by D. L. Roan
“And if you reinvest that profit into higher quality seed stock for insemination, you’re looking at an even better herd quality from the start,” Dani added.
Dwight sat motionless, his gaze fixed on some point a thousand miles behind them. Clay could almost see the dollar signs in his eyes as it all began to sink in.
Dwight finally leaned forward, tapping his finger on the legal pad. “And you can guarantee this increase?”
Clay scoffed. “There are no guarantees in the ranchin’ business, Dwight. You know that better’n anyone here.”
“It’s commonsense, Dad.” Phil started pacing again. Clay watched him, his frustration palpable. “Garbage in, garbage out. If we don’t invest in ourselves, who will? You taught me that.”
Fearing he’d push too hard if he said anything further, Clay sat back in his chair, holding his breath, the future of the contract hanging on Dwight’s next words.
“Show me the contract,” the rancher finally said to Clay, pointing to Dani, “but I want her in charge of my account.”
Dani’s eyes widened in surprise and she shook her head. “Oh, no. That’s not… I’m sorry for the confusion, Mr. Gardner, but I don’t work for Clay.”
“We’re workin’ on that,” Clay drawled, winking at Dani, who snapped around to glare at him, her mouth gaping. Clay quickly backtracked. “But, unfortunately, my girlfriend isn’t part of the deal.” Yet. “She’s just visiting.”
Dani’s pinched brow relaxed, her eyes portraying her emotional whiplash from shocked irritation to confusion. Clay forced a smile and tipped his head ever so slightly in Dwight’s direction, trying to convey without words to just go with it. They’d hash out their relationship status later, once the contract was signed.
“Well,” Dwight harrumphed and pushed back from the desk. “In that case, I want to think on this some, maybe shop it around a bit.”
“My third-party contracts with the suppliers are exclusive, Mr. Gardner.” Clay could sense the deal slipping right through his fingers. “You won’t get a cheaper price on the equipment or the labor, even buying direct. I’ll be glad to handle your account personally.” Which was a given, since he had no other employees. “And,” he added, reaching over and taking Dani’s hand, “I can consult with her anytime, if any questions or issues arise. You’d be getting a two for one.”
Two hours later, he and Dani stood by the hood of Clay’s truck and shook hands with Dwight and his son, the signed contract and a deposit check tucked safely in Clay’s leather portfolio. The rancher had gone for the full package!
“I’ll touch base with you as soon as I have a delivery date on the hardware,” Clay said, trying to suppress his excitement.
“Look forward to it.” Phil tipped his hat in appreciation.
“And I look forward to you returnin’ with him,” Dwight said as he shook Dani’s hand. “You and me, we speak the same language, girl.”
Dani smiled as she shook his hand and said goodbye.
Clay waited until he could no longer see the driveway in his rearview mirror before he let out the celebratory whoop he’d been bottling since they put pen to paper. “Hot damn! You did it!”
When nothing but silence followed, he looked over to see her staring listlessly out the windshield. “Oh, come on!” He nudged her with a chuckle. “You freaking killed it back there!”
She pressed her lips into a grim line, shaking her head as she turned away to stare out the side window. “I can’t believe you let him believe I’d be back.”
“It was a little white lie.” He shrugged. “Besides, I was hoping you would be, eventually.”
“Clay, I’m not—”
“Coming to work for me. I know.” Her stubbornness was going to be the death of him. Anyone with half a brain could see she was a natural for the job. Why she couldn’t see it defied all logic. “But that doesn’t mean you won’t be back to see me.”
The silence continued and he slammed on the brakes, not bothering to pull to the side of the road before he shifted the truck into park in the middle of the empty desert road.
“What are you doing?”
He popped the buckle on his seatbelt and did the same to Dani’s. She yelped when he pulled her across the console and gathered her into his lap, silencing any protest she may have had with a kiss. She pushed against his chest, but her token protest melted with her resolve and she kissed him back. Breathless when they pulled apart, he threaded his fingers through her hair, resting his forehead against hers. “Say you’ll be back.”
When she didn’t respond, he kissed her again, the air rushing from his lungs when she shifted in his lap, tipping her head to kiss him deeper, her body betraying her answer even if she refused to say the words.
Their surroundings long forgotten, a horn blared and they flinched as a truck blew past them, a breathless laugh escaping from them both as they pulled apart. His cock throbbed within the confines of his jeans, obliterating every thought but how badly he needed to be inside her. His patience at an end, he was through waiting. He eyed the wide shoulder, eager to pull the truck over, but the idea of taking her virginity in the cab of his truck on the side of the road grated against his sense of decency and better judgement.
“Hold on.” He urged her back into her seat and shifted into gear. The truck’s engine roared to life as he pushed the gas pedal to the floorboard and sped down the road.
“Where are we going?” Dani asked twenty minutes later when he turned down a side road, spinning up a cloud of dust behind them.
“You’ll see.” Singularly focused, he navigated the familiar winding path, turn after turn, until they crested a gentle sloping hill and their destination came into view.
A row of a dozen industrial wind turbines dotted the open plain, each white monolith standing over two hundred feet tall.
“Wow.” Dani gripped the console as they bounced over the rutted access road.
Clay grinned, his adrenaline levels already rising. “They’re a lot bigger than they seem, aren’t they?” He remembered the first time he’d seen one up close and personal, the feeling similar to the first time he’d seen one of the military drones he flew, overwhelming in size and scope when on the ground.
“Did you build these?” she asked, peering into the late afternoon sun.
“No,” he said, slowing as he approached and turned onto the service road that ran beneath them. “The company I worked for when I first left the Air Force owns them. They use them for training and tours.”
“So, you bring potential clients here?”
“It’s been a while, but yeah, sometimes.” Clay nodded. “And the occasional potential girlfriend,” he said with a teasing wink.
He slowed the truck to a stop at the base of the third tower and cut the engine, then set his Stetson on the dashboard. “Come on.” He jerked his head at the tower as he got out of the truck.
Dani was slow to follow, craning her neck back as she slowly slid to the ground and closed her door. “I had no idea they were this tall.”
Clay rounded the truck and opened the toolbox in the back, pulling out two harnesses and a bundle of climbing rope, and slammed it closed.
Dani spun on her heels and froze. “What is that?” she asked staring at the gear in his hand.
“Safety harnesses.” He worked to separate the gear. “Ready to do some climbing?”
Chapter Nineteen
Eyes wide as saucers, Dani took a step back, her heart skipping a beat. “Climbing? This?” She pointed to the turbine towering above them. “I don’t think so,” she said with an incredulous chuckle.
“You’re not afraid of heights, are you?” He draped one of the harnesses over the side of the truck bed.
“Not of normal heights, like climbing a ladder, or-or tree, but you’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to climb this!” She craned her head back and looked up again, the mere idea making the world tilt beneath her. “Uh-uh. No way. Even if I wasn’t afraid of heights, I
can’t pull myself that far up.” Connor and Carson loved to climb, and she’d gone to a few of the indoor climbing centers with them years ago, but not even her brothers were this nuts!
“We’re not climbing the outside,” Clay said dismissively. “There’s a ladder inside that goes to the top. These are just safety measures.” He handed her a harness. “Hold this up and let me gauge the size.”
Dani took the harness, the weight of it heavy in her hands as she stared up at the top, the three long blades rotating with a lazy rhythm. “Shouldn’t we turn it off?” she asked absently, still not committed to the idea.
“I will once we’re inside.” Clay took the harness from her and held the straps open at her feet. “Step into it,” he instructed.
The breath whooshed out of her lungs as she looked down at the apparatus. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“Sure you can,” Clay insisted. “One foot at a time.”
She swallowed the anxious knot in her throat, lifting one foot, then the other as Clay slid the harness up and over her hips, slipping two of the straps over her shoulders and pulling the tabs until it hugged her body tight.
The cry of a bird pierced the pounding in her eardrums and she looked up to see a vulture circling above. “That’s not a promising sign,” she said, her voice little more than a squeak.
Clay followed her line of sight and chuckled. “Sometimes a bird will hit the blades. They’re just scavenging.”
Once he had his harness on and the straps adjusted, he shouldered the coils of climbing rope and led her up a metal staircase to a hatch door on the side of the tower. Hands clammy and heart pounding, she watched as he flipped through a set of keys and unlocked the door.
Once inside the large metal tube, he flicked a switch, the florescent lights flickering on with a pop. He pushed a button on a panel inside the door and then unlocked and opened a tall metal locker, reaching inside to retrieve some sort of control panel wired into a server box.
“This is the manual override. I’m flipping off the turbine.” His voice echoed off the metal walls, and then the moderate, rhythmic hum of the turbine above began to slow. “It should be stopped by the time we get to the top.”
“Should be?” What happened if it wasn’t?
He grabbed her hand and guided her to a steel ladder against the wall a few steps away. Dani looked up. The ladder stretched so high she couldn’t tell where it ended. Her legs went weak. A snap made her flinch, and she looked down to see Clay had clamped her harness to a steel cable running down the center of the ladder.
Reality crashed around her like a crushing wave and she shook her head. “I can’t do this.” She backed away, but Clay gathered her in his arms, turning her to face him. “This is crazy.”
He cupped her cheeks and tipped her head up to make her look at him. “Do you trust me?” he asked, his words barely registering. It didn’t matter if she trusted him. She didn’t think she could trust herself not to pass out at this point. “Breathe,” Clay instructed. “It’s just a ladder. I’ll be right behind you.”
“But—”
“Do you trust me?” he repeated, his grip on her head firm and his body a wall of confidence as she leaned against him.
Dani closed her eyes, the sudden dryness in her mouth making it hard to swallow. Her heartbeat hammered in her ears and she looked up to see him smiling down at her.
The memories of the last time they were standing at the base of a ladder in the barn calmed her just enough to breathe. He was right. It was just a ladder. This is what she’d come here for, an adventure she’d never otherwise get to experience. She could do this.
She managed a shaky nod and his grin widened, his eyes swirling with excitement.
“I won’t let you fall. I promise.”
After a quick kiss, he released her, and Dani turned back to the ladder, securing a jittery foothold on the first rung, refusing to look up. “I never thought I’d say this, but I wish I had a shot of your dad’s moonshine right about now.”
She pushed up onto the rung and then climbed to the next one, keeping her eyes downcast with each step. “Oh!” She startled when Clay grabbed the back of her thighs, hugging the ladder despite only being three rungs up. “Don’t…do that!”
“Couldn’t help it,” Clay said, sliding his hands up to her ass, his thumbs circling a teasing rhythm along the inseam. “I’ve been waiting to do this since the last time I was behind you on a ladder.”
If she could pry her fingers from the rungs, she’d turn around and smack the grin she heard in his voice right off his lips. As soon as she had the thought, his hands were gone, and she was sandwiched between him and the ladder.
Having pulled himself up behind her, he bracketed her with his whole body and pressed his lips against her neck, sending a chill racing along her spine as he kissed his way to her ear.
“You’re distracting me,” she said, cringing against the stubble raking against her tender skin.
“Hmm.” He nipped her earlobe. “Then it’s workin’.”
Determined now, she shrugged him off and took a deep breath, staring up at the dark abyss above them. “How many steps is it?”
Clay lowered himself back down and fastened his harness to the steel cable below hers. “A lot, but don’t worry. If you get tired, just stop and rest. There’s no hurry. I’ll be right behind you.”
Dani reached for the next rung and pulled herself up, the sheen of sweat on her palms increasing with each step. The smooth sound of the turbine’s gears stopped above, making every clink of their gear against the ladder as they ascended, echo that much louder.
As the tower floor disappeared below, she kept her focus on the next rung above, conquering one step at a time. The air inside the tower grew warmer the higher they climbed, the humidity increasing and making each breath she took feel heavy. As the first sign of the top came into view, the burn in her thighs and arms began to take its toll and she paused.
“I can see the top!” she yelled out, her voice echoing off the steel walls.
“Just a little further,” Clay coached. “Step off onto the platform when you get there, but don’t detach your harness yet.”
Dani nodded as she stared up at their goal looming in the distance, then forced herself to push on, her legs shaking with fatigue. At the top of the ladder, her adrenaline was at an all-time high as she forced herself to let go of the ladder that now represented safety, and stepped off onto a circular platform that wound around to the backside of the ladder.
She caught her breath as she waited for Clay. He stepped off beside her, not a single tremor in his movements as he unlatched a hatch above them and slid it back. “I’ll go up first and help you up,” he said, unhooking his harness from the steel cable. He held up another hook, this one the size of his hand, that was attached to a long rope, which he clipped to the bottom of her harness. “When you get up there, I’ll hook you into the anchor rail.”
Dani watched as he climbed a shorter ladder and pulled himself through the hatch.
“Hand me the hook,” he instructed when he was through, and she placed it in his outstretched hand. The attached rope drew taught and she heard the click when he snapped it in place. “Now, reach over and unhook your harness from the cable, then climb on up.”
With shaking hands, she did as he instructed, her heartrate skittering faster as she climbed through the hatch. Clean, cool air swept across her face as Clay guided her up the final steps. She tipped her head up and looked around.
“Holy crap!” Her legs turned to jelly and she sank to her hands and knees, gripping the fiberglass deck to steady herself.
Blue sky as far as the eye could see met a sun-drenched horizon, the desert scrub landscape seemingly thousands of feet below them. Patches of trees dotted the ground in erratic patterns, looking like tiny models carved of wood and painted with a detailed brush. The powerlines looked like finely spun spider webs draping from matchstick-to-matchstick along the roads.
Clay sank down beside her and tugged on the rope attached to her vest. The huge hook she’d handed him clanged against a steel pole running along the rounded outer edge of the platform. “You’re anchored,” he said. “Between this and the safety railing, you’re not going to fall off.”
Dani looked up again, taking in the waist-high railing that wrapped around the outer edge of a platform, which was the size of two semi-trailers sitting side-by-side. The terror racing through her veins subsided at the sturdiness of it.
“You’re standing on the main housing platform. It’s not goin’ anywhere.” Clay retrieved a large bottle of water from a pocket sewn to his harness and twisted off the cap, offering it to her.
“Give me a second,” she said with a nervous laugh. After a few calming breaths, she slowly pulled herself up, feeling more confident with each passing moment.
With a white-knuckle grip on the railing, she reached for the bottle of water with her other hand and took several satisfying gulps, washing the dryness from her mouth before handing it back to Clay who did the same and then set the bottle next to the hatch.
He stood and moved behind her, bracketing her with his strong arms and muscled torso. “Amazing, isn’t it?” he asked, gathering her hair to one shoulder and resting his chin on the other. “You can see the whole world from up here.”
“You like being in the sky, that’s for sure.”
The sun was hanging like a fiery disk low in the sky, the lower rim just beginning to dip behind the mountains in the far distance. Dani pulled out her phone and snapped a few pictures, then flipped the screen and took a selfie of them, nothing but horizon behind them.
“The blades are enormous,” she remarked as she carefully tucked her phone into her pocket, taken aback at how much smaller it all seemed from the ground.
“Over forty feet long,” Clay informed her, explaining how the turbine worked to generate the electricity that eventually made its way to the surrounding towns and ranches. “Depending on the lease contracts, the ranchers not only get free power, but they can sell what they don’t use back to the power companies as another income stream.”