Page 84 of Bucked Hard

“Oh no. Horses have instincts, they know where to run. If they are stuck in the barn, their fear takes hold. Their flight instinct is held back, and they panic. Hurt themselves worse trying to get out than they would outside where they can get away. They’re my family. I’d do most anything to protect them.”

Just like I would you.

I clear my throat, trying to stay steady. I can feel her against me, completing me and tearing me apart at the same time. This little speck of a girl whom I’ve known for all of an hour has my heart racing and dreams of forever shooting through my mind.

The roar above us softens as we stand. Thunder crashes, and I can hear the torrents of rain hitting the sides of the house as it settles into an almighty, but reasonably harmless, storm.

And with the danger passed, my mind goes to her father. From the looks of the storm when I was heading to the house, it was moving off east, and their place is over to the west, so I’m optimistic he made it back okay. But I still want to check.

“Your dad have a cell?” I reach into my back pocket and pull out my phone, checking the screen. I have signal, but that’s no guarantee that he does as well.

Her breathing has calmed, and her voice is soft when she replies, “Yeah. It’s 972-555-9999.”

I dial the number with my thumb, holding the phone in one hand, unwilling to detach her from my side. She feels too right, pressed against me. Like she’s always been there, and that’s where she belongs.

There’s a pause after I dial the number, and I wonder whether it’s going to connect. But it starts ringing a moment later, and he answers on the second ring. Sounds a little out of breath, but not hurt. “Mr. McGowan? It’s Ranger. You okay?”

He goes on for a minute about seeing the storm, feeling the wind buffeting the truck like it was a toy car, but he was headed in the opposite direction to the way it went and got home okay. I assure him I have Maria safe here with me, both of us doing just fine.

But I’m more than just fine.

I am alive, for the first time in so long. I can feel the current of heat and lust zipping up and down the side of my body where I’m holding her in close.

“Yup. I’ve got her here, safe and sound, as long as you need. Keep an eye on the weather before you try to head back.”

With that, he clicks off, and I look down to see Maria’s smile.

“MaybeIwanted to talk to him. You think of that, cowboy?”

“Maybe. But I handled it. That’s what I do. I handle things.”

Stuffing the phone into my back pocket, I exchange my protective arm around her body for holding her hand again. The cellar is safe, but it’s not the prettiest part of my house. And she deserves to be kissed in someplace nicer than this now that the danger is over.

And if one thing in this world is absolutely certain, it’s that she is about to be kissed.

Chapter4

Ranger

“It’s the most beautiful name.” I smile as I hold out the kitchen chair for her to sit. “Maria Garcia McGowan.” I repeat it, enjoying every sound as her name moves over my lips.

And that name is attached to what I know to be the most beautiful woman.

“You are soooo smooth, aren’t you?” She crosses her arms and ankles, and I note for the first time there’s a hint of a dimple on her plump right cheek.

Just then, the loud ring of the old house phone breaks the silence. They’re only three people that still use that number. Pastor Reynolds from First Baptist, who still calls now and again to check in on me. My neighbor a few miles down, Mrs. Wilson, who was my mom’s best friend. And Paul.

“Excuse me.” As much as I hate it, I step back from her chair and make my way into the living room where the black phone still sits where it has since I was a boy next to the window on a little phone table my dad built for my mom.

My fingers twitch as I raise the receiver to my ear.

“Hello?”

Before a word is spoken, I hear the breath and know who it is, and I do my best to find that brotherly love I know deep down we have for each other.

“Hey.” Paul’s voice comes through with forced cheerfulness. “How you doing, brother?”

“I’m all right. Sort of in the middle of something here…weather comin’ in.”

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