25
A fter pulling a bareback pad and saddle out of the tack room, Charlie readies Arrow for our ride. “Hey, boy, you ready to roll?” he rumbles, patting Arrow’s muscled chest.
The smile on my face is uncontained. Seeing this sexy cowboy being kind to his animals is like dopamine injected straight into my veins.
“How about you?” he asks, turning to me. “You ready?”
I smile and approach the horse. No nerves, just excitement.
“All my life,” I breathe.
After a second of hesitation, Charlie lifts me onto Arrow’s back. He does it carefully, delicately, like he’s afraid I’ll break. I throw my leg over the saddle and grab the reins for dear life. Charlie looks up at me, his handsome face serious.
I can tell he’s running down a memory in his mind. I remember the way he reacted when I fell into the pen. The way he watched Fallon jump those rails.
My heart vibrates in my chest. He’s worried about me.
I lock my eyes on his. “I’ll be okay, Charlie,” I say, because it looks like he needs the assurance.
“I won’t let you fall, Ruby,” he growls, his jaw locked tight.
I smile brightly. “I know you won’t.”
His eyes flash, and he gives me a quarter smile that goes straight to my heart.
Arrow shifts on his feet, and I squeal as my center of gravity is rocked. I lean down, wrapping my arms around Arrow’s long neck. “What do I do?”
He gives a low, short laugh. “Hold on. I’m comin’ up.”
With a well-practiced ease, Charlie jumps up to sit bareback behind me. He wraps an anchoring arm around my waist and pulls me tight against him. In one hand, he gathers up the reins, clicks his tongue, then Arrow trots down the road.
I cry out in delight. We’re not going fast, but to me, this feeling is everything.
It’s freedom. It’s flying.
Living.
“Oh my god!” I grip Charlie’s tense forearm when Arrow snorts. “I can’t believe it. I’m riding.” I glance back at him, catching a glimpse of his stern, chiseled profile. “What do we do now?”
He leans forward, his coarse beard tickling me. I feel the smile on his face as he presses his mouth against my cheek. His deep, masculine rumble of a voice sends sparks through my core. “We’ll go slow until we get out of the ranch, then pick up the pace.”
I wave at Tina, at Colton, and hold my breath as we exit the ranch to cross over the creek. Aspen trees quake delicately in the light breeze as we trot up the hill. Over the clearing, Charlie nods at Davis, who takes off his cowboy hat and stares with a dropped jaw.
Closing my eyes, I rest a hand over my heart.
Please behave.
“See how I’m holdin’ the reins?” Charlie asks. “Loose, straight forearms. Keep ‘em looped over your palm, like this. This lets you talk to the horse with just your wrists. Here, feel how I do it.”
Logging his instruction away for later, I wrap my hands around his and squeeze. “This is amazing, Charlie.”
In no time at all, we’re far from the ranch. Charlie’s body has relaxed, and he looks more at ease astride his horse than he does on foot.
“How did you get into horses?” I ask.
“I was raised on a horse farm. My parents retired last year, and my little sister runs the ranch now. My daddy always said if we could walk, we could work. And we did.”
I giggle, picturing Charlie as a little farm boy, lugging feed buckets and chasing chickens. “Tough man.”
“He was. But we had fun too. Played hard, worked hard.” Charlie laughs, sending a rumble vibrating through me. “There’s nothing like small towns. Running from the cops. Back roads boozing. Fishing in the middle of the night.” He presses his body closer to mine. “Kissing pretty girls in stables.”
I shift in the saddle, the spot between my legs pulsing at the hungry tone in his voice.
I rest my head back against his broad chest, liking the protective way he keeps me anchored close to his body.
All my senses are full of him. I want to kiss him, grip his hair, and run my tongue over his chest. But if I do that, our ride’s over and I very much want it to continue.
Glancing down, I run a finger across a large scar on his tan forearm. It’s gnarly, but I love it. “What’s this from? Barbed wire? Bar fight?”
“No. Wyatt.” He steers Arrow down a sloped ravine.
Off in the distance, the sound of water.
“We were roughhousing in the barn when we were kids and he shoved me off a rafter and into a pile of hay. Nicked myself on a pitchfork that was buried in the hay.” He chuckles.
“It was a damn close call. He begged me not to tell our dad. Did my chores for a week.”
“Are you closest to Wyatt?”
“We’re all close, but yeah, I am. With six of us, they always split us into pairs.
Emmy Lou and Grady were the babies. The twins always had each other, and the good graces of our parents.
” A grin tips his lips, brotherly affection staining his voice.
“Wyatt and I were the lone wolves who got into mischief and wreaked havoc on the farm when we could.” Charlie’s big hand drops to my thigh.
He gives it a squeeze. “He’s my best friend.
The first one to follow me to the ranch when I left Wildheart. ”
“Oh,” I say, looking up at his bold blue eyes. A strange sadness lives there, but also a calm I haven’t seen before. “Well, I love your crazy brothers.”
“Crazy brothers,” he echoes, his gaze dancing over the meadow. “Big gift, bigger pain in the ass.”
At the mention of brothers, my brother’s words from earlier infiltrate my mind.
You’ll get hurt. He’ll get hurt. You’ll both get hurt.
I swallow hard. It’s pointless telling Charlie about my SVT now. I’m leaving. He has the ranch to focus on and I have my life. All I see is a headache when I just want to enjoy what I need right now.
Which is Charlie.
I like him. More than I want to admit.
“You want to kick up the speed?” Charlie’s gravelly voice sideswipes my thoughts.
I smile. “Let’s do it.”
With a smooth heeyah , Charlie digs in his heels, and Arrow launches into a lively trot.
I giggle as the momentum sends me rebounding into Charlie’s chest. Thick muscles ripple beneath me as we bounce across the bright green field, over rock and hard earth.
The body of the horse moves like Charlie’s trusted friend, and as we ride, Charlie points out sights on the ranch I have never seen.
A field where a herd of cattle graze. A trout pond.
A small cabin nestled back in the woods.
Thirty minutes later, I hear rushing water.
When we reach the creek, Charlie dismounts and helps me down.
I slip off my shoes and sit on the creek’s edge, running my hand over a bright patch of Asters while Charlie lets Arrow drink.
Today, he looks like a modern cowboy in jeans, a white T-shirt, and a baseball cap.
The carefree look on his face is a rare sight.
I wish I knew what took that away from him.
Charlie turns to me. “So, what else is on your bucket list?” He makes his way back to the bank, wiping water on the thighs of his dusty jeans before settling beside me on the blanket we’ve spread out. “Rob a bank? Jump out of a plane?”
You. Just you.
The thought has me flushing and I duck my head, bumping my shoulder to his. “Still need to see a sunrise.”
“We will. At least you can check riding a horse off your list.” His chuckle is like whiskey and velvet. “Which reminds me. You never told me what your thorn was today.”
Damn him. He’s being too sweet. I’ll cave.
“Ever done something you shouldn’t? Like a bad deed, but you don’t regret it?
” An expression I can’t make out filters across his face.
When he says nothing, I tuck my hands between my thighs and exhale.
“Because I have. I might have done something bad to someone I care about.” My eyes fall to the rocky bank where a patch of glacier lilies grow.
Guilt wells inside me, my stomach tightening.
“I lied to them. And if they ever found out, I don’t know if they’d forgive me. ”
“They’ll forgive you.” Reaching out, his fingers fiddle with a lock of my hair before tucking it behind my ear. “You don’t have a bad bone in your body, Ruby.”
I look past him to the creek. My tears are on the verge of unleashing. “What about a bad heart?” I whisper.
I’m close. The words are threatening to burst out of my chest. I’m lying to you. I’m sick . And in two years, I’ll probably die.
Get it out, get it over. But it crosses a line, because we’re not together. We’re not anything. And we can’t be.
Even if a tiny voice inside my heart whispers to me that it could be possible.
That I could have a choice.
He shakes his head. “No bad heart.”
I note he hasn’t answered my question about bad deeds. This man’s a lockbox.
But I think I have him beat.
“Not you,” he says, and as he watches me, lust laces his dark blue eyes. “You’re a sunflower.”
My cheeks heat, his words filtering through me like sunlight. “Sunflower, huh?”
“Sunflower. That’s what you are.” Turning, he pulls me onto his lap so I straddle him, his big fingers tangling in my hair. “Resilient. Beautiful. My sweet sunflower.” A ragged breath shakes out of him like he’s in disbelief. “You got me living, Ruby, and I haven’t done that in a long time.”
My heart can’t stop slamming into my chest. “Living is good.”
“It is.”
“You’re my sunflower.” His heated gaze skates over my face. “This day, and every day you’ve been on the ranch, you’ve been my sunflower.”
“Oh.” My eyes grow to saucers.
It’s too much. He’s too perfect.
Thank god, I’m leaving.
Then, looping a broad arm around my waist, Charlie hauls me against him and kisses me. My tongue runs over his, and a growl catches in his throat, his big hands framing my face. He takes my air, my senses, and I drink him in.
I’ve wondered all my life where I’ll be when my heart pumps its last beat. If I am here, in Charlie’s arms, it would be more than enough.
It would be everything.
Because this sweet cowboy of mine owns my whole heart and soul.
With a groan, Charlie pulls away from our kiss. “Lessons,” he says in a tight voice, and I slide a hand up the stone wall of his chest. “If you want to ride the rest of the summer, I’ll teach you.”
“You will?”
“I will,” he grates, one rough hand of his cupping my cheek. “But you gotta go slow and listen to me.” His Adam’s apple bobs, worry creeping into his expression. “I mean it, Ruby. You get hurt up there ...”
“I’ll go slow. I promise.” His offer means so much to me because I know it’s hard for him. “I’ll listen. I won’t get hurt. You’ll be around to protect me.”
A muscle in his jaw jumps. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Sunflower.”
The nickname, the intensity, the protectiveness in his voice sends goosebumps whispering across my skin.
I fan my fingers out across his beard. “You’re going to send me off to California a cowgirl.” I say it in a teasing way, but it sends a storm cloud rolling across his face. His grip on me tightens.
“What about you?” I ask.
“What about me?”
“You never told me your bad deed.”
“I’ll tell you later.” Piercing blue eyes scan the horizon, and he nods at the black clouds in the sky. “We should get back.”
I nod, but don’t move.
As I take in the creek’s beauty and the mountains in the distance, I realize it’s the ideal spot for a photo. The perfect place to make Runaway Ranch’s followers want this lifestyle.
My eyes land on Charlie, an electric shiver zipping through me as he gives me one of his reluctant crooked grins.
Make them love a cowboy.
I smile, touching my fingertips to my racing heart.
And I feel it, really feel it, what this man is doing to me.
“Hold on. Can we take a photo?” I ask, my lashes heavy. “For the feed.”
Charlie nods slowly, looking boyish and shy suddenly. “You tell me, darlin’. What do we do?”
“Kiss me,” I breathe, my heart ballooning in my chest. “You be the cowboy. And I’ll be the girl who rides off into the sunset.”
His eyes turn molten.
Then his muscular arms sweep around me, crushing me to his chest. I wiggle on his lap, freeing my arm to lift the camera up high. Our eyes lock and then Charlie kisses me, fusing his lips to mine. Heat charges between us, and I lean into his tight grasp.
I snap our photo.
And right here on the banks of the creek, I fall in love with Charlie Montgomery.