Page 23 of When It Burns

Fifteen minutes later, I am pulling up at Hannah’s farm, and it becomes immediately obvious what the problem is. There are cows everywhere. I am not talking about two or three, but dozens of cows and calves standing around on the driveway to the house. I may not have grown up on a farm, but I am certain that this is not a good sign. I look over to see the girls about a quarter of a mile up the drive surrounding a massive hole in the fence. I reach into the back seat where I keep my dad’s worn cowboy hat. Driving over, I jump out to join them in examining the gap.

“Evening,” I say simply, momentarily distracted by the view of Caroline in a pair of tight leggings and an oversized shirt. Every time I see this woman, I swear I become a little more obsessed with her.

“Hey, Theo. Thank you for coming,” Caroline says with a smile.

“You’re welcome,” I respond before turning to Hannah, “what can I do?”

She blows out a frustrated breath. Hannah has always given the illusion that nothing gets to her, but I can see this moment is overwhelming her. “Well we need to get all the damn cows back in the pasture and then we need to fix the fence.”

“Clearly,” I reply on instinct before realizing I definitely shouldn’t have said that out loud. Three angry sets of eyes find me, and I can tell my sister is about to explode on me. “Sorry. We still have a few hours of daylight. We’ll get them back in and rig something for today before it gets too dark.

Caroline chimes in, “Theo’s right, Hannah. It’s gonna be fine. Theo will get started moving the cows back while we go look for the fencing stuff in the barn. Right, Theo?”

“Sure,” I respond quickly.

The girls turn and start walking towards the barn in the distance. Once they’re gone, I give myself a moment to figure out what the fuck I just got myself into. Oh well, yee haw I guess.

I jump back into my truck and ride back to where the cows are lazily gnawing on the grass beside the driveway. They blink at me, waiting to see what I’m going to do. I look around and see a cattle prod leaned against the door of the house. I run up to grab it and walk back towards the stray cows. I carefully avoid the momma cow as she tucks her calf under her, not in the mood to get trampled today. I yell loudly for them to come on, and wave the prod in the air so they can all see it. It takes a minute, but finally, a few of them start moving slowly towards the opening of the gate. I look up to see Caroline leading a large American Quarter horse my way.

“Thought Merle here might make your job a little easier,” she says as she holds out the reins to the large horse for me to take.

I grab them from her hand and slowly move to pet the horse’s nose. I haven’t been around horses since I lost my family, but I remember my grandfather teaching me how to make them comfortable before jumping on their back. The large animal blows softly before nuzzling my hand lightly. I make sure the saddle is secure around his middle before hoisting myself up while Caroline watches. “Thanks, Sunshine,” I tell her with a small smirk before riding off on Merle while Caroline treks to an old farm truck. She hoists herself into the lifted cab before pulling off, driving through the new hole in the fence, and making her way to the barn.

I work as efficiently as I can moving the cows back to their rightful place. My normally jumbled thoughts have silenced as I focus on the farm, and I try to enjoy the blessed silence. I haven’t ridden a horse in years, but it catches me off guard how easily the movements come back to me.

I haven’t worked with cows before, but the longer I work, the more I realize I don’t hate it. Why are animals so much easier to work with than humans? Out here, none of them think of me as the asshole fire chief or the poor little foster boy like some of the locals in my old hometown, and I find myself relaxing more than I have in years while I work.

I gaze out at the vast pasture as I work, and it hits me how amazing this scene is. The cows that have returned are grazing in the pasture while the sun starts its slow descent towards the horizon. The sky's alight with vibrant colors, and I realize in this moment that I really enjoy the farm work. It’s definitely not all fun, as evidenced by the events of today, but I feel accomplished and in control after working with the animals for about an hour.

About five minutes later, all of the cows are back in the pasture, and I am standing guard in front of the opening to block it off. I see the farm truck Caroline took to the barn making its way towards us, and it pulls to a stop beside me. Margaret sticks her head out the window and yells, “We rounded up everything we’ll need to fix the fence for the night, but we couldn’t pick up the barbed wire roll. I swear it weighs about a hundred pounds. Will you take the truck back up there and help Caroline?”

“Sure thing,” I shout. I pat Merle’s head before swinging myself to the ground. I hold out the horse’s reins and my sister takes them from me. “I’ll be back.”

I jump into the truck and start the bumpy ride back to the barn where Hannah and Margaret had just come from. Once I throw the truck into park, I leap out and make my way inside. “Caroline? Where are you?”

“Over here!” she responds. I track her voice to the back of the hay barn. Both the rolling doors are open and I look out at the most incredible sight I’ve ever seen. The rolling green hills of the pasture below stretch for as far as the eye can see, and the sunset’s colors of pink and orange blend beautifully. The cows I had just relocated graze lazily in the distance, and Caroline stands in the middle of it all looking out at the view. Her brown hair gleams in the light and her leggings show off every inch of her luscious curves.

“Isn’t it the most gorgeous thing you’ve ever seen?” she asks breathily.

“Yep,” I say simply, not taking my eye off of her. I tell my feet to stop as I make my way closer and closer to her, but it feels like my brain has turned off as I act purely on instinct. When I get close enough to her, I reach out my hand and run it gently down her arm. She shivers, but she doesn’t pull away. My brain warns me to move further away from her, but I ignore it and move closer. I continue closing in on her until I have her pressed against a hay bale by the door, and my body is pressed against hers.

I look at her expression, trying to gauge her reaction to me. I expect to find apprehension in her eyes, but there is nothing hinting that she doesn’t want this as badly as I do. I move in closer to her until my lips are hovering over hers and pause, giving her time to stop this.

She reaches up with her hand, and I prepare myself for her to push me away. Instead, she runs her finger lightly around the brim of my cowboy hat and looks up at me to say, “Well cowboy, are you gonna kiss me or not?”

Fuck.

There’s no way I can say no to that even if I wanted to. I reach my hands above her head, caging her short frame against mine, and move in to kiss her. Our lips meet and it is a frantic kiss. She grabs the hem of my shirt while I suck on her bottom lip until she moans, reaching under the hem to rub any part of my skin she can get her hands on. I feel myself lengthen in my jeans as she presses her center to me and rubs her hand up and down my chest.

I feel her tongue press against mine, and I kiss her back as ferociously as she kisses me. We are a jumble of hands and tongues and lips, unable to stop. I move my hands from beside her face to reach around and grab her hips, picking her up and letting her wrap her legs around me. She lets out a loud groan as her hips line up with mine, and she feels my cock press against her.

“Theo, oh my God,” she moans out as I nip and suck at her neck.

I open my mouth to tell her how damn beautiful she is and how I want to see what she looks like when she comes. But all of a sudden we are interrupted by her cell phone ringing loudly from her pocket. She looks annoyed, but reaches to grab it. I sit her down so she can get to it more easily, and go to take a step back. When I do, she steps closer to me as if she isn’t ready for the distance while she answers the call.

“Hey, Hannah. What’s up?” she asks calmly, running her hand up and down my arm as she talks like she isn’t driving me fucking crazy. I can’t hear what she’s saying, but she lets out a small laugh. “Yes we’re coming, and I’ll grab an extra pair of work gloves. See you in a sec,” she says before hanging up and putting her phone back in her pocket.

“Come on cowboy. We gotta go,” she says with a wink.

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