Page 19 of His Accidental Cowboy

“Yep. We’re gonna perfect each step at a time. You can’t walk if you don’t learn to crawl first, and you can’t run without first learning to walk.”

“Wise words, I guess. Who said them?”

“Dunno who said them first, but my old man used to say it when I first learned to ride. Then again, I was five years old, so I was still gettin’ a handle on running without tripping over my own ankles and skinning a knee.”

“You’ve been riding since you were five? Wow.” Wyatt looked genuinely impressed by that.

Jackson shrugged. “Grew up on a working farm. All us kids were expected to pitch in from a young age to keep things goin’.” And that was as far down Memory Lane as he wanted to travel today. His personal past was not up for discussion with Wyatt. “Same as all the Woods kids, I suspect. Brand’s been riding since he could walk.”

“Makes sense growing up on a farm or ranch.” Wyatt petted the side of Shirley Temple’s neck. “I grew up in what you’d probably think of as a big city, but compared to someplace like Amarillo or Houston, it’s a small town. Just not much in the way of ranching or farms nearby. A few factories and a prison employed most everybody in the area. It wasn’t a horrible place to grow up, but I wanted a different life. A life where I was free to be me.” He gave Jackson a pointed stare. “You know?”

“I know. Come on, try a dismount. Opposite of mounting, just swing that right leg back over her rump and make sure you plant it firm on the ground before you let go of the pommel.”

“Got it. I think.”

Wyatt didn’t quite have it and nearly fell over backward when his right foot hit the dirt. Jackson caught him under his armpits and kept him upright, and that brief contact should not have made his hands tingle the way it did. Nah, he was imagining it. He still took a long step backward once Wyatt righted himself.

“Thanks,” Wyatt said. “That was kind of embarrassing.”

“You’ll get it, you just need to practice. Crawl before you walk, remember?”

“Yeah.”

Now that Wyatt was back at eye level, Jackson was tempted to ask about Monday night and what all had been true about Wyatt’s past and his reasons for being in Weston. But they were on the clock, Jackson had a greenhorn to train, and they didn’t need the distraction. “All right,” he said instead. “Again.”

By the time lunch rolled around and Jackson called it quits for a while, Wyatt’s entire body ached. All he’d done was spend the past three hours mounting and dismounting Shirley Temple, and eventually Jackson had given him a pair of gloves to wear. He was still going to have at least one blister on his left hand, though—he could feel it rising. He also occasionally rode her at a slow walk around the corral. Wyatt really wanted to go faster on the mare, but Jackson was taking his damned time.

All this “crawling” was getting on Wyatt’s damned nerves, but he didn’t want to fuck things up by pushing to go faster. If this was Jackson’s style of training newbies, Wyatt would suck it up and go slow. It gave him lots of time in the grumpy cowboy’s proximity, even if he kept a constant arm’s reach of space between them.

Wyatt had also pulled back on his flirting, not wanting to irritate Jackson into handing him over to Hugo or Michael for training. He liked Jackson and wanted to know more about the guy, but Jackson had seemed mad after revealing what little he had about his past growing up on a farm, so Wyatt didn’t push. Jackson seemed like the type who was wholly professional on the job but knew how to kick back when he was off the clock.

He really wanted to be alone with Jackson again off the clock. Jackson was sexy as hell and Wyatt enjoyed getting under the older cowboy’s skin. That scowl always went right to Wyatt’s dick.

Meeting Maybe Uncle Rem this morning had been slightly tense on Wyatt’s side, but Rem was high-strung, earnest, and a really nice guy. He spoke fondly of both his wife and little girl and promised to introduce them at some point in the near future. But when Jackson called for lunch, Wyatt’s stomach twisted up tight. Today was lunch with the elder Woods couple, Wayne and Rose, his Maybe Grandparents.

Were they the awful, self-absorbed people his maternal grandparents had insisted they were? Had they mellowed in recent years? Was the whole lunch thing just an act so Wyatt did a good job and earned his keep, and it didn’t matter if they actually liked him or not? Too many questions, and the only way to get answers was to make his feet carry him up to the main house.

Jackson went right into the break room, leaving Wyatt to traverse the wide yard by himself. He cast around for Hugo or Rem, or anyone else. Brutus was sitting on his big bed by the front door and he only raised his head at Wyatt. No barking or growling, hopefully sensing a friendly. Wyatt liked dogs well enough, even though he’d never been able to own one. He’d only been nine the first time his stepfather had made Wyatt witness him putting an elderly stray dog down, and it had almost been more than Wyatt could bear.

But he’d sucked it up so his stepfather didn’t get angry later. Angry at Wyatt for being a “sissy” or a “child,” or for “being gay” about putting a dog down.

Brutus yawned and rested his head on his massive front paws.

Wyatt took off his hat and knocked, unsure of the protocol here. A moment later, a brown-haired woman wearing a floral apron opened the door and smiled at him. Brand definitely favored her. “Good afternoon, ma’am,” Wyatt said. “Um, Brand invited me to lunch?”

“Come on inside, you must be Wyatt,” she replied, never losing that cheerful smile. “I’m Rose Woods, and yes, you’re invited to lunch. I made pulled pork and coleslaw, so we’ve got sandwiches, iced tea, and there might even be a peach pie for dessert.”

“That sounds wonderful, thank you.” He followed her down a long hallway lined with family photos that he didn’t have a lot of time to study, and into a wide, bright kitchen with a built-in breakfast nook. Brand and Hugo were already there, setting the table, and for one brief moment, Wyatt felt a bit like an alien on a new planet, unsure of himself or his place here with his Maybe Family.

Just ask him and get it over with!

He silenced his better angel and colluded with the devil on his shoulder who insisted Wyatt investigate this on his own. To keep his cover for as long as possible. If he gave away who he was and why he was here too soon, he might fail in his goal to get to know the real Brand Woods and family.

“So how did your first lesson with Jackson go?” Hugo asked.

“We crawled a lot.” Off Hugo’s confused look, Wyatt explained the metaphor that was the foundation of Jackson’s teaching methods. “I appreciate the time he’s taking, I really do. It can be tedious, but I want to learn how to do things right the first time. No sense in creating bad habits I’ll have to break later.”

“That’s a wonderful way to look at your training,” Rose said. “Jackson’s been here a long time and he’s helped many a new hand get used to the ranch.”

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