Authors: Claire Adams
“Stop
doing that,” she said with a smile.
“Doing
what?”
“Looking
at me like that.”
“I
have no idea what you’re talking about,” I lied.
“Garrett,
you’re looking at me like you’re undressing me with your eyes,” Sarah said as
her face blushed.
“I
was?”
I
couldn’t help but smile as her face continued to flush and she looked away. Sarah
was a beautiful woman and I wasn’t ashamed at all to have her know that I
wanted her. There was a delicate tightrope I was walking though. Her father was
the only reason I was at the ranch; if Sid wanted to kick me out at any moment,
he had the authority to do it. I would likely be sent up to Alaska to wait out
the rest of my time until the trial, and that idea sounded horrible to me.
“Well,
stop it. And we better get going before the sun sets. I need to get those
photos.”
She
quickly changed the subject and we both got back on the horses to head down the
other side of the mountain. I had thought it would be easier going down the
mountain, but it was much scarier for me than going up had been. I didn’t feel
in control of the horse at all and panic started to set in.
I
had to maintain control over Buckjoy and slow him down constantly. His wild
side kept wanted to run as fast as he could down the mountain, and that surely
would have ended badly for me. Forest had reminded me to go slow, but even when
I tried to pull the horse to get him to slow down, Buckjoy didn’t want to
listen.
It
was funny to me how much I identified with Buckjoy. He was a horse, logically I
knew that, yet I felt like I was him. I felt like a wild stallion that was
cooped up at the Miller ranch and just waiting for my time to run free. I
couldn’t blame him and I even wanted to let him run a little bit just to get it
out of his system.
As
a CEO, I hardly ever had to actually stay in one place for very long. I had the
freedom to travel where I wanted to and do what I wanted with my day. I
actually probably worked over 80 hours a week, but I did it from the comfort of
luxurious locations, airplanes, and even sitting in my bed. My old life wasn’t
perfect, but it was my life and I missed it.
The
months I had spent at the Miller ranch had already made me appreciate what I
had before. I was more grateful than ever for the successes in my life. But my
time had also made me realize how much I despised myself for risking everything
to get involved with a dangerous man like Frank Gordano. I knew he was
dangerous. I knew I was putting my business at risk; yet I did it anyways. I
felt like I was unstoppable and I was pretty damn lucky that the FBI decided
they could use my information instead of charging me with the crimes that I
also had committed. I could have easily been in jail instead of riding a wild
horse down a mountain with a beautiful woman by my side.
“Hold
the reins tighter or he’s going to start running,” Sarah yelled at me as
Buckjoy moved ahead of her on the trail.
“I’m
trying; he’s just not that interested in listening to me right now.”
I
started to become afraid as Buckjoy moved faster and faster down the trail. He
was in his own world now and my hold on him didn’t seem to control him like it
did when we were on the flat ground. My heart was beating a million miles a
minute and I knew with any wrong move, both Buckjoy and I would go tumbling
down the side of the mountain. The ride was no longer just about fun; I felt
like my life was actually in danger.
“You’re
in charge Garrett. Don’t let him be in charge.”
Sarah’s
words and the words of her father from a few weeks earlier were both in my head
as I sat up straight and took a deep breath. I pressed my legs into the horse
and pulled the reins back firmly to signal that he needed to slow down. I
didn’t let up, I continued to grip his body with my legs and hold the reins
firmly to show that we needed to go the pace that I set for him. Soon Buckjoy
slowed to a gallop and then to a walk. Relief ran through my body and my hands
started to shake from the adrenaline that had been rushing through me.
I
tried to hide my shaking hands from Sarah as she caught up to me, but I knew
she saw them. Our eyes met and she nodded her head in agreement that things
were better. I certainly would have wished that I could handle such an event
without even the slightest bit of fear on my face, but I couldn’t. I had
genuinely been scared for my life.
“That
was scary,” I said.
“Yes
it was. But he’s listening to you now. Stay in control and we’ll be to the
river shortly. See it over there?” she pointed to what looked like miles and
miles away.
“Oh,
God,” I moaned.
“You’re
going to sleep good tonight,” she teased me.
“I
sleep better here than I ever have my entire life. There’s something to be said
for working your body to exhaustion. It has no other choice but to sleep.”
“I
know. Isn’t it funny? I think it also has something to do with being outside
all day. Our bodies were meant to work with the sun and the second the sun goes
down, all I want to do is sleep. Yet, back in the city, I would stay up until
one or two in the morning almost every single night.”
“Yeah,
me too. I would work all day and then feel exhausted, but the second I got home
I couldn’t sleep.”
“Well
you also didn’t need to get up at four o’clock for breakfast,” she laughed.
It
was true. Back home, I hardly ever ate real breakfast and when I did I had the
luxury of eating it whenever I felt like it. I couldn’t remember a time where I
had ever woken up before five o’clock in the morning and even on those days it
was because I had a plane to catch.
We
continued down the mountain and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we
finally got to the flat land at the bottom. Sarah stayed in front of me through
the second half of the downward trail. She was probably afraid I was going to
lose control of the horse again, but then again, so was I.
In
my normal life, I was one hundred percent the alpha male in every situation,
but on the ranch I certainly wasn’t able to have that position. Sid Miller,
Forest, and even Sarah held more clout on the ranch than I did. They knew more
about running the business, caring for the animals, and surviving in that
environment. It was humbling to have a new perspective and I was enjoying
letting others take the control for a little bit; even if I felt cooped up
sometimes.
Sarah
rode ahead of me and my eyes were glued onto her ass. The gallop of the horse
had her round ass moving up and down in a rhythmic motion and my body throbbed
just thinking about what she would look like naked. For a brief moment, I
closed my eyes and thought about the touch of her naked ass against my hands
and how delightful it would feel. I remembered the gentle touch of her lips
against mine, and how much I had wanted to continue that moment once I knew
what she tasted like.
When
we finally arrived at the river, it was nearly time for the sun to set. We
quickly secured the horses and Sarah got started on taking photos. She looked
like she was in her natural element as she analyzed each angle and took several
photos. When she moved near to the river, I paid close attention because she
was walking out on some rocks that seemed very slipper to me. I moved close to
her and stood next to the river as I waited to help her back to the shore when
she was done with her photos.
“Careful,”
I said, almost under my breath as I walked over to where she was standing.
“I
just need one with the water and the sun set. I’ve got to get just the right
angle.”
Just
as she said that, Sarah’s foot slipped and she started to fall. I quickly
jumped into the water and grabbed her before she went all the way in. Only one
foot of hers was wet, but I was soaked all the way up to my waist.
“Well,
that wasn’t a smart move,” she joked as I held her up on the rock and she
looked down at me halfway in the water.
I
helped her to the side of the river and she held her hand out for me as I
climbed out of the water. It was cold and I started to shiver almost instantly
when the cool air hit my skin.
“Some
would say it was a brilliant move. I saved you from getting wet and looked like
a total hero doing it,” I joked.
“But
now you’re soaking wet and it’s going to get cold tonight. We better get a fire
going and get you out of those clothes.”
“The
words I’ve been waiting to hear for months,” I joked. “Yes, let’s get me out of
these clothes. Perhaps you should get out of yours also, you know, just to make
me feel better.”
Although
I was very much joking, I had fantasized about Sarah wanting me. I had
fantasized so much about her that I thought she could read my thoughts when I
looked at her. Some mornings I would even avoid eye contact with her all
together because I was sure she would see the dirty thoughts that were going
through my mind.
“You’re
still sleeping in your own tent. I don’t care how many times you save me.”
“You’re
such a stickler for the rules.”
“Can
you start a fire?” Sarah asked as we both finally made it to dry land.
She
wasn’t asking me to actually start the fire, but simply wondering if I had the
skills necessary to start a fire. Oh how I wished I could have surprised her
and told her I knew exactly how to get a fire going from the middle of nowhere
without a lighter. In that moment I wanted those backwoods skills that would
have totally impressed her, but alas, I didn’t have such skills.
“Nope.”
“Not
surprising, for a city guy like you. Let me teach you.”
It
was getting tiring having Sarah always have to show me how to do things, but I
was in her world and that was just how it was going to have to be. If she was
ever to fly in one of my private jets, I’d be glad to show her how to fly one.
I laughed under my breath at the thought. I was never going to be able to show
Sarah my jets, I wouldn’t even be able to tell her who I really was. As soon as
the trial came, I would go back to my world and never see Sarah, Sid or my
friends at the ranch ever again. It was the sad truth of my situation.
“Sorry,
I’m not really the best ranch hand in the world, am I?” I laughed.
“You
know what, I don’t think knowing how to do everything makes someone good at
working on the ranch. I think being willing to let others show you and humble
enough to know when you need to learn is much more important,” her warm smile
had my full attention but then she gently put her hand on my arm and my body
also stood at attention for her.
My
blood pumped quickly to my throbbing member and I swiftly moved my arms to
cover the evidence that I was aroused. Simply sitting and watching Sarah start
a fire had my body throbbing. Well, actually it had likely been the look in her
eyes and the touch of her hand, but I knew I couldn’t control how much she
excited me. Or maybe it was that I hadn’t had sex in over three months. My body
longed to feel the explosion of pleasure that a woman could bring.
Sarah
quickly had the fire going and then stood there looking at me. I looked back at
her, wondering what it was she was waiting for. Did she see the excitement in
my pants? Was she waiting for me to comment on why I was so damn excited by
her?
“Your
pants,” she said firmly as she held out her hand. “We need to dry them.”
Oh, shit.
The
thick fabric of my jeans was the only thing preventing my pulsing member from
springing to attention and showing Sarah just how much I longed for her. I
couldn’t exactly take them off and just stand there in my wet boxers; it would
expose me too much.
“I’ll
set up the tents and then you can have them,” I offered.
“No,
just hand them to me now. They will need time to dry and it would be better for
us to get that started right away.”
Panic
rushed through me at the thought of being exposed, being vulnerable. I looked
at Sarah and then at her hand that was outstretched. She was so firm in her
request. In the outside world I would have simply said no and went about
setting up the tents. But then again, in the outside world I wouldn’t have been
jumping into a river and getting my pants wet in the first place. In the
outside world, I wouldn’t have a hard on simply from a woman touching my hand.
Nothing about my old life applied to that moment and I had to think of some
other solution to avoid the embarrassment that was quickly becoming a reality.
“How
about I just set my tent up real quick?” I said as I grabbed the tent from the
pile of our things and walked toward where I wanted to put it up.
Sarah
grabbed the tent from my hand and threw it onto the ground. She pulled me close
to her and looked me in the eyes as her hands started to unbutton my jeans. I
didn’t know what she was doing, but I knew I had to stay right there and see
where this was leading.
“I
said to give me your wet pants,” she said with a grin.
Chapter 8
Sarah
His
body was hard, I could tell as my hands started to unzip his pants. That was
why he had been trying to avoid handing his wet jeans over to me. It was
flattering, and I desperately wanted to let my hand run up and down his body.
But I restrained myself. I still didn’t know enough about Garrett to be
throwing myself at him, but in order to learn more, I was perfectly fine with
teasing him a little bit.
My
hands purposely moved slow as I looked him in the eyes. It was more fun than I
had ever had teasing a man. Garrett seemed shocked that I was standing there
and even more shocked that my hands were pulling at the button and zipper to
his pants.
My
normal demeanor around men didn’t let me flirt like I was at that moment. I had
to pretend like I was full of confidence while I held his gaze and refused to
look away. He was the one who had started this whole flirting thing and I
wasn’t going to let him win our little battle of flirting.
“I
should put the tent up,” Garrett said quietly.
I
knew he didn’t believe what he was saying any more than I did. Plus, it was too
late for him to be modest. I had his manhood only inches away from my fingers.
He had been all masculine and in control when he wanted to kiss me, but now
that I was standing there seemingly ready and waiting for him, Garrett was
getting cold feet.
“I’m
a big girl, I can handle what’s going on here,” I said as I pressed his pants
down.
He
reached around back and helped and soon his pants were on the ground. Slowly I
leaned over to grab them, knowing very well that my mouth would be so close to
his throbbing body that all he would be able to think about was what I would
feel like wrapped around him. The moment was sensual as I looked up at him from
my bent over position and he let out a barely audible grunt at the sight of me.
“Sorry,”
he said as I grabbed his pants and let my eyes gaze on his boxers.
Garrett
was definitely excited to be there with me. But it surprised me that he was so
worked up after jumping in the water. That didn’t really seem like a sexy thing
for him to be doing. I didn’t care though. I liked that Garrett was turned on
by me. It was exhilarating to know that there were still good-looking men in
the world that could find a strong woman attractive.
In
New York, there were two types of women; strong, business-minded women and
waitresses who wanted to make it on Broadway. Of course, there were other types
somewhere in the middle, but I could have sworn every bar my girlfriends and I
went to was filled with the flirty bombshells. I didn’t have a thing against
the flirty women, I just hated that all the strong men gravitated toward them.
It was like they were afraid of strong women. It was fun to try and be that
sexy flirty type of woman, even if it was only for a few moments.
“I’m
going to set these here to dry, now you can set the tent up if you’d like,” I
teased him.
“Oh,
now that you have me half naked, you want to put me to work?”
“Yep.”
Garrett
laughed and seemed to go with the flow rather easily. I gave him some space
while he put his tent up and I put my own up. I tried not to look at him, but I
couldn’t help but take a few quick glances at the rock-hard member he was
sporting in his boxers. Garrett certainly was swinging with a big boy bat.
“Let
me at least save my manhood by making the dinner,” Garrett offered.
“Oh,
I didn’t know your manhood was lost.”
“I
think it’s somewhere up on that mountain,” he laughed.
“Buckjoy
and you did great. I bet even my father would be proud of you for making that
ride happen without falling off the trail. It’s harder going down than going
up, that’s for sure. And yes, you can make dinner. My mother packed a cooler
with plenty of food; have a go at it and see what you’d like to cook.”
Garrett
lifted the cooler from under the tree and carried it over to the fire pit we
had made. Unfortunately, I had the water plug open to drain some of the water
out and it poured all over Garrett. His boxers were already wet, but then his
shirt got soaked as well. It wouldn’t have been nearly as funny if Garrett was
already dry, but since he had already had such a wet evening, the moment was beyond
funny to me.
I
couldn’t help laughing, but I stopped briefly when I saw the serious look on
his face. Then without hesitating, Garrett pulled his shirt off and set it next
to his jeans by the fire.
“I’m
not taking my boxers off,” he said matter-of-factly as he sat down and started
to look through the cooler.
Garrett
had the body of a man I had always dreamed of being with. His chiseled chest
and abs were something I had only fantasized about in a man I slept with. Normally
the men I ended up with were nerdy businessmen who were slightly overweight
with pasty white skin. But Garrett was none of those things. Garrett was
tanned, toned, and ripped like a body builder. I couldn’t help but stare at him
as he went to work on the dinner. Each muscle flexed and relaxed with his
movements and my mind drifted to imagining what he would feel like hovering
over me.
“You
sure you don’t want to take those wet boxers off? You don’t want to catch a
cold.” I joked. “Didn’t you bring other clothes with you?”
“Nope;
I didn’t figure I’d need them.”
“So
what’s in your bag?”
“A
book and my journal.”
I
couldn’t have heard him correctly. Did Garrett really just tell me he had a
journal? All I could think about were the frilly, pink journals I used to write
in when I was a kid. I stopped writing in my journal when I was a teenager and
I hadn’t ever met a man who kept a journal.
“Journal?”
I questioned with a raised eyebrow.
“Don’t
start judging me, young lady. I’m just writing down interesting things that
happen along my journey so I can remember them. Maybe someday even write a
book.”
His
response made me feel stupid for judging him. Of course journals weren’t just
for teenage girls. In fact, I was pretty impressed with his plans to write a
book someday. It took a lot of hard work to write a book and Garrett had proved
he was more than willing to work hard; I had seen it for myself on the farm
over the last few months.
I
knew there was more to Garrett than met the eye. He was handsome and well
spoken. He was kind and hard working. Garrett Reynolds seemed to be an almost
perfect representation of a man and I needed to figure out his flaws. Certainly
he had some deep dark secret that he was running away from or he was hiding
something that he didn’t want me to know.
“I’m
sorry, that’s really cool. I’ve thought about writing a non-fiction book for
women in business, but I just never get around to it. I probably won’t ever do
it. I think writing a book is a lot like dreaming of running my own business;
I’ll never do either one of those things.”
“What
would it be about?”
“I
was thinking it would be something about how to manage the climb without losing
yourself. I felt like I lost myself. It wasn’t fun for me when I finally got
fired. It was actually a relief when they gave me a severance package and said
my position was being downsized. I probably never would have left my job. I
would have diligently worked there and climbed up the ladder and then moved
onto the next ladder to climb; even though I wasn’t very happy at all.”
“It’s
good you left then. And why don’t you start writing your book tonight? What do
you want your readers to feel when they read your book?” Garrett asked as he
ripped a piece of paper out of his journal and started to write down what I was
saying.
At
first I didn’t want to answer him. I was content to just move on with our
conversation and wait for the dinner to be done. But the way he looked at me
had me realizing that he wasn’t about to just let me move on with the conversation.
Garrett was waiting for me to give him an answer and he looked like he would
have waited for hours if I had made him.
“I
want them to feel more confident in their skin. Maybe inspired to lead the way
they want to lead, instead of feeling like they have to lead the same way men
do.”
“This
is good stuff. What will your first chapter be about?” Garrett asked
enthusiastically.
“I
don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Well,
we are thinking about it right now. What do you want the first words your
readers see of yours to be about?”
“Um,
maybe about job interviews. I think many women believe you have to dress like a
man or dress like a slut and there is so much more to what to wear. And there’s
so much more to what to say and do when you’re in the interview. Did you know
that most women don’t ask questions of their prospective employer? How do you
really know if you want to work at a company without asking them questions?”
Garrett
diligently wrote down what I was saying and I felt motivated to keep talking
about my book idea. It was so nice to have someone sitting with me who was
listening to me and my ideas. Not only was Garrett listening, but he was
literally taking notes and encouraging me. Even my own friends from New York
seemed to be so wrapped up in their own lives that they hardly ever took the
time to have a real conversation with me. It was nice to have an encouraging
conversation about some of my goals.
“What
about once they get hired? What should women know then?” Garrett asked.
“They
need to know how to make friends without seeming like a push over, or someone
who doesn’t work very hard. They need to know which type of friends to
gravitate toward and which ones to stay away from.”
“Explain
that more,” Garrett asked as he continued to take notes.
“What
I mean is that many women are afraid to have friends in the office when they
start getting important jobs. Although the male co-workers all have friends in
the office, as a woman I felt like I was being judged every time I stopped to
talk to one of my female co-workers. But also there are women you should avoid
in a workplace setting. The ones who cause drama and sleep around aren’t the
ones a woman should befriend.”
“Really?”
“Oh,
yeah. Men would see a couple women talking and make comments that we were
gossiping or something else like that. It never occurred to them that we might
actually be having a conversation, just like normal friends do. They also
assumed any woman who was friends with a woman who slept around was also that sort
of woman.”
“This
stuff is really good Sarah. You need to write a book for sure,” he said and
handed me the piece of paper he had taken notes on for me. “Women in business
need a book like this.”
Garrett
was sweet, but what did he really know about business or women in the
workplace? Of course, I wasn’t going to say anything to him; but Garrett was a
ranch hand, he clearly didn’t understand what women dealt with in a corporate
working environment. I doubted anyone would even buy such a book, if I ever
took the trouble to write it.
“Thank
you and thanks for humoring me for a little bit. It was fun.”
“By
the way, I saw you in a pretty manly suit in that photo at your parent’s house;
was that when you first started working?”
“Yes,
that was when I got my first office. Obviously, I needed some fashion help.
That’s certainly something I’d want to talk with women about. They should dress
as fashionably as they want in their careers and not worry about it. Men wear the
suits they want to wear and they don’t think twice if the women in the office
with be offended by their outfits. Yet as a woman, we have to worry if our
skirt is long enough, our breasts are hidden enough, and if the men will be
able to concentrate on their work with me around.”
“Write
it down,” Garrett said with a smile as he handed me his pen. “If you don’t
write it down when you think of it, your ideas tend to lose their passion.”
Garrett
spoke with such authority on the subject of writing that I almost wanted to
believe him. But he had a way about him in most everything he did and it always
seemed to show him in a good light. Even when he had talked about being bitten
by a pig, he ended up coming out of the story even more irresistible than he had
been before I heard it.
“You
seem knowledgeable about writing; have you written anything before?”
He
hesitated and seemed to look up into the night air for an answer before he
responded. It was odd that he had to think so hard on if he had written anything
before, but I waited patiently for him to answer me.
“Just
when I was younger. But I really loved it and I thought this trip would be a
good time to get back into it.”
“You
know, I hardly know anything about you. Tell me more about Wyoming.”
“Wyoming?”
Garrett said with a puzzled look on his face.
My
gut clenched at his response. He had clearly told me before that he was from
Wyoming, yet he didn’t seem to recognize the state at all as I asked him. I
tried not to let all the alarms in my mind get set off; he could have simply
forgot that he had told me about that part of his life. But something did seem
off about the way he didn’t recognize the state.