“Yeah, Baseline should throw a smaller calf than Advantage, so he’ll be the best for the heifers.” Damon went into work mode and picked up his clipboard.
Liv looked at Regan with a confused look. “What in the heck are they talking about? And why do they need straws?”
Regan smiled. “AR Advantage and DCC Baseline are bulls that we have the semen for. The semen is contained in straws, and they’re in the semen tank ready to go.”
“Wow, there’s more to this than I thought. So, why would you want one bull over another for a heifer?” Liv asked, making mental notes with each answer so far.
“Well, heifers need to have smaller calves since it’s their first time to calve. If the calf gets too big, a person can run the risk of her not being able to have it without help. It’s also easier on her. So the type of bull matters a lot. Some will produce really large calves while others produce smaller calves.” Regan tried to explain the process as simply as possible.
“How do they know what size of calf a bull will produce?” Liv studied Damon and Drew laying out their instruments on a table.
“Well, science can tell a lot about cattle. We can figure out what kind of marbling they will have in the rib-eye area and what percentage of milk female offspring should produce.”
“No way.” Liv laughed.
“No really.” Regan picked up a sire catalog and showed Liv a page that pictured the bull and all the numerical figures of expected performance. “See, it’s right here in his EPDs.”
“For fear of what kind of definition I may receive that I can’t comprehend, I’m not even going to ask. It sounded so simple at first, take sperm, put into cow’s vagina.” She grinned and shook her head at all the mind-boggling information.
Regan laughed. “But yet you understand the terms ‘aperture’ and ‘F-stop.’ Come on, the first cow is ready, and I want you to see how it works up close.”
Liv wasn’t at all prepared for what she was about to witness and worked hard to keep her breakfast down. Damon pulled on a glove that stretched all the way to his shoulder. With straw of semen in his fingertips he entered the backside of the cow with his arm over halfway inside her. Liv went green and actually heard Drew chuckle. At least that was music to her ears.
Regan nudged her. “You okay?”
Liv nodded and pulled out her camera for a distraction. With the camera between her and the action, she began to feel better because she had a scene to capture. The scene didn’t matter through the lens. It became space, arrangement, position of subject, and action. Those few terms kept her mind off the obvious.
After the tenth insemination, Liv managed to stomach it all a little better but not much. She could appreciate the time and effort it took, not to mention training, but this would be an aspect of ranching she wouldn’t care to witness again.
* * * *
That afternoon, when lunch rolled around, Drew didn’t show again. At the barn when they finished up with the cows, he gave the excuse of gathering the cows that needed to be showcased in the sale brochure. Well, it wasn’t an excuse, really, because it needed to be done, but Liv did think he could spare twenty minutes for lunch and a break from the heat.
Damon disturbed Liv’s thoughts with a chuckle. “So, what did you think of the overall experience, Liv?” He chuckled again before crunching down on a potato chip.
Liv hadn’t touched her lunch and looked blankly at him. “I don’t understand why you don’t let them just do their thing in the pasture.”
“Genetics, that’s why. And besides, I couldn’t afford those bulls that I bought the sperm from.” Damon smiled again.
“Well, I understand that. Some of those bulls are quite pricey from what I’ve seen.” Liv nodded. “But I kind of feel like the cow and bull are cheated a little.”
Regan laughed. “That’s because you like sex so much!”
“Thanks for the public service announcement, Regan.” Liv blushed.
“You’re not going to eat, are you?” Damon motioned toward her untouched food with a sly grin.
“No, I think I’ll pass for now, not hungry. I think will download the pictures I have taken so far and start working on the format for the catalog if you two lovebirds will excuse me.” Liv stood.
“We’ll have the cows ready in about an hour if you want to get that part completed as well,” Damon said as Liv walked by.
“Yeah, I do. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
Liv sat at her laptop scanning through the shots she had and was deciding on a format for the pages for the publication. So far she had some great pictures. Her favorite was in the barn when Drew stood grinning about her being sick. One shot, that was it, just one contained him smiling. That was sad because he had a terrific smile.
Leaning back in her chair, Liv began to wonder more about the Drew before the stripper and the cataclysm that occurred. Regan had already told her he was fun-loving, easygoing, and kind of wild. Liv could see that side of him, the single, living-life-to-the-fullest guy. Then she started wondering what it was like to be the son of a political figure and have to be careful of one’s actions. It happened all the time. If a celebrity was to have a minor infraction with the law, it’s on the news coast-to-coast in minutes, but the average, everyday working Joe does the same, and nothing is said.
“Let’s see if the Internet has anything to say about Drew.” Liv typed in his name in the search engine, and immediately, hit after hit returned, and they were all from news sources. Poor Drew, she thought and opened the first link. It was about what went down a year ago at the Dollhouse Gentleman’s Club in Dallas. Yep, his picture landed on the front page along with Damon’s, and the headline read, “Senator’s Sons Seek Pleasure.” Another article’s headline was, “Drew Radcliff Engaged to Stripper! See What Your Tax Dollars Pay For!”
The urge to hurl came in a rush, and what Liv was reading was only the beginning. There were so many more. Drew had been followed and hounded by the media since his father took office. That would definitely explain his attitude this past year. Not only did he know he was fooled but so did everyone in Texas and across the nation. Liv began printing the articles. Her eyes threatened to cry, but she sucked down her emotion, wanting nothing more than to free him from his own self-destruction.
At the appointed time, Liv gathered up her equipment and headed for the pasture to shoot the cattle that Damon wanted featured. Drew had one ready and on a halter when Liv arrived. He looked great out in the sun wearing his straw hat. It was another hot and humid day. Sweat trickled at Drew’s temples. He was a hard worker, and she’d give him that, knowing he must really love the life on the ranch. Liv was jealous. She never had much of a home even when she still had her parents. The house was a prison of horrors for her, and her only reprieve was going to school. After her parents’ death she never stayed in a foster home long enough for it to feel like a true home.
Thoughts continued to run through Liv’s mind as she took shot after shot while Regan recorded the cow’s names in the order they were pictured. That was helpful and allowed Liv to concentrate on finishing quickly so they could all get out of the relentlessly hot afternoon sun.
The entire process went smoothly, and they finished up faster than Liv would have thought or hoped. Her mind wasn’t functioning, and she was glad that she didn’t need to be creative for this particular part. She couldn’t stop thinking about Drew and all the years he had been hounded by the press. Add to that the ultimate headline that showcased him as a fool and, presto, she could see the man he was today.
It was unfair. Reporters only wanted stories that would sell, but what they portrayed was not at all the man she had started to know or the man Regan and Damon described. Just from Liv’s personal perspective, she saw a man that loved animals and took pride in his work and his home. He was deep with a dizzying array of emotions and feelings that the world at large didn’t know.
Liv returned to her room and opened her laptop to get a preliminary format sta
rted. Her assignment wouldn’t take much longer, and it saddened her. It was nice being here on the ranch surrounded by wide-open spaces and not cooped up in an apartment in Dallas with the hum of traffic day and night.
* * * *
Drew paced through his kitchen, angry because he couldn’t get Liv out of his thoughts. He had thrown his bedding in the washer in an attempt to get the smell of fresh apples out of them. It just reminded him constantly through the night that he lay there alone, and the most interesting woman he had ever encountered left her scent behind to haunt him.
At one point he almost asked her to stay but thought it sounded damned desperate, not to mention the fact he was still in the women-haters mode. The other reason was because he didn’t want to form any kind of attachment to her. Liv would finish up this job and be off to the next, leaving him here alone again. That was also why he didn’t want to kiss her, even though he dreamed of how his mouth would feel on hers. Kissing was also too intimate. It bonded people together in a way that just sex couldn’t. Drew was scared of the intimacy. He felt too much feeling and expression was involved in a kiss. For him, kisses could say I love you, they could also say I want you now or they could say I’m just not that into you. The thought of two of those kisses terrified him, while the other had his dick springing into action.
Opening the refrigerator, Drew pulled out a longneck and decided to save himself the worry and just settle on the couch for the night. As usual, he couldn’t find anything that was interesting, and his pile of porn called to him. He turned up his beer and polished it off and headed back toward the kitchen. He didn’t really want to watch porn when he was sure he could experience the ultimate in erotic entertainment with Liv.
Drew’s thoughts began to relive the night before, and in minutes his dick throbbed unmercifully. That woman had put a spell on him. Just one thought of her body and their erotic sex, and he was doomed. But was it so bad to want her? Technically the answer was yes, since he had decided to swear off women since his dick led him astray. He couldn’t pick out the positives about a woman, because if his dick was happy then he was, too. For instance, Shay was nasty to all the other dancers in the club, and he had just smiled like an in-love idiot. That should have clued him in, but he ignored it. “Ignored” was the operative word in the equation. He was so led by his dick that his brain ignored the obvious. Was his dick doing that now?
Drew leaned back against the sink and turned the longneck up and put it away in seconds. He wished for a magic pill that would make all the bullshit leave his mind and make him forget his past indiscretions and especially Shay Reynolds. He really wanted to restart life fresh and new.
* * * *
Liv had enough work for one day and decided to put it away. She wasn’t in a hurry to finish up because that meant her time here was over. When she had gone downstairs earlier she noticed that Damon and Regan were involved in a movie and cuddling on the couch. Well, she didn’t want any part of that, so she had trudged back up the stairs. Now she sat with ants in her pants, wanting to get outside. She had already promised herself that she wasn’t going to go back to Drew’s tonight. If he wanted her, and she was sure he did, he could come to her.
Not sure what she was going to do, she decided the best place to start was with a cooler and a six-pack. She walked into the living room and interrupted the lovebirds. “Hey, Damon, can I use the farm truck?”
Regan paused the TV and looked up. “I can take you if you need to run an errand.”
“No, I don’t need to go anywhere. It’s just the moon is full and the stars are out, and I thought it would be a nice night to relax and stargaze. My Jeep doesn’t have room to lie back and relax, so I thought the truck would do,” Liv explained.
“Of course, Liv, the keys are in it. You didn’t really need to ask, though,” Damon said with his arm wrapped around Regan.
“Hey, you better take some blankets to lie on. The bed of the truck is hard, not to mention dirty.” Regan smiled.
“I’m glad you reminded me, thanks.”
The perfect spot to park was next to the creek. The trickling water was soothing and relaxing. Up above, the moon was full. The light cascaded down, illuminating up the trees and glimmering off the soft running water. Liv breathed a sigh of relief and cracked open a beer. The warm, humid night had the lightning bugs out in droves. Bright twinkling green lights flashed throughout the trees. It seemed magical to witness Mother Nature in such calm, perfect harmony. The sounds of frogs blended with crickets in a musical harmony. Off in the distance, Liv could hear a momma cow bellowing for its calf.
Pulling her knees up to her chest in a tight embrace, Liv smiled as the night seduced her senses, calming the inferno that was created the moment she saw Drew in the barn. In just a few days, she began to understand all he was going through and the reasons behind it all. Each and every headline she read earlier had her heart breaking. Liv didn’t have a clue what it was like to come from a notable family and have her every move watched but could see that it would be difficult to deal with.
Liv had a rough start in life. At eight she was orphaned. Her father wasn’t worth killing, so when he took his own life she felt he’d cheated the punishment he so richly deserved. She had been beaten by him several times a week just for being a kid. If she spilled her milk, she got beat. If she slammed the door accidentally while he was sleeping, she got beat. Her own mother suffered at his hand to the point she just gave up on life and walked blindly out into rush-hour traffic on the interstate. She had just stopped her car, got out, and began to walk. The news had come as quite a shock to her father, and realizing he was the one to blame, he took his own life. After that, Liv was bounced from one home to another. Most foster families refused to keep her after a couple of days because she was so difficult to deal with.
When Liv became a teen, she spent a lot of time inside juvenile hall for lawless behavior and rebellion. Finally, at sixteen, clarity hit her full force, and she realized that her life and whatever was to come of it rested solely on herself. If she wanted a better life, she needed to work for it. She wound up in a foster home next door to Regan with a nice family. Regan and Liv became friends instantly. Regan wasn’t hard to like, with her sweet personality and genuine nature. Since Regan’s parents were schoolteachers, Liv spent a lot of time at their house, and they gladly helped her catch back up in school. Her hard work paid off, and she graduated with honors, earning a scholarship to go to college.
After Liv’s first semester of college, she fell in love with photography and pursued learning everything she could. Her days and nights were spent studying, working in the campus darkroom, or exploring the world through the lens of her camera. She had little time to dwell or cope with her past, and she shoved memories back deep into the recesses of her mind. What she didn’t realize was how much those memories actually affected her until she met Brock. Brock was older than her by five years and was responsible and caring, which made her leery immediately of him. The only thing she knew about men was that she hated them, and since Brock was a man, well, she hated him, too.
Apparently, Brock sensed something deep inside her soul that saddened him, and he worked his way slowly into her heart. Liv began to feel and love, which frightened the hell out of her. Brock was able to coax out of her all the feelings that she suppressed, which were many. She had always felt rejected and unwanted by her parents and the foster homes she had been in. She felt unloved and believed it was her fault that no one had loved her. The only bright spot had been the few years she had spent in her last foster home before she came of age to venture off on her own.
Brock had made her face the demons in her past and find victory in overcoming them. Once relieved from darkness of her past, her life turned to a completely positive one. She was happy, and each day became a new adventure that she looked forward to. After graduating college, she began her advertising business from her apartment while shooting family photographs on the side until she could build her clie
ntele. Brock proposed, and her life just seemed to get better every day until the day his Cessna crashed from a mechanical defect. More darkness followed, and for a year she stumbled along barely making ends meet, until out of the blue, Regan called her and asked for her help with the advertising for What Women Want Florist Shoppe.
Regan had opened the business the year before, and she was struggling. She knew then that something needed to change before she lost everything and became a victim of the economy like so many others. Being with Regan again seemed to change Liv’s outlook, and life suddenly became bearable. Then life got better when Regan’s business took off, and she realized that she helped make that happen. All of a sudden Liv’s life had meaning again, and she worked even harder landing her where she was today, and now she had a mission. Her mission was to honor Brock by helping Drew overcome his demons the way he had helped her. Liv smiled as she thought of how fun and sexually erotic her task was. Drew needed her help, and whether he wanted it or not was a different story.
An hour went by and three beers went down. The beautiful evening had enchanted her, the moon shone its soft light down, and she couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else at this moment.
* * * *
Drew had paced for so long across his kitchen he was becoming dizzy. His muscles were twitching to move and refusing to relax. He had to get out of the house. He wanted to see Liv but argued that no, he didn’t.
When Drew walked out his back door and noticed how illuminated it was, he decided that maybe a nice ride would calm his itchy nerves. He got in his truck and headed toward the barn. When he parked his truck, he looked toward the main house to see if Liv’s light was on. It was off, and he argued with himself all the way to Chief’s stall that he wasn’t disappointed.
After he saddled Chief, Drew led him out of the barn and looked toward the house one more time and forced himself to mount and spur Chief into action. The moon illuminated the land in a soft, pale light, making his ride effortless. The warm breeze soothed him, along with the thundering of hooves beneath him. It was relaxing to get out of his small space and breathe the warm night air.
Drew [The Texas Senator's Sons 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 6
