Loving Lauren

by Jill Sanders

  Chapter Eight

  Lauren tossed and turned for the hundredth time. How was she expected to sleep with Chase just a few feet away? Especially after what they'd done at lunch. Her mind had wandered so much that she couldn't even remember the rest of the trip to the cabin.

  They'd sat across from each other at the small table last night eating dinner and she hadn't known what to say. So she'd talked about the cabin and about some of the great times she and her sisters and their father had had there. He'd laughed when she'd told him about Alex almost falling into the outhouse and how she had never returned to the cabin since that day, over ten years ago.

  After they'd eaten, Lauren yawned, which led to an awkward attempt to change clothes. Chase had ended up excusing himself and had gone outside while she'd quickly changed and crawled into her sleeping bag. She'd pretended to be asleep when he'd returned half an hour later.

  She didn't know why she was such a coward around him. Maybe it was because she wasn't experienced in these matters? Did he know that she'd never been with anyone like that before? Could he tell? It wasn't as if she'd purposely avoided being with someone. She'd just never found someone she wanted to be with. She’d had a few dates in high school, but for the most part, she'd been too busy with the ranch when she wasn't at school to deal with boyfriends. Then, after her father had died, she'd felt honor-bound not to get involved with anyone. She didn't view her and Chase's marriage as real, but she still took their wedding vows seriously. She was no cheater. It wasn't as if it had been a hardship. She'd had little interest in anyone in town and even less time to pursue a relationship, even if she'd wanted to.

  Morning came sooner then she'd hoped. It had taken her half the night to finally get comfortable enough to fall into a light sleep. She'd planned on waking before Chase did, but when she opened her eyes, his bunk was already empty.

  Quickly getting dressed, she rinsed her mouth out with a bottle of water and some toothpaste. She was braiding her hair when Chase and Dingo walked in. Chase had a handful of wildflowers in his hand.

  “Thought you'd want to sleep in a little after that rough night of sleep.” He smiled quickly. She glared at the flowers.

  “What are those for?” She took the flowers when he handed them to her and smelled the sweet scents.

  “Does a man need a reason to give his wife flowers?”

  He leaned back on his heels, watching her. Her eyes bore into him. “I'm not your wife.” He smiled quickly and tilted his head.

  “Well, technically...You know what I mean.” She walked to the door and opened it, needing the fresh air.

  “I started breakfast.” He came up behind her and laid a hand on her waist, turning her towards him. “Lauren.” He placed a finger under her chin and turned her head until she looked into his deep eyes. “I like the way it sounds, calling you wife.” He smiled a little and she pulled back.

  “Don't start.” She tried to pull away, but he just held her closer.

  “I couldn't sleep all night from wanting you.” His finger went from her chin, slowly down the column of her neck and she felt herself shiver in the warmth of the summer morning.

  She had too much riding on this; she couldn't afford to get distracted. “Chase, I can't.”

  “Yes, you can.” He smiled just before he leaned down and set his mouth on hers. Heat spread throughout her entire body, causing her skin to feel like it was steaming. How did he do this to her each time? She just couldn't think clearly with him touching her, with him kissing her like he was now, using his tongue and teeth to send ripples of desire so strong down every nerve in her body. Her arms wrapped around him on their own accord and her fingers tangled in his thick hair, holding his mouth to hers.

  She was breathless when he pulled away and placed a hand over her shoulder, holding himself up with the door frame. He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “There is something here that I've never had before, and I'll be damned if I’ll just walk away from it.” He opened his eyes and looked deeply into hers. “You feel it, too. I can see it.” He waited until she finally nodded her head. He was right. She couldn't deny what was so obviously written on her face. “Stop fighting it then and let's see where this leads us.” He pulled back and brushed a strand of loose hair away from her eyes.

  He was right. There was no reason, other than fear, to keep backing away.

  “Chase?” She reached up and took his face in her hands.

  “Yes?” He smiled down at her.

  “You're burning our breakfast.” She smiled at him, then ducked under his arm and walked over to the fire pit. He rushed over and, using a small towel, pushed the pan off the fire while she laughed.

  After eating their slightly burnt oatmeal and toast, they set off to the far side of the ranch where her property ended. They rode the fence line, repairing any breaks in the wire they came across. A small tree had fallen and taken out a large portion of the fence and they spent a half hour repairing it. Chase had brought along some leather gloves, which worked out well since she'd only brought hers and she'd really needed his help fixing the gap. If he hadn't joined her, she would have no doubt had to call for backup to repair the stretch.

  Around lunchtime, they stopped and ate sandwiches under a large magnolia tree. Chase listened to her talk about running the ranch, then he talked about his time away from Fairplay, when he’d been in school and had worked at a vet clinic in upstate New York.

  She'd been dying to ask if he'd been seeing anyone, but knew it was none of her business. Even though they'd technically been married for a little over seven years now, she still didn't think it was her right to ask. He continued talking and asked her questions about the ranch. He seemed very interested in the process of selling off her cattle in the fall.

  “If you want, you can come with me when we drive them into Tyler to sell at auction next month.”

  “Really?” His eyebrows shot up. “I've never been to a cattle auction before. Once, in Boston, I went with a friend to an antique auction. It was so much fun that I ended up buying a wood statue of a dog holding a duck in its mouth for my dad.” He laughed.

  It ate at her all day, wondering if he'd gone to the auction with a girlfriend. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him, but she bit her lip and kept reminding herself that just because she'd honored their vows, that didn't mean that he had done the same.

  An hour before the sun set, they'd picked a spot along the fence line by a small stream which ran through the hills to pitch their tents and make camp. After raising her small tent, Lauren gathered a handful of wood for a campfire, then walked over to the stream, took off her boots, and put her feet in the water to cool off. Dingo splashed around happily on the muddy shore across the way.

  Lauren was too preoccupied with her thoughts to hear Chase sneak up on her, but before she knew it, he'd pulled her into the waist-high water and had pulled her under, clothes and all.

  Her breath was knocked out of her and when she came out of the water, she was sputtering and pulling her wet hair out of her eyes.

  “What are you doing?” She tried not to squeal. Dingo wanted to join in the fun and chased around her, barking happily.

  “We stink,” he smiled, “so, I thought we'd clean up a little.”

  “Now my clothes are soaking wet.” She stood in the middle of the water, her jeans hugging every curve. She looked down at herself and realized her white blouse and tank top were completely see-through and tried to pull them away from her body a little.

  “They stink, too.” He smiled and took off his own t-shirt and began washing it with a bar of soap he had in his hands. She held her breath at the view of his tan muscles as he worked to clean his clothes. When he was done, he held the soap out to her. “We can hang them on a branch and they'll be dry by morning.”

  She looked at the soap and realized she did probably stink, and besides, the cool water felt nice. “Fine.” She sat down in the water, hoping it would cover most of h
er, then took off her top shirt and grabbed the soap from him. After scrubbing her shirt clean, she rung it out and tossed it onto the grass to hang up later. When she looked up, Chase was standing along the shore facing away from her as he wrung out his jeans. Her breath was knocked out of her lungs for the second time in five minutes.

  How did he get the muscles on his back and shoulders to be so toned? Her mind wandered for a moment, imagining running her fingers over each ridge. He was tan and his hair looked darker now that it was dripping wet. When he turned around, it took her a second to rip her eyes from his chest.

  She saw him quickly smile before he started walking slowly towards her.

  “Come on. You're turn.”

  “What?” She backed up a little.

  “Those jeans smell of horse and dirt. It's time they came off and I got a look at what you have underneath.” She held up her hands as she backed off.

  “I can take my own pants off, thank you.” He laughed at her.

  “Trust me, you're going to need help. My jeans were loose and I had trouble. And since I've been looking at that fine ass of yours all day, I know your jeans are a lot tighter than mine were. Since water shrinks denim, we'll be lucky if we can get them off working together.”

  She held up her hands and he stopped walking. “Fine, try it then.” He motioned for her to go ahead.

  She did. As she sat in the waist high water, she tried with all her might to get the slippery denim to slide down her hips. Chase stood a few feet away from her and laughed. Then he walked over and put his hands under her arms and hauled her up.

  “You can't possibly do this while sitting down.” He looked down at her tank top and she realized he could see everything. His eyes heated and for a moment she totally forgot where they were and what it was they were trying to do. Then he blinked and focused on helping her slide the wet jeans off her hips and legs. It took them almost ten minutes and a lot of laughter, but they finally freed her legs from the tight material.

  She was thankful that she was wearing a dark pair of cotton panties, so at least she had something to hide from his view.

  They laughed and talked while floating in the small stream. Just before the sun finally sank below the trees, she walked to the edge of the stream and gathered her clothes.

  “Leaving so soon?” He looked at her without getting up.

  “I'll just start dinner.” She tried not to look back. It had been hard enough being so close to him like this. She hadn't really relaxed and enjoyed the water. She was sure that the water was actually steaming off her body, and she knew her face was heated and probably red from what she was thinking.

  Shaking their clothes out, she hung them neatly on a low branch. He'd been right. They were already almost completely dry and smelled a good deal better than before. She knew she did as well.

  She gathered her boots and carefully walked back to her tent and pulled on her backup pair of jeans, then slid on a t-shirt over her almost dry tank top. Her hair was tangled a little and after starting a fire and putting a can of soup in the pan for dinner, she sat on a log. Dingo lay on the ground beside her as Lauren started combing her hair.

  Minutes later, she watched Chase walk towards his bag with nothing but his boots and a wet pair of boxers on. He stood in one spot and balanced as he pulled each foot out of his boots and pulled up his pair of jeans. Then he put on another button up shirt, and started putting up his tent.

  “You know, you could probably sleep three in there.” She put another large stick on the fire and stirred the can of tomato soup she was heating up.

  He looked over at her and smiled over his shoulder. “You're welcome to join me.”

  She was very thankful that it was probably too dark for him to see her face, because sitting there watching as he finished putting in the stakes for the tent, her mind kept playing a scene of them tangled in a large sleeping bag.

  “That smells good.” He finished his tent, then walked over and sat on another log across from the fire and looked at her.

  “Isn't it funny that when you're exposed to the elements, everything smells and tastes better?” She poured him a healthy bowl of soup, then helped herself to some. “I mean, having a can of tomato soup at home, cooked on a stove, it just doesn't taste this good.” She took a spoonful and closed her eyes at the rich taste.

  “I know what you mean. It could be that we worked our tails off today.”

  “Hmmm.” She shook her head. “I think it's because man was made to be outside.”

  “Hunting and gathering?” He took a spoonful of his soup and smiled.

  “Exactly.” She pointed her spoon in his direction. “I mean, food is good inside, but out here”—she motioned around them—“you have the smells and sounds of nature around you.”

  “Our animal instincts kick in.” His eyes heated.

  She nodded and took a bite of the loaf of bread she'd brought along, tearing it with her teeth like an animal would, then smiling over at him. “Exactly,” she said and he laughed.

  By the time she settled down in her sleeping bag with Dingo to keep her company, she was exhausted. Every muscle in her body ached. The cool water had done little to relieve the tension that she had felt being so close to Chase all day.

  She loved riding horses, but after six hours, anyone would have felt the effects. Not to mention all the work it had taken moving the fallen trees and fixing the barbed wire. When her head hit her pillow, she was out. In her dreams, she played over the image of Chase almost naked and dripping wet.

  It was dark when she opened her eyes. She lay there for a few seconds trying to figure out what had woken her. Dingo vibrated next to her. The dog’s low growls barely made any noise. Then she felt shivers run down her body as she realized there were no sounds outside her tent. The crickets that had been a steady rhythm in her ears all night, the croaking frogs, the owl that had occasionally hooted were now all silent. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. Grabbing her pistol, she held onto Dingo's collar and slowly crawled towards the zipper of her tent. Before she could reach it, it started to unzip. She pulled up her pistol and pointed it towards the opening. Flipping off the safety, she took a deep breath.

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