Page 76 of Boots, Bucket Lists & Bad Ideas
I’m seriously playing with fire here.
But she makes no move, hidden in the trees, lingering in the shadows.
Just watching.
I don’t know this play, so I climb into my truck, fire up the engine, and peel out.
I keep one eye on the rear-view mirror, seeing nothing but trees and dust. But when the brush splits open, she tears out of the woods on that beautiful midnight-black horse. Her jeans mold to her body, dusted at the knees. The kind of jeans that have seen real work. Her ponytail whips in the wind, the reins gripped tight, eyes locked dead ahead,on me.
She doesn’t yell or wave.
Just rides hard, determined and furious.
The ranch radio cracks over the growl of the truck engine.
“Hart, you there?” My brother’s voice snaps through the static.
I snatch the radio off the dash and jab the button with my thumb. “Well, look who finally answered the radio. You dead or just allergic to hard labor?”
“Neither. Just allergic to bad attitudes and blisters.” Levi chuckles as if he’s hilarious. “And I’m a little hungover.”
He’s lucky I even answered. I’m currently busy outrunning a Fox.
I press the gas a little harder, unable to stop watching Jade.
Not yet.
Not with her riding like I’ve taken something sacred and she’s aimed to take it back.
Bring it on.
“Hart? Hey! You there? Can you hear me?”
Shit.
I jam the button. “Yeah, I’m here. I’ve been here since sun-up, sweatin’ my soul out and cuttin’ logs for that treehouse y’all were helping me build. Ring any bells?”
The radio silences, then my brother’s voice crackles. “You got out of jail before sun-up?”
No, but he doesn’t need to know that.
I juggle the radio in my hand as I crank the wheel sharply and then readjust my grip on the button. “No thanks to you.”
My tires kick up dust, but Jade doesn’t flinch. She leans forward in the saddle and urges that horse faster, as if she’s going to run me down.
It’s adorable.
“Look, I’m headin’ your way now. I’m sure you needed the warm-up anyway.”
“I don’t need a warm-up. I need a second pair of hands.”
I should floor it, leave Jade in the dust, and get this log where it needs to be, where I need to be, far fucking away from her.
I don’t.
I play with the gas, just enough to stay ahead, but never out of sight.
Let her chase me.
