by Ali Parker
My face reddened thinking about it and how it was never resolved. I was either making a huge mistake or about to give Ted the chance to make it all up to me.
Chapter 5
Ted
"What are you doing here? Where's Bailey?" I demanded.
"Good morning to you, too," Lauralee said as she walked toward me.
"What happened to Bailey?"
"Bailey is indisposed and likely will be for a good little while, so I am here in his stead."
It sounded valiant and probably would have been more effective had it not been coming out of a girl a good eight inches shorter than me and who couldn't have weighed much more than half of what I did.
"What do you think you are going to do?"
"I don't think I'm going to do anything. I'm going to be your new ranch hand and take on any responsibilities you were planning on giving to my brother."
I fought the urge and tried not to look right in her eyes and laugh at her. She was quite literally the little girl trying to play with the big boys, and no amount of ill-fitting jeans and hats pulled down over her eyes was going to convince me that she was going to be any use to me. Her mouth pursed up at me the way it used to when she was convinced that I cheated at hide and seek. But all I could do was turn away from her and get on my horse, resigned to another day of trying to pull David's weight as well as my own, and possibly, a couple more days of looking for a decent hand to help out.
I saw her rush toward the corral as I started toward the fields to feed the cattle. She ran up next to me and I vaguely heard her trying to convince me that she would make a good hand, but I was too busy going through the list of people from high school who may either be looking for work after finding themselves in a similar predicament as Bailey, or know somebody who was. That seemed to be how it worked around here. Men had three life stages after childhood: carefree bachelor, husband, ranch hand; or carefree bachelor, husband, ranch owner. Except for Steven.
“I appreciate the offer," I said as I climbed down off my horse at the first field, "but I need somebody who's experienced and much stronger than you.” I grabbed hold of one of the bales of hay on the trailer behind my horse and tossed it over into the field. "Someone who knows what they're doing."
"I know what I'm doing," she said. "I grew up on a ranch the same as you did. In fact, if the feud between our daddies holds any truth, ours is a bitty bit bigger, which means that technically I have more experience than you do."
I tossed a couple more bales of hay into the field. "Just because you might have had five or six more head of cattle around you growing up doesn't mean you have more experience. I need someone who was actually out in the fields working. I know you say you helped out a lot, but it's not the same as doing the work that the men do. I need someone who already knows how to handle the work. Someone who can pull their weight around here."
I turned around to grab another bale of hay when one sailed by my head, narrowly missing hitting me. I turned around and saw Lauralee standing by the fence, her hands on her hips as she stared at me. She smirked at me, and I glanced around to see if Mason had come out of nowhere to throw a bale of hay and then hide, which didn't seem like it made a lot of sense. I reached for another bale and so did Lauralee. She lifted hers nearly as high as mine and tossed it almost as far.
"Holy shit."
Lauralee gave a short nod. "What are my hours?"
***
I looked in the mirror for the fourth time in fifteen minutes and walked away from it as fast as I could so that none of my family would catch me.
"I don’t understand why you needed to invite her to dinner," I said to Mama as she passed through the dining room to put a platter on the table.
"She worked so hard for the last couple of days, and I think it’s good manners to have her over for supper."
"She's an employee, Mama, not a friend doing us a favor."
"I still can't believe you hired a girl," Luke said, and Mama shot him a glare.
"You bite your tongue. Girls these days can do anything that you boys can do and look pretty doing it. Besides, we all know how Teddy feels about her."
"That was about a thousand years ago, Mama. We haven't spoken in years, and it has nothing to do with her working here, and I don't want it to. I'm still hoping that her brother will get himself together and I can hire him."
"I heard Bailey has had a hard time with that girlfriend of his."
"Ex-girlfriend apparently. Seems she ran out on him."
"With Steven," Luke added.
It seemed the rumor mill had been churning, and I had missed out.
"Steven?" Mama said incredulously. "He drives a tractor."
I nodded slowly. "Evidently that does not have the impact that I would have thought."
"Regardless, it doesn't seem right that the two of you were in love for so long and you haven’t even fixed things. You know she only comes around to see you. Her grandmother and I have known it for years.”
It was the type of rambling logic to which I was accustomed. We were a couple, then we weren't. She works a few days on the ranch. She obviously is entitled to pot roast.
The doorbell rang and my stomach constricted a little. The truth was, I wasn't arguing about Lauralee coming over for supper because I thought it was strange. It was more that I didn't know how I would react to having her in the house with me without work to distract me. I couldn't get her out of my mind, especially after that afternoon, right before Mama had invited her over.
I had gotten too warm while fixing one of the fences and taken off my shirt. I caught her eyes lingering on my chest a bit, and she started to unbutton the top buttons of her shirt. Over the last few days she seemed to have stopped wearing her big brother's clothes and instead, gone for shirts that grazed her waist just a bit and jeans that hugged her hips and showed off strong thighs I thought about grabbing onto every time I looked at her.
"You can't take your clothes off right here," I had teased her. She glared at me, and I smiled. "Oh, come on, don't try to look so offended. I know you want me."
She leaned toward me, and I caught just enough of a glimpse of her cleavage that my silly smile went away and my throat tightened up a touch.
"I in no way want you, Ted Dawson."
"Oh, really?" I managed, trying to keep up the teasing even though I could feel the tension building between us.
"Absolutely. There's nothing about you that I am at all interested in."
Now, as I walked toward the door to let her in, I could still feel the tingle in my fingertips and the strange mixture of disappointment and intrigue she had stirred inside me. I opened the door, and the breath came out of me sounding like I was a giant balloon at the end of a party. Lauralee gave me a strange look and stepped inside, giving me a chance to let my eyes travel along the dress that had replaced her jeans, the shoes that made her a couple inches taller, and all that thick coppery hair out of its cowboy hat prison and spilling around her shoulders and down her back.
She had put on makeup, and her eyes looked huge and bright against her pale skin. Do I look that different? I remembered her asking me when I first saw her the day before I hired her. Yes, yes you do, Lauralee, and I'm adding it to my prayers of thanks tonight.
I kept ahold of myself through the delightfully awkward part of the evening when we all stood around making uncomfortable small talk and not knowing where we should go or what to do with our hands. I controlled myself all throughout dinner as my brothers stared at her over the edges of their water glasses and my parents peppered her with questions that ranged from how many bulls she had castrated to what brand conditioner she used in what seemed like a game of "Jeopardy: The Ranch Edition from Hell."
It wasn't until Mama handed us bowls of fresh chopped peaches swimming in sweetened cream swirled with vanilla and shooed us out onto the front porch that I could feel my resolve starting to crack. She leaned against a support beam, the wind rippling through her hair and the moonlight da
ncing across her skin as she ate a few slow bites of her dessert. I could see my brothers still staring at her, and I had had enough. I needed to get her away from them and alone with me.
Putting my hand on the porch railing, I stood and looked at her.
Chapter 6
Lauralee
"Do you want to take a walk, Lauralee?" Ted asked. “I can show you around a bit."
"I've seen it before," I told him.
"Yeah, but not for a long time. Maybe it has changed a bit since we were younger running around in the fields together."
Something about the statement excited me and sent a flutter low in my abdomen. A lot of things had most certainly changed since we were younger, and I started to think that I might not mind another chance to run around in those fields with Ted.
I didn't answer him, but stood and let him walk down the steps in front of me, crossing so close to my body that the side of his shoulder brushed my dress, pulling it taut over my nipples, making them suddenly sensitive and tight against the fabric. I let him get to the bottom of the stairs before I followed him and allowed him to lead me away from the house and into the cool evening behind it. We walked along in silence until we reached the small training corral beside one of the horse stables. A white horse stood in the center, lazily grazing and swishing her tail at some imaginary pest.
"I thought all the horses were already down for the night," I said as we walked into the corral toward the horse.
I ran my hand along the powerful muscles of the animal's neck and laughed softly when she nudged me back playfully.
"Sometimes I like to do a little riding at night."
My body clenched, and I bit my bottom lip, willing away thoughts that came to mind as soon as he said those words, but they had nothing to do with a saddle or the gentle-looking horse in front of him.
Me too was what I wanted to say, but I didn't think that would come across as dignified. I nodded my head instead, keeping my eyes securely locked on the horse so that it seemed like I was completely in agreement with the merits of taking a few nighttime laps around the corral rather than examining the front of his jeans to determine how ride-worthy he was. I remembered the few times we’d gone all the way during our year together, how he’d had to convince me the first time that it wouldn’t hurt, only to find out it did. The slow ache that burned in me now was much more tantalizing, but I averted my eyes knowing it was better to behave.
"I think it's probably about time to get her to bed now, though. What do you think, girl?"
Ted took the horse's reins and started leading her out of the corral toward the stable where the other horses had already settled in for the night. I followed silently, drawn after him in some inexplicable way that made me feel confused, excited, and stubborn at the same time. Once he made it into the barn, Ted guided the horse into her stall and removed her tack. He ran his hand along her tenderly, the soft, gentle focus in that touch a surprising, and pleasing, contrast to his hardened image and emotionless reputation. Not many others, outside of his family, understood this side of Ted, and it was this side I’d fallen for so many years before.
"Is your dessert always something that you have on hand when you walk around the ranch or is that a recent addition?" he asked me as he closed the door to the stall after giving the horse a handful of fresh hay.
I hadn't even realized that I still carried the bowl of peaches and cream, and I looked down at my hands, knowing I probably looked ridiculous roaming the ranch clutching the dish like it served some integral purpose.
"Is making fun of people who enjoy their desserts something that you always do, or are you making a special exception for me?" I asked.
He shrugged and walked around me, heading out of the stable. "I might be making a special exception for you," he said.
He walked ahead of me a few feet, guiding me toward another barn in the distance.
"And to what do I owe that honor?" I asked.
"I never eat dessert, so it seems like a good opportunity for a little teasing."
He opened the door to the barn, and we stepped in. I immediately noticed that there weren't any animals in this building, but it was filled with bales of hay and piles of loose straw. This was one of the buildings that we hadn't gone into during our work, but I assumed it was where he always got the stacks of hay he brought down to the fields on the flatbed behind his horse. Sure enough, he opened one of the unused stalls and pulled the trailer out into the center of the barn like he was going to start filling it up so that it would be ready for him in the morning. Just another way to get the jump on me.
A mischievous smile came to my lips. "You don't ever eat dessert?" I asked.
"Never. It's horrible for you."
"Oh, it can't be all that bad," I said with a hint of teasing in my voice as I scooped up a luscious piece of peach and some of the smooth, rich cream and started to walk slowly toward him. "It’s only cream and fruit."
"With a lot of sugar in it," he said, hauling one of the bales of hay onto the trailer.
He turned back to me, and I licked the spoon, gathering the cream onto my tongue and moaning as I brought it into my mouth and let it slide down my throat. I could see his eyes flitting between the spoon and my mouth, and I decided to take it a step further.
"Are you telling me that a big, strong man like you is frightened by a little bit of sugar?" I teased, coming even closer to him so that he took a step back.
"The sugar doesn't scare me, Lolly," he said. The use of my special name sent a burn aching through me. I hadn’t been called that since before our breakup, and no one ever called me that but Ted.
"Are you sure? Then why don't you take a little bite?" I closed the space between us a little more.
Ted took another step back and the back of his leg hit one of the bales of hay. Before he could correct himself, he stumbled and sat down hard. I laughed and leaned forward to bring a spoonful of peaches and cream close to his mouth.
"A tiny bite?" I asked, my voice falling to a soft, powdery half-whisper as I brought the spoon to nearly touching his lips.
"Just a tiny bite," he finally replied and opened his mouth so that I could slip the spoon inside.
His eyes closed as a moan escaped from deep in his throat. The sound went straight between my thighs and my knees slightly weakened.
"Another bite?" I asked.
Ted nodded, opening his eyes and staring directly at me. I scooped up another bite and held it to his lips. He kept his eyes locked on mine as he pulled the spoon into his mouth and swept the cream onto his tongue. I dipped the spoon back into the cream and lifted it to his mouth for another bite when he reached up and gripped my thighs.
In one swift movement, he grabbed on to my hips and pulled me forward, parting his thighs so that I stood between them. I gasped as the sudden movement at once startled me and caused me to splash some of the cream from the spoon directly into my cleavage. I moved down to my knees and smirked. “Look at the mess you’ve made.”
He nodded. “I should clean that up.”
I looked down and watched the white drops trail across my skin. The cream was cold, but as it slid down between my breasts, I couldn't help the thoughts trickling through my mind that were conjured by that image. Holding me still in his strong hands, Ted leaned forward and licked the cream from my skin, lingering for a few seconds as his tongue darted between my breasts to ensure he gathered every drop.
I whimpered and arched my back slightly, pushing my body closer to his. The spoon dropped from my hand, and Ted took the bowl out of my other. My arms fell to my sides as he dipped the pad of his thumb into the cream and stroked it across one of my collarbones.
"Another tiny bite," he said, letting his tongue follow the trail he had created.
He repeated the process, using his thumb to paint a line of the cream along the side of my neck. His mouth nibbled along the cream and by the time he had gotten to the soft dip behind my ear, I trembled.
"Another?"
he whispered, and I nodded, surrendering myself to him and to whatever game he played.
His hand left my hip again and dipped back down into the cream. I watched him through lowered eyelashes as he slicked the sweetened cream along my lips. A second later, his mouth touched mine. It was the gentlest of kisses, and I admired his control as he held his lips right above mine so that they barely brushed against each other as he let his tongue gather the cream. He dipped forward and drew my bottom lip into his mouth, giving it a suck as if seeking out every drop of the sweet liquid and tasting me mingled with it.
"Another bite?" he whispered again.
I nodded. My eyes had fallen nearly closed, and I wasn't able to see what he was doing, but a moment later Ted's fingers pressed against my lips so that I opened my mouth. He placed a piece of peach on my tongue and slowly withdrew his fingers. I sucked on them gently and felt Ted's breath against me as he leaned forward to replace his fingers with his tongue against mine. The bright sweetness of the peach and the rich silkiness of the cream mixed with the taste of Ted lit my body on fire, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to draw myself deeper into the kiss.
Ted tossed the bowl aside, and his hands returned to my hips so he could pull me forward even closer to him. I complied with the pressure of his hands, giving myself over to him as he led me off of my feet and guided my legs over his. My knees touched the hay on either side of him, and my pelvis touched his. Ted tightened his grip and led me down until I settled onto his lap, cradling the erection I could feel building beneath me with the heat of my core. He flattened his hands on my back and drew me closer to him until my breasts crushed against his chest and I could feel his belt buckle biting into my inner thighs.
