by Hamel, B. B.
I’m proud of this damn ranch, this place I built with my blood and sweat. And maybe some tears too, although I won’t admit that to anyone. I worked my damn ass off, took this nowhere ranch and made it into one of the best operations in the whole country. We’re lean and mean and have over 800 head of cattle, all free-range and certified organic. It’s hard work and not always fun, but we make a living and that’s enough for me.
Mostly, at least. I catch sight of the truck cresting over the hill and heading down into the valley where we built the main homestead. “She must’ve gotten up early if she’s here already.”
I glance over at Faye. The older woman’s wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, her hair tied up in a tight bun that never seems to come down except when she’s drinking. Her old boots are stained and falling apart but she won’t let me buy her a new damn pair for some reason.
“She’s punctual,” I say. “Told her to be here as early as she could.”
“Must like you a lot, huh?”
I grin at her. “Ever met a woman that didn’t?”
She gives me a flat stare. “You’re looking at her.”
I laugh a little. “Come on, Faye. You never thought about it? Me and you, a roll in the hay?”
She grins at me. “You couldn’t handle it. Besides, Carter would gut you and I just couldn’t have that on my conscience.”
I laugh and lean back against the fencepost again. Faye and Carter are a married couple that’ve been working on my ranch since it started. They have a little house a bit further down in the valley where they’ve been raising their daughter, a little spitfire named Jessie.
They’re good people. Hell, all the people that work for me are good people. I don’t think this place would exist if I didn’t have them.
No, I know it wouldn’t. I owe all this to the people that work this land with me, and I show them that respect. I pay them well, first of all, as well as I possibly can. They don’t know it, but I pay them all about as well as I pay myself.
Mostly it’s just about respect. I give them the respect they deserve and they return it in kind. We get along that way. I don’t care what my folks do in their lives, so long as they work hard and don’t do dangerous shit.
“You know, I can’t think of the last time you took a day off like this,” Faye comments.
“You can’t?”
“Nope. Definitely can’t.” She meets my gaze with a sly smile. “You must really like her, too.”
I laugh and start off toward Holly’s truck. “Just being a good neighbor.”
“Bozeman’s an hour away,” she calls out. “That’s not a neighbor.”
I just wave with a grin on my face. Holly parks her truck and climbs out and I take her body in again, unable to help myself.
She’s wearing jeans, boots, and a light gray sweater. Her honey-blonde hair’s down in a single long braid that probably hits the middle of her back. She’s lean with light green eyes, wide red lips, and a figure that makes my blood sing every time I let my gaze roam all over her.
I feel a little thrill in my chest as I approach. I haven’t felt this way about a woman in a very, very long time. Hell, I can’t remember the last woman I’ve wanted to be around for more than a few minutes at a time for anything other than work. I see plenty of girls around these parts, I get cowgirls coming through to work the land and I see plenty of women when I make my trips into town, but they don’t interest me much. Haven’t for years now.
I got that out of my system and then some. Back in the day, there wasn’t a single night that I’d go without fucking some new girl. And if it wasn’t a new girl, it was drugs or it was drinking. My life back then was one party after another, a never-ending fucking festival.
Until I walked away from it all.
“Morning,” Holly says.
“Morning. Didn’t think you’d make it.”
“Couldn’t help myself. The idea of sunrise over this place sounded too good to miss.” She frowns a little bit. “But it looks like I’m too late.”
“We’ve got a little time before it’s all the way up. Come on, let’s get saddled and ride out.”
She nods and follows me over to the barn. I have two horses set up for us and Faye’s just finishing up. “This is Sadie,” I say, gesturing at a smaller grayish brown mare. “She’ll be yours today.”
“Hi, Sadie.” Holly goes over and introduces herself to the horse while I help Faye get Brian saddled.
“I’m riding Brian,” I say.
“Brian?” Holly laughs. “That’s a weird name for a horse.”
“Told you,” Faye mutters.
“It’s a good name,” I say, glaring at the older woman. I turn back to Holly. “It was my father’s name, but he passed.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s a weird name for a horse. Don’t let him guilt you into anything,” Faye says, walking over to Holly. “My name’s Faye, I work around here.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Been on a horse before?”
Holly nods a little hesitantly. “I can ride. I’m not great.”
“Well, don’t worry. Sadie’s a sweet old broad, nice and slow, and Connor here will take care of you. Ain’t that right, Connor?”
“I’ll certainly take care of her,” I say, grinning at Holly. My smile only gets bigger when she blushes a little bit.
Faye helps her get set up and saddled while I mount Brian. When we’re all set, I double-check the saddlebags before waving at Faye. “We’ll see you later.”
The older woman waves and we head out. Brian takes the lead with Sadie walking just behind and to the right. These two horses know each other very well, which is why I wanted Holly to ride good old Sadie.
“Come on, I think we have a few minutes.” I head to the hill on our right, opposite where Holly came from. “If we hurry a little, we’ll catch the sun.”
“Okay,” Holly says.
She rides pretty well, I have to admit, as the horses pick their way up the rocky hillside path. They’ve done this climb a thousand times so I’m not worried, but Holly seems pretty decent with the reins. A little awkward and stiff, but she’s clearly done this before.
We reach the top of the hill just in time. I pull up and Holly comes to a stop next to me as we stare out across my land.
“Wow,” Holly whispers softly.
I can’t help but feel that pride again. The sun breaks up over the distant hills, spilling light over hundreds of pristine acres of wildland. There are streams and little ponds and the cattle are out grazing not too far. At least half the herd’s there, the other half over the ridge to the north at another good spot.
“Is this all yours?” she asks.
I nod, gesturing ahead of us. “All that for a good while’s mine, up until you hit state lands. I’ve got a lease on that so the cattle can graze there. We take them at least once a year.” I gesture to the east. “Got a few hundred acres that way too, up until you hit another ranch over there, past a few of the streams.”
“Really? Another ranch that close?”
I nod, frowning. “They’re the Bell family. We don’t talk much.”
She snorts. “That’s your polite way of saying you hate each other, right?”
“Pretty much.” I grin at her again. “Come on. Let’s ride for a while longer.”
We head out again, Brian in the lead, Sadie close on his heels. I smile and let the horse do most of the work, just enjoying the scenery as we amble down along my land.
It’s a beautiful day. Aside from the cattle, we have all manner of wildlife on our land. Elk, antelope, birds, squirrels, and plenty of fish, just to name a few. This is real wildland, and if we don’t tend it, nature would eventually take it all over.
We ride in silence for a while. I can tell Holly likes it by the look on her face. She’s smiling a little bit, her braid getting blown in the wind, her face turned upward toward the sun. The girl’s fucking radiant, if I’m being honest with myself
. I didn’t expect to meet someone like her out here, but there’s something different about her.
After an hour, I rein the horses in again and dismount. I help Holly down, my hands sliding up her hips. She gets to the ground and my hands move up her sides, ending just below her breasts. She looks over her shoulder at me, pink in her cheeks again. “Thanks.”
“Sure.” I hesitate a second, my hands lingering there longer than they should, but she doesn’t move. I pull away a second later. “I brought us something to eat.”
I pull out a Thermos of coffee and some sandwiches from my saddle pack. I spread out a blanket and we sit down on the crest of a smaller hill overlooking a little pond where elk sometimes like to stop for a drink. I pour her some coffee and hand her over a sandwich.
“I gotta ask,” I say, sipping the coffee. “What brought you out here?”
“Aside from the old lame horse?” She shrugs. “Not much.”
I grin at her. “Don’t insult Dodger.”
“Sorry. Guess I’m still sore.”
“Did you take it out on Roy?”
“A little bit. Not as much as he deserved.”
I nod and take a bite of my sandwich. “Really though. Why Montana? We don’t see a lot of new faces out here. We’re in the middle of nowhere, after all.”
She’s quiet for a second. “I moved here from New York,” she says. “You know, the big city.”
“Ah, city girl. Should’ve known.”
“You can’t tell.”
“Sure, I can. We all can.”
She rolls her eyes. “Everyone says they can tell, but I think that’s bullshit.”
I laugh and move a little closer. “You wanna hear a secret?”
“Go ahead, tell me.”
“It’s absolutely bullshit.”
She laughs and hits my shoulder. I grin back at her. “I knew it!” she says.
“Folks love to pretend like they can tell an authentic cowgirl from a city girl but truth is, unless you’re out here riding, you can’t tell anything at all.”
“Good thing I’m not a cowgirl.”
“Just a horse doctor.”
“That’s right,” she says proudly.
“How’d you end up in that?”
“I was doing medical stuff before and I figured, I don’t know. I like animals. Rode horses when I was a girl before it got too expensive. I guess I figured I could take care of horses as easily as I took care of people.”
“How’s that working out?”
She shrugs a little bit. “Horses can’t tell you what’s wrong but sometimes that’s a good thing.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“People complicate things.” She goes quiet and watches the wind blow over the water. I don’t push her, since I know exactly what she means.
I finish my sandwich and notice she’s hardly touching hers at all. I offer her more coffee, which she takes with a smile.
“Anyway, what about you?”
“What about me?” I ask. “I’m just a simple man running a ranch and living off the land.”
She smirks at me. “Somehow I doubt that.”
“Why’s that?”
She nods at my right wrist. “Tattoos, for one.”
I glance down and laugh. “You noticed?”
“Sure. Although your sleeves were rolled up last time I saw you, so it was a little easier to see then.”
I laugh again. “Damn. Well, ranchers can get inked, can’t they?”
“I guess so. But you mentioned starting this fifteen years ago. And I know you’re one of the biggest ranches around. So how’d you end up where you are?”
I shrug a little and watch her face. “I was born here. Left for school and came back not long after I finished it. I had a little money stashed away so… I started this.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Pretty vague. Exactly how much did you have stashed away if you could casually start… this?”
I grin at her. “Ain’t it rude to ask people about how much money they have?”
She shrugs a little bit. “I guess.”
“It was enough,” I say. “Anyway, I hired some good people that helped me learn the ropes. Faye’s one of them, Bryant another. You’ll meet some more if you hang around. I kept hiring good people and things just sort of… broke right for us. One thing leads to another and now we’ve got one of the biggest herds in the state.”
“Pretty impressive,” she says softly. “And you’re, what? Thirty-five?”
“Thirty-six,” I correct. “Again, isn’t it rude to inquire about someone’s age?”
She shrugs again and grins at me. “Guess I’m rude.”
“Guess so.”
We both laugh and I pour her some more coffee. “You said horses are easier than people. I guess you were a doctor before?”
“Surgeon actually,” she says. “But that was another life.”
I know better than to press. I’ve heard that tone of voice a thousand times, mostly coming out of my own mouth.
I sit back and stretch. She smiles at me and sits back herself. She asks me more about the land, about the neighboring ranch, about my cattle. I tell her about the people that work for me, about what it’s like being a rancher. She listens like she actually cares, and I actually think she might.
And we laugh. I don’t remember a woman making me laugh like this before. She pushes back against my shit and questions me when I’m vague. She doesn’t let me get away with anything, and I have to hand it to her, I really like it.
Two hours pass like that in the blink of an eye. It goes from early morning to nearly afternoon in a flash.
“You know, there are some old bridges down that way, over near the Bell ranch,” I say. “Pretty old things, and real solid, too. Built way before I ever came out here, probably some of the first stuff ever built out here, actually.”
“I’d love to see them.”
“Good.” I get up and dust off my hands then help Holly to her feet. She laughs as she stumbles.
“Oh, god, my foot’s asleep.”
She shakes it and grabs onto me, laughing. I grin at her, my eyes moving over her body again as she tries to get the pins and needles out of her foot.
Fucking hell, I can feel my pulse racing just from her touch. I want the girl badly, so badly I could throw her down right here and taste that creamy skin. She looks up at me and I swear she sees the fire in my eyes.
But she doesn’t pull back. She doesn’t look afraid of it. In fact, she tilts her head toward me, chin up, looking into my eyes. Her plump red lips part, just begging me to take a bite.
I move closer, heart beating fast. My hands are on her hips and she knows what I’m thinking now. There’s no stopping this. She tilts her head slightly and I’m about to kiss her when her phone stats to ring.
It startles Sadie a bit. The old horse whinnies and moves off to the side. I have to step away from Holly, as much as I don’t fucking want to. I calm the horse down as she answers the phone.
“Roy?” she asks. “It’s my day off.” She’s quiet for a second, listening. “That bad? Yeah? Okay. I’m a couple hours away at least. Yeah? Okay. I’ll see you soon.” She hangs up, shaking her head.
“Gotta go?” I ask.
“I’m sorry. I really do want to see those bridges.”
“It’s okay. Got an emergency?”
“Some accident on another ranch. Some horses are coming in and I need to be on hand in case they need me.”
“Well then, let’s get your pretty ass back to civilization.”
She blushes at that. “Okay, right.”
I help her up, this time not hiding the fact that I’m touching her body. My eyes linger on her ass and she looks down at me once she’s settled on Sadie. I smirk and move away, climbing up onto Brian and turning him back toward the ranch.
“You okay to ride a bit faster?”
“I’ll be okay,” she says.
“All right then.”
We take it out at
an easy trot. Once I’m sure she’s settled enough, I let Brian take us to a canter. I fall into that three-beat rhythm as we move along the ridgeline, heading back toward the ranch. What took an hour at a walk and along the scenic route takes half that at a canter and with a more direct heading.
Once we’re back, I help her dismount again. I don’t let my hands linger as long since I spot Jessie and Faye coming over to get the horses.
“You’ll have to come back,” I say to her simply.
She nods. “I will.”
“Good.”
“Thanks for taking me out. It was really… nice.”
“I’ll do better next time.” I give her a quick hug and kiss her cheek softly. “You’re going to want to come back.”
She meets my gaze when I pull away then quickly turns and heads to her truck. She climbs inside, waves, and pulls out.
“That girl ran off quick,” Faye says.
“What’d you do to her, Connor?” Jessie asks. She’s reed-thin with sun-darkened light brown skin, short black hair, and dark brown eyes. She’ll be a pretty girl when she’s older, but right now she’s just a handful.
“Nothing,” I grumble. “Just got a call from town, that’s all.”
“Sure, sure. I bet you tried to kiss her and it scared her off.”
“Jessie, cut it out,” Faye snaps then looks at me. “Did you?”
I glare at the women but don’t answer. I turn and head back to the main house as they giggle at each other.
Sometimes I wish they treated me more like the damn boss. Just sometimes, like right now. Mostly though I like the easy-natured ribbing, the way we all work as a family.
As I climb the front steps to my house, I hesitate on the porch and watch as Holly’s truck disappears over the far ridge heading back toward the highway that’ll take her to Bozeman. I wonder what her lips would’ve tasted like, what her breath would’ve sounded like in my ear, what her pussy would’ve felt like wrapped around my hard fucking cock.
I haven’t had these thoughts in a long, long time… and it feels good.
That girl will be back, sooner or later. And I’m going to find out exactly how good she can feel.
