Authors: Claire Adams
“Yes,
isn’t that where you said you were from?”
“Oh,
oh, yes, Wyoming. I’m sorry; I didn’t hear you right the first time. It’s very
beautiful in Wyoming. A really peaceful place to grow up.”
“Did
you live in the city?”
“Um,
well, yeah, it was pretty much the city. Not a big city though, but we didn’t
live on a ranch like this.”
“Are
your parent’s still alive?” I asked him.
Again
Garrett paused for an extended period of time before he answered me. My gut was
screaming at me by that point. I knew he was lying to me. Obviously, I had no
idea why he was lying or what exactly it was that he was hiding, but I knew
enough to not be happy.
What
had started as a fun evening of flirting and excitement was turning into a huge
disappointment for me. I couldn’t flirt with or sleep with a man who was so
obviously lying right to my face. I wanted to believe there was another reason
for his awkwardness though. I kept pushing forward in hopes that something
about our conversation would reveal who Garrett truly was and why I felt like
he was keeping things from me.
“Um,
no, they passed away.”
“I’m
so sorry.”
“Okay,
enough about my sad life. Let’s talk about these hot dogs I’m cooking right
now. Don’t they look like the most amazing hot dogs in the world?”
At
first I wanted to protest his change in subject, but then I realized it wasn’t
useful to me at all. Garrett didn’t trust me—that was clear. Whatever it was
that was going on in his past, he wasn’t interested in sharing it with me. The
longer I thought about it, the more I realized he couldn’t be hiding anything
that was all that horrible—he just couldn’t. Garrett was a decent man who
worked hard, was polite, and seemed very genuine most of the time. Whatever he
was hiding, had to come out sooner or later.
“They
look pretty normal to me,” I teased.
“Just
wait until you taste them. These are the number-one, best-in-the-world hot
dogs. Plus, they were cooked by this five star camping chef.”
Garrett
made me laugh; he almost always made me laugh at least a little bit. It was fun
being around him and I was sad that he would most likely be moving on soon. The
more time I spent with him the more I was sure he would want to move on soon.
Being a ranch hand certainly didn’t seem to fit him very well, but he did do a
good job of it.
Maybe
he was running away from a past job, or girlfriend. Perhaps he had even
committed some sort of crime; I just wasn’t sure. But I felt safe with him and
I didn’t feel like he lied or was deceitful in our day-to-day conversations;
only about his past. So for the time being, I tried to forget about my gut and
what it was saying to me, instead I decided to just enjoy the moment with a
friend. That was all Garrett was and that was all he had to be, a nice friend
who worked on my parents ranch.
“Mmmm,
you’re right, these are the best hot dogs I’ve ever tasted,” I joked.
“I
know. I know. Can Buckjoy have one?”
“Well,
he’s not supposed to, but I’m sure he’ll love it. Go ahead and give him one.”
Garrett
was so gentle with Buckjoy, it was exciting to see their bond growing. I had
seen many men try to tame wild horses, but most didn’t have the patience to
continue working with them. Even my own father struggled with training wild
horses; that was why I always did it for him. Garrett stood next to the tall,
black animal; he was barefoot and only wearing his boxer shorts, yet he looked
so comfortable I had to snap a quick photo without him knowing.
Wild
horses were plentiful in our area of the world. Much of the land in Montana
wasn’t occupied at all, except by wild animals. We certainly couldn’t tame them
all, but it was a fun project to work with them if they happened to hang around
our land a lot. My father had gone to great lengths to work directly with the
state conservation board to get approval to keep Buckjoy. Once the wild horses
started hanging around our ranch, they had a hard time returning to their
heard. It was an easy life at the ranch, water brought to them, food delivered
every morning; wild horses liked that part of living with us. It was the
saddling them up and taking them for rides that was the hard part.
Garrett’s
hand gently stroked the animal and I saw how Buckjoy looked at him. The horse
was totally and utterly Garrett’s; I’d have to break it to my father sooner or
later, but that horse loved Garrett and it was clear. Buckjoy was calm and
relaxed as Garrett pet him.
“I
can’t believe he is a wild horse,” Garrett said as he gently pet the animal.
“He seems to be perfectly comfortable and at home with us. It is like he was
meant to be here with us at this very moment.”
“I
think he just likes you,” I added. “He certainly doesn’t look that calm when
he’s with me.”
“Maybe.”
We
finished some more of the food that my mother had packed for us and then
gathered the remainder of the meat and cooked it up and fed it to the horses.
We still had plenty of snacks to tide us over to the next morning and it was
likely that any raw meat would go bad with the small amount of ice that was
left in the cooler.
“So
you’re still set on this idea of us each sleeping in our own tent?” Garrett
asked.
“I
think I’ll survive alone.”
His
ragging hard on had subsided but I still couldn’t help but glance in that
direction as he stood near his tent. If Garrett hadn’t been blatantly lying to
me or keeping secrets about his past, I might have considered having a fun
naked night with him. But it was clear that he wasn’t being honest about his
past and I was smart enough to stay away from men who weren’t honest.
I
hadn’t always been smart enough to avoid dishonest men; it was something I
learned in my time in New York City. It was also something I wanted to talk
about in my book, if I ever actually got around to writing it. I pulled the pen
out and wrote some notes quickly on the paper I still had from Garrett.
“Inspiration
has struck again,” Garrett said as he walked toward me to see what I was
writing.
“It’s
no big deal. Just another idea for a chapter,” I said as I quickly folded the
piece of paper and put it into my pocket.
I
certainly didn’t need Garrett looking at my notes about liars. If he was lying
to me, I wasn’t going to find it out by confronting him. If he wasn’t lying, he
was at the very least keeping an aspect of his past a secret and to me that was
just as bad as actually lying to someone. We were growing close and I had been
honest with him about my life, way too honest; so I expected the same from him.
Quite
frankly, I was over all men who lied and kept secrets. I didn’t have time for
that in my life and I certainly wasn’t going to sleep with a man who was like
that. It didn’t matter how attracted to him I was.
Back
in New York, I had girlfriends that would have slept with just about any man
they thought was attractive. To them, sex was just all fun and games. They
figured if they had protection then it didn’t matter who they were sleeping
with. But for me it was so different. I became emotionally invested in any man
I slept with, even the ones I knew would be a short-lived situation. I tried
not to get emotionally involved, but inevitable I always did and I always ended
up dealing with some sort of broken heart in the end.
Garrett
stood close to me and I felt his hand as it gently touched my arm. The
electricity that shot between our two bodies wasn’t anything I could ignore. To
be honest, I hadn’t remember having such pure excitement between a man and me
in a very long time. Call it sexual attraction or whatever else you’d like but
there was certainly an energy between the two of us that neither of us could
deny.
“You’re
cold,” he said. “Did you bring a sweatshirt or jacket?”
“Oh,
man! No, I left it on my bed.”
I
had purposely pulled out a sweatshirt because I knew I would get cold, but
after my mom had come in to talk to me, I was distracted and forgot it. It was
going to be a cold night in the lightweight sleeping bag I had with me and I
knew it.
I
hated that I had actually planned appropriately for the trip but then I stood
there practically shivering because I had forgotten my warm sweatshirt. Up
until that very moment, I hadn’t even realized I was cold, but once Garrett
pointed it out to me, I couldn’t stop shivering as my mind fixated on the
feeling of cold air as it brushed over my body.
It
was odd to me that Garrett, who was standing in his boxers, wasn’t cold at all.
He was barely dressed and had been soaked in the river, yet he seemed to be
perfectly fine standing out in the cool night air.
“We
could share a tent,” Garrett offered with a broad smile.
“We
aren’t sharing a tent,” I rebuffed him.
My
father would literally throw a fit if he found out I was sleeping in the same
tent as Garrett. Not because he didn’t like the guy, but simply because I
believed my father still didn’t fully understand that I slept with men. He
still thought of me as his little girl and I knew that finding out I had slept
in the same tent with Garrett would not have gone over well. Although, we were very
far away from the ranch and it wasn’t likely anyone would ever know about it;
unless Garrett or I told them.
“Okay,
but I get really warm at night. Like a little heater. I’ll probably be sweating
over here in my tent because my body heat is so high. You just come on over if
you get cold,” Garrett teased me as he walked away from me and then came back
even closer.
“I’ll
be all right,” I said as I stood still.
“Come
sleep with me,” Garrett offered as his hands started to rub up and down my arms
to keep me warm. “It doesn’t have to be anything more than a warm bed to sleep
in.”
I
was grateful he had made the offer. His hands were already warming up my body
just by rubbing on my skin, but I was also getting extremely turned on standing
there next to him and having him touching me. I knew myself well enough to know
that if I went into Garrett’s tent it was going to be really hard for me not to
have sex with him.
It
wouldn’t be the biggest tragedy in the world if Garrett and I did the
horizontal mamba, but it wasn’t a great idea either. I was about to officially
refuse him when I noticed the gaze from his eyes switch to my lips and he
started to move closer to me.
His
hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me close to him as they started moving
up and down my back in an effort to keep me warm. It was working and I hated
it. He was making it harder and harder to avoid saying yes to his offer.
“See,
I’m warming you up.”
“I
should sleep in my own tent,” I responded.
Without
hesitation, his lips moved to mine and he delivered a delicious sweet and
gentle kiss. My arms were pressed up against my body as he held me to him and I
couldn’t help but move my mouth with his as we explored each other. He didn’t
open his mouth and I didn’t open mine either, instead we just gently enjoyed
each other’s touch as the cool night breeze surrounded us.
I
wanted to push him away, but I couldn’t bring myself to deny my own pleasure.
Having Garrett’s arms wrapped around me and his body keeping me warm made me
feel good. Garrett made me feel wanted and I wasn’t ready to give that up just
yet. Just a couple more minutes of kissing and cuddling and then I promised
myself that I would go back to my tent.
“Is
that a yes?” Garrett asked as he pulled his lips away from mine.
“I
should say no.”
“But,
you want to say yes,” he smiled at me.
“Get
going to your tent, I’ll go to mine. I won’t be coming over there. Just go to
sleep, you goofball,” I said as I finally pressed myself away from his warm
embrace.
Chapter 9
Garrett
I
didn’t expect Sarah to come climbing into my tent at all when I was joking with
her about staying warm. She didn’t strike me as the kind of woman who would go
back on her word either, or the kind who would do anything behind her father’s
back.
So
when I awoke to the sound of my tent zipper, it took all the will power I had
to hold back the smile that came across my face and the excitement I felt
inside. In fact, I continued to pretend as if I were sleeping just to give
Sarah the leeway to sneak into my tent without feeling like she needed to
explain herself. I honestly didn’t want her to be cold all night long and I was
fine with her sharing my tent; it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Although it
was going to be pretty damn hard to avoid going after her if she was right
there for the taking.
It
wasn’t freezing out that night, but it was certainly cold. I estimated it was
in the lower fifties and although I was a very warm-blooded sleeper, I did feel
the cold seeping in through my sleeping bag. It didn’t bother me and I likely
would have slept all through the night if Sarah hadn’t of climbed into my tent
to keep warm.
I
heard her throw her sleeping bag and pillow into the tent and then she climbed
in and zipped it back up. I didn’t move as I tried my best to pretend to be
asleep. Luckily I was facing away from the tent opening and I didn’t have to do
much but lay still.
“I’m
just in here for the warmth. That’s it, nothing else,” Sarah said to appease
herself as she finished zipping the tent back up.
Because
I was pretending to sleep, I didn’t answer her, which made it easier for her to
take her time and get her sleeping bag situated. It would have been warmer if
we combined our two sleeping bags into one and used each other’s body heat to
keep warm, but I wasn’t going to push my luck. I had her in my tent and that
was much more than I thought I was going to get from her.
Sarah
took a few minutes to get situated and then I felt her snuggle up against my
back and pressed her body close to me. We were both in our sleeping bags, so
there wasn’t anything inappropriate that her father wouldn’t be all right with;
except that we were in a tent together. I also happened to only have my boxer
shorts on, which I could only assume wouldn’t have made Sid very happy either.
But I was going to behave myself. Even if it took every last bit of will power
I could muster, I wasn’t going to let myself go after Sarah on that night.
Maybe on another night I’d justify that it was all right, but I felt like Sid
trusted me to keep Sarah safe on that evening and I couldn’t go against his
trust.
As
soon as she stopped moving, I quickly fell back to sleep. Since arriving on the
ranch, I had become accustomed to getting a good night sleep and my body was
constantly tired at the end of the day. Sarah was comfortably warm and in my
tent and I hoped she would sleep better with me near. After months on the
ranch, I thought I would have gotten used to the amount of work by then, but my
body was always tired and on that night it was also extremely sore from all the
horseback riding that we had done.
I
don’t remember even turning around or moving at all throughout the night, but
when raindrops started to hit the tent I opened my eyes and realized I was
cuddled up behind Sarah with my arms around her. She felt good in my arms and I
hesitated to move them. They were probably even helping to keep her warm.
“Sorry,”
I said and finally pulled them away.
“Get
those back here, I’m freezing,” she demanded and pulled my arms around her
again.
I
breathed in a deep large breath of air and could smell that delicious, sweet
scent coming from Sarah. I immediately wrapped my arms around her again and
snuggled up close. There could have been so much more happening that night between
us, but I was very content laying there with her in my arms. I didn’t need to
push her for more. I didn’t want to. The feeling of her next to me was plenty
to satisfy my desire, at least for that moment.
“It’s
raining,” I whispered. “Do we need to do anything with the horses?”
Sarah
laughed and then pressed her body back against mind. She thought I was joking,
but I actually had been wondering if we needed to do anything with them. When
she closed her eyes and went back to sleep I assumed the answer was that we
should leave them be. They were horses, I figured they were probably used to
dealing with the elements. Well, at least Buckjoy was.
Her
ass was completely distracting me. I had been perfectly fine with cuddling and
going back to sleep until she pressed that damn, round, delicious piece of her
body up against me. I tried to pull my hips away from her and she moved close
to me again. She might have been doing it unconsciously, but I felt like she
was purposely teasing me.
The
rain continued throughout the early morning and by the time Sarah’s alarm went
off so she could get the sunrise the rain had stopped almost like it was on a
schedule. The mist that was on the ground from the change in temperature and
humidity made for one amazing photo when the sun started to come up.
This
time Sarah didn’t stand in the water and instead opted to lie in the wet grass
just next to the creek. She sure was determined to get some good photos for her
father. She looked at a couple different views before she decided on the one
that worked best. Once she got down to the ground, she ended up moving around a
little to get a few more photos, and by the time she stood up, she was wet and
muddy.
“You’re
wet,” I teased. “You should take those clothes off.”
She
just laughed and continued on with her photos. I felt a little out of place as
she worked, but it didn’t take her long before she took a break to talk to me.
“I
just really want to get some good pictures,” Sarah said as she looked through
the ones she had taken so far.
“Tell
me again why your father wants to sell this land?” I asked.
“He’s
not making enough money to keep it all, basically. But he was going to sell it
to a friend of his for much less than it is worth. I’m going to help him list
it with a realtor and see if I can get an offer for what it’s really worth.”
“What
do you think it’s really worth?”
“I’d
like to get ten million for it, but I don’t know if there are any buyers who
will see the true potential of the land like I do. I’d settle for five million.
If we could get that kind of offer, it would set my parents up to finally relax
and maybe even do a little semi-retirement.”
“What
do you see as the potential for the land? I mean besides its beauty of course.”
Sarah
turned toward me and jumped up from the ground where she had squatted down to
take another couple photos. I saw a spark of excitement in her eyes like I had
seen when she was talking about writing a book for women. This land made her
happy, I could see it, I could feel it; it was sad that her father was going to
have to sell it in order to make ends meet.
“This
part of the ranch would make a fabulous executive retreat. I mean, think about
it. We have mountains in the winter, hiking in the summer. I’d put a big lodge
at the base of the mountain and build a hiking trail with a bridge over the
river. It would take some fundamental land upgrades to get it going. There’s no
electricity or water out this way, but once that was all done, this could be
one of those amazing, high-price resorts that companies bring their executives
to for team building. I haven’t crunched all the numbers, but my best estimate
is it could be profitable in two years if there was good marketing at the
opening of the ranch.”
Her
excitement was contagious. As Sarah talked about the idea of an executive
retreat on that location, I couldn’t help but see her vision too. It sounded
amazing; like a perfect way to spend time and enjoy this beautiful land.
I
knew a lot of businesses who enjoyed taking their top salespeople and executives
on team building retreats. I knew they were popular and companies were willing
to spend decent money for retreats that were truly innovative and secluded.
“Why
don’t you buy it and build that dream resort?”
“I’ve
got a little money from my severance package, but I’m certainly not rich enough
to do what needs to be done here. Not only would it take buying the land, the
land improvements would cost millions as well. Plus, building the lodge and all
of the rest of it. It’s a great plan, but it will have to be someone else’s
future; it’s not mine.”
“Sorry,
I don’t understand all the costs for something like this. I just saw how
excited it made you and thought you’d make the perfect executive lodge owner.”
As
much as I wanted to continue our conversation, I knew I would put my foot in my
mouth. She could get backers to fund the building, or loans to finance it; I
knew business and I knew there were plenty of options available to Sarah. The
frustrating part was Sarah knew there were financing options; she had an MBA.
It wasn’t the financing that was holding her back; Sarah didn’t believe in
herself enough to take on such a huge task.
“It’s
all right. Maybe someday I’ll get one or two of my other dreams.”
“I’m
sure you will,” I said and then tried to change the subject. “Should we start
heading back? I’ve got tons of jobs to get done today and don’t want to
disappoint your father or Forest.”
“Yes,
let’s head back.”
Sarah
seemed sad as we loaded up our things and got on the horses to head back to the
ranch. She was happy out by the river and I wished that someday she would be
able to have her dream of living up there or running a business there. Or at
least that they would be able to sell the land to someone who would pay her
father a decent price for the land.
The
Millers were quickly becoming some of my favorite people. They were genuine and
friendly and even though they knew nothing about me or the trouble I was in;
all of the Millers were taking me in and treating me as if I belonged there. I
hadn’t had that sort of feeling in my life in a really long time.
The
only person I had was my sister, and although we were close, we just didn’t get
to spend that much time together. I used to think it was her fault that we
never saw each other, but my time at the ranch had changed my opinion on that
matter. My sister was married and about to have a baby. She was in no position
to be flying across the country to visit me. Yet every time we talked on the
phone, I always told her I was too busy to come see her.
I
owned an airline and yet I was too busy to fly to Florida and see her? It
sounded so incredibly stupid when I thought about it. I couldn’t believe my
sister even kept calling me to check on how I was doing. Whenever she called, I
hardly made time for her and I was often not listening to what she had to say
at all. It made me sick how I had treated her over the years and I vowed to do
a much better job when the whole testifying disaster was finished.
Going
back up over the mountain was much easier than it had been the first time. I
felt much more in control of Buckjoy and was able to guide him back down the
other side without any incident. It was a pretty big confidence booster to have
ridden the horse all that way and back again without falling off or getting
myself hurt in some other way.
“You’re
becoming a regular old cowboy,” Sarah yelled as she passed me at the bottom of
the hill. “I’ll race you home.”
Sarah
was slapping the reins for her horse around and her horse was running fast
toward the house. I didn’t feel nearly as comfortable with Buckjoy going that
fast, but he didn’t seem to mind the running and wanted to keep up with her
horse. I held on tightly and let Buckjoy lead me as he took off in a sprint
after the white horse and Sarah. Soon we were right beside them and then
quickly we moved past them. It was exciting to be moving so fast on a horse and
it was something else that I hadn’t done before in my life.
When
we got back to the ranch, we both slowed down to a trot and moved the horses
into their barn to get them settled and let them rest. Buckjoy seemed perfectly
happy to have gotten a good run in and I could see that I was going to have to
take him out again for some fast action. My adrenaline was pumping and I
couldn’t help but feel like I was on some sort of high from the ride. There was
no doubt in my mind that I wanted to go riding again sometime very soon.
“So
what do I get since I beat you?” I teased.
“The
pleasure of knowing you can out race a girl.”
“A
very well trained horsewoman,” I added as I took a step closer to her.
The
moment was filled with happiness and we were both out of breath from the ride
and smiling from ear to ear. The sun was shining and the morning air was crisp
and moist. I was going to kiss her. I had decided it and that was the perfect
moment. I wouldn’t go any further than a kiss; I would just kiss her and see
how she felt about it. If she pulled away, I would chalk it up to a riding
high. If she stayed and kissed me, I would be a very happy man. It wasn’t a bet
and we weren’t far away from the farm; this kiss was going to be purely because
I wanted to and hopefully she did too.