2nd Date - Cameron
Chapter twelve
“Where exactly are we going?” Everett practically snarled at me from the passenger seat.
“You’ll see.” I wanted to surprise him but then thought better of it. “Uh…do you like animals? Like horses?”
“Yeah, I guess… You don’t mean?”
I nodded furiously. “I’ve done work for Mr. Higgins out at Willow Horse Ranch.
” My brother Jay and I had been dying to get over there and ride the horses.
We also knew Ethan, who we heard was back from college, but I hadn’t popped in to say hello yet, so this would be a good opportunity, and Ethan was meeting us for our ride.
“I haven’t been riding in a long time, but it’s so cool. ”
“You’re like a happy puppy over there. I swear if you had a tail, it would be wagging.” He shook his head. “I like horses fine, but don’t have a lot of experience riding.”
“That’s okay. Ethan will be there.”
“Who’s Ethan?”
“He’s the owner’s son and works there, gives lessons and shit.
I haven’t really talked to him in a while, but I did get him to meet us.
I wouldn’t throw you to the wolves, you know.
” I glanced over at him, and he had a secretive smile on his face that was so cute, I reached out and grabbed his hand.
He squeezed mine, so I must have been on the right track.
We pulled into the parking area, and, as expected, Ethan was there, waving at us with a crooked smile.
He was closer to my little brother’s age, and he looked more like he was ready to hang out with his friends than go riding with his plaid shirt, jeans, and backward ball cap.
I knew better than that, though. He grew up around horses.
“This is Everett. He’s new in town. Owns the Foggy Basin Brewery. ”
“Oh yeah? Hey, I like your craft IPAs. Seriously. Welcome to Foggy Basin.”
“Uh, thanks…” Everett didn’t sound confident, and I wasn’t sure why.
He had his shit together more than most people I knew.
Except maybe Eddy, my cousin Brock’s partner.
He owned Queen Gaming and had moved their headquarters to Foggy Basin after they got together.
He was a cool dude. Brock had his shit together too, but he wasn’t actually my cousin.
But he and Jackie were so close with us growing up that they felt like family.
I’d have to take Everett over to meet them soon. Before they did anything I’d regret.
“Let’s get going. Follow me.” Ethan led us to the stables where he had three horses saddled. “I’ll ride along with you at least at first to make sure you got it.”
He showed us how to mount, and although I already knew, I thought Everett would appreciate the lesson.
I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable about it.
But Ethan was charming and set both of us at ease right away.
I listened carefully and did what Ethan said, when and how he said, and Everett followed along.
“This is Buttercup. She’s one of the sweetest horses you’ll ever meet.” He rubbed her above her muzzle, then worked with Everett to get him mounted.
Once in his saddle, he patted the buckskin mare. “Nice to meet you, Buttercup. What kind of horse is she?”
“Mostly Arabian, but she’s mixed. A happy accident.” He gave Everett a chin lift before moving on to my ride for the day. “Cameron, you’ll be on Ricky.” He tugged the rein on the bay. He was a lovely reddish-brown with black legs, tail, and mane.
“Ricky?”
“Technically, it’s Maverick, but he got called Ricky too many times and it stuck.”
“Well, hello, Ricky.” He smelled a little musty and sweet, reminding me of springtime hay.
Ethan mounted his horse, a beautiful animal, a shade lighter than Ricky.
“This is Storm.” He patted the side of Storm’s neck, and the horse snorted and stomped a foot.
“Let’s go.” I wasn’t a horse person, but I could guess that Storm was purebred, while Ricky was more like Buttercup with some other breed mixed in.
Not that it mattered, but Storm seemed just a little bit more—special.
We rode out to a trail that wound up the mountain and through the woods. It was a beautiful day with sunshine filtering in through the trees, making everything sparkly and new.
After a while, we both felt more comfortable, and Ethan decided to let us go on our own. “You two look pretty good. And don’t worry about getting lost; Ricky and Buttercup know where home is. As soon as you turn them back and give them their head, they’ll go.”
“Great. Thanks, man.” I gave him a salute, and he returned it.
“Have fun, boys.”
Finally, alone time. As much as we could be alone on horseback. We couldn’t hold hands or gaze into each other’s eyes, but we were doing something fun together. We trotted along the trail, not interested in speed, close enough to have a conversation without making the horses nervous.
“I admit this is really cool, Cameron.”
“You think I’d take you somewhere that wasn’t? Sheesh, Ever, you need to get to know me better than that.”
“Ever?”
“Yeah, it’s a cute nickname, right?”
“Whatever. There’s nothing cute about me.”
“You lie. Everything about you is cute. Sexy. Scrumptious…” I couldn’t help but leer a little.
He had to know I was interested in sex with him.
Who the hell wouldn’t be? I made it a joke, though, because he probably wasn't interested in me.
I was nothing, good reputation or not, and he could do a lot better.
He chuckled a little, and I felt like I was making good progress. Just like that, I decided I was going to call him Ever from here on out. Anything to make him smile. "So Ever…how's the brewery doing?"
"Eh…it's doing alright. The crops look good. We've picked up a few smaller accounts recently, but everything helps. What about you? How's the construction?"
"Uh…it's construction." I wasn't sure what he expected me to say about it. "I started doing it in high school, so…"
"Is it good money?"
"I guess. It would probably be better if I—. Uh, never mind." I didn't want to get into the whole owning my own business thing. Maybe it was a dream, but that's all it was. I didn't think I had what it took.
"No, don't do that. Better if what?" When I didn't answer, he kept pushing. "Cameron, I seriously want to know."
"If I got my contractors license and had my own crew," I huffed. It was such a long shot. "It's not feasible though."
"Bullshit."
"Eh…I barely finished high school. Not like you." I shook my head.
"So I went to college. That doesn't make me smarter than you. Everyone needs help. I think you're too hard on yourself and maybe you should try." I was touched that he considered me so highly. Though, he might have been trying to make me feel better.
"I'll think about it." That was true, but only in the sense that I always did. Dreaming about the future that would never happen. It was easier to be happy with what I had.
After a little while longer, he started squirming around in the saddle. I was pretty sure his bum was hurting, but I wasn’t going to call him out on it. “Hey, Ever?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s starting to get a little late, and I’d like to feed you before I let you go back to work. Think we should head back?”
“Uh, I guess. I am getting hungry.” He squirmed a little, and I tried to hide my smile. “Are you laughing at me?”
Apparently, I didn’t hide it well. “No. No, I’m not. I’m just happy and hungry. Let’s go.” I pulled the reins to get Ricky to turn, and as soon as I loosened my grip, he started back at a faster canter, and Everett’s horse, Buttercup, followed.
“I think you’re manipulating me, Mr. Telliyard.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you—”
Both horses broke into a gallop. I pulled back on the reins, but Ricky wasn’t having it.
The path they were heading back on wasn’t the one we rode in on, and somewhere along the way it had crossed over and they switched up on us.
This new route had trees hanging over it, and we had to duck to avoid being smacked in the face.
The path finally widened and opened up to the ranch, and the horses sped up again. “Race you!” I yelled as we bee-lined out of control to the barn where Ethan was waiting for us, laughing his ass off.
“Guess I should have warned you about that.”
“You think?” I tried to glare at him but couldn’t really be mad. The gallop had been fun, kind of like flying. “I think I need to get a motorcycle.”
“Not me. Get me off this thing.” Everett looked a bit green, like he was going to puke. Ethan helped him down and took the reins for both horses. “Thank you, Buttercup. I’ll never forget that ride.” He wiggled his fingers in a wave. Damn, that man was cute as hell.
“Thanks again, Ethan. This was really enjoyable.”
“Don’t worry about it. I got you anytime.” He gave us a chin-up and took the horses away.
While washing up at the trough, I reached over and grabbed his hands, soaping them up with mine, then rinsing them. When I looked up, he was staring at me with his lips slightly parted and gray eyes glistening. My heart thudded heavily, and my throat suddenly dried up.
Neither of us said anything, but I held his hand all the way back to the truck. I kissed his forehead before helping him in, then circled around to the driver’s side. “Ready?” I cranked the ignition on.
“Sure. Thank you, by the way. I had a good time.”
“Me too.”
“Can we stop at the taco truck on the way back?”
“You liked that, huh?” I winked at him to see if I could get him to smile again, and I wasn’t disappointed. “I like it too. In fact, it makes me feel a bit nostalgic, especially after the horse ride.”
“Oh? What do you mean?”
I pulled out of the drive and headed back toward town with every intention of hitting that taco truck. “Well, it’s just some of the things that I never got to do with my sister. I mean, my brother and I would ride a lot when we were younger because she never had the chance to do shit like this.”
“Your sister? You never mentioned you had a sister.”
“Right. I forget that not everybody knows. Living here usually means everyone is up in everyone else’s business.”
“New guy. Remember?” He smirked at me, and it was even cuter than his scowl.
“I remember. Sheesh. Hard to forget you. Though it does feel like we’ve known each other longer than we have.”
“Kind of. But I don’t know about your sister.”
“Cassidy was older than me, and she died of cancer. Childhood leukemia. It was terrible, and she was sick for a long time.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that. It must have been hard for you.”
“Yeah. It was. I was super young, and when they brought Jay home from the hospital, I was scared to death that I was going to get it too. You know? It was the magical thinking kids do.”
He reached over and squeezed my thigh in a very comforting way. “I can imagine, sort of, but I’m an only child, and believe me, I was always spoiled rotten. In a weird way, my mom spoiled herself right along with me. But…that’s not at all the same thing.”
“No.” We were quiet for a long time, then I recalled some of the other magical thinking I did before Cassidy died.
“I used to think that if I just helped everyone. Helped enough. That she’d get better.
So I tried hard, but she never got better.
I think my mom and dad would have been totally destroyed if not for my brother and me.
I guess that was my real purpose. Helping them. ”
“I totally understand you a lot better now.”
“Do you?” I chuckled because I was sure he was going to say that, because I was so hell-bent on helping everyone in this town that it came straight out of my childhood.
“Maybe. I certainly see that your heart is a lot bigger than I originally thought it was.”
Now that floored me. “Not sure how you get that…”
“You don’t have to.”
We stopped for tacos and ate them in my truck, then I took him back to the brewery. Before he got out, I grabbed his arm. “Wait.”
“What?”
“Can I kiss you? Like, you know, the big goodnight kiss. It is the end of a date, right?”
“I’d like that.”
I tried to pull him closer, but it wasn’t very comfortable in my truck. “This is awkward.”
“How about you walk me to my door, but my car door instead?” He pointed at his vehicle, sitting alone in the parking lot.
“Okay. Wait there.”
He covered his mouth, but I still heard his giggle. He was enjoying this, and I was pretty happy about that. I’d be any kind of dork to make him laugh and smile.
I walked around, opened his door, and offered my hand. He took it, and I helped him out of the car.
“Thank you, kind sir.”
“My pleasure.” I bent over and kissed his knuckles. It just felt right, and since he didn’t pull away, I figured he thought the same. Then I walked him to his car.
He leaned back against the door and wound his arms around my neck, and I leaned forward, gripping his hips.
Our lips came together in a gentle slide, but the chemistry between us was on fire and demanded more.
It quickly turned into a passionate slide of tongues, and my hands slid up the inside of his shirt.
All too soon, he pulled back. “This was nice, Cameron.” I heard the words he didn’t say in his tone.
“We need to stop before it goes any further? Right?”
He nodded and sucked his lips between his teeth.
“Okay. Just tell me you’re going home now and not back to work.”
He took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly. “I do have more to do, but I’m going to do it at home. Then go to bed early. Does that work for you?” He glared at me, probably catching on to my latest mission.
“Yes. You need more time off.”
“I know. I never relax. I hear you, Mr. Telliyard.”
“Good.” I leaned in and gave him a quick peck. “Then listen to me. I know what I’m talking about.”
He nodded, then unlocked his car and got in. I waved as he drove away, feeling like I’d just had a great victory.