Natural Attraction

by C L Green

  Well I think I am sending him on his way. Obviously not.

  This is because Maverick doesn’t get it today like he did yesterday. Today he lets out an almighty snort, starts running the wrong way and then continues to explode into a fiery ball of horse dragon. This particular horse dragon is bucking and kicking out as he rockets around the round yard at warp speed.

  What the fuck.

  I look over to Jax to see him grinning madly at Maverick and then his eyes swing to me. “Bet you weren’t expecting that were you little girl.”

  “Fuck no!” I yelp and stare helplessly as Maverick continues his mad dash around the yard. “What did I do wrong? What do I do now?”

  Shit, I almost feel like crying. What is wrong with Maverick today?

  “Just wait baby, he’ll calm down again. He’s just giving you a little reminder lesson that your direct line approach is too much. Even when you are friends.”

  He called me baby.

  I shake my head trying to clear the crazy news that Jax has just called me baby out of my head and listen to what he is saying.

  Direct line approach.

  What fucking direct line approach.

  I was only doing the same thing as what I did yesterday.

  “You’re not hearing me are you?” I hear him ask as he saunters over towards me. I notice he is ignoring Maverick as he continues his mad flight around the yard.

  Gently prizing the horseman’s stick out of the death grip I now have on it, I watch Maverick continue to circle.

  I look helplessly up to Jax and say, “Please stop him. And please tell me what I did wrong.”

  Jax nods and with the horseman’s stick in one hand, steps towards Maverick and slaps the ground behind him, hard. He slaps the ground with the string that attaches to the end of the horseman’s stick. Maverick kicks out wildly at the ground where the string has hit and redoubles his efforts at setting a new land speed record for horses in a round yard.

  As he flies by for another lap, Jax does the same thing again. This time he adds more effort to the ground slapping by running towards his rear end at the same time as he yells a loud “Yah!”

  What one earth is he doing?

  I asked him to stop Maverick not speed him up.

  This got Mavericks attention. Fully. He slides to a stop, spins and looks at Jax, shocked at the noise and the movement. He then pins his ears and eyes on Jax in horror, looking at him like he’s some sort of alien about to attack.

  This is new.

  What is even newer is that as soon as Maverick screeches to a halt and starts staring at Jax with newfound interest, Jax turns and walks back towards me, ignoring him. I find myself swinging my eyes between Maverick and Jax wondering what the hell Jax is doing when to my astonishment, Maverick chews and licks and starts following Jax towards me in the middle of the yard.

  Holy shit.

  “How did you do that?” I whisper, still stunned.

  “Magic babe.” He chuckles to himself and turns to give Maverick a rub.

  “Pretty much the equivalent of slapping a hysterical woman. You have to do it now and then. He’d lost it and wasn’t able to think any more.”

  “Oh, and why did he lose it?” I ask, once again feeling like an idiot.

  “’Cause you went straight in for the kill babe and didn’t warm him up. You missed all the good stuff like touching him and scratching him. Even more importantly, working with him on the longline so he developed your trust again. Just pointing and sending doesn’t cut it when your horse is not convinced you’re the leader.

  You need to remind him of it a little bit every day. Granted, it won’t take as long each day, but each day you need to cover the old ground and give him some reminders. Go back to the start and do everything you did yesterday. Better luck this time hey?”

  He leans down to pick up the rope and hand it back to me. Then with another quick brush of his warm lips over mine, he returns to the side of the yard and starts fiddling with his phone again.

  I look at Maverick who is once again pricking his ears and looking at me with keen interest. He is still puffing lightly from his sprint session. His nostrils are flaring lightly with each breath and I can see a slight line of sweat along the side of his shoulders.

  I sigh as I look him in the eye and say, “Sorry about that Mav, I’m an idiot. Let’s have another go at that shall we?”

  Maverick seems to understand what I am saying because he steps towards me and starts chewing. I hear Jax chuckle and look across to see him looking down towards his phone with his eyes peeking up towards me under his brows and a cheeky grin on his face.

  “You’re learning babe.”

  *****

  After our rather shaky start, things go better than expected. I go back to the basics, of rubbing Maverick all over, picking up his feet and leading him backwards by the tail. I reestablish my sending and his circling on the lead and it only takes about an hour of running through my various exercises before I hear Jax call out that I can try him off the lead again.

  This time it all goes well and Maverick is listening and enjoying his ‘free time’ running around without a rope on.

  I have just finished asking him to come back to me when I hear Jax say, “That’ll do for now little girl. It’s eleven. You’ve only taken two hours to run through all the things that it took you all afternoon to do yesterday. We should probably think about heading over to Ma’s house.”

  “Okay, where should I put him now?” I ask.

  “Let’s just leave him here in the round yard. I reckon this afternoon you might just be climbing on your fire breathing dragon there and having a ride.”

  I feel my eyes widen and a small shudder of fear spirals down my spine. Am I ready to ride? I am still not sure.

  “Don’t look so worried babe. I told you I’d keep you safe. It will be fine, just wait and see.”

  I give him a look that I’m sure he understands as an ‘I am not so sure about that’ as I bend down to scoop up the rope on the ground and we both head for the gate together.

  “C’mon, let’s go. Hope you’re hungry!” He chirps as he once again grabs my hand and starts towing me towards the house to clean up.

  Arriving back at the house, we quickly wash our hands and faces in his laundry. I then head to his en suite to check my hair and assess what I actually look like after a couple of hours in the round yard.

  One look in the mirror and a small screech escapes my lips.

  I hear heavy steps running towards me and Jax suddenly appears in the doorway, “What? Are you okay?”

  “No I’m not! Look at me!” I hit him with my OMG look and point at my face.

  “Look at what?” he says, appearing genuinely confused.

  “I look like shit.”

  I emphasize the shit as I couldn’t look any worse. My hair is all windswept and sticking out of my ponytail. My shirt is once again filthy and chewed on. There’s what I’m sure is Maverick poop on the side of one of my legs. I’m also not wearing any make-up. Along with that little list of goodies, I’m sure I stink again.

  “No you don’t, you look beautiful,” he says smiling.

  “I do not fucking look beautiful. I look like a train wreck, don’t bull shit me. I’m not going anywhere looking like this.”

  I finish my growl and stare defiantly into his eyes. Does he not realize that no female goes visiting anywhere without a shower and a change of clothes?

  I see him looking at me thoughtfully for a while as I continue to glare at him.

  “Get in the shower, I’ll ring Teagan. She can bring you some things to wear.”

  He says this slowly, looking resigned to what he needs to do.

  I feel the anger slowly slide away as the realization that he will do whatever he needs to do keep me here. Happiness washes slowly over me. He really does try so hard.

  “No, don’t do that,” I feel sorry for being such a bitch.

  “How about you find me a clean shirt?
I’ll try to wipe some of the shite off my legs and I’ll just fix my hair.”

  I see his eyes soften and he smiles gently at me.

  I feel myself softening as I stare into his gorgeous eyes and my eyes move down to stare at his beautiful lips.

  Please kiss me I think as I grab my bottom lip in my teeth and start nibbling nervously. I see his eyes move to my lips and he steps in closer.

  “Thank you baby.” He whispers as he reaches out to gently pluck my lip from between my teeth with his fingers. He sweeps his face in closer to mine and I can feel his warm breath whispering against my face.

  He continues to look at my lip and then moves his eyes back to mine and sighs.

  “I can’t kiss you right now baby, because if I do, we won’t make lunch. You fix your hair, I’ll find the smallest shirt I have. And don’t worry, it won’t be thin.”

  He says this grinning cheekily and pecks me chastely on the lips once again before heading out to his wardrobe.

  I draw in a huge breath of air as I realize that I have been holding my breath. God damn it. Now I think I can add frustration to the list of emotions that I have been experiencing over the past two days. Apparently God loves me and hates me at the same time.

  Chapter Nine

  One for the road

  “Are you sure we are not supposed to bring a thing?” I ask Jax on the drive to his parents’ house. “You know, shouldn’t we take some chocolates or something, like the advert on television says – ‘The thing you bring when you’re told not to bring a thing’.”

  “Nope. You never take anything to Ma’s for Sunday lunch. She’d be offended. Every meal has a theme and she never lets us know what that theme is in advance. She does this so you can’t work out what to take. Today might be Indian, so if you bought a Greek salad it wouldn’t fit her samosa and curry theme. Taking something out of theme would just piss her off. It’s what Ma does. She plans all week for Sunday lunch and no one gets a choice on what we eat or what we bring.”

  “Oh-kayyyy.” I roll out the word as I lift my eyebrows and look at Jax with that look that suggests tiy think someone is a bit nutty.

  “Strange and unusual but I suppose I can work with that,” I mumble.

  Dear Lord what am I doing here?

  What am I doing sitting in the passage seat of what I have worked out is a near new Chevy Silverado Dually with one of the hottest guys I have ever seen? What am I doing letting him drive me to his mothers’ house for Sunday lunch?

  A guy I met once for five minutes and then spoken once on the phone to for another five minutes. I then decide to spend an entire weekend with him, which has included sleeping his bed. On top of that, he is calling me baby and constantly touching me like we’ve known each other for years.

  Not that I should be complaining about all the touching and time spending. To be honest I am having the best weekend of my life. Between spending time with Jax and all the amazingness I am experiencing with Maverick, I feel like I’m living in a dream.

  Do I really have to go home?

  It’s funny to think that on meeting this guy all those weeks ago, my first plans had been to make him my future husband. Now that I am already wondering what it would be like if he was my boyfriend, I suppose I should be pleased the plan looks like it’s coming together.

  It’s even scarier to think that I am now reviewing my first thoughts and wondering if there is some reality there. He keeps telling me he wants to spend time with me and see what we have together. Isn’t that a weird statement to be coming from a guy who looks like he could tempt the panties off any female between the age of twenty and fifty by just sitting next to them?

  Why, after all these years of not caring about any of the guys I have ever spent time with, am I suddenly letting this one drag me all over the place and even to his mothers’ house?

  I have never met any guys’ parents before, ever.

  That sort of thing is what boyfriends and girlfriends do. Considering I have never had a boyfriend, or spent more than one night with the same guy, I’m not sure why I’m agreeing to this. To be acting like some meek little lady who lets the man make all the decisions just isn’t me?

  Or is it?

  I suppose it probably has something to do with the fact that he’s so bossy and just doesn’t give me a chance to make any decisions other than the ones that he thinks are right. In a strange way, I like it. He’s not trying to butter me up all the time and get me to bed, a novelty you could say.

  “What’s got your cogs grinding?” I hear Jax say as he drags me from my musings.

  “Nothing much, just reflecting on my weekend so far.”

  “And how is that weekend working out for you?” He asks with a small smirk on his face and an eyebrow sneaking up above his sunglasses.

  Damn those sunglasses, I can never see those bottomless blue eyes to work out what he is really saying. I hate not being able to read his eyes direct. I reach out and pull his glasses off his face. He looks a bit surprised and swings his eyes back to the road.

  “I don’t like not being able to see your eyes,” I tell him.

  “Maybe I don’t want you to see my eyes,” he says, focusing heavily on the road ahead. He seems to be giving it far more attention than he was before I took his sunglasses off.

  “Why?” I ask.

  He quickly glances towards me and knots his brows with concern. A hint of what I almost see is pain fleets across his eyes before he flicks them back to the road.

  “’Cause I’m worried I’ll scare you off.”

  Huh?

  I’m not too sure what that means and I feel myself take a sharp intake of breath. I see Jax wince at the road and his body visibly stiffen. He is holding his breath as well.

  We drive along in silence for a while, both pondering his last words with neither of us willing to take a real breath and continue the conversation.

  After what seems like ages, but in reality I am sure it is only seconds, I see and hear Jax blow out slowly. He then carefully clicks the indicator on and starts to slow the truck. He remains focused on his driving as he slides us to a halt on the roadside and kills the engine.

  When the last little whir of the engine finally silences, he swings in his seat to skewer me with those two crystal blue eyes. Like a rabbit in the headlights, I stare direct back into his eyes and start to lose myself in their crystal depths.

  “Ash.” He stops to consider his words carefully. “I know we’ve only just met and this all seems really weird. Fucking weird, I know it is. I just need you to hang in there until we get past the weird.

  There is something about you that makes me want to make sure that you know me. All of me. Some of me you have already seen, like the horse stuff, and some of it, the harder stuff to talk about, I have yet to tell you about. Other parts are all about family and you’ll see that today.

  I can’t explain why I feel this way, and I bet you can’t explain why you’re still here getting to know me and my life either.

  One thing I can tell you is that a like you. A lot. I can also tell you that you are only the second woman who has slept in my bed. You are also only the second woman I have taken to meet my family. I don’t bring woman home, I go to their houses, fuck ‘em and then I do whatever it takes to keep them separate from my life.”

  I continue to stare into his eyes dumbfounded at his words. Right now his eyes are ocean blue and intense.

  “Why me?” I whisper as I start to chew nervously on my bottom lip. I am starting to regret having taken his glasses off. I start to feel like his eyes are going to burn holes in mine.

  “’Cause the first time I met you, you were broken. I could see that and I could see that you were a fighter. You were all bashed up but not yet willing to give up on your dream. Most girls would have taken the injuries you received from Maverick as a warning and run for the hills. You didn’t. In fact, having now learnt that you have been injured multiple times, by multiple horses, I can see you are no quitter.<
br />
  I once knew a girl like that. I once loved a girl like that. Loved her so much it hurt to spend more than a few hours away from her. Then I lost her and my world died, I ceased to exist.

  For three years, I have been running on fumes and spending my days focussing on horses. Nothing else. I’ve been to pubs and clubs to pick up women. I’ve even dated some of them for a few weeks. None of them ever came under any illusion that I wanted to share my life with them. In any way. I never bought ‘em home and I never let them meet my family.

  Getting to know you, watching you with Maverick over the past two days, has been something Ash. It is making me feel alive again and I don’t want you to see how that is affecting me. If you can see my eyes you are going to see a desperation there that it is not fair on you to see. You are going to see that I am desperate to hang onto this alive feeling and I’m not sure how far I can push you before you run screaming ‘cause it is all too much. Too much, too quick. Do you get that?”

  Wow.

  I guess that means he is really interested?

  This guy sure knows how to get his feelings out on the table for review. Once again, how should I respond to that? Should I tell him that I am having weird feelings too? Weird feelings similar to his?

  In my normal life I would have just blurted the whole lot out but this weekend has not been my normal life. I am starting to have concerns that if he sees me in all my unfiltered glory he won’t be feeling so desperate to spend time with me.

  Shit.

  I decide to go with a small version of the truth.

  “I get it, probably more than you realize.”

  I breathe out slowly and keep the rest to myself. I get the feeling he senses I have not said all I am going to say and I see a questioning look fleet across his eyes.

  To avoid further awkwardness I turn to look out the window but soon feel his fingers lightly touching my chin to turn my face back to him.