Animal Heart(11)

“You help with the horses, don't you, Mia? That must be a lovely way to spend your time.”

“If you can call mucking out lovely, I suppose so,” she grumbled.

“But you ride them too and I'm sure that you do more than cleaning their stables?” she probed.

“Yes to both,” she said shortly.

“How long have you been here?” Maddy pressed on, despite her lack of response.

“Five years, from the start.”

“What did you do before?” she asked in a determined, interested tone of voice.

“I worked in a garage.”

“Did you like that?”

“Not much.”

Maddy gave up trying to coax her out of her miserable mood. She got the feeling that only Aden could do that.

Lucas gave her a sympathetic smile, as if to say, don't even bother, and she grinned at him.

“Fancy a quick walk? Let's kill some of those calories together...” he suggested in a sexy voice.

“Okay, I'll just get my coat.” She walked off to her room, changed her shoes to lower heeled ones, and put on her warm padded jacket. She returned, and they left the ranch house, walking down the trail towards the woods. He carried a small torch to light their way, but he turned it off after a while as the moon was very bright in the clear starry sky.

“It's a beautiful evening, isn't it?” she asked, gazing up heavenwards as they walked. She could see her breath steaming in the cold night air. “Aren't you cold?” she asked him, looking at his thin t-shirt and bare arms.

“Not too often,” he replied.

“Lucky you.”

“It's quite mild at the moment. You should be here in January. Now that's what I call cold.”

They walked in silence for a minute or so and then he stopped and leaned against the ranch fence, motioning for her to join him.

“So, Miss Gorgeous, got anyone special back there, in busy old Calgary?”

“Errr no...” she replied warily.

“Perhaps we could have a little fun together, while you're here. What do you say?”

“Fun?”

“You know, hang out. Fool about. Getting real friendly kind of fun.”

“Lucas, are you asking me to sleep with you?” She asked in disbelief.

“Not right away. I can wait 'till tomorrow,” he replied with a wicked smile.

“Ha ha... you're kidding me. Aren't you?” She asked with a nervous laugh. He had to be joking, didn't he?

“No, I'm not. I'm quite serious for once.” Before she could object or even think another thought, he caught her around the waist and pulled her close to his warm, hard muscular body, pressing his mouth to hers and gently kissing her. A little surge of desire made her respond, hesitantly at first, and then more enthusiastically until they were both breathing heavily and quite into it. Their tongues wound around each other's and his hands started to explore. She pulled away from his very intimate embrace, suddenly a touch embarrassed at his obviously aroused state, and looked blindly over his shoulder, trying to gather her thoughts and calm her breathing.

“Come back here sexy. I wanna do lots more,” he whispered and pulled her back against him, nuzzling her neck and ear with his wonderfully soft lips, making her sigh and close her eyes in pleasure. One of his hands played with her hair, stroking up and down the sensitive nape of her neck. She tingled with arousal. It had been a long while since she'd slept with anyone, and Lucas was so very handsome and hard to resist. So very, very tempting. He smelled and tasted more than pleasant. But it was much too soon. She pushed him away slowly and firmly.

“Not tonight. Look, I've just got here. I can see where this is heading and it's way too fast for me.”

“That's cool... No, really... I was pushing it a bit, I admit.”

“I take it you don't have a girlfriend here then? One of the other staff?”

“No. Sadly not. They're all after Aden. Well, apart from Sammy. She's kinda with Shane. Kinda. It's not official. And Verity and Jamie are a little interested in each other. That's a fairly new development though.”

“But the other three are all after Aden?” she asked incredulously.

“He must be appealing somehow. The bitching that goes on over him, you would not believe.”

“I noticed Mia throwing daggers at me at dinner, why was that?”

“She sees every woman as competition, for him.”

“But I'm only here for five days! Is he interested in her particularly?”

“Aden isn't interested in any one woman.”

“Why, is he gay or something?”

“What? Ha, ha, ha, that's too funny. No, just uncommitted. If he made a choice I get the feeling a few more would pair up.”

“So what do you do while the women fight over your boss, hmmm?”