I grew up around animals and loved everything about them. I loved horseback riding and anything to do with being outdoors. I was your typical "country girl". I was not the most gorgeous girl in school, however, I was not exactly ugly either. My long flowing blonde hair was my best quality. And that mixed with my green eyes, 5'2, 120 lbs frame, and year round tan, made up a pretty decent package I suppose. I was always in shape due to the work I did around the farm. We were by no means one of those 129.56 million acre ranches you hear about out west ... just a small, 70 acre farm in the middle of Eastern Maryland. We did, however, have enough to do that sometimes we required help around the place. And that's how I met Bo.
6'3", 190 lbs, of pure, solid, muscular man. The 24 year old was just four years older than I when he began working for us. And let me tell you, I did not mind having that eye candy around the place. His rugged facial features combined with that lethal body were to die for. He didn't have the kind of fake muscles men get from working out in a gym every day; no, he had the kind of muscles a man gets from working for a living. Throwing hay. Wrestling hogs. Breaking in horses. Those kind of jobs gave him an awesome power that I greatly respected.
The first time I met Bo, I was out in the barn, saddling up my buckskin Quarter Horse, Ranchero. I was just about to heave the heavy western saddle up onto his back when a big pair of hands lifted the saddle right from my grasp and up onto Ranch's back. Surprised, I whirled around to stare into the most stunning steel grey eyes I'd ever seen. Those eyes seemed as if they could see into my very soul. I must have had a rather incredulous look on my face, because Bo let out a deep, low, chuckle that sent shivers down my spine.
He was wearing a pair of faded Levi jeans, worn so much that thew stress points were starting to unravel a bit. His upper body was covered by a black "wife beater", and even with that, the Maryland humidity still had a slight sheen of sweat covering his body from whatever work he'd been doing that morning already. Worn, scuffed Redwing boots covered his feet, and an old CAT hat covered his short brown hair.
After I regained my composure I gave him a small smile. "Well thank you for the help, but ya know I coulda done it myself" I said with a twinkle in my eyes.
A wide grin split Bo's chiseled face, softening it. "Well I'm sure you could've, but what kinda man would I be to let a pretty lady like yourself do that hard work when I could do it for ya?" he asked in a deep voice.
Ooooh, man. I thought. He had the perfect voice to match the perfect look... this couldn't get any better.
"So I'm guessin your the new guy Daddy hired around here, huh?" I asked as I admired him discreetly.
He gave a small nod and then seemed to admire me as well. "Yes ma'am, your pa told me to come find you and ask you to give me a quick tour around so I know where I'm gonna have to check the fencing."
I silently thanked my father for giving me the chance to ride with this hunk around our land. I pointed to one of the other horses in our barn, Gringo, a palomino quarter horse and told Bo, "You can saddle up Gringo if ya like. He's a bit rough around the edges but he's not bad." I said smiling. Gringo was definitely a handful, but I had a feeling this guy could take him.
After we were both saddled up, Bo insisted on giving me a leg up, which was fine with me, being short sucks when you try to get on a horse who's back is as tall as your head. I put my foot in the stirrup and instead of feeling his hand lift my leg up, his two hands encircled my small waist and lifted me right up into the saddle. I turned and looked down at him with a smile. My whole body was tingling from that one touch. What was going on!?
Bo then gracefully swung up onto Gringo's prancing back. Within minutes we were well away from the barn and headed out into the field. We rode silently for about five minutes before Bo looked over and asked me "So, how old are you darlin?"
