18. Beck
Beck
“Thanks for visiting Moonlight Ranch. It was my pleasure to be your trail leader today. If you need anything else for your visit, please don’t hesitate to let me or Ace know,” I say, addressing the small group I just spent an hour and a half with on the trails.
They all had some experience with horseback riding, so we were able to do one of the more intermediate trails that leads to the ridge that overlooks the whole ranch.
It’s one of my favorites rides. It’s days like today that make this job not really feel like a job.
The group thanks me, and a few shake my hand before they disperse back to the lodge. Ace and I start untacking the horses. They were our last big group for the day, which is good because it looks like a storm is about to roll through based on the dark clouds hovering above us.
“Hey, boss,” Ace says, coming up to me.
“Yeah?” I turn toward him after I lift a saddle off one of the horses.
“I, uh, was wondering if it’d be ok if I asked out your babysitter,” he says quickly.
My brows furrow as I try to understand his question.
My babysitter? Then it hits me. Jade’s babysitter.
Willow. I remember Willow and Ace dancing at Roadside together.
No matter how drunk I was, I could never forget how possessive I felt in that moment.
I’ve never been possessive. Even when Gemma and I were together.
But when Ace put his hands on Willow, I wanted to rip them right off his body.
“Willow?” I ask even though I know exactly who he means. I’m just trying to buy myself some time to collect my thoughts. My initial reaction is to shout, “Absolutely not,” but Ace is my employee, and there’s a certain level of respect I need to show him.
“Yeah. We hit it off at Roadside that one night, or at least I thought we did. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. But I know she’s close to your family, so I want to make sure it’s alright before I ask her.”
Of course, he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about her. Willow is nothing short of amazing.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I tell him, turning to put the heavy saddle where it belongs.
He doesn’t let the topic drop, though, following behind me. “Can I ask why?”
I grit my teeth. “She’s leaving soon. Doesn’t make much sense.”
“I know, but I think I’d kick myself if I didn’t at least try.” Oh my god, this kid will not give up.
“Ace, she’s spoken for,” I say, barely above a growl.
He tilts his head in confusion. “What? She never mentioned a boyfriend that night. Are you sure?”
“She’s. Spoken. For.”
His eyes go wide as the realization hits him. “Oh. Ok. I get it. Sorry, boss. Didn’t realize.”
I sigh, knowing I have to fix this. I can’t have him going around spreading rumors about Willow and me. “It’s not what you’re thinking. Willow is like family to us. I know she’s leaving soon, and she’s focusing all her attention on Jade and spending time with her brother.”
“Yeah, I get it. Forget I asked.” He walks away with a saddle, leaving me feeling like shit.
I certainly didn’t mean to crush his hopes, but there’s no way I’d survive the rest of this summer having to watch Willow spend time with Ace.
In reality, I know I’m right. She’s leaving in three weeks.
There’s no sense in her getting tied down to anyone before she goes. That includes me, unfortunately.
Ace and I finish with the horses in silence.
Once they’re all back in their stalls, I let Ace leave.
Partly because I feel bad, but also because his presence here is just pissing me off at this point.
I finish up the chores for the night and make sure the barn is prepped for the potential storms coming.
I give the horses food and lock up anything that could blow away in the wind before I pull down the storm doors and lock them.
If it passes quickly, I’ll come back out and check on them later tonight.
I get in my truck just as a streak of lightning cracks across the sky, followed by a loud boom of thunder.
Yeah, this is gonna be a big storm. I’ve already gotten several notifications from my weather app and a text from Brooks telling me to let him know when I’m home.
Harper also texted, telling me to get my ass inside quickly.
She always overreacts, though, so there’s no telling how bad it’ll be.
When I pull up at my house, Willow’s car is missing, which makes me nervous. She texted me earlier saying they were going to town to get some things, but that was at least three hours ago. They should be back by now.
I stare out my front window, waiting for her car to appear in the drive.
Almost five minutes pass, the five longest minutes of my life, it seems, before I get the first glimpse of headlights.
I let out a relieved breath and open the front door.
The girls scramble out of the car and run fast but still get soaked.
The rain is coming down fast and hard now.
“Oh my gosh, that came out of nowhere!” Willow says once they’re both inside and I’ve closed the door behind them.
“Did you not see the clouds or get the warnings on your phone?” I ask.
She shrugs. “We were inside shopping. And I get those warnings all the time, and nothing ever happens.”
“What were you guys doing?”
“Well, we were at the library for craft time, and we read a few books, obviously. Then we decided we wanted tacos for dinner, so we stopped by the store to get the ingredients. We might have spent too much time in the ice cream aisle,” Willow explains.
“Last I checked, you don’t put ice cream on tacos.”
Jade laughs, but Willow just smirks at me. “You can’t have dinner without dessert. Everyone knows that.”
“What am I gonna do with you two?” I say, shaking my head. “Come on, let’s get you both out of those soaked clothes.”
“I didn’t bring anything extra,” Willow tells me as I’m walking down the hall with Jade. “And I should probably head home anyway.”
“You can borrow something of mine,” I tell her. “And you’re not going anywhere in this storm.”
I stop in Jade’s room and grab her a nightgown to change into before I head to my bedroom with Willow following behind me.
I open a dresser drawer and find one of my smaller T-shirts that might fit her a little better.
Then I grab her a pair of my boxers. Not the best option, but I don’t have anything else that would fit her.
When I turn around to hand the clothes to her, she’s standing in the middle of my room with her top off.
I freeze. “What are you doing?” I ask barely above a whisper.
“You told me to get out of my wet clothes.”
Her bra is still on, but it’s pretty much soaked through, and I can clearly see the outline of her nipples.
Fuck. She’s trying to kill me.
“Willow…”
Instead of turning around to hide herself from me, she pushes her shorts down her legs, leaving her in just her bra and underwear. She steps completely out of her shorts and takes a few steps toward me, reaching for the clothes that are now hanging by my side.
“If you don’t want to see me completely naked, you should probably leave now.”
I swallow hard. I should leave. She deserves privacy. But…
She throws the clothes on my bed and steps back. She keeps eye contact with me as her hands slowly move behind her to unhook her bra.
Leave, Beck. Just turn and go. One foot after the other. You can do it, man.
But I don’t leave.
I keep my eyes trained on her as her wet bra drops to the ground. I’m not proud to admit that my eyes drop to her tits. They’re perfect, just like I knew they would be from the time I felt her up behind Roadside.
I wait for her to grab the shirt and pull it over her head, but she doesn’t. Instead, she hooks her thumbs into her underwear and, little by little, pushes them down her legs. My mouth goes dry.
She’s standing in front of me, completely bare. My dick strains against my jeans, begging for some relief. But I can’t move. I stand completely still, just staring at a very naked Willow.
“Willow…”
“Beck.” She says my name with confidence, like she knows that I’m enjoying looking at her. She’s right. I only wish I could touch her, too. Know what it felt like to put my mouth on her pussy. Make her come while screaming my name.
A loud boom of thunder vibrates the house.
“Shit,” I say, finally looking away from her.
Willow grabs the shirt I got out and pulls it over her head. I turn and leave before she can get her shorts on. I shouldn’t have stayed in there as long as I did.
“Daddy, did you hear that?” Jade asks as soon as I’m back in the kitchen.
“I did. We’ve got a bad storm crossing over us right now.”
“Are we gonna be ok?” she asks, her voice trembling slightly. I scoop her up in my arms.
“Yes, honey. We’re going to be fine.”
A moment later, Willow walks out of my room dressed in my clothes. This would be so much easier if I didn’t love how she looks in them.
“Alright, who’s ready for some tacos?” she asks.
Jade throws her hand up, nearly knocking me in the nose. “Me!”
“Alright, Beck, you relax. Jade and I are on cooking duty tonight.”
I set Jade down, and the two of them get to work. Willow cooks the meat while Jade gets all the fixings set up on the counter. They’ve got beans, corn, salsa, queso, sour cream, lettuce, and hard and soft shells. It’s cute watching them work together.
“Ok, dinner is served.” Willow hands me a plate, and we form a line to make our own tacos.
We sit down at the table just as the sky lights up with a streak of lightning, and the power goes off.
Jade shrieks.
“It’s alright, honey. The lights just went out.” I rummage through my cabinets and find some candles and a lantern.
I set the lantern on the table to give us some light while we eat and set the candles throughout the kitchen and living room.
Willow looks out the window and then grabs her phone. “I should text Sawyer and let him know I’m ok.”
“Let him know you’re gonna stay here tonight.”
She looks up at me. “What?”
“You’re not driving home in this. It’s safer if you just stay here tonight. I’m sure he’d agree.”
“You’re sure?”
No, but it seems like I enjoy torturing myself. I’ve seen her completely naked, and now she’s going to be sleeping in my house. What the fuck am I doing? I should definitely make her go home. But instead of saying any of that, I say, “Yes, I’m sure.”
She nods and goes back to her phone to finish up her text.
“Alright, let’s eat. It’s kinda like camping,” I say.
“I don’t think I like camping, Daddy,” Jade says.
“You’ve never been camping.”
“If it’s like this, I don’t wanna go.”
Willow laughs. “I don’t blame you, girlie. I don’t like camping either.”
“Oh, come on! It’s fun,” I tell them.
“What is fun about sleeping outside on the hard ground and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and having to pee in the woods?” Willow asks.
“You’re outside under the night sky. Living with the land. It’s relaxing. A nice break from everyday life and the go-go-go.”
“I think I’ll leave all that to you,” Willow says, with Jade nodding in agreement next to her.
“You two are no fun,” I tell them, picking up my taco and taking a bite.
“What?” Jade yells, outraged. “I am a lot of fun, thank you very much.”
I can’t help but laugh. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
The three of us finish dinner and leave our plates in the sink. I’ll clean up tomorrow once the power is back on.
We play a few board games in the living room by candlelight while eating the ice cream the girls had to have. Might as well eat it so it doesn’t melt. I can tell when Jade starts to get tired. She yawns and rubs her eyes while insisting she’s not tired.
“Come on, kiddo, let’s get you to bed.”
“But it’s dark. I don’t want to sleep in the dark,” she argues.
“You sleep in the dark every night,” I counter.
“Nuh uh. I have my nightlight.”
“You’re right. Pretty sure I have a little battery-powered light I can put in your room for tonight.”
“Ok,” she says, sounding defeated. I know she’d rather stay up with us, but she also needs to get her sleep. Gemma and I have always been pretty rigid with bedtime, which turned her into such a good sleeper.
I set up the light in her room, and she picks out a book for me to read, but instead of handing me the book, she hands it to Willow. Willow looks at me for permission, and I nod. We climb into Jade’s bed, and Willow reads the book.
We’ve done this before together—bedtime story and tucking Jade in—and each time it surprises me how easy it is.
Dare I say it feels normal? Like the three of us belong here together.
Which should be a huge warning sign for me, but I instead choose to think about how good it feels for the three of us to be here.
Willow eventually closes the book, and we slide out of Jade’s bed. I kiss her head and tuck the blankets around her. She can barely keep her eyes open enough to say goodnight.
Willow and I tiptoe out of her room. When I click her door shut, it hits me that Willow and I are now alone… in the dark.