by Ashlee Price
“Thank you.” She said awkwardly as she started to walk away.
He grabbed her arm before she could leave and said; “Wait, let me introduce myself.” She turned around and let him talk.
“My name is Andrew Smith; I am the editor of Life Style Magazine.”
Abruptly Shania was super nervous. Life Style Magazine was huge magazine made out of New York City. She often bought one and admired the beautiful photographs inside.
“Wow, it’s so nice to meet you! What are you doing here?” She looked around the room.
“The groom is my cousin; we were close growing up so I figured I’d better come. Listen, I saw your pictures and they are really great. We have a job opening coming up for a photographer, take my card and call me if you're interested. You’ve definitely got what it takes.” With that, he walked away and left Shania in a daze for the rest of the night.
Did that actually just happen? Did the editor of a hugely famous magazine just tell her she has enough talent to take pictures for them? She kept reaching in to her pocket to see if his business card really was there. It was. Maybe this is what she has been waiting for, her big break. Her dream job, just handed to her. It must be too good to be true.
~
For the next couple of days Shania’s mind wasn’t on her work. She would take the pictures and edit the pictures but she wasn’t totally in to it. All she could think of was that business card in her top drawer. She had put it there when she returned home from the wedding, and she had already taken it out several times just to look at it.
She was having an internal battle. This was all she ever wanted, a chance to make it big and get out in to the world but she was so comfortable in her small town and her home studio and her bedroom in her parent’s house. It would be scary to venture out; she didn’t know if she had enough guts.
Finally she couldn’t hold it in any longer, she had to tell someone about it. So one evening she called her little sister up at university. As soon as she heard she was ecstatic, telling Shania that she better do it. That gave her a little bit of confidence so she decided to tell her parents. They too were on board and very excited for her.
The next day, she called the number on the card.
“Hello, Mr. Smith’s office.” The nasally voice of a woman said on the third ring.
Shania could barely talk she was so nervous,
“Hello, I’m looking to speak with Andrew Smith please.”
“Please hold.”
A few minutes later that same voice came on the line,
“Andrew Smith here.”
She told him who she was and he remembered right away.
“I thought you were never going to call me. I’d love for you to come in for an interview, meet with some of the owners and a few of our current photographers.”
“I’d love that!” She said maybe a little too enthusiastically.
He laughed on the other end of the line and named a date and time. She said she would be there and they hung up.
~
Shania was a wreck for the next two days. She was fidgety and couldn’t sleep well, she was just too nervous. The day finally came and she wasn’t anywhere close to being ready. She had her portfolio and that was it. She got in her car and drove the hour to the city and walked in to a huge fancy building.
She was seen right away and brought up to the eleventh floor to sit in a meeting room. Shortly after three people walked in. She stood up to shake their hands. One was Andrew Smith, a woman named Monica Blaire who was part owner and a short man named Ralph Connors who was a photographer.
The meeting went well, they were all very nice and she felt at ease with them all. They told her that the job they had open would require travelling. She would be sent to different states for a certain amount of time to photograph the subject at length. It all sounded so wonderful, she would finally be able to get out of her shell and prove her ability at the same time.
At the end of the meeting, she shook all of their hands again and they told her that if she was interested in the job to let them know by the end of the week and it was hers. She left the building on cloud nine. The drive home seemed more like she floated, she was so happy.
For the next couple of days she went on with normal business, booking shoots and editing photos. On Thursday afternoon she called Andrew Smith.
“Ah Shania, I was starting to think you weren’t going to call.” He sounded pleased on the other end of the phone.
“I’d like the job;” was all she said.
“It’s yours. We already have your first assignment.”
“You do?! That’s great! What is it?” She was so excited to be receiving her first assignment at her new job.
“For the winter issue we are doing a twelve page expo on the life of the modern cowboy. We are going to send you to a ranch in Texas for sixty days, you are to get as many pictures of these men and women in action as you can. This is going to be a huge piece and the pictures are of the utmost importance and I know you will not disappoint us.”
All at once Shania was scared and excited and nervous and happier than ever. “I’ll pack my bags.” She said in a squeaky voice.
“Perfect. We’ll have your plane ticket ready for you on Monday.
Come to the office for ten.” And he hung up.
Shania hung up her phone with a shaking hand.
~
Monday morning, Shania was all packed and ready to go. She kissed her mother and her father and got in her car. The drive to the city seemed to take forever, her stomach flipping and flopping the whole way there. Finally she was there, and Andrew Smith was waiting for her in the lobby.
“Good morning and welcome to the team!” He said when he saw her approaching. “How are you doing?”
“Well, I feel like I might throw up because I'm so nervous but other than that, I'm good.” She said, and they both laughed.
“The car is waiting for you, it will take you to the airport and you can leave your vehicle here for the time that you are away or someone can come and get it if they chose to. Let’s not waste any more time and get this started. Where are your bags?”
Shania and Andrew headed back outside and to her car. He grabbed her bags and moved them in to a huge black car with dark tinted windows.
“Whoa, this is what I'm riding in?”
“Yes, is there something wrong with it?” Andrew looked upset.
“No no! It’s awesome, I feel like a celebrity.”
Andrew laughed, and he was still giggling when he opened the door for her. “Better get in, don’t want to be late for the plane.”
She didn’t respond, she just climbed slowly in to the back seat of the car and watched as Andrew closed the door. The driver put the car in gear and pulled out in to traffic.
The airport was on the opposite side of the city, but there wasn’t too much traffic so the ride was pretty quick. The car pulled up to the entrance and she got out of the car. The driver came around to her and handed her a ticket. He then grabbed her luggage and they went to check in.
Check in and getting her luggage checked was a breeze, she was sitting in the terminal waiting to board before she even knew it was happening. She realized too that her ticket was for first class. She had never flown before, let alone flying first class.
Seat numbers began to be called and she was up again and boarding the flight. She found her seat easily, it was wide and comfortable and there was a little pillow and blanket on it. The flight was just the perfect length to be able to take a little cat nap.
Once she was comfortable, she sat back and watched the other passengers aboard the flight. There was a sweet elderly couple, a few business men and one young woman with a small baby. The woman had her daughter all wrapped up in a bundle of pink fabric and she was humming quietly as she stepped carefully down the aisle. The little girl was sleeping soundly and she had the chubbiest cheeks Shania had ever seen. She would have been perfect to photograph.
The
flight finished boarding, and they took off. It wasn’t as scary as Shania was expecting, and once they were in the air it was very smooth. Before she knew it she was fast asleep in her seat.
When she woke up, the captain was announcing that they were almost at their destination. Shania sat up a little straighter and peered out the window. She saw a lot of empty land, farm land she assumed.
Andrew had told her that someone would be waiting for her to take her to the ranch she was to live on. Once the flight had landed and she found her luggage, she started to look around for a sign with her name on it. That’s not exactly what she found. Instead, she spotted a cowboy hat, and when she read the sign he held, it was not her name but instead it just said ‘photographer’.
She began to laugh and walked up to the man in the hat. “I think that’s Me.” she said still giggling.
The man holding the sign started to laugh too, “Sorry,” he said, “Boss didn’t tell me what your name was.”
“That’s okay,” she stuck out her hand, “I’m Shania Matthews.”
He grabbed her hand and shook, “Liam Turner.”
“It’s a pleasure.” She smiled up at him.
Liam was very tall, taller than her father for sure and if she had to guess she would say he was close to thirty. His skin was dark from working outside in the Texas heat, and he had great muscle tone. His teeth were very white against his tan skin, and his eyes were a pale brown. There were small wrinkles around them which made her think that he must smile a lot. She like Liam right away and was surprisingly relieved.
He took her bags from her and started to walk towards the exit. They got outside and he led her to a giant brown truck. So typical of a rancher, she thought to herself and giggled again. Liam helped her in to the passenger side, it was very high off the ground, and he left the airport.
The drive to the ranch was about an hour, and she stared out the window the whole way. She had never been out of New York before so this was all new. She saw a lot of fields, some with cows, and some with horses. They went past entrances to other ranches, and when the road turned from pavement to gravel, she saw some men riding along the road.
Liam chatted with her the whole way home, telling her facts about the ranch. The name was Sunset Ranch. He told her the story of how it was started; it was named after a horse. The ranch is run by the son of the founder, his father retired a few years ago.
They came up to a long driveway with a beautiful sign at the end with a vivid painting of a huge sunset on it.
“I’m assuming we are here?” She looked at Liam and smirked.
He smiled back, “Yes we are here.”
They drove up the long driveway and came to an old farm house. At least, the style was old but everything on it looked to be brand new. The siding was bright white and clean, the roof was shiny and in great condition. The house was full of big beautiful windows on the bottom and top floors. It was just the kind of house Shania had always dreamed about living in.
Past the house there were a few huge barns. Liam told her that one was the horse barn, one was the cattle barn and one was the milking barn. He promised a tour of them all.
Shania hopped out of the truck once it had come to a stop and looked all around her. It was beautiful. She dug her camera out and started to take pictures. The barns looked just right, and she could see some cattle grazing in a nearby field.
Liam had to break her out of her picture trance to show her where she was going to stay. The loft in the horse barn had been set up for her. They went in through a little door on the right side of the barn and up a set of stairs. The loft was nothing like she was expecting. It was huge, the floors were all refinished barn board; the walls of the main living area were painted a light tan. There was one huge window that faced the fields on the left, and it was fully furnished. There was a couch and a chair in the main part, a queen sized bed in the little bedroom and a three piece bathroom attached. The kitchen was small but it was painted a cheery yellow and it had a small table and apartment sized appliances. It was perfect.
After showing her the loft, Liam left her to get settled. She unpacked all of her bags and took a shower. She spent the evening searching through the channels on the TV and taking pictures of the sunset.
The first couple of days in Texas were great. Shania toured around the property, she took pictures of the men herding the cattle, milking the cows and saddling up the horses. She got her tours of the barns and she was quite impressed. They were all very clean and up to date. She saw everything there was to see, except for the owner of the ranch.
She finally got so curious that she had to ask Liam about him.
“He’s away at an auction right now; he’s getting us some new horses.” He said. “He’s scheduled to come home tomorrow evening.”
Well that made sense.
The next day, Shania lingered around the main house for the most part of the day, waiting to meet the owner. When she saw a white truck coming up the driveway pulling a horse trailer, she tried to look nonchalant. It pulled up and parked close to the horse barn. One of the men saw it and yelled
“Boss is home!”
All of the men dropped what they were doing to come and meet their boss. Shania heard the door open but she was on the opposite side of the truck. She saw cowboy boots and heard him talking to his men.
“There are three in here. Take them to the barn and Liam, call Monty, they’re pretty green so he’ll have to work them.” They all replied with
“Yes sirs”.
Shania just stood where she was on the other side of the truck. The owner who she didn’t even know his name yet was slowly walking towards the front of the vehicle talking to one of the men. His upper body came in to her view, and his head turned towards her. Their eyes met at and Shania could have sworn that everything stopped moving.
All she could see was him. Had stopped talking and was just staring back at her. He was tall, about the same height as Liam, he was wearing a brown cowboy hat that was worn by the sun but underneath she could see curls of blonde hair curling up. His eyes were so bright blue they put the sky to shame. Her stare headed south towards his mouth, it was perfect, and his lips were full and pink. He had just the right amount of scruff along his jaw, and his shoulders were wide and strong. She could see the muscle in his arms underneath of his black button up shirt, but that was it. He was still behind the truck so she couldn’t see any more.
They stood like that for a long minute, staring at each other. Shania knew he must be feeling the same thing she was. She couldn’t breathe, all she could do was fight the urge to walk over there and run her hand down his muscled arm.
Finally he broke eye contact and said something to the man he had been talking to and he walked away from him. As soon as the other man was gone, he looked back over to Shania. Slowly, he started to walk towards her. Her breath, that she had just gotten back, caught in her throat and she couldn’t breathe again. Her heart started to pound and she felt like she was covered in sweat. He stopped in front of her. His mouth opened and she moved her gaze to watch him speak.
“I’m Taylor; Taylor Neely.” He stuck his hand out and all she could do was stare at it. His voice was still swirling through her head, deep and masculine and smooth.
Shania mentally shook herself and reached her hand out to grasp his. “Shania; Shania Matth-” she didn’t get the full sentence out because when her skin made contact with his, it was like a fireworks show was going off. Her hand began to tingle, but not in a bad way. He must have felt it too because she heard him inhale sharply.
She let go of his hand and shook herself again. She cleared her throat and said, “Sorry, I'm Shania Matthews. I'm here from Life Style Magazine.”
“Oh yes, I remember something about that now.” Then he smiled at her and she thought her heart was going to stop. His smile was perfect, enough to melt any woman’s heart. “It is very nice to meet you.” He reached for her hand and brought it to his mouth, she watched h
im kiss it lightly and put it back down. The sexual energy she felt when his lips touched her skin caught her by surprise. She hadn’t felt like that in quite a while, not since her last boyfriend six months ago. She was just too busy with work.
Shania couldn’t bring herself to say anything and Taylor didn’t seem to notice. His eyes were roaming her face, and then they landed on her lips. He hesitated for a brief moment and then said; “I better get to work. It really was nice to meet you Miss Matthews.”
The rest of the day, while taking pictures of the new horses,
Shania thought about Taylor’s eyes on her lips. Did he want to kiss her? God, she hoped so.
~
For the next couple of weeks, Shania looked forward to seeing Taylor every day. She would take pictures of him doing different things, instructing his men on what to do, fixing the tractor tire, helping the trainer with the green horses. Whatever he was doing he seemed to have this air of power. She could tell that the men respected him immensely, and he was clearly their boss. He was never mean, but he was definitely the alpha.
He would talk to her if he had a minute; they flirted back and forth a little. Each time she saw him or heard his voice, something deep inside of her stomach clenched. One day he helped her on to a horse, and she could barely stay on after he picked her up so close to his body.
One night she was taking pictures of the evening milking when he came up behind her. “Do you want to have dinner with me?” He asked quietly.
He had startled her and she jumped a little and put herself off balance. His reflexes were quicker than hers and he threw out his arms and caught her before she could tumble to the side. In his arms, all she could see and smell and hear was him. He smelt like fresh grass and summer air, and she could hear his slow breathing.
She righted herself and he dropped his arms. “Sorry.” He said.
“That’s okay, I'm a klutz. What did you say?”
“I asked if you would like to have dinner with me; maybe tomorrow night? In the house?”
She didn’t even have to think about it. “Absolutely. I would love that.”