“If you knew him you'd love him too. He's not a typical cowboy.”
“He's a cowboy?”
My mom makes a noise and sinks to the chair beside my father who puts his arm around her like she needs protecting. From me.
I want that. Shea gave me that kind of security from any hurt and I want it. I want him. All of him. I couldn’t tell my parents that I'd been needing Shea so badly every moment since I left him, since he set me down gently on the ground after holding me between his legs on Cinders. I could still taste the woody aroma of his lips when he leaned down for one last kiss before riding off into the pale orange and lilac dawn.
They were already insisting I was a kid with a crush I'd get over.
“You aren’t going to live with a cowboy you’ve known less than a week and that's final,” my father said.
“I told you I'm not living with him. I'm going to get a job close to him so we can get to know each other for longer than a weekend.”
“Where will you live?”
“I'll find somewhere, Mom. It's time I lived some life. I've seen a bit of the world and you can trust me to deal with what comes up.”
“No.” My father insisted. “There are too many weirdos out there and you cant be sure he's not one of them.”
“There are no guarantees that he and I will work out but I can absolutely be sure that he's no weirdo. He's the kindest, strongest man ever.” Not to mention the sexiest.
Shea
Chloe made a couple of calls and discovered the exact ranches the rodeo tour was taking in the last week. Then Abe gave me a couple of days off to head to Arkansas and claim her.
“I'm mighty grateful to you both,” I said as I headed out.
The guys on the ranch are like brothers, the family I never had. We'rre all a wild bunch. Loners, me especially. I'd never needed a woman around permanently, preferring to hang with the boys or my horse and keep to myself the rest of the time.
That all changed when I saw Dallyce. I never knew I could stake a claim and get so territorial. But the right woman can slam into your heart and your mind and dick and refuse to leave. If you get lucky enough that she happens along. Dallyce did pass by and she stole every part of me, staking her own claim on me even if she didn’t know it. Now it was time to make it real.
Before I left, I had to make sure Cinders was properly re-shoed. Sure, Quint would make her the finest hand-forged shoe in the history of blacksmithing. The guy was like something out of medieval times in his dedication to the fire in his forge. But I had to be with her while she was fitted. Every now and then something went wrong with shoeing a horse and I would not allow Cinders to be in any pain without me there to soothe her. I owed her that.
I got to Arkansas, pulled up to the ranch the furthest place on earth it seemed like only to discover the Rodeo queens had moved on the day before. I hit the trail and arrived in Louisiana only to be told the same thing.
“You missed them by a couple hours.”
Weather picked up then and I had to hole up a while before continuing on my quest. Abe gave me more time off form the ranch.
“You haven't taken a vacation in ten years,” he told me when I figured out how to make the stupid phone work. “I think you deserve a break.”
On the inside I'm a nervous boy, coming to call for his girl before the prom. I'm shaking in the pit of my gut which means it's time to get on with it. I can't find a bell in the dark and rain so I lift my hand to knock on the door. Before I make the knuckle rap, the door is torn open and Dallyce flies against my chest so hard she bounces right back inside the house.
I'm about to roar with laughter at the shocked surprise on her beautiful face and drag her into my arms to feel her soft body mold into my hard ridges. This week has been the longest, most interminable trek of my life. But my humor stalls when I notice two hostile faces standing in the hallway ten feet behind her.
“Good evening.” I raise my hat to her parents and a bucketload of raindrops crashes to the ground.
“Come in,” she whimpers and pulls me by the hand in both her tiny ones. So small but so strong. Fuck it feels good to have her hands on my muscle again. Just her touch is like one of those fancy spa massages.
She makes the introductions and I get the feeling the homestead isn't happy right now on account of me. The tension in the room would require a raging bull to bust through. Then I look down to Dallyce's feet and see a bag fit to explode. A burst of relief runs through me that I caught up to her before losing her again.
“Taking another trip?” I ask.
“Yes,” she mewls, her cheeks pink.
Her father is still glaring at me to the extent I'm glad he hasn't got a shotgun in his hands.