The wind whipped around me as I rode my buckskin stallion, Rookie, over the hills of my land. We were riding towards the border of my family's ranch and that of our neighbor's. Jackson, the owner of our neighboring ranch, the Double J, had called my cell phone ten minutes ago telling me that the fence was down between our properties. He and his hands were working to keep our cattle separated since neither ranch branded its stock. I had immediately saddled up Rookie, and, along with my own ranch hands, we had headed out.
We rode over the top of the hill and I could finally see the scene below. Cattle were scrambling around, bawling, as the cowboys worked to keep them apart. I could also see two men working, trying to fix the downed fence.
I urged Rookie on faster, shouting out to my men, asking them to help separate the cattle. I headed towards who I could now see was Jackson and his foreman, Kyle, working on the fence. I slowed Rookie down as I approached the men and hopped agilely down off of his back to the ground.
"What a way to start the morning, huh guys?" I asked as I knelt down beside Jackson.
"Yeah, you gotta love it," Jackson said through gritted teeth as he stretched barbed wire out between two posts.
"Nothing like dealing with horny cattle and barbed wire this early in the morning," he muttered, shooting a smile up at me that had my heart flipping in my chest.
Jackson was every woman's typical cowboy fantasy. Tall, lean and corded with muscle, he had that casual grace that came with growing up on a horse's back and the strength to wrestle steers to the ground without breaking a sweat. His dark hair was cropped short under his black hat, and his green eyes were enough to pierce right through a woman's soul if she stared into them for too long. Jackson was also older than me, he was thirty compared to my twenty. In reality he was actually closer to my dad's age than my own. My dad was 36; I was born when he was only 16. Jackson had been ten years old at that time.
I looked up to see my ranch hands, as well as Jackson's, driving the last of our cattle apart and onto their respective sides. The cowboys herded the cattle farther from the fence and deeper onto our ranch lands. I offered to help with stringing the fence but Jackson automatically told me that they were almost done. After that, Jackson and Kyle set the last piece of wire in place and pulled it tight, stapling it in. It rankled a little, the fact that they wouldn't let me help. I wasn't sure if it was because I was a girl or only twenty years old, but either way, I was perfectly capable of stringing fence. I pushed aside my annoyed thoughts as Jackson stood up and began to talk.
We sat there chatting idly for a few minutes. I then turned to get ready and mount up again on Rookie's back as Jackson did the same on his young stallion, Granger. As Jackson reached for Granger's saddle a sudden rattling sound pierced the air. Jackson's horse shrieked loudly and spun towards his ranch, kicking up dust as he ran. Jackson jumped back several feet, pulling out his gun as he did. My heart was in my throat as I searched the ground for the snake. Jackson must have seen it before I did because suddenly a gunshot ripped through the air, causing Rookie to shy away and prance nervously.
I held on throughout Rookie's dance moves and then looked back to Jackson.
"Sorry hun," he muttered.
He reached out with the toe of his boot and nudged the bloody and lifeless rattler. I grimaced. That was the only part of this area that I hated - the snakes! Rookie was still restless beneath me and I leaned up to pat his neck and murmur softly to him, calming him.
"I can't believe you all worked that close to that son of a gun without him rattling sooner," I told Jackson.
The snake was only four feet from where the downed wire had been. Jackson nodded in agreement to my statement.
"I guess that worthless horse hightailed it back to the barn," Jackson muttered, looking around for Granger, and I laughed.
I knew Jackson didn't think Granger was worthless, the horse was just young and still got spooked sometimes. I scooted up in my saddle some.
"Hop on, I'll give you a ride back," I told Jackson and he nodded, thanking me.
I slipped my foot out of the stirrup, giving him access to it and he swung himself gracefully up into the saddle behind me. I suppressed a gasp as his hard body came down behind me. I could feel every muscle as it touched me; his hard thighs, his abs, his pecs, his hard arms as they circled around me to take over the reins - of course he wouldn't let ME have control of my own horse when he was on it. I rolled my eyes, but smiled none-the-less.
We started back towards Jackson's ranch; it was a good fifteen minute ride from where we were. After about five minutes I felt another muscle pressing against my back that had not been there before. I was surprised at this. Jackson had never shown interest in me as anything other than his neighbor, the rancher's daughter.
I, of course, had ALWAYS had a huge crush on Jackson that I had never outgrown, but he had never treated me as anything else other than the pesky little sister that I am sure I seemed to be at the time. But this was way different. There was no mistaking what was pressing against my back; I knew it wasn't the gun he had shot the snake with!
I couldn't resist shifting in the saddle a bit, my ass grinding against his groin as we rode, and I swore I heard a small inhalation from behind me as I did. I glanced down and saw that Jackson's hand was white knuckled in the grip he had on the reins. Rookie has the smoothest gait I had ever experienced so I knew THAT wasn't the reason for his death grip.
I smiled to myself, pleased that I could elicit this kind of reaction from Jackson. I shifted again and this time I was the one who gasped as Jackson's free hand came up to grip my waist.
"Erin," he said, his mouth close to my ear. "Ya think you could kinda hold still for a little while?" he asked.
I noticed that his voice was a little rougher than usual; a little huskier. I turned to stare at Jackson in feigned innocence.
"Why, what's wrong?" I asked.
