Page 126 of Bucked Hard
“Yeaup, baby?”
“How are we going to do this?” Reality is poking into my dream as the sun streaks through the window, casting yellow and orange light on the wall above the bed. “I mean, we live in completely different worlds. I love my work, and you love your work. I’m supposed to leave tomorrow. How are we going to—”
“We’ll figure it out. Anything worth having is worth working for. And fighting for. And you, my sweet filly, are worth the work and the fight. I don’t know every detail of how to tell you it’s going to work, but my heart doesn’t lie. We will figure it out. And as far as you leaving, I want you to stay. Don’t leave tomorrow. Stay another week, and then we’ll go from there. I’ll pay for your ticket.”
I nod. I don’t have any other travel scheduled at the moment. I’m waiting to hear back from Conde Nast and International Travel magazines, but it’s been crickets so far.
This whole ‘we’ll figure it out’ thing would have bothered me a couple of days ago. For whatever reason, maybe I’m just being foolish, but the unknown feels exciting, not to know exactly how things are going to pan out.
I look at Garrett and realize I’ve not asked him some critical questions. “Do you travel? I mean, do you like to travel?”
He pauses for a moment then nods. “Yeah.” I wait for more, but instead, he licks his lips, shaking his head at me. “God, that bed’s never looked so good.”
“You’re a smooth-talking cowboy.” I blush because he’s looking at me like I am some long-lost treasure finally returned and I forget about everything else.
“I’m a truth-telling cowboy.”
“Okay, well we can agree on the cowboy part.”
He chuckles, and with that he’s down the hall to get coffee, leaving me feeling as good as I ever have. The practical part of me revisits the fear I’m possibly blinded by lust and fantasy, but for now, I’m content pretending there’s some magic that is going to come along and make any obstacles disappear.
* * *
A half-hour later I’m back at my cabin getting some clean clothes on before heading to meet with the new guests for an interview. Garrett and I showered, he fucked me again up against the wall of the shower then bent me over and took me from that angle, introducing my ass to his finger and making me cum so hard he had to hold me up.
He left the house to head to the barn and get on with what he needs to do today, while I came back to the cabin to get my laptop and change.
I’ve got my bag on my shoulder, and I’m on my way out the door. When I turn on the path back toward the dining hall, I see two horses up on the hill.
I squint, but I immediately know it’s Garrett and one of the new guests. Besides me, in the week I’ve been here I haven’t seen him engage anyone else in real conversation. Just polite head tips and hellos. But as I ease down the path, I raise my phone and put it on camera mode.
Placing two fingers on the screen, I pull out to zoom in. It’s Garrett on Dorian and one of the new blond-haired guests, Abigail, on another chestnut colored horse. I watch the screen, she’s leaning toward him, her hand on Garrett’s knee.
“Hey.” A cheerful voice from behind makes me jump nearly out of my skin.
I spin around to see Harriett’s smile and her freckled face.
“Oh gosh!” She chuckles. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“You scared me.”
“Sorry. I was just heading back to the dining hall, saw you walking and thought I’d say hi.” Her eyes follow mine as I look back up the hill.
“Yeah, I’m supposed to interview those two new guests for the article.”
“Great. The one, Tabitha, was there when I left to run and grab my phone charger from the office.” She looks at me for a moment as we start walking. “I guess we both know where the other one went.”
I glance back up the hill, but now they’re gone. A sense of dread covers me, but I try not to let on.
We walk together, and despite my misgivings, I find her manner easy. As we walk, she starts chatting like she wants to get to know me. “So, you’ve been a lot of places I guess.”
I smile, despite myself. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“I haven’t traveled much. Went to a business conference in Colorado for dude ranches and whatnot when I wanted to start this up here. I went to Texas once. I want to travel, but I’m sort of tied here, and I’d like to find someone to go with.”
“I go almost everywhere alone. It’s fine. I have so many airline miles by now, if I did have someone, they could go with me free for a year.” My mind immediately surges with the fantasy of Garrett and me traveling the world together.
“You know, Garrett’s never even been on a plane.” Harriett looks at me as we walk and raises her eyebrows.
