Chapter 31
Hadley
“Jeans, Sunshine.” I slip into my Wranglers and shoulder my shirt onto my back, buttoning it up.
“Oh, yeah . . .” She rolls out of bed in nothing but panties, and for the length of a handful of heartbeats I strongly consider ushering her right back under the covers and planting myself between her legs.
“Might be a little awkward riding a horse without them,” I rasp, my cock hardening by the second. I give her my best smile.
“Oh, um . . . you remember, I can’t actually ride.”
“That so?” I know I’m being inane, but I like the buzz the banter between us gives me. Who the hell am I?
“Yep, wasn’t exactly the pony-in-the-backyard type growing up.”
“That’s okay. You ride with me, then. For your lesson. Then I’ll put you on Patsy. A bomb could go off under her tail, and she wouldn’t budge an inch.”
“Is that alright, if I ride with you for a bit?”
She stands and slides on her jeans. I’m almost sorry to see her perfect body covered up.
“Of course.”
She nods and walks to the bathroom, and I pad down the hallway.
At the front door, I pull my boots on, sliding my jeans over the high tops.
I shove my old work hat on my head. My light Stetson I’ve had for years.
It’s more ragged than anything else I own, but I can’t part with it.
I roll my sleeves up as I wait by the front door.
My knee smarts but I ignore it. Some things are worth a little pain.
Maggie pads toward me in jeans, a light blue T-shirt, and her cap on her head, aviators perched on top of the hat’s brim.
She looks like she damn well belongs here.
“Hadley Jones, this is you in your work clothes?”
I chuckle. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Oh, my poor ovaries,” she mutters.
“Focus, baby; we’ve got places to be.” I fold myself around her and distract her with kisses down her neck. She giggles, hands grabbing my face as she leans back. As I release her, she perks up, and I can practically see the light bulb appear over her head.
“Oh, can I grab my camera?”
“Sure.”
She skips back down the hall, swaying with every step. My body aches to be close to hers. Never in the history of mankind has a cowboy been so happy about having to share his horse.
“Got it, let’s go.” Maggie’s a little breathless as she waltzes past me, heading out the door. I know the feeling. I adjust my hat and close the door behind us.
Over at the horse field, I can hear the chatter through the open window where Gemma and Nia are trying desperately to conceal themselves with the curtains. They’re up damn early, gossips.
I call over one of the old mares.
Maggie points to Chester. “Oh, he’s gorgeous.”
I huff a laugh. “You wouldn’t think that if you were ridin’ him.”
“Why?” She looks at me, worried.
“He’s a joker. Likes to try his best to toss me off any chance he gets.”
Her face drops. “Ah, no thanks.”
I open the gate and lead the mare out. Patsy stands with an impatient look on her face as I lead her into the barn and tack up.
Maggie follows, looking around the barn. The look of wonder is back on her face. My heart hopes there’s something in that expression tethering her to this ranch, to this man.
“Ready?” I ask.
“I think so?” She eyes the horse nervously.
“This old girl is the soundest ride on this ranch, Sunshine. You’re safe.”
She gives me a scrunched-up smile before stepping toward the horse. She rubs her neck, relaxing a little as Patsy bends her neck around and sniffs her.
Maggie giggles. “She likes me.”
The sound goes straight to my cock, which I have been consciously ignoring since I rolled out of bed and left an almost naked Maggie wrapped in my sheets.
“Course she does. You’re very likable.”
The woman rolls her damn eyes at me, and I love it. The need to fuck the sass out of her is setting my body on fire. I get the feeling today’s goin’ to drag.
“Foot in the stirrup.” I point to the iron hanging from the fender.
She lifts her foot and slides it all the way in. I push it back until the ball of her foot in her boot is across the iron. “Not too far in, keep the iron under the ball of your foot, okay?”
She nods.
I take her hands and wrap the fingers on her left hand around Patsy’s mane at her withers, the other I curl her fingers around the pommel of the saddle. “Pull up, push off the ground at the same time. Swing into the saddle.”
“Pull, push, swing . . . got it.”
She takes a few little hops and pulls as she propels herself up and onto Patsy’s back. A natural.
“Nailed it, beautiful.”
The smile over her face is doing things to me no man should survive, especially since I’m about to be in close quarters on the back of a horse with this woman.
She adjusts the camera around her neck, and I slide her foot from the iron and shove mine in, seating myself behind the saddle.
“Your foot back in, Mags,” I rasp into her ear.
Her face turns, her gaze pinning mine. “You never call me that.”
“Can I?”
“Sure,” she whispers. “I mean, I’m not gonna lie, I prefer Sunshine, but let’s mix it up.”
I nip her earlobe, and she leans back into me.
Well, this is going well.
Patsy shifts on her feet, resting her hind left, absolutely bored with life and oblivious to what is happening on her back.
Maggie slides her foot back into the stirrup iron and I adjust the reins in her hands.
“Squeeze your legs to send her forward. To stop, lean back a little and apply a little backward pressure on the reins.” I slowly pull them backward, my hands around Maggie’s.
“And she will pretty much ride at any speed you tell her to. To go left, pressure on the left rein. To go right, pressure on the right. Once you stop, if you need to reverse—”
“She does that?” Maggie’s eyes widen in joyful surprise.
I chuckle, tugging gently on both reins with my two ring and pinky fingers. Patsy’s head drops and she takes a few steps back.
“Oh wow. That’s so cool.”
“You try. Gentle is better, otherwise your mount can become unresponsive.”
“Ah, got it.”
Maggie takes the reins from my hands, imitating my hand position. She wiggles the two smallest fingers on her hands, and Patsy steps back three paces.
“That’s unreal.”
“Yeah, working with horses is something else, that’s for sure.”
“So can you show me how to make her go?” She winces at her choice of words.
“Sure, Sunshine. Lesson one of one. Then I’m tossing you into the deep end.” I give her a playful wink. Who am I kidding, today is going to go as fast—or as slow—as Maggie does.
If I have any chance of her wanting to stay with me after this year, I want her to feel like she belongs. I know she does. I see it. Hell, even my sisters see it. I’d watch molasses drip in winter with this woman and still be fascinated. It’s Maggie who has other plans.
We walk out to the round yard, and I step Patsy sideways to open the gate before we walk on through. Once inside, I shift her sideways again, shutting the gate.
“You never told me she does a sideways crab walk?” Maggie turns, delight on her face again.
I have a feeling Patsy is fast making a new friend.
Good.
“Right, send her into a walk.” I wave a hand ahead.
“Okay.” Maggie straightens, checking her footing in the stirrups before adjusting the reins. Her legs squeeze Patsy, and she dips her head and walks on. A huffy breath slips through Maggie’s mouth.
We do a few trips around the yard before I lean forward. “Shorten your reins and squeeze her into a trot.”
“You sure?” She pulls her bottom lip through her teeth.
“Come on, baby. Or I’ll do it for you.”
She shortens the reins almost six inches in each hand and squeezes Patsy forward again. The mare pushes forward into the up-down gait, and Maggie whoops. She rises naturally in the seat with the footfalls of the horse.
My chest swells with pride and something like the hope that this is another part of my life on this ranch she’ll fall in love with.
I bounce behind the saddle with no stirrups to rise and fall in. When it gets too much, I wrap an arm around Maggie’s waist. “Hold on, Sunshine.”
I squeeze Patsy into a lope.
Maggie full-on squeals as her hair flies around her shoulders. I bury my face in her neck. Fuck.
Nothing in my life has ever felt this good.
We rock together as one with every lazy, loping stride Patsy takes. Settling into the rhythm, Maggie turns her head back and dots a kiss to my temple.
Lord above, that’s the last hit my heart can take.
My entire world just shrank to one person. With the next heartbeat, I’m the happiest man alive and terrified to hop off this damn horse, all in one breath.
“I love this, Hadley,” she hums, leaning back into me as we rock our way around the round yard, Patsy on autopilot in the confined space.
“Me too, baby.”
Me too.
Throat closing over, my jaw flexes, my mind desperate to catch up to what my heart has known for a while.
Maggie Gallagher is it for me.
I love this, too, Sunshine.
I just can’t figure out a way to keep it without you losing what you love doing most.
The roundup goes quicker than I anticipated. Maggie rides tail, poking the cows and calves up with her sweet little hup hups, slapping her thigh with her hand as she bounces around on Patsy’s back.
If she can sit down comfortably tonight, it’ll be a miracle.
Finally the homestead comes into view, and I slow the herd, cutting back and forth until they slow to an amble. Kayley is running flank as we lead them along the fence line.
Taking advantage of the slower pace, Maggie shoots images of the ranch. Of Kayley loping after a stray calf that thought it was a good idea to be a rebel and peel away the herd and have some fun.
Blonde hair flying behind her from under her hat, my sister brings the little guy back into the fold, reining away as the calf disappears into the herd.
The girls are at the gates at the homestead, waiting to open them, Mom watching from the back porch, tissue in hand, like Scarlett O’Hara from Gone with the Wind.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
If I could, I’d relive this day on repeat. This morning in particular.
If I could have one thing in life . . . it would be this.