by Zuri Day
“That was Chris,” Adam said as Thunder ate up the distance with his smooth, increased gait. “He said to tell you hello.”
“I couldn’t help overhearing that it was him on the phone,” she replied, raising her voice to be heard above the horse’s clomping and the wind. “I heard his voice but not the entire conversation. He’s on his way to play golf?”
“No, he’s headed to my house.”
“How do you figure? I heard what he said.”
“Because I told him you were with me. So, trust me, he’s on his way.”
Six
“Helen,” Christian called out to the house manager who’d been employed by the family for almost twenty years. He felt just as he had years ago as a teenager, when he’d been caught sneaking into the house past curfew. More than once Helen had been a lifesaver, fussing at him for disobeying his parents while warning that she’d keep his secret of coming in late only if he maintained a grade point average of 4.0. Christian graduated at the top of his class.
Helen turned around, her face scrunched as she squinted to see who’d called her. “Chris? Goodness gracious, boy, what are you doing coming in over here?”
“Because I knew it was where you’d be.” He flashed a charming smile and wrapped his arms around the diminutive woman, lifting her off the floor.
“You’re so full of it, and too grown to be sneaking into the opposite wing. What are you after?”
“I could never fool you. My riding boots. I think the last time I used them I left them here.”
Helen smiled, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “What, no golf today? That’s how you usually spend Sunday morning.”
“Thought I’d try something different,” was Christian’s casual reply.
“Wouldn’t have anything to do with the pretty girl Adam took out on the range now, would it?”
“Absolutely not!” He hoped he looked appropriately insulted.
It cracked Helen up, and she swatted at his broad shoulder and barely missed. “You forget that I’ve known you since you were a kid.”
“You’re right, Helen. Hard to get anything past you.”
“Even harder to try to slip past your mother.” The housekeeper crossed the hallway, reached just inside the door of a room on the opposite side and pulled out a pair of worn black leather cowboy boots. “After talking with Adam, she thought you might be motivated to take a ride and had me retrieve them from your old bedroom.”
Christian feigned annoyance and snatched the boots from Helen’s hands. “Be careful!” she called out behind his retreating back.
“Love you, Helen!”
Christian hopped in the SUV he used to tool around the grounds. He couldn’t help grinning at the whole situation, even though he was also chagrined. Helen was right. There was no getting around Victoria’s motherly intuition. He’d rarely been able to keep something totally hidden from her. The saying that moms had eyes in the backs of their heads? From the time he was a kid, Christian knew this to be true.
A few twists and turns later, opposite the parcel of land that housed his five-thousand-square-foot bachelor pad, Christian drove through the iron-and-brick gate announcing one’s entry into Breedlove Beef, the award-winning business that Adam and his partners had built from scratch and made profitable in four short years. He continued down the road, past Adam’s innovatively designed ranch house with interlocking pavilions that seamlessly combined indoor and outdoor living, traveling along the ruggedly landscaped terrain to the horse stables behind the barn.
Turning off the engine, he reached for the cowboy boots he’d retrieved from the house, smiling at the weathered face coming to greet him.
“Well, I’ll be damned!” was the gruffly voiced greeting from a man whose taut, wiry frame belied over six decades of hard cowboy living. “What brings you down from the crystal tower to wallow in the mud with the rest of us?”
“Shut up, old man,” Christian said, pulling the grandfatherly figure everyone called Rusty into a hearty embrace.
“Wait a minute, I know. It’s that fine filly I just saddled up. The one whose bass drum is full and plump and made to both sit in a saddle and ride at the same time.”
“Lauren’s a lady, Rusty. Show some respect.” Christian shook his head, still smiling. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
“Too old to change.” Rusty pointed out a bench just inside the stable. “Sit there and pull your boots on. You need chaps, too?”
“I’m going for a ride, not a roundup.”
“Shit,” Rusty answered, holding out the word far longer than four letters required. “Tell that to somebody who hasn’t known you since you were knee-high to a gnat. You’re about to round up that sweet darling who trotted out of here on the back of Old Glory.”
“You put Lauren on that old nag?”
“That old nag, as you put it, can hold her own against any young filly any day of the week. Push come to shove and a situation needed escaping, I’d put my money on OG.”
Rusty disappeared inside the stable. Christian pulled on the well-worn boots and then strode over to a wall of saddles and pulled down a lightweight, dark brown leather one embellished with silver tacks, conchos and corner plates. He reached into a wooden box and after feeling a few, decided on a brightly colored Navajo blanket over the more expensive pads. The sound of softly clopping hooves caused him to turn. He came face-to-face with a young palomino standing regal and strong, eyeing him intently.
Christian’s tone was gentle, soothing as he made proper acquaintance, patting the horse’s coat before saddling up and mounting the frisky steed. Christian immediately tightened the reins, gently pressing a heel into the horse’s side to direct him and establish control. The palomino dipped his head in agreement, as if to say “you’re the boss.”
“Good boy, Biscuit. You and I will do just fine.”
“That’s a load of power you’ve got there,” Rusty said. “You sure you don’t need me to take you on a turn or two inside the corral before you ride him across the prairie?”
“Thanks, but I’ve got this.” Christian steered the horse toward the stable exit, as comfortable in the saddle as in a boardroom chair. “Which way did they go?”
“Ah, so you are on a roundup.”
“Rusty...”
“Toward the mountain,” the old man answered, amid the enjoyment of a good guffaw. “She’s worth riding for, my boy. Go get her.”
Christian intended to do just that, and with the wide-open landscape, Lauren and his brother weren’t hard to find. He spotted them on the winding trail leading to Breedlove Peak, where the boys had spent countless hours as children, target shooting, catching prey and roughhousing.
With his goal in sight, Christian allowed the palomino to run freely, quickly closing the gap between them. Adam was the first to see him approach. Christian watched as his brother led his horse closer to the one Lauren rode. Seconds later, she turned and waved. Christian ignored the tightening in his groin as he led the horse toward the mountain trail.
“Look who’s up before noon,” Adam said as Christian approached. “You really are getting older, big brother. I would have thought you’d have partied the whole weekend.”
Christian pulled up alongside Adam. The two enjoyed a hearty handshake. “Ty and the rest of the guys are on their way to the airport. Felt a bit of fresh air would do the body good.” He looked over at Lauren, his eyes quickly scanning her from head to toe. Rusty was right. She sat the hell out of that saddle. Again, his groin tightened, this time making it harder to ignore. He shifted in the saddle in order to covertly adjust himself.
“Good morning, beautiful.”
“Good morning, Chris.”
Damn if those eyes and sultry voice didn’t make him want to lift the blanket from his horse’s back, throw it on the ground and lay her on top of it. Just the thought of her here, in the
sunlight, naked and wanton, required him to make another adjustment. He needed to do something quick, before he embarrassed them all.
“Hey, brother. Is the cave still there?”
Adam nodded. “Of course.”
“Cave?” Lauren asked curiously.
“Depending on the day,” Christian explained, “as kids it was everything from a science lab to Matrix headquarters to our hideout after getting in trouble with Dad. Want to see it?”
“I’m game for whatever,” she replied.
Christian’s eyes darkened as he digested her words. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
The trio continued to a plateau near the top of the mountain. They dismounted their horses and continued over rocks and small bushes to a side of the mountain away from the sun.
“Do you remember where it is?” Christian asked.
Adam looked over his shoulder at him, smirked and kept walking. He reached a crevice in what appeared to be a large boulder.
“Do you see it?”
“Here, let me help you.” Christian reached for Lauren’s hand as he walked toward Adam. “See what?”
He stepped to the rock, ran his hand along a narrow seam. His eyes sparkled like the ten-year-old he was when they’d discovered it. “The triple S.”
“The secret silver sliver. Yes, indeed.”
The two brothers grabbed a large slab of rock and watched Lauren’s expression go from skepticism to amazement as the cave entrance came into view and Christian pulled her inside.
“Stay close to me,” he whispered, sliding a hand around her waist and coming precariously close to her delectable backside. “The bogeyman might get you in the dark.”
“Are you the bogeyman?” Lauren retorted, gripping his waist to keep her balance over a dirt floor strewn with potholes and rocks.
Glad for the opportunity her unsteadiness presented, Christian slid his arm around her and pulled her closer. “Woman, haven’t I warned you? You’re about to get in all kinds of trouble.”
“Promises, promises,” she cooed.
“I can’t believe they’re still here...” Adam said into the darkness before setting fire to a huge glob of wax that at one time had been a group of individual candles now melted into a ghostlike creation. Soon the space was illuminated enough for Christian to make out Lauren’s luscious lips. The flickering candle brought them in and out of focus. He felt her hand fall away from his body as a web of undeniable desire began to wrap itself around them until he and Lauren were the only ones there. Her lips, her body, the heat drew him closer...
“...since the last time we were here. That was what, Chris, about ten years ago?”
The sound of Adam’s voice penetrated the fog of need, lust and almost primitive hunger stirring in Christian’s gut.
“Um, yeah, even further back than that. I think my last time spending the night here was when I was fifteen, sixteen years old.”
Sixteen...the last time he’d seen Lauren until two days ago. When his testosterone was in overdrive and she was still a kid. That was then. This was now. Lauren had grown into a sexy-ass woman who clearly knew how to go after what she wanted, and she’d made it clear that what she wanted was him. The feeling was mutual and in this moment, while he knew that he shouldn’t cross that line, the truth of the matter was he couldn’t help himself.
He wanted to taste more of what Lauren so freely offered, wanted to give his body to her so she could ride him all night long. It was time to cut short the trip down memory lane and land squarely back in the present. Fortunately, Adam was thinking the exact same thing.
“All right, guys, enough time in the dungeon.” He blew out the candles. “Let’s get out of here.”
They walked outside and though they’d only been in the cave a few minutes, the weather had warmed under a sun-drenched sky. The trio headed to the horses and untied the reins that had been looped over a well-worn iron hitching post on the plateau embedded in stone.
Adam placed a foot in the stirrup and swung up in a graceful motion. “Ready to head to the top of the mountain?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s getting hot. I think I’ll head back down.”
“I thought you liked the heat,” Christian murmured. The way Lauren’s eyes swept over his body proved she’d gotten the double entendre.
Adam had finally gotten the hint, too. A wagon of romance was starting to roll, and he was the third wheel. “On that note, big brother, it appears that my job is done. I’ll see you guys at brunch.” He turned Thunder and guided the horse past Christian, stopping to let Lauren turn Old Glory around. “You follow me and let Christian bring up the rear,” he instructed. “When it comes to us and horseback riding, coming in last is familiar territory for him.
“See you at the stables.” With that, a sure-footed Thunder headed down the sloping landscape, Adam’s boyish laughter trailing behind him.
“Show-off,” Christian grumbled, edging Biscuit forward. “Don’t mind him. Let’s you and I take things nice and easy.”
“Come on, OG,” Lauren cooed to the horse, gingerly rubbing her sleek and shiny chestnut coat. “Let’s go, girl.”
Christian followed Lauren down the gently slanting hillside, enjoying the backside view. The sloping gave way to a vast expanse of flatland, and Lauren gradually increased OG’s pace. Christian stayed just behind her. With each gentle jostle from the horse’s gait, her ass lifted from the saddle, plump and rounded, accented by her tiny waist and bobbing ponytail protruding from beneath a cowboy hat.
In the middle of his borderline-inappropriate daydreaming, a series of quick movements caught his eye. A long, fast-moving whip snake slithered across the terrain. Old Glory sidestepped the snake and rose up. Her hooves pawed the air. The horse came back down with a vicious jolt and almost unseated Lauren.
“Lauren!”
In an instant Old Glory shed her years and ran like the wind. Lauren screamed as her body was jostled from side to side.
“Lauren, hold on!”
Christian spurred Biscuit on, trying to catch OG and grab the reins. Old Glory shifted right. Lauren’s body went left and into the air, then landed on the ground with a sickening thud. Christian pulled Biscuit forward and missed her head by mere inches. He halted the horse, jumped out of the saddle and rushed to Lauren’s body, motionless and twisted, beneath a clear blue sky.
Seven
Lauren felt as though she were in a tunnel far beneath the earth. In the distance there were voices that she heard but couldn’t make out. Slowly, she came out of what felt like a fog and heard the words more clearly.
“Lauren, come on, beautiful. Wake up,” Christian said.
Lauren heard hoofbeats, and then the muted sound of what she imagined was Adam dismounting Thunder and his handcrafted cowboy boots connecting with the hard earth.
“What happened?” Adam asked Christian.
“OG got spooked. It was a snake. Call the doctor, Adam,” Christian said, pulling the blanket from under Biscuit’s saddle and making a cushion for Lauren’s head. “Have him meet me at my place.”
She felt errant strands of hair being swiped away from her face as Christian spoke to her.
“Lauren, baby, please wake up.”
She slowly opened her eyes. Squinting against the bright sunlight, she tried to focus on what was now a blurry view of Christian’s concerned face. What in the heck happened? She tried to get up.
“No, don’t move,” Christian rasped, gently wiping damp tendrils off her forehead. “You may be hurt.”
Lauren pushed away his hand, coughed and rose to her elbows. “I’m fine, just got the wind knocked out of me.”
“Are you sure?”
“I think so.” She moved her leg, which was not fine at all. “Ow!”
“I said don’t move!” And then more calmly, “Where are you hurt?�
�� Christian coddled her as gently as a swaddled babe, her head shielded in the crook of his arm as he helped her sit upright.
“I think my ankle is broken. It hurts like hell.”
“We’ve got to get you out of here, sweetheart. I’m going to lift you up, okay? Place your stomach on the saddle. Then I’ll pull your healthy leg around so we can lessen all movement of the other one.”
He placed an arm beneath her legs. “No, Chris! Wait!”
“Trust me, I’ve got you. Okay?”
Lauren nodded. “Okay.”
“Put your arms around my neck and hold on tight.”
She did as instructed. Christian lifted her gently and laid her across the saddle. “I’ve got to steady your body while moving your leg, understand?”
Lauren acknowledged his question through gritted teeth.
“So you won’t think that I’m trying to cop a feel.”
She laughed and braced herself for his touch. Christian’s hand splayed across her behind made her almost forget the pain. That she seemed unable to control her feelings had her convinced she’d already lost her mind.
Once she was safely mounted, with the blanket serving as padding for her injured ankle, Christian swung up behind her, pressed her back firmly against his chest and spurred Biscuit into action.
Lauren grimaced against the throbbing pain in her ankle that kept time with each instance that the horse’s hooves touched the ground. She was going into a state of delirium. Had to be. There was no other way to explain that at a time when the ache in her leg was so severe she felt having it amputated without anesthesia would be less painful, she was keenly aware of the hardness of Christian’s chest against her back, the feel of his arm on the side of her breast, and the way long, strong, sure fingers gripped her waist and held her firmly against him.
A flood of warmth pooled in her core, danced with the flames of pain shooting up from her ankle and set her entire body on fire. Why fight it? she thought as Adam’s ranch house came into view. She closed her eyes and relaxed into Christian’s embrace.
Seconds later, Lauren felt herself being gently lifted away from Christian’s chest, while a sure pair of hands steadied her legs and ankle. She opened her eyes as Adam secured her legs with his arms and Christian effortlessly slid from the saddle while still maintaining a hand on her back.