He traced his fingers down my neck as we kissed. I had pictured this moment a thousand times before. All the time that we had been forced apart, I’d thought about kissing him all night long. I’d even shared some of my make-out session daydreams with Amy. I’d been putting on lip balm a zillion times a day trying to get pillowy soft lips.
“Your lips are so soft,” Logan murmured as if on cue.
We kissed for what could have been five minutes or five hours. Finally, Logan lay down on top of his blanket and rolled onto his side so he faced me.
I scooted closer to him, pulling my pillow with me.
“This is the best trip ever,” Logan said. He ran his hand up and down my arm and stopped to brush a stray hair from my face.
“It’s definitely up there for me, too,” I said.
Logan dropped his jaw. “You wound me. What trip topped this? I want to know.”
“Oh, it was a trip with Mom and Dad,” I started. Logan’s eyebrows went together. “I got out of the car to . . . what was it?” I pretended to forget as I watched Logan squirm. “Oh, right, I got out to photograph bison! This jerk revved his engine at me and I went over to his truck, ready to scream at him.” I looked into Logan’s eyes. “I took one look at him and he was way too hot for me to do that. So I called him a jerk instead.”
“That was a great story,” Logan said. “I’d like to hear exactly how hot this ‘jerk’ was.”
“Shut up!” I said, kicking at him with my socked foot.
Logan picked up his cell phone. “Dispatcher, please send an officer to a tent on the mountains immediately. I’m being beaten up by my girlfriend.”
“Logan! You big baby!” I carefully kicked him again and used my free arm to lightly punch his chest.
“I’m glad you think that’s so funny,” Logan said. In a quick move, one I barely saw, he had pinned down my hand and had his leg slung over mine. I wriggled and fought to get free.
“Logan!” I said, trying not to laugh. “Let me go! You totally ambushed me.”
He laughed. That laugh that was deep in his chest and made me smile.
“You thought that was an ambush? Oh, Brie Carter. I’ll have to show you what a real ambush is.”
Logan shot forward, keeping my leg and hand pinned, and kissed my forehead. Then he quickly gave my right cheek a barely there kiss. He kissed the top of my nose, my other cheek, my chin, my mouth—all in rapid succession. I was laughing so hard that I was crying.
“That was an ambush,” Logan said. He removed his leg and freed my hand.
I wiped under my eyes, thanking the makeup gods that I had used waterproof mascara today.
I rolled onto my stomach and looked at him. He had a satisfied smile on his face. He looked so young with hands beneath his head and elbows bent.
“Look at yourself,” I said. “You think you won. You just wait.”
“I hope I don’t have to wait for this,” Logan said. He pushed himself up onto his elbow and put a gentle hand behind my head.
His lips touched mine and I felt as if I’d finally found my place in the world.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Talk slowly, think quickly.
Before the sun came up, Logan and I were dressed and had the horses saddled. I had woken up with Logan snuggling me. I hadn’t wanted to wake him, but when I sat up, he rolled over and smiled at me. I grinned at him—his messy hair and sleepy eyes. As we had coffee, we watched the sun rise.
We crossed the creek and started the rest of the trip up Blackheart Mountain with the cattle carefully picking their way up the rocky incline. Logan led the herd from the front and I resumed my position in the back. I kept playing over every minute from last night in my head.
We had talked for hours about our plans for the horses and when we would throw a fundraiser. Logan wanted to work fast and get the horses moved. Once we got them settled, we would petition the town to let us host the event at the end of July. That date would also be in our favor because Kate would be coming to visit sometime in July. I’d never needed sister backup more than I would then. I wished that I could be hopeful that Dad would be pacified with the horses off his land and wouldn’t care that I had been involved with moving them.
Logan figured that since it was mid-May, we would have enough time to get the horses off Dad’s land well before his July first deadline, then have some time to look over the horses and make decisions about what each horse needed. It was also soon enough that we would hopefully raise some income to pay for the horses’ keep.
Logan didn’t think the horses would be ready for any kind of adoption event until early next year, so we settled on January as our target date. With Dad planning to move likely in April of next year, early in the year felt like a safe target.
After we brainstormed and filled a paper pad with ideas, we cuddled. I’d slid my blanket closer to Logan. He draped an arm over my side and I didn’t have any memories after that.
The steep hill started to level off and Logan twisted around, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Hold on to the horn. This part is steep. Over this next hill is the pasture.”
“Okay!” I called. I leaned forward and gripped the Western saddle’s horn with my hands. Mazy lurched forward and I squeezed my legs tighter around the saddle. “Should we get off and walk?” I asked.
“Too dangerous! Stay on!”
The cattle started to slow and the path up the mountain’s side became narrower. I kept my eyes forward and didn’t let myself look over the path’s side into the steep drop-off into the trees below. Mazy’s hoof slipped on a rock and she stumbled. Tightening my grip on the horn, I gritted my teeth. After a few more excruciating minutes, the incline started to level off and I sighed with relief. My death grip on the saddle relaxed and I leaned into a normal position.
Logan let Lara and Jane herd the cattle into the field and he cantered LG up to me.
“Interesting, huh? You’d never guess there was a flat plain after climbing as long as we did.”
The flat ground had a creek rushing on the right side and lines of trees that would provide shade for the cattle in the hottest days of summer.
“No kidding,” I said. “I thought I’d die back there!”
I grinned and watched the cattle eagerly spread out in the thick grass. Lara and Jane trotted back over to us and they seemed to know their job was done.
“It’ll be much easier going down,” he said. “Now that we don’t have the cattle, we can take a different path. We’ll get home quicker.”
We plopped into the grass and started munching granola bars. The cattle settled down to graze while Jane and Lara rested in the shade.
“I survived my first cattle drive,” I said, raising my bottle of water.
“And lost your greenhorn status,” Logan said, clunking his bottle against mine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
You can take the cowboy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the cowboy.
Hours later, Logan and I had made it safely back home and I’d raced through my back door just before six on Sunday evening. Mom, Dad, and I had a long dinner at the quaint new Italian place in the next town over.
They asked me a few questions about my night at Amy’s. I successfully lied my way through it, feeling a twinge of guilt—particularly after my dad told me that things were well in hand at the job site and, if I wanted, I could take tomorrow off to hang with Amy again.
When we got home I launched myself onto my bed. I grabbed my phone and blinked, forcing my eyes open. I was so, so tired. After Logan had dropped me off at Amy’s for my bike, he headed to work a shift in the field. He had superhuman powers.
I typed a text and sent it to Logan.
I can’t stop thinking abt the trip. Thank you. <3
One message to Amy.
Will tell you everything! Can’t wait but too tired. Talk tmrw! xx
When I woke up the next morning I went straight to the bathroom for ibuprofen.
I had sore muscles on top of sore muscles from the ride.
Mom and Dad were both gone. Dad was at work and Mom had left a note that she was out scouting locations for a new set of photos.
I jumped on my bike, glanced at Logan’s directions, and headed to Pam’s. Logan was meeting me there and we were going to explain our plan to Pam. We needed her okay for the fundraiser and for a future adoption event.
Logan was waiting for me atop LG and holding Mazy’s reins.
He dismounted to pull me gently to him, push back my cowboy hat, and kiss me.
“Hi,” I said, my tone almost two octaves higher than usual.
Logan kissed me again.
“I’ll give you a quick tour,” he said.
He handed me Mazy’s reins and I mounted. We did a quick loop around the near parts of the property. I fell in love with it.
Pam’s place couldn’t have been more perfect. She had a small farmhouse a few miles outside of town. She didn’t have any pets aside from a couple of dogs, and there were several areas for us to work with the horses—two round pens and a fenced arena.
“That’s where we need to get them,” Logan said, pointing to a silver gate. I counted nine pencil-thin wires that were attached to wooden poles.
“What kind of fencing is that?” I asked him.
“It’s called high-tensile fencing. Basically, you can have as many or as few wires as you want. The more wire—the higher the cost. You have to weigh the cost, though, against the idea of your horses, cattle—whatever—escaping by jumping the fence if the wire is too low or wiggling under it if the wires aren’t placed right.”
“So that fencing goes all around Pam’s property?”
Logan chuckled. “Yep. Basically, once we’ve moved the mustangs, they won’t be able to cross it to get back to their old grounds. They’ll be safe. You’re going to get a chance to see that for yourself.” He laughed again.
“What’s so funny?” I edged Mazy closer to LG so I could swat his arm.
“Pam hasn’t used that land in a couple of years. So before we usher any horses into this space, you and I will need to ride the entire pasture fence line to check for broken or twisted wire.”
I dropped the knotted reins on Mazy’s neck. “You must be dreading spending all that time together while we do that,” I said, trying to look serious.
Logan laughed again and tilted his head down, shaking it slowly. He did something to LG to make the gelding sidestep even closer to Mazy until my legs were almost against his. He let go of his reins, too, and leaned over, cupping a hand behind my head, guiding me close to him. I didn’t need any encouragement.
The second our lips touched, a warm tingle started from my lips and worked its way down my body. LG and Mazy didn’t move as our kisses became almost frantic. I tossed Logan’s hat to the ground so I could touch his soft hair.
I pulled away from Logan and he stared at me, his chest moving up and down beneath his red T-shirt. I loved him in red. I slid my foot out of the right stirrup and swung my leg over Mazy’s neck in a not-so-graceful fashion.
I got situated and reached my hands out to Logan.
“You want to kiss more?” he asked, winking at me. “I thought you were going to try to ride sidesaddle in that Western one.”
I smiled. “I thought about it. But there’s this really cute boy that I’d like to make out with instead.”
Logan locked eyes with me and I could feel it—he wanted to kiss me.
I leaned toward him, balancing carefully on the saddle. It wasn’t as easy as I’d thought to sit like this.
Logan ran his fingers through his sandy-blond hair, and dismounted to pick up his hat. He walked to my side.
I leaned down to him. “Before I let you kiss me again,” I said, “you have to tell me what was so funny.”
“Oh, right,” Logan said, laughing. “I almost forgot about it. You fit in so well here that I sometimes forget that you aren’t a local. Today, we’re just checking out the house, the pens, and the immediate surroundings of the property. When we check the full fence line and there are two people, one person goes to the right and the other to the left. It would take way longer than necessary to go together.” He looked at me. “Not that I don’t want to ride with you,” he spit out superfast.
I giggled. “Stop. I get it. Separate. When we do this, Mazy and I will be here waiting for you and LG to finish.”
“Oh, really?”
We bantered back and forth as we rode. Our conversation was always flowing. Easy. Much like the early time I’d spent with Logan—we could also ride in silence and be happy. I never had to rack my brain for something to say.
We rode Mazy and LG down the driveway and I tried to picture the mustangs here. I wondered if they would like it. Would it become home to them? Or would they pine for the land around the job site? I felt a twinge of sympathy for what the horses were about to go through.
“We could use that arena for gentling the young ones,” I said, nodding to one of the orange metal round pens near a bigger arena. A few yards away from the arena, a large barn with single stalls was just right to house the horses in extreme weather.
Pam had given us permission to come over any time we wanted. Before we left, we checked all the gates and walked part of the surrounding fence line to make sure none of the fences were broken or weak. Logan and I agreed to split up and each go in opposite directions on horseback to check all the fencing the next time we visited.
“Let’s ride to the tack store and see if we can catch Pam there,” Logan said. “Sound good?”
“Let’s go!” I tapped my heels against Mazy and she surged into a smooth canter. We passed Logan and LG. “See you there!” I said.
“Hey! Aw, you asked for it!” Logan called.
Giggling, I let Mazy canter a little faster and hoofbeats pounded the grass behind me.
Logan and LG caught up to us and he smirked. “See you there!” he said. He let out the reins and LG switched to a gallop, leaving Mazy behind.
“Go get them, girl,” I said, letting her charge after the boys.
Logan and I laughed almost the entire ride to Pam’s.
We eased the horses to a walk for the last bit of the ride so they could cool off. Logan and I tied them in the shade behind Pam’s store and he opened the door for me as we headed inside.
Pam was near her rack of Western saddles and speaking horse language that I didn’t understand to a customer. She saw Logan and me and nodded a hello. We both smiled back and let her finish.
“Hi, guys,” Pam said. She closed the cash register and flicked a bit of horsehair off the counter.
“We just came from your place, actually,” Logan said. “I wanted to show everything to Brie.”
“It’s so amazing,” I said. “I can’t thank you enough for letting us use your space.”
Pam smiled. “It’s not as if you’re using it to throw a giant party. What you kids are doing is a good thing.”
“About that,” Logan said. He took off his hat and placed it on the counter. “We have something to ask you.”
Pam looked at Logan for a moment, then glanced at me. “All right,” she said. “Let me hear it.”
Logan and I talked Pam through our idea of herding the horses into her large pasture, holding back a few young ones, and working with them all fall. We would hold a fundraiser in July to raise money to cover the mustangs’ general care. Next January, we would throw an adoption event—that is, if the town council approves our fundraiser.
“I’m going to stop you on one point,” Pam said. “Logan, you know what Januarys are like here. You also know that it is going to take time to gentle these horses. I don’t want to see any of them rushed off to a new home only to come back because they weren’t ready to go in the first place.”
“I agree,” Logan said, nodding.
“I want you to wait until you’ve had the horses for a year before you hold any sort of adoption event. You can hold it next July,”
Pam said. “That’s the first part. Now . . .” Pam looked at me. “Your dad has no idea that you are doing this with Logan, correct?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you really understand, Brie, that these horses are wild?” Pam asked.
“I do—I know,” I said. “I don’t have any experience training horses, but Logan does. I want him to teach me.”
Pam relaxed her stance. She looked at us for a few seconds and then nodded. “Okay, on one condition.”
“Anything!” I said, squeezing Logan’s hand.
Pam leaned over the counter to be closer to Logan and me as a customer stepped into the store. “The first time either of your fathers ask if you’re doing something with the horses, you tell them. No lies. Just the truth. Got it?”
Logan and I looked at each other and then back at Pam. “Got it,” we said in unison.
“We’ll start rounding up the horses tomorrow,” Logan said to Pam. She nodded, patted his shoulder, and walked over to help the customer.
“We’re really doing this!” I said to Logan as we headed out of the tack shop.
Logan smiled. “Getting Pam on board was big. Now we’ve got to catch the horses. It would be best to move them in a quiet environment.” He slipped his arm around my shoulder. “In case the horses are hanging around your dad’s site tomorrow, is he going to be there?”
I thought for a minute. “Actually, no, I don’t think so. He’s supposed to be out of town meeting partners, and the guys have the day off.”
“So, tomorrow it is,” Logan said. “I’ll bring Mazy and LG down by your driveway tomorrow morning. Then we’ll ride over to Pam’s to give the place one last quick look before we start herding.”
“Anything I should know about moving horses that might be different from working with cattle?” I asked as we mounted our horses and moved them close together so we could hold hands.
“They’re definitely smarter. And faster. One or two may get loose, but the trick is not to leave the main herd and dash off for one horse. They’ll start to break apart if they have the chance. We want to keep them moving and if they want to gallop full speed—let them and it will tire them out. We’ll go back for any stragglers after securing the majority of the herd.”
Wild Hearts Page 19
