Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cash
The Following Day, Late Afternoon
Eric hadn’t been up to the farm since I took ill, so it was good to see him driving up the dirt road in his truck. I’d finished just about all of my chores for the morning and came out of the barn to wave at him as he walked up to the stables.
“I’ve been itching to take the horses out,” he said instead of hello.
“I reckon I’ll join you,” I said. Hailey was still asleep—in my bed, which gave me some pride. I’d gotten back up after we’d been together, leaving her resting in bed while I finished cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom. When I came back, she was wide awake and willing, so we had another long roll in the hay. I couldn’t get enough of her sweet little body. And by the way she came over and over again, she couldn’t get enough of mine either. Just thinking about her was getting me hard again, which meant I needed to stop before Eric took notice.
We got our favorite horses out—Dusty for me and Lettie for Eric—saddled them and started out on the trail, racing at first before we settled into an even trot at the far edge of my property. I kept my eyes on the terrain, always watchful for snakes and holes that one of the horses could injure themselves in while Eric started in with conversation.
“How’re things going with Hailey?” he asked, trying not to sound too interested, though I could see he was dying to hear any news on that front.
I didn’t even look at him. I could feel the color rising to my cheeks a little, so I dipped my head, letting the wide brim of my cowboy hat do its job. I didn’t want to tell Eric or anyone else about me and Hailey sleeping together—even though it was the only thing I could think about this morning, even during my chores, when my thoughts usually sat pretty dormant, my body doing its work without instruction from my head. What we’d done last night was private and needed to stay between us. I wasn’t the type of man to tell all and sundry about our business in the bedroom, but I didn’t want to act like nothing at all had happened, especially since it felt like I’d stepped out into a different world after all that’d happened last night. Me and Hailey had done some talking after we finished the second time, and we’d agreed to give whatever this was a go and see how things went. She only had a month left in Wyoming, but we could certainly try our level best to make that month count.
“We’re in a relationship now,” I said simply, and didn’t mean to describe what that meant any further. I looked over in time to see the smile spreading across Eric’s face. He actually looked proud of me, which was good to see after the foolishness that had gone on between us over Hailey. I still couldn’t believe we’d come to blows over a woman, even one as gorgeous and intelligent as Hailey. It was good to see he wasn’t holding a grudge. It wasn’t his way, but fighting over a woman wasn’t mine, either.
“That’s great, Cash,” he said. “She seems like a kind, decent woman. I’ve enjoyed getting to know her over the last few months. She’s good for you, I think. She reads, she writes, she seems to like life on the farm.”
“That she does,” I agreed.
“And she can cook.”
I patted my stomach, which was somehow still flat after all the delicious meals I’d put in it at Hailey’s doing. “Better than my dearly loved mama.”
Eric had himself a good chuckle at that. “Listen, I’m sorry about that competitive shit I got into before. I can’t believe we were actually fighting over a girl. That hasn’t happened in years, and we were just kids at the time.” His smile turned sheepish as he dropped his chin, blond hair dropping onto his forehead that he shoved back flat.
I had to smile at that too, as well as accept my blame in it. “We were both in the wrong over what happened. It takes two to fight.”
Eric chuckled again.
“I have to thank you for pushing me into this. I don’t know why I was so resistant to starting something between me and Hailey.”
“Cause you’re stubborn as all hell.”
“That may well be, but you kept up the pressure. I appreciate it.” I thought of Hailey underneath me, naked and tilting her hips so I could get inside of her faster. Shit. Now I wanted her again.
He shrugged as he moved Lettie around a hole in the ground. “That’s what I’m here to do, push you out of your comfort zone.”
“You’ve been doing your job since the day we met, that’s for damned sure.”
We laughed together at that. He really had been a persistent thorn in my side since elementary school, but I’d been a royal pain in his ass for about that long too, so it evened out.
The day was getting warmer as the afternoon wore on to the middle of the day. The evenings and mornings were cooling off considerably as we inched towards late fall. I was looking forward to the cold weather. Lots of folks didn’t care too much for winter, but it was my favorite season of the year and always had been. I loved working hard in the summer and coming in drenched in sweat at the end of the day, but I liked the chill in the air better, and snowfall was my absolute favorite, despite the extra work it created on the farm. I pictured me and Hailey curled up together in front of the fire and had to remind myself that she’d be long gone before the snow came. It wiped the grin clean off my face. But maybe she’d come out to visit. She could write out here just as easily as she could in New York City, couldn’t she?
“So now what am I s’pposed to give you a hard time about?” Eric asked. “I’ve been teasing you about finding a girlfriend since you broke up with Tina.”
I smirked at him. He’d been teasing me about women since way before I fell in with my barrel racing ex-girlfriend. “Sounds like you need some more material.”
“I’m sure I can find something. You’re a neat freak who can’t keep his nose out of a book whenever he’s not on a horse. There’s plenty of material in just those two things to keep me busy for the next couple a years.”
“There you go,” I replied. “I knew it wouldn’t be too hard for you to figure something out.”
He chuckled deeply again. As I watched, his face got serious, his dark eyes narrowing a bit. “What are you going to do about Hailey?”
I let my eyebrows pull together a bit, not liking where this was going, considering the dismal thoughts I’d just been having. “What do you mean?”
“Ain’t she planning to leave in a month? Y’all are starting up a romance, but what happens when she leaves in October?”
I’d been thinking of that in between thinking how nice it was to sink into the warm wetness between her supple thighs, one thought just naturally leading to the next so I’d stayed trapped in the same damned circle since last night.
“I’m not sure what her plans are,” I said finally.
“What do you want her to do?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure about that but didn’t want to say so. This was all new to me. I didn’t expect her to rearrange her life just because we’d slept together a few times. Things might look different at the end of the month, but who was to say? I had no intention of dropping everything here at the farm and moving out East, so I couldn’t really expect her to leave her life behind and stay out here.
“I can’t say,” I replied. “We just started whatever this is. I like her plenty, but our lives are on different sides of the country.” I didn’t add how this was why I hadn’t wanted to get anything started between us to begin with.
“All I’m gonna say is make sure you don’t let her leave the farm at the end of the month without telling her how you feel about her. If you want her to stay, you should say so. The kind of job she does, she could do it anywhere.”
“We ain’t quite there yet,” I said with a smile, but I wasn’t sure about that. I felt a connection with her that ran deeper than I’d expected, considering how long we’d known each other. I didn’t want to give up on that too easily. But our lives were thousands of miles apart. I need to keep that in mind and not let myself fall too hard for this beautiful New Yorker, unless I wanted her to make a souvenir out of my heart.
“Better figure out just where you are before she’s gone,” he said, and kicked Lettie up into a faster trot, leaving me and Dusty behind until we got going after him.