“Oh, it was just some roommate bullshit,” she shook her head. “Let’s talk about you. What’s got you so preoccupied?”
“I don’t want to talk about work,” I lied. It was the only subject on my brain, but I hated that.
“Good, I don’t either. Let’s talk about sex. When’s the last time you got laid?” She took me off guard, and I could only stare at her flabbergasted. She frequently told me about her boyfriends over lunch, but she’d never asked about mine. Perhaps she rightly assumed I didn’t have any.
“Uh...you know...I’m okay. I mean it’s been a while…”
“Okay, you don’t want to talk about it. So let’s talk about work. Let’s talk about how you have vacation days saved up--don’t! Don’t argue!” she stopped me before I could even open my mouth to speak.
“You have vacation days saved up, and you need to take them, and there is nothing you need to do next week that I can’t handle for you. So I’m ordering you to take a vacation.” She sat back and folded her arms, a smug smile on her face.
“No. I’m sorry, I can’t.”
“Yes you can, and I know where you’re going, too.” She leaned in conspiratorially. “I have a friend of a friend who has a ranch. It’s awesome. It’s all nature, and quiet and no interruptions--and horses! Weren’t you just saying the other day you’ve always wanted to learn horseback riding?”
“There’s just too much going on this week--”
“And every other week. And if you stay at your desk one more minute, you’re going to explode. Then how good will you be at your job?”
She had a point. I’d been frazzled all week. I’d been getting by, but by the skin of my teeth. And it’s true--it was Susan’s job to know everything I knew. Maybe if I kept myself available for calls, I could swing it…
“I don’t know--I think this might be the sort of thing I should plan in advance,” I said, though I was incredibly tempted.
“Okay, but you know, if you don’t take opportunities when they’re given to you, you might find they aren’t there when you’re ready for them,” she picked up a menu and browsed it casually. “I mean, who cares that the guys who run it are hot, rugged cowboys that you would get all to yourself. You don’t have time for that sort of thing. You don’t even have time for that cute Henry who’s always trying to get your attention. I think I’m gonna get the Cobb salad…” She kept her eyes on her menu, letting her words echo dramatically in my mind.
“Fine, you got me. I’ll go. You make the arrangements,” I relented. Susan dropped her menu and clapped her hands giddily.
Chapter 2
The ranch wasn’t that far out of town, so I was able to drive myself there. Coming upon it, it really was beautiful: miles of green pastures where horses and sheep roamed gleefully, mountains in the distance providing a scenic backdrop so picturesque, it seemed almost like a rendering.
The house itself was cozy and efficient and at the end of an endlessly long driveway. As I pulled up, I saw two young men in plaid shirts and cowboy hats sitting on the porch. One, with fair hair curling out from under his hat and a turned up nose, had an honest to god piece of straw in his mouth like you see in the old cartoons. The other, with dark, thick hair and dark, thick lips, took a swig from a flask. Both were tan with premature little crows feet around their eyes. Both were stunningly handsome.
“You Donna?” the fair one asked, clenching the straw in his teeth. I rolled down my window and leaned out.
“Yes, that’s me! Should I leave my car here, or…?”
“That’ll work,” the fair one shrugged. “I’m Mike. This is my brother Derek,” he said, gesturing to the dark one. “Come on in the house. We’ll get you settled.”
They led me through the living room, which was simply decorated with furniture I assumed they’d either inherited from a gruff father or had found at some thrift store: A strong and sturdy, but worn in couch and recliner in dark brown, and oak tables that looked hand built. Around the corner was a short hallway that had only three doors, two on the left, one on the right.
“Those are ours,” said Derek. “This one over here is where you’ll stay.”
“Am I your only guest?” I asked, a little bewildered. I had imagined something more along the lines of a lodge retreat. I wasn’t expecting to be staying in the guest room of somebody’s house.
“We don’t get a lot of visitors,” said Derek. “We were pretty thrilled to get some help around here. Let’s put your bags down and I’ll give you the tour.”
“I’m not sure what you mean by ‘help’,” I said, taken aback as I threw my bags down on the rustic old bed and followed them back down the hallway. “I’m not really very handy...What did Susan say?”
“She said you were looking to spend some time in the country and get reacquainted with nature,” said Mike.
“Well...yes…” they were walking fast towards a barn and I was having a hard time keeping up in my heels, but I did enjoy watching their gates as they walked on ahead--their shoulders back, a natural swagger to them. It seemed these men ran the whole place themselves, and their hard work showed in their physiques.
“Well, then, you gotta get into the thick of it,” Derek said, opening the door to the barn. “You ever shear a sheep?”
In front of me was a pen with some sheep, heavy with gray wool, looking at me expectantly.
“I’m sorry…” I started. “I think there’s been a mistake. I paid for a retreat--”
“No, no, no. We told Susan we couldn’t accept payment. It wouldn’t be neighborly,” said Mike. Then he flashed a smile at me that disarmed me at once. “Don’t worry, shearing is easy as pie.”
“Well, we don’t have to do everything all at once. The poor woman just got in--let’s not overstimulate her,” said Derek, giving me a wink. When he smiled, his blue eyes sparkled dazzlingly. “We’ll teach you all about ranch life tomorrow. For tonight, let’s just get dinner on.”
“Sounds good,” I said, still entranced by their rugged, smiling faces. It was almost enough to make me forget about the odd arrangements. I wanted to share a meal with these two fascinating men. “I’m famished.”
***
I sat at the table with Mike while Derek threw some beans in a pot on the stove. He gave it a stir but added nothing else. These men were sorely lacking a woman’s touch in their home.
“So, you two are brothers,” I said. “Are your parents still with us?”
“Well, he’s my adopted brother,” Mike said of Derek. “His parents were friends with my parents. But they drowned when he was five. So I got to have my best friend be my brother.”
“I’m so sorry about your loss,” I said to Derek. He turned back to the stove and gave the beans another stir.
“That’s something you learn on a ranch. Death is a natural part of life,” he said philosophically, though the way he gazed into the pot as he spoke made me believe it was perhaps harder for him to talk about than he let on.
“Do you mind? I’d love to cook dinner for you two. Can I take over?” I said, coming up behind Derek at the stove and reaching around to grab the spoon from him.
“Dear God, yes please!” Mike laughed. “I haven’t had a good meal in ten years! That’s when our parents died, to answer your question. Mom had cancer. Dad had a heart attack. Within a year of each other.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “You must have been just boys at the time.”
“Seventeen,” Mike nodded. “And in all that time we never did learn to cook for ourselves.”
“I’ll strike you a deal,” I said turning towards them. “I’ll teach you to cook, and you can teach me horseback riding. How does that sound?”
“It sounds like we’re gonna be real good for each other,” Derek said, with a mischievous smile that made me avert my eyes. I turned back to the beans and contemplated how to transform them into something these gorgeous guys couldn’t resist.
***
That night we talked and laughed
and enjoyed what was a surprisingly good meal given the meager tools and ingredients I was given to work with. The boys introduced me to moonshine, which was harsh to drink at first, but after my second went down easily enough. They told me about growing up together, isolated on the ranch, with only the company of their family and the animals. They were natural storytellers and without self-consciousness. I loved to watch them play off each other as they told jokes. They told me how occasionally they would go into town to hang out at the local pub. Derek had had a long term girlfriend he thought he would marry, but eventually, she wound up moving to the city. Mike, I was told, was a natural flirt the ladies flocked to, but he was passionate about the ranch, and never had made time for a long term relationship. I told them about my job and they politely pretended to understand what I did for a living, though as I talked, it began to make very little sense even to me. Here, in the crisp mountain air, where these men had lived off the land their entire lives, already life seemed to make a little bit more sense.
Eventually we went out to the field and laid down in the grass, looking up at the stars while crickets played us a tune. I felt, for the first time in a long time, like my animal self as I laid on the earth. Breathing in the air, I could feel my body start to come alive, my senses sharpen, my basic instincts come to the surface. I had an urge to strip my clothes off and run through the field. I wanted to find a soft patch of dirt to bury myself in and go to sleep.
Indeed, I almost did, my eyelids growing heavy under the weight of the moonshine we’d consumed, but I woke only briefly to find myself being carried by Derek back to the house, where he put me gently on my bed and tucked me in. I tried to tell him how beautiful he was--how strong his arms, how lovely his ranch--but it only came out as a sleepy, drunken murmur. He smoothed the covers over me and told me to sleep well, and I did. I drifted into a dreamless, deep sleep, more nourishing than I’d had in my entire life.
Chapter 3
The next morning, Mike woke me up with his big, booming voice, “Rise and shine, sleepy head!” My eyes sprang open, and I found Mike staring at me from the doorway. He had a smile as pure and happy as a child’s and even in my grog, I couldn’t help but smile back.
“Look at you,” he said. “You’re pretty even when you’re just waking up. Are you ready to shear your first sheep today?”
“Oh, God…” my smile started to fade. “Coffee, first. I need coffee.”
“Derek’s way ahead of you. In fact, you may want to get in there and stop him before he ruins breakfast.” Mike sprinted down the hall with a vigor that made no sense for this early in the morning. The clock next to my bed read 5:30am. The sun was just beginning to stream through the window.
I peeled down the covers and discovered I was wearing a white, cotton nightgown. When had I put that on, I wondered? Was it possible Derek had taken it upon himself to undress me when he put me to bed? I put my hands on my breasts--I wasn’t wearing a bra, only panties beneath the floating cotton gown. Had I been wrong to be so trusting of these boys?
I walked nervously to the kitchen, where Mike and Derek were dishing up plates and pouring coffee.
“I’m sure to disappoint you with these eggs,” said Derek, handing me a plate. “But I woke up hungry as a bear, and I wanted to let you sleep in a little.”
“What am I wearing? What happened?” I demanded. Mike and Derek stopped and looked at me confused.
“You really don’t remember?” Mike asked.
“No, what?”
“Dammit, Derek, we should have known better. That moonshine is too strong for a little girl like her.”
“I’m not a little girl, and I’d like to know what happened to my clothes.” I didn’t like how they were evading my questions.
“I suspect they’re still in the field,” said Derek, pouring me a cup of black coffee and handing it to me. “We were looking at the stars, and then all of a sudden you jumped up, pulled off all of your clothes and just started running.”
“No--no, I didn’t! I remember I wanted to, but I didn’t do that!”
“We had to chase you for a little while, and when we found you, you said you were going to bed, and then you just laid down on the grass and fell asleep. I picked you up and carried you to bed. That’s my mother’s old nightgown. Don’t worry--it’s clean. It just didn’t seem proper to leave you in there buck naked.”
“Oh, my God!” I was beyond mortified. “I’m so sorry! I would never--that’s not like me!”
“Shit, you know how many times I’ve chased Derek’s naked, drunken ass through the field after a bit of moonshine?” Mike laughed. Derek shot him a look. “I’d rather chase you any day. But nothing improper happened, Miss, I promise. We don’t take advantage of intoxicated women. It’s not right.”
“Did you see me? I mean, of course, you did. You both saw me naked. Oh, my God...”
“It was very dark,” Derek assured me.
“I mean...we saw a little,” Mike smiled. “But nothing you should be ashamed of, and we averted our eyes as best we could. Though you don’t make it easy.” I laughed a little, despite my embarrassment, I was flattered. If I was being truthful, a little part of me felt a thrill at the idea of their eyes on me, chasing me through the woods playfully. My mind began to wander towards the possibilities, but I stopped myself.
“I just want you both to know that I don’t know what came over me. I would never--”
“Of course, Miss. You were just feeling good. There was nothing that seemed improper about it at the time. You were just...feeling free,” Derek smiled at me kindly, and I smiled back.
“We should have kept a better eye on how much moonshine you were drinking. It can really kick your ass if you’re not careful. I hope you’re feeling okay this morning,” Mike offered.
“Actually...actually I feel pretty good!” I laughed. “Don’t worry--I’m a big girl. You don’t have to babysit me.”
“Then it sounds like you’re ready to hit the fields, then!” Mike said. “Let’s finish breakfast. Then we’ll go strip a sheep naked and chase him through the field. See? You just did what everyone does out here. Even the animals.”
I was grateful for their jokes and nonchalance about it. If my coworkers knew what had happened, their heads would spin. I didn’t exactly have a reputation for spontaneity. To be honest, I was a Type A stickler and hard-ass. I couldn’t keep from smiling to myself all through breakfast at the idea of it. “Donna Watkins: Exhibitionist and Free Spirit.” I was even a little proud, in spite of myself. After breakfast, I found myself feeling sad to change out of the nightgown--the proof of my wild night--and into a pair of jeans and tee-shirt.
Chapter 4
“Pants...there’s the bra...and here’s your shirt! That’s everything, right?” Mike was gathering my clothes as he led me to the barn. Derek had stayed behind to work on the water heater, which had been on the fritz.
“Yeah, that’s everything,” I blushed.
“Don’t worry, Miss. You’re the picture of propriety. Nobody thinks anything bad about you.”
I found myself both relieved and a little bit insulted by his words. Was I really so uptight that I could strip off my clothes, run naked through a field, and still be thought proper? But I decided to let it go, knowing there wasn’t an answer to that question that would satisfy me. Besides, there was the task at hand. I was going to shear a sheep.
We went into the barn where the sheep were waiting for us. They let out “Baahs” of greeting, but I had to admit, I found these animals a little frightening. Sure, they were cute, but they weren’t like the cuddly cartoons you see as a kid. Their undersides were dirty, their voices aggressive. They were animals.
“We keep them in the barn overnight before we shear them so they don’t get wet. We use electric clippers, and the last thing you want to do is shock them.” He grabbed some electric clippers out of his utility belt and hopped into the pen, beckoning me to follow. “How about this? I’ll hold the sheep, and you
can shear.”
“No! No, I think I’d rather hold the sheep and let you shear.”
“Okay. You gotta tip it over, and then hold it on it’s back up against your knees. Now, you gotta make sure the sheep is still, or else I’ll cut its teats right off.”
“Okay, no, I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this.”
“Alright, alright,” Mike laughed putting a big, warm hand on my shoulder. He gave me a strong squeeze and I realized just how long it had been since a man touched me affectionately. When he pulled it away, I suddenly felt cold, devoid of the momentary heat he’d infused me with. “How about you watch me do the first one and you’ll see there’s nothing to be afraid of. I can hold it and shear. I’ve done it plenty.”
Big Bad Billionaires [Volume 2] Page 50