock caressed the moist fabric between her thighs, she suddenly longed to experience more of what he'd been holding back the night before.

"You may have to humor me then," she implored breathlessly over his mouth, feigning ignorance over the matter as he broke the kiss.

A low chuckle resounded from Ben's chest, and his attention diverged from her mouth to her neck, prolonging his awareness over areas he remembered to be more susceptible to arousing her gentle sighs. As he drew closer to the nape of her ear, his heated kisses tapered to be less indulgent and gentler.

"As you wish, sweetheart," he whispered huskily into her ear, hands constricting their grasp on her hips.

The way that Ben uttered the words damned her into wanting to feel him more than ever. Goosebumps rippled over the flesh along her neck and shoulders, sending a tremor of chills down her spine to the fervor raging in her mound.

She must've surprised him when she instinctively ground her crotch against the swollen bulge in his pants, eliciting the sharp hiss that she heard escaping his lips. She expected him to chide her (again) about waiting, encouraging her to take things slower as he did the night before.

But much to her surprise, this time, he didn't.

Instead, Ben pulled her closer to the edge of the counter, her ass partially sitting on its surface while his hands firmly held her steady. Her arms snaked between his to his back, cupping her hands over the brims of his shoulders.

Their hips rocked in unison, relishing the friction of their clothing and movements. Rey pressed her forehead to his, the warmth their stilted breaths merged within the diminutive space that was separating her lips from his. Neither was able to decipher whose throttled cries belonged to whom as they hurdled over the edge into the abyss, clinging to one another as they came.

Ben had to force himself to remain standing, the muscles in his legs becoming loose and unstable. Firmly planting his palms to the hard surface at either side of Rey, he bore the entirety of his weight onto the hard surface for additional support. Rey maintained her grip on him for a moment longer, head propped against his upper torso, it moved with his heaving gasps for air. Slowly, she skimmed the pads of her fingers down the plain of his back, a series of soft kisses trailing along the jut of his collarbone.

His chuckle sounded hoarse when his senses finally returned to normal, enough to at least press his lips slowly to her shower-dampened hair, muffling his voice. "I think I better shower before I eat."

Rey snickered and nodded. "I'm sorry," she confessed, puckering her bottom lip in guilt.

Ben shook his head, kissing her where his lips were lingering. "I'm not."

**

Rey nibbled at her soggy piece of toast in silence, aside from the mellow hums of water running through pipes hidden within the drywall of Ben's apartment. After Ben had gone through the trouble of making them a delectable breakfast before – well – before their interests strayed to more enjoyable matters, she couldn't find it in her heart to waste something that was still considerably edible.

However the sound of her incisors gnashing at the cold, buttery slice of yeast provided to be a feeble distraction from the fact that it took a ridiculous amount of restraint to not follow him into the bathroom. Why was it so hard not to act like a complete, nonsensical nymphomaniac whenever she was around him?

Unfortunately, the toast was only able to serve its purpose for so long until she'd taken the last bite, which led to her attention drifting over towards the bookshelf of books and pictures inside the dwelling's main extent from her seat at one of the island's barstools. Her curiosity wound up driving her to investigate further into that part of Ben's earlier life, which still eluded her. Because it wasn't necessarily considered 'snooping' if it was blatantly being held on display in plain sight, right?

She quickly deposited her now empty dish inside the dishwasher, gulping down the remaining ounce of orange juice that was left at the bottom of her glass. Arms folded over the front of the hoodie that she'd pulled on before eating, she ambled from the tile floor onto the living room's carpet, eyes fixed on the framed photograph that was nestled in a nook up on the highest shelf of a teenage Ben and his horse.

He couldn't have been much older than 16-years of age, but his expressive eyes and large ears extending beyond the shorter layers of raven hair were dead giveaways that the boy was indeed him. She found herself fawning over how much she adored his somewhat geeky appearance more than she should've, and mulled over the fact that he was significantly scrawnier in those earlier days than the hulk of a man that he'd grown into.

Then, her gaze briefly turned to Kylo, the noticeable scar on his face being the only indication that it was the same horse she visited on a weekly basis. His mane was carefully styled into button braids, a fashion commonly used in the English-style show class. She recognized the Morgan's famed sense of pride, holding his head at the utmost highest.

Seeing Kylo in that specific sort of posture reminded Rey of the day when Ben first allowed her to ride him. The more she continued regarding the pair in the image, the more she realized that the only time she saw that glimmer of happiness in Ben's eyes was whenever they were at the ranch.

Hands splayed on her knees, she knelt to a crouching position, gaining a better view of the shadow boxes positioned on the lower shelves; although, one in particular had been the first to capture her undivided attention. It was the only image she'd seen where Han was photographed (and standing) alongside a seemingly older Ben, both beaming the same crooked grin that never ceased to make her heart skip a beat. It also included Kylo in the background, and the blue ribbon Ben earned with his first place win that day.

Furrowing her brows, she tentatively reached for the frame and rose to her full height, unaware that the shower was no longer running and that Ben had begun entering the room. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips, recognizing the object that had easily commanded her interest. He casually cleared his throat, earning a sheepish smile from Rey as she glanced over her shoulder. She watched him as he came to a stand beside her, hands buried inside his denim pockets.

"I figured that those might pique your interest," he admitted, elevating a brow in her direction with a smirk.

Rey nodded and gladly handed him the frame when he extended a hand, freeing the other from its previous confinement.

"I just got done eating actually. I was waiting for you," she explained, casually shrugging her shoulders while drawing her arms into a loose fold. They shared a peaceful moment between them, then a poignant expression distorted his face. Frowning, she decided to be the one who broke the tension. "When was this taken?"

With his eyes remaining fixed on the picture, Ben rubbed a hand over his mouth, muffling his words. "About a few weeks into my freshman year of college," he recalled, giving the photo to Rey with a pained grimace. "It was the last competition of the season. Actually, it was my last altogether."

Rey regarded him momentarily, considering whether she should risk revisiting every question he'd purposely shot down in the past. As always, her persistence won out over her initial hesitation, and she returned the box to its former place on the shelf before pressing further on the topic.

"Ben," she started carefully, "why did you quit?"

Ben blinked, recalling that period of hardship which drove him to leave all his former aspirations in its wake. For years he carried that burden in a silence hidden deep in his chest. At first, he showed no signs of relenting as he turned on a bare heel, taking a seat at the rounded table nearby, elbows burrowing into his thighs.

"Ben?" Rey repeated, approaching him with apprehension.

Ben took a breath and raised his chin to see Rey hovering over him, with a genuine look of concern. He swallowed heavily and nodded, hands fidgeting to draw his awareness from the revealing twitch beneath his eye. She waited patiently for him to speak.

"Before you, Rey, there was someone else. And she was someone I thought I loved and planned to marry one day," he confessed with regret. "To say that my parents disapproved of her would be putting it mildly," he smirked. "They couldn't quite pin down what it was about her that made them feel the way they did, other than just being interested in money that breeding horses can have the tendency to provide and that was it."

Rey nodded while shifting the weight on her feet, encouraging him to continue.

"Anyway, she made it clear to me on multiple occasions that she wasn't fond of horses – especially Kylo," he snorted dryly. "Go figure, right? But I wanted her to be a part of that world with me, and I thought that by using my experience of helping teach other students to ride, I could persuade her to change her mind by teaching her – show her how amazing they can be."

Rey perked her brows slightly at his words, gaining a weak smile from Ben. "Yeah, I loved teaching, so I jumped at the opportunity. That ranch was my life – as much if not more than my parents'. I had every intention taking it over when they wanted to retire."

Rey nodded and took a seat next to him, her shoulder nudging his. "And you still want to, don't you?"

Ben slowly tilted his chin to face her, enabling her to fully see the sorrow glossing his eyes. He didn't answer her, but she knew better than to second guess what she already knew to be true. But rather than rummaging her mind for words of comfort, she placed a hand to the sleeve of his Henley, offering reassurance through a tender squeeze. "What happened, then?"

"She gave in," he continued. "Reluctant, obviously, but I was able to give her one lesson. My father was exercising Kylo in the training arena that day and I had her working with Cody." His eyes clouded at the recollection and he looked at his hands, tensley flexing his jaw. "Since it was my first year of college, he insisted so that Kylo would stay in shape for competing. It was going great. At least, I thought it was until something triggered Kylo, and my father lost control over him. Kylo started kicking and bucking, acting wildly. Of course, I had to keep Cody in line since Kylo's outburst started sending him over the edge."

His voice lowered to a whisper then. "To make a long story short, Kylo reared up and lost his footing. He fell and my father was paralyzed from the waist down. My girlfriend left, shocked and horrified by the incident, as she had already felt uncomfortable around horses, and told me before leaving that I'd make an abysmal teacher. And I believed it."

Rey sat quietly for a moment, allowing her mind to process all she'd been told. Everything had started to make sense: why Ben was so nervous when he first brought her to the ranch, why he was easily angered when he no longer held control over complicated situations, and why he so willingly abandoned his dreams.

Releasing her grip on his hands, she brought her hand up to his hair, smoothing the disheveled strands that'd fallen over his face. At her touch, he finally summoned the courage to look at her, and saw there was nothing but empathy in her eyes.

"What happened was not your fault," she whispered encouragingly, dropping her hand to the plain of his back. "It was a terrible, freak accident that could've happened if you hadn't been there. What she said was nothing more than an easy cop-out to make her feel less guilty, regardless of what her motives were. Aside from everything that's happened, your parents love you. I'm positive if you decided to change your mind, they wouldn't object."

His eyes flickered over hers, wanting to just simply kiss her and tell her that none of it mattered. If he hadn't decided to put aside those previous dreams and choosing to teach Agriculture, she never would have come into his life. Right now, having Rey with him was enough to fill that certain void. 

His shoulders flinched at the intrusive sound of his phone shuddering over the end table where he'd left it earlier that morning, wishing he'd been able to disregard the message from Leia after viewing what the text had read.

"Jesus fucking Christ," he growled through gritted teeth, violently shoving the phone into his back pocket. "We have to go."

"What happened?" Rey asked, jumping to her feet.

Ben muttered a variety of obscenities under his breath while snatching his keys that'd fallen to the carpet the night before, replying with a vague yet coherent version of Leia's message to the carpet. "Just Kylo doing what he does best."

**

"Why in the fuck was he in the stall?" Ben bellowed to Leia, directing a finger to the entrance of the barn, where the new worker had recently exited.

"It was my fault, Ben," Leia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I had asked him to take the horses out to their pastures and I completely forgot to remind him that Kylo was off limits to any member of the staff besides us. He just started yesterday."

Ben eyed her accusingly and snorted. "You forgot?" He sneered, eyeing the damage that'd been done to Kylo's stall. The entire mid-section of boards to the side had been destroyed, completely bashed open from the Morgan's temperamental outburst towards the Solos' newest employee. "Kylo is –extremely hard to forget when it comes to –."

Leia raised a hand to silence him, and Ben begrudgingly ended his rampage of words. Retrieving her hand, her arms again folded over her chest. "We need the help. We're losing what few experienced workers we have here due to exams. They're under no obligation to be here other than loving this place as much as we do." Her voice began to soften the longer she spoke. "And I'm not at the age where I can keep doing this by myself anymore, Ben. I'm sorry – I can't."

The conversation between Leia and Ben faded into the distance as Rey exited the barn's rear outlet, wanting to give them a moment of privacy to discuss the issues in regards to the sensitive topic. Wielding a brush in her hand, she ambled towards the enclosure of Kylo's pasture, where he greeted her at the fence.

"Hey, boy," Rey hailed to him softly with a smile. She climbed up the few rows of wooden boards with ease, straddling a leg on either side at the top. "I heard you've been naughty."

He hung his head over the fence's top plank before her, breathing a loud grunt in reply that made her laugh. She stroked the brush's bristles along the wide plain of his neck, seeing his ears perk when they both caught a drift of Ben's voice coming from the stable.

"You miss him, don't you?" She asked quietly, repeating her motions with the brush. "Don't worry, I'm working on him. He's just being kinda stubborn."

"I've been told that he gets it from me."

Rey gasped, giving a startled squeak to the unexpected sound of Han's voice, whom she was surprised to see approach Kylo's paddock in what appeared to be a new electric wheelchair.  She stammered over her words at first, not knowing whether or not to step away from Kylo and beg the man for his forgiveness. She looked to Kylo when he gave a loud snort to the newcomer. Withdrawing his head from over the fence, he retreated to the pasture as Han drew closer, tail whipping wildly in the cool breeze.

"Think he hates me," Han mumbled dryly, meaning it to not be a question.

Rey swallowed heavily and nervously skimmed her nails over the bristles of the brush. "I'm sorry," she confessed, regarding him warily. "I know you said that you didn't want me out here but –."

"Don't worry about it, kid," Han interrupted, a smile tugging at a single corner of his lips. "I'm very well aware of the new friend he's made beside Ben."

Blinking, her head reared back in shock of the admission. "You mean – you've known all this time and never said anything?" To which Han nodded, leaving Rey utterly speechless for a moment as she searched for the right words to say. "Why?"

Why? That's all you can come up with, Kanata?

Han's lips stretched into a frown as he stared at Kylo, worrying the chair's joystick between his fingers. "I can't believe how well that horse has taken to you. We could use someone else who's not afraid of him and can put him at ease."

Rey drew her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded, repressing the small smile. "He's not that bad really," she confessed, giving her shoulders a relaxed shrug.

"Yeah," he grunted, shaking his head. "I suppose I should admit that I'm glad we kept him, even if he is a prick most of the time."

Rey was almost certain she hadn't heard him correctly. Every word that the man was saying, highly contradicted everything she'd heard from him about Kylo since she had come to know Han. After a few minutes of prolonged silence, hearing nothing but the soft whinnies of horses lingering in the distance, her vocal chords slowly regained their momentum to speak. "What changed your mind?"

Han was quiet for a moment, his look was a mixture of being somewhat amused yet troubled. "Because that horse is the only thing that's kept our family together in some way: Ben was never much of a social person. Leia and I always had our hands full here. I couldn't take away the one thing that's ever given him happiness when we were unable to." He paused again, his expression one of  remorse. "And the accident was nobody's fault but my own. I'm the one who pushed the idea of wanting to work Kylo while Ben was away – I knew the risk and I took it. And I wound up paying for it."

Rey nodded. "I know," she replied knowingly. "And I think Ben knows it, too."