by Gigi Thorne
I see a bowl full of apples on the table on the first floor. Grabbing one, I wipe it as clean as possible with my palms and decide it’ll be my breakfast for the day.
Outside, a perfect spring air greets me. Instead of air pollution, I got used to the smell in the city, the scent of earth permeates my senses. I was expecting only a few people, but there’s a working crowd. Everyone is working on something. No one is getting in the other’s way. Being careful I do the same, I roam around. My eyes look for Rhett, even though I keep telling myself I’m just trying to get the first impression of the place.
The ranch is big, going acres in front of me and I feel like a small dot in this place. In the daylight, there’s no shaking fear in me. In its place, I feel the excitement for a new project.
As I walk in the endless green, I see him. With a black horse, he’s in the corral. Two beautiful creatures together. I soak in how Rhett looks as he’s riding the horse. The jeans he's wearing hugging his thighs and ass. His muscles rippled as he grips the leads. Seeing him ride on the horse is so raw, so different from what I’m used to. In my life, men show off their power with the cars they ride. In reality, it's not the power it's the wealth.
And when I see Rhett on a horse, I feel what real power is. Seeing him on that big and strong creature while he controls the beast of a horse, it’s raw power. The wild masculinity that makes me throb everywhere.
My feet carry me toward him even though I’d prefer to stay away from him and not do anything stupid. I try to convince myself to turn and walk away, but it’s too late when he lifts his head and sees me.
I wave awkwardly. “Good morning.”
He smiles. “Good morning, Princess. Decide to get some Vitamin D?”
I roll my eyes chuckling.
“Slept well?” he asks this time. His voice is smug.
I blush. It’s impossible not to sleep well when you’re wrapped up in his body. I let my eyes roam over him, it’s impossible to fight with the urge anyway. The t-shirt he’s wearing stuck on his body with the sweat. The poor material leaves little to the imagination, but like it’s not enough, he pulls the t-shirt over his head and wipes the sweat off his body as he comes closer to me. Grabbing a bottle of water, he pours it over himself.
Like a damn strip show special only for me.
And all I can do is stare.
His sun-kissed skin glows as the water he poured catches sunrays. His muscles are prominent, every up and down is right in front of me, in the reaching distance for me to touch. And God, how much I want to touch.
I groan. When did I become such a sex addict? I'm always around men for the sake of my job, but none of them has made me feel like this. Ever.
“Actually, I know how well you slept,” he says with a smirk. Interrupting my thoughts but forcing them into the fantasy land even deeper with his husky voice.
“What are you doing here? Outside?” he asks when he stops right in front of me.
I can feel the warmth radiates from him and heating up every inch of my body.
“I wanted to,” I start, but get distracted as a drop of water catches my eye. It starts from the crook of his neck, making its way to his broad chest. I lick my lips when his nipple catches the drop then let it go to continue its sweet journey. It ends up on his abs, and I want to repeat the same path that drop of water took. I want to repeat the path and continue even lower than his abs.
He chuckles and comes even closer, pressing our chests together. I feel the wetness soaks my tank top.
“You were saying…” he whispers. His breath tickles my face, his lips are a whisper away from mine.
“I wanted to see the place,” I breathe out.
He traces a pattern with his nose from my temple to my neck. “And did you see something that catches your eye? Or maybe someone?”
“I…I…” Dammit, he makes me dumbstruck.
I feel his hands come up to hold the fence behind me. I’m caged between his arms as he looks at me like he wants to eat me right here, right now. I feel the wetness pool inside my panties.
“You’re fucking with my head, Aubrey. Last night in my arms, with that fucking nightie I wanted to rip off. Today, with these shorts I knew would make you look like a goddess,” he says in a gruff voice. He turns his head, and I feel his lips brush the sensitive skin under my ear. “I can still feel your ass on my dick, Princess.”
I moan and press myself harder against him. My hands move up to touch his skin.
“Do you want to touch me?”
I nod like I’m in a trance. I’ve never felt this vulnerable with a man before.
He holds my hands and presses them against his chest, groaning like my touch makes him crazy.
At that moment, I feel powerful. Vulnerable but powerful, such a strange yet intense mix.
Moving my hands down on his abs, I hesitate when I reach the waistband of his jeans.
“Don’t get scared now,” he whispers. Taking my hand in his again, he moved my hand lower, until I palm his erection through his jeans.
“I fucked my hand three times already, but nothing helps the constant hard-on you’ve given me since yesterday,” he groans, pushing his hips against my hand.
I moan and pulls him closer, pressing myself against his body. Like it was the invitation he’s been waiting for, his lips crash against mine in a soul-searing, toe curling, and fucking mind-blowingkiss.
9
Rhett
Fucking hell.
I’m burning. I want to crawl out of my skin.
That’s how kissing her feels.
I press her petite body against mine even harder. She melts into me with a moan I capture in my mouth. My hands travel down her body until I reach her ass and I hoist her up and groan when I feel her legs wrap around me.
Our kiss gets even harder, hotter. Our lips chase something blissful. Every move is frantic, every breath is rapid, and every lick is a fire on our skin.
God. I need to be inside her.
“Rhett!” I hardly hear Ben’s voice while she’s in my arms. Her body pressed against mine tightly, it’s the hardest thing to stop kissing her. Her lips taste like the best dessert I’ve ever tasted.
Loud coughing gets Aubrey’s attention, and she pulls back, hiding her face behind her red hair.
“What?” I snap at Ben.
“Lily. She’s in labor,” Ben pants. He’s a seventeen-year-old boy who helps around the barn
“What? James said there’s almost a month?” I ask as I head for the barn.
“We’ll have a premature foal, but Lily is in distress. She’s panicking,” he says.
“Where’s James?”
“He was heading for town. For some medicine, he needs to prepare or something.”
“Fuck,” I curse, increasing my pace.
“We let him know but he was halfway to town. He’s coming back now.”
I nod. That’s good. Looking over my shoulder, I see Aubrey is right behind me.
When we enter the barn, I hear Lily. She's clearly scared, and her fear stresses out the rest of the horses too.
“We should move her to the next barn,” I say.
Ben shakes his head. “She's so scared. She doesn’t want to move or trust any of us.”
I nod. We all wait and watch her, trying to see if she'll be able to manage this without our assistance.
Aubrey holds my hand as she watches Lily. With every painful noise she makes, Aubrey holds my hand tighter.
“She won't be able to do this,” I say and go inside her stall, trying to touch her in the hope of calming her, but she backs away from me in her panicked state.
“Lily, hey girl. It's me. You're okay. You'll be okay,” I say, but she doesn't give me any attention.
“Fuck, I can't calm her,” I call out. I’m as stressed as her.
“Lily? Lily, I’m Aubrey,” she says in her angelic voice, surprisingly her voice sounds calm, and somehow the unfamiliar voice of her reaches out to Lily.
She turns her head and doesn’t give any protest as Aubrey takes another step closer to her. She outstretches her hand slowly but confidently.
“I know you're in pain. I know it hurts, but you'll be okay, Lily. I promise you'll be okay,” Aubrey says.
She's almost close enough to touch Lily now.
“Be careful,” I whisper-shout at Aubrey.
“My mom keeps telling me how hard giving birth to me was. Her water broke so early, and she had to push me out dry. It was too late for C-section,” she tells Lily a story.
Even though the image it paints in my mind is horrible, her story or more likely her voice calms the mare. Aubrey is now caressing her coat and mane.
“But my mom made it. And she had a very healthy baby. I know you will, too.”
Lily's breathing gets slower as Aubrey touches and talks to her.
That’s when I see James enter the barn. He assesses the situation for a second. Nodding his head in approval at Aubrey.
“Aubrey, keep touching and talking to her. I'll help her,” James says, getting behind the mare.
“I’ve never been in a ranch before, Lily,” Aubrey starts. “Well, I’ve never even been in Central Park in New York City. I’m from there. New York City. It’s so big and crowded. It’s always loud. The buildings reach to the sky, sometimes it’s hard to see the blue sky without craning your neck all the way back. It’s not like here. I can see the sky without even lifting my head like everything is under my hand,” she keeps talking.
I smile. I like that she sees the great difference between here and city.
“But that’s where I live. I was born and raised there. I haven’t even traveled. All my life was in that big city, studying and working to be successful. I’m here for work, too, but it feels like a vacation,” she says.
My jaw clenches with these words. I don’t know why. Maybe because it’s a reminder of the reason she’s here. Maybe it’s because I knew I’d never see her if this wasn’t for work.
Hours pass with Aubrey talking, telling stories over stories to Lily while I wait. Finally, with one last push, the foal falls to the ground.
“Aubrey, you should get out of the stall now,” James says.
I can see Aubrey’s reluctance and hesitation, but she nods and comes next to me.
We watch as James remove the birth sack over the foal’s head. And then, he joins us to wait to see the foal find his feet. When the umbilical cord falls, James applies antibiotics on it.
“Everything seems good. We have a healthy newborn and healthy mare,” James announces.
“Rhett?” someone calls out behind me. It’s Jack.
“Coming,” I say and place my hand on Aubrey’s back for a second.
She looks up at me with bright eyes and a smile, and I know she’s okay. She watches Lily licks the foal. I grin how cute she looks when she leans in closer with concern as Lily helps the foal get on his feet. With a sigh, I finally leave the stables when foal gets closer to the mare to feed himself.
10
Aubrey
I’m feeling so strange. I’m tired, but also, it’s like a high I can’t even describe. In the last few hours, I feel like I witnessed the biggest miracle of life. In a way, I know it is.
It was so intense and exciting as much as scary.
The result was amazing. The foal was napping when I finally had the heart to leave.
I’m shaking as I walk to see Rhett. Some guys came and took him to something he needs to take care of, I assume.
Close to the main house, I see him. He’s talking to some guys while he rolls a rope kind of thing in his hands. Is that a lasso? I’ve seen it in some Western movie I came across on TV a few years ago. He hands it to one of the guys he’s talking to. After putting it in the back, the guys get in the truck.
“Where are they going all packed like that?” I ask, walking toward him.
“They’ll join some cowboy groups, and they’ll go wherever the road takes them,” he answers.
“Why?”
“For lots of reasons. Fun, adventure, rodeo, hooking up with cowgirls, you name it. And they’ll return with a few wild horses they find on the road. We’ll train them.”
“Rodeo… I’ve always thought those things where only in movies, not in real life,” I muse.
He laughs, shaking his head.
Turning toward me, he cradles my face with a serious look. “How are you feeling? Are you okay?”
I nod. “I’m just tired.”
“Do you want me to give you the tour today or tomorrow?”
“Now, please. The sooner, the better,” I murmur.
Something I can’t read passes his eyes before he hides it.
“Okay, then. Come on, Princess. Meet nature,” he says, wrapping his arms around me with familiarity. And I like that. I like that a lot.
“This building should be a hotel. The land is huge, so maybe we can build a bar somewhere. I don’t know,” he says, clearly stressing over what should be done in this place for success.
I nod. Letting him guide me to the right side of the land.
“There’s a cowshed there. We have four cows,” he points out the hut. I can spot two cows in front of the hut. It’s like a garden with fences around it.
“Next to it is a coop where we keep chickens and rooster. You won’t need an alarm here. The rooster will wake you up right at six in the morning,” he says with a chuckle.
As we pass by the cowshed and the chickens, I see there are sheep in another shack. It’s like a zoo here. I’ve never seen so many animals together.
“We have a small dairy there. We work the milk from the cows there and then take it to the store in town to sell.”
Why not sell here? I note in my notebook, but don’t say anything to him as we continue with the tour.
Finally, we come to a stop in front of the stables again.
“Can we see Lily and the baby again?”
“The foal,” he corrects me.
When we enter the stables this time without panic, I see nine more horses except for Lily and the newborn.
As a little girl, I always wanted ponies. By that time, I didn’t understand the fact that horses can’t be a pet in an apartment, let alone in the penthouse that forbids pets.
We check on Lily first. She looks so tired, but still feeds the newborn.
“I think you should name him,” Rhett says, smiling at the foal.
“Me?”
“Yeah. You helped his birth, darlin’. The honor is yours.”
I bite my lip, considering my options. Finally, I find the name. “Ares. He’s a warrior.”
“I like that.”
I smile and blush with the intensity of Rhett’s eyes on me. Looking away another horse catches my eye. The one I saw earlier with Rhett. I start walking closer to his stall. He was as black as night. Black Beauty, that’s what he reminds me of.
Feeling so small next to him, I take tentative steps. I shriek when he brings his head closer to me, but I notice he just wants me to touch him.
Lifting my hand, I caress the soft fur between his eyes.
“Don’t,” I hear Rhett’s panicked voice and quick steps, but just when I’m about to take my hand away from the gorgeous horse, he brings his head closer like he doesn’t want me to stop.
Rhett frowns, looking between the horse and me. I’m just about to apologize when he says, “He likes you.”
He says it in a very surprised tone, I can’t decide if I should be offended.
“He’s stunning,” I whisper. “What’s his name?”
“Rage.”
I smile at Rage. His name suits him. It’s as intimidating as he is.
“Would he let me touch him more?” I whisper, afraid of breaking the spell between Rage and me.
Rhett snorts. “He shouldn’t have let you come this close to him, but here you are.”
I frown. “Why?”
“He doesn’t like strangers. No, actually he doesn’t like peop
le. He just gets along well with me, most of the time, but seems like he likes you. I think you have a thing with horses.” His voice has admiration that turns my insides to mush.
“So, it’s your horse?” I ask, trying to lift the thick tension between us.
He nods. “Yes. Since he came to this ranch.”
I want to grin like an idiot that his horse likes me like this is some kind of good deeds on my part. The part of what? That’s the question I don’t want to answer, not yet.
Biting my lip, I slowly get closer to Rage and place my hand on his back. With my heart in my throat, I wait to see if he’ll let me keep touching him. When he doesn’t do anything that seems like a protest, I caress his torso. His breathing is fast under my hand, makes me feel like I’m holding an infant in my palm. As I touch the first animal I’ve ever been this close to, I feel the calm wash over me. My mind finds clarity. I slowly stroke his black mane. I’m hardly aware of Rhett’s watching us, even though his gaze is like a palpable pressure on my skin.
“Want to feed him?” he says.
He brings me an apple and some hay from the boxes next to Rage’s stall.
“Will he bite me?” I whisper.
“I don’t think so,” he answers, not really convincing, but I still take the apple from his hand and hold it in my palm for Rage to take.
To my surprise, Rage gently leans in toward my palm and take the apple in his mouth, leaving just a little bit of wetness behind on my hand. I have to admit, I was expecting him to be rougher than that.
“God, when has he become such a gentleman?” Rhett muses like he can’t believe that. “He really likes you. Such a player,” he adds with a chuckle.
We wait as Rage eats his apple and he turns to eat the hay in his stall, losing his interest in us it seems.
Just when I’m about to turn to leave him alone, I feel Rhett behind me. His hands rest on the door of Rage’s stall, but even though his hands are away from me, he’s touching me with his whole body.