Page 32 of Ash on the Range
Two.His seat shifted with Lazybones who tore about the arena, as determined to dislodge his rider as Will was to stay aboard his bull.
A leap, a buck. For a moment the pair hung together in a perfect suspension of dust and sweat, arms and legs extended in a picture perfect finish.
Three.
Will hit the ground before his bull and tasted Red Hart dirt.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WILL
Chatter in the big house had been muted all day. Apart from the only Christmas I’d spent at Red Hart, I’d never not worked a day on this land whenever I stayed here. Not even on the day we buried Travis’s father. It just seemed the right thing to do. But today, with the rodeo boys still around, and everyone either exhausted, hungover, or both, Jude and Travis called it and we took the day off.
I was happy with that choice as it left me with my arms wrapped around Cassie for the better part of the day. But as much as I loved socializing with friends who I hadn't seen for the last month and that I could relive last night’s false start a million times over just for the fun of it, by the time dinner rocked around, I was as tired of seeing other people as my girl was.
I grabbed a hamper out of the pantry, thanked Jude for letting me take off, and grabbed Casie’s hand.
“Get your jacket. Some shoes. Anything else you need for the night and meet me out the front,” I murmured into her ear, tucking her hair back from her face tenderly.
She twisted to look up at me with tired eyes. “Huh? I think I'm on servery tonight."
I shook my head. “Cleared you already. As soon as you can, okay?” I kissed her temple and headed for the door.
She let out a soft sound behind me, caught somewhere between amusement and exasperation. Some chatter followed her footsteps. Her hand slipped into mine as I pulled my jacket on and helped her into hers.
“Where are we going? You can’t possibly get your truck down the drive in that mess.” She pointed to the cars and trailers, some occupied, that lined the yard in a gridlock pattern.
I shook my head, grinning, though she probably missed it. “Nope. We’re going that way.” I pointed toward the trees, and jammed a pair of blankets into the handle of the hamper, along with a rug I tossed over my shoulder, bundled into a sling. “You ready?”
“For what?” Her brow furrowed. “I have no idea what we're doing, Will.”
“I owe you a real date. Not the one we had that got interrupted last time.” Our perfect day. “Or the morning that we had to give up because we had people around us.” There were so many times that I wanted to do things with Cassie in thelast weeks, times when I needed him to myself that just hadn’t happened. Suddenly, that week driving across the country together seemed wasted. I wished I’d taken more time with her but we weren't new to each other then and the trust we had now hadn’t been established between us yet when we first met and decided to go on this whirlwind trip together for the hell of it.
And now here we were.
“You gonna walk into the forest with me, honey?” I held out my hand and prayed she’d take it.
She flicked her hair back and sent me a challenging gaze. “That depends. Are you going to feed me and hold me and show me something amazing?”
I leaned down and caught her mouth with mine in a slow kiss that left us both breathless. “And love you. Deal?”
“Deal,” she whispered back.
Then her hand folded into mine, so small and fragile yet tough and perfect, and she walked beside me the whole way into the forest the hour before darkness closed in.
I’d found the perfect spot by accident a week earlier when I was rounding up a doe and her fawn who wandered off along the creek line. Here, just beyond where the river diverted into a small stream, a clearing formed a small divot in the ground. It probably got a little colder overnight, hence the blankets, butwe were protected from winds and the waterfall’s cool spray just around the bend by a granite outcrop.
Plus, if Cassie didn't like it, I had two other spots nearby kicked out, but we’d be walking there in the dark.
“Is this okay,” I asked softly, letting her walk through the pine needle bed scattered beneath her feet as she turned in circles, looking up the tall pines. The small stream gurgled softly beside us, just out of sight. “I figured we could set up here for the night, head back tomorrow sometime, midmorning.”
“Don’t you have to work?” Cassie finished her circuit of the location and turned back to me. “Won’t Jude be pissy at you?”
I huffed a laugh. “I got permission, honey. We're not breaking any rules. Double permission, actually. Travis knows exactly what we're doing and where we are for the night. He’s pretty protective of you, actually.”
Twice as protective as he’d been of any other girl I’d seen on RHR land other than his sister. Not that it was a bad thing at all. I just figured it would make things tougher when we left.
“Oh. That’s really sweet.” Cassie worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “Does Eve?—”
