Page 79 of Bucked Hard

In a blink, I’m swinging my body out the open hay loft, three stories up, and half sliding down the old ladder strapped to the red exterior of the barn. I can’t remember the last time I used this ladder—it’s not the sturdiest and it probably isn’t used to bearing a weight like mine—but it’s the fastest way down, and that’s what counts right now.

“Stop!” Reggie raises his voice to be heard over the truck’s engine. “That’s close enough, Mr. McGowan.”

The truck’s engine cuts out, and the driver’s side door squeaks a little on its hinges as McGowan slides out. Then the other door opens, and I’m not sure why, but I’m getting angry. Knowing Reggie is down there, closer to her than I am right now and getting the first look…

I’m ready to set him on his ass.

She’s tiny. But full and lush in all the right places. At just the glimpse of her from the back, I’m mesmerized. I can’t stop taking inventory of each inch. The light pink of her bra strap is that hanging down onto her upper arm, under her dress sleeve. The braided red thread tied around her left ankle. The simple white sneakers on her small feet that look brand-new. The way her ass is filling out the fabric of her little floral dress. The hem skirting just at mid-thigh.

All of the sudden, I couldn’t be happier I’ve not been with a woman in years. Strange fucking thought, but everything feels amplified right now. One glance at those eyes and it’s like the needle in the haystack jumped out and stabbed me in my heart.

I haven’t even seen all of her, or even heard her speak, but something is clutching in my chest. I’m ten feet from the ground, but I need to be down there right now. I take two more of the wooden spindles with my black boots and push off, landing square on the ground with a thud. As I turn on my heel, my eyes fall fully on to the face of the woman that I swear was sent to me straight from heaven.

Chapter2

Maria

My temples are pounding. This heat, this country air, the thought that I may be stuck in this nowhere town for the foreseeable future. It’s given me a headache more days than I care to remember since we landed in Cooper’s Mill.

I have to hold my skirt down as I step out of Dad’s pickup, the wind catching the hem and making it fly up high on my thighs. I want to do is go back home to Bozeman and our former life. But that’s not likely. Not for a while, at least. Dad is happier than a pig in shit—as one of my regulars at the diner likes to say—with his newgentleman’sfarm. We’ve been here a month now, and still, nothing feels like home to me.

There’s a constant twitch in my eye. A hitch in each step. Like I’m off balance or coming down with something.

The entire drive over here to this massive far to pick up a load of hay, all I could think about was how uncomfortable I am with this life. I’m a city girl. I’m not supposed to be picking up hay.

Hay, for God’s sake.

I get it. Bozeman’s not exactly a big city. It’s not Manhattan or LA. But it’s more city than here. Where we are is the definition of country, and everything out here feels like it’s either going to bite me or give me a rash.

I’m not resentful. I get why Dad wants to be here. After mom died just over a year ago in the accident, he spent six months looking like he was about to follow her into an early grave. Then one night we watchedThe Horse Whispereron the flippin’ Hallmark Channel for God’s sake.

Things weren’t the same after that. He started thinking of moving out of the city. He wanted to find an open space and buy a horse farm. He knew nothing about horses, of course, but that didn’t make any difference. As the months wore on, he became more and more serious. Started watching horse-training videos and buying plaid shirts with white shell snaps. Taking weekend trips to visit different properties and cities.

Not cities.Towns.Tiny little towns with fifteen people who are all related to one another.

I sound like a brat, I know. But it’s been a tough year for me too. I finished my master’s a few months before the accident. It left Dad and me little more than zombies, and I put my doctorate on hold. Not forever, but I couldn’t even begin to think about going back to school with the state I was in. Then there was this move. I couldn’t possibly leave Dad all alone. My parents and I were always close. Family meant everything to us, always has. As for my two sisters, they are both married and popping out babies, so it was down to me to pull up my boots and come out here with him, trying to make the best of this new life.

I take a deep breath and stand taller, stretching my back and trying to snap out of my melancholy, squinting into the sun hanging high above the biggest red barn I think I’ve ever seen.

There’s a thud, and something moves in front of the sun, blocking it out, and I shield my eyes as they adjust.

The outline of a black hat is the first thing I register. The sheer size of the body below that stuns my mind into silence. He’s hidden in shadow, but the silhouette has me in awe.

“Mr. McGowan?” A voice that stirs thoughts of Sam Shepard and blazing sunsets grabs me around the waist and tightens its grip.

“Yes, hello there!” Dad steps forward, and I turn to look at him, glad to pull my eyes away from the newcomer.

There’s another man next to him, looking at me with a wry grin, and it gives me a chill. I drop my hand from my face and clutch around my midsection, trying to avoid looking away while also avoiding meeting his eyes. Not an easy trick to pull off.

I hate being noticed. I was always the girl who took the seat in the back of every class at college. I like being in the background, and I especially don’t like when men stare at me. One of a few reasons I’m probably still a virgin at twenty-three, something I’m simultaneously ashamed and proud of.

As if reading my mind, the monster shadow with the black cowboy hat moves forward, drawing my attention. He cuts across my path so quickly it startles me, and I take a step back.

“Reggie.” That gravel voice again, only this time, I hear a hint of anger around the edges. “Go get your lunch.”

It’s an order, not a request, and for a moment I wonder what is happening. The tall cowboy with the denim shirt and faded jeans has moved between me and the other man, blocking him out completely.

“I thought you wanted me to load them up and—”

---