Take Me (A Steamy Short Story Romance) (2 page)

I went upstairs and did as I was
told, returning to the kitchen seething. I was going to run away, I decided. My
first task after breakfast was to clean the stables. As I hatefully shoveled
manure into a pile outside, I kept thinking about what all the other kids from
my school must be doing. It just seemed so unfair.

I paused for a second to push my
sweaty hair out of my face with my arm. At least the mountain air was crisp and
cool, and the scenery was pretty. My grandpa was out working one of the far
pastures, and my grandma had driven into town to pick up some things from the
hardware store. Once I was done shoveling shit, I would have some time for
myself.

If only there was something—anything—to
do out here.

I sighed and headed back into the
stables, hearing the horses nicker as I walked past. A beautiful black mare
looked at me thoughtfully with her big eyes.

"Hey, lovely," I cooed,
leaning over the stall door. She trotted up to me playfully, and I couldn't
help smiling as she nuzzled my hand. As I petted her I remembered just how much
I had loved riding horses when I was a little girl. Maybe I'd go on a short
ride after I was done cleaning. I could see some of the country around the
ranch, and if I
was
back within an hour or so neither of
my grandparents would be the wiser.

I finished cleaning out the
stables, and a few short minutes later I was riding out into a broad meadow
dotted with wildflowers, with the sun on my back and the wind blowing through my
hair. There was a faint trail at the edge of the meadow, and I followed it into
the woods. It wound through the trees, and I could faintly hear a stream
gurgling and splashing. We turned around a corner, and sure enough, arrived at
a little brook. I dismounted and let my horse drink before slipping off my
shoes and sitting on a rock, letting my feet dangle in the water.

"It's real pretty here, huh,
girl?" I said.

My horse snorted in response,
then kept drinking. After a minute I hitched her to a tree and took my clothes
off, sinking luxuriously into one of the deep, still pools in the creek. Not a
second later I saw something moving downstream. Then I realized, with a start,
that it was a man.

I sucked my breath in all of a
sudden. He was only about a hundred feet away, and his back was turned towards
me. He was dressed up in fishing gear and wading in one of the pools, casting
downstream.

How had I not noticed him before?

I sank into the water up to my
shoulders, not wanting him to see me nude. I kept my eyes fixed on him,
watching the smooth, controlled way he worked his fly rod over the water. Then,
to my surprise, the rod jerked forward violently.

"Whoa!" I heard him
cry. He pulled back sharply on the rod; ever so patiently, he began reel in the
fish. A minute later he pulled a massive trout out of the water. Awesome, I
thought.

And then he turned around.

"Hey," he called up to
me. "I didn't see you up there!"

"I didn't see you
either," I called excitedly, giggling. "Nice catch!"

"Thanks. I think I got lucky
today." Then he waded to the side of the creek and threw the fish in a
bag. When he picked the bag up, he did so with some effort. "That's the
third big trout I got today. Should be some good eatin' tonight."

Good eatin'.
His accent didn't sound local.
Maybe he was a rich vacationer from the East Coast? He certainly looked
handsome enough from where I was treading water: tall and muscular, with a head
full of thick blond hair. He started walking upstream.

I did a double take.

"
Rick?
"

He looked at me in surprise for a
second, and then his eyes broke from mine and flicked down to my body. I
realized he could see my shimmering nude body under the water and suddenly I blushed
a deep crimson.

"Shit," he said,
averting his eyes and turning around. "Sorry to walk in on you like
that."

"It's okay," I
breathed, my voice sounding husky. I swam to the shore and dried myself off
with my t-shirt before wriggling back into my clothes. It felt like an electric
current was running through my body. The way the flannel of my work shirt
rested against my bare skin suddenly felt silky and sensual.

"You can turn around now,"
I finally said, still feeling hot. Rick turned around and our eyes met, for
just a second too long.

"Didn't realize you were
taking a bath," he explained.

"It's okay," I said.
God, his eyes were pretty! "I had no idea you were fishing
downstream."

"I never thought I'd see you
again. The school put me up in a little cabin in the woods, just upstream. It's
like paradise."

"Really? I guess we're
neighbors then. My grandparents have a ranch not far from here. Just taking a
short break from my chores."

"Are you done with all your
chores for the day?"

"Sort of...until my grandma
gets back from the hardware store. Then I'll probably have to help her cook or
something." I made a pouty face.

Rick laughed. "Speaking of
cooking...I think I'm going to fry up these fish tonight. You're more than
welcome to have dinner with me."

I felt a rush of
excitement—then disappointment.

"I can't. My grandparents
are keeping me on a pretty short leash. I don't know if they'll let me go have
dinner with some guy they don't know."

"Well, all of you are
invited then."

"I can ask them," I
said, brightening up a little.

"Do that. And don't be a
stranger," Rick called, starting to hike back downstream along the trail.
I watched him disappear into the brush,
then
I unhitched
my horse and swung back onto the saddle. And just in time, because the second I
had her back in her stall I heard the rattle of my grandma's pickup pulling in
to the driveway.

I shifted nervously when she
peeked in to the stables.

"Looks great, Mary,"
she finally said. "Now wash up and help me get dinner started."

"I, uh, met our new neighbor
who just moved in. He invited us all over for a fish fry tonight," I said.

"Oh really?" My grandma
smiled. "Well that sounds wonderful."

****

I applied the final touches to my
makeup and examined myself in the mirror before deciding I was finally
satisfied. I couldn't believe I'd met Rick again—and that we were
neighbors, no less. I excitedly headed downstairs, and ten minutes later the
three of us arrived at Rick's little cabin.

"You sure seem
excited," my Grandma observed. "My, look at all that makeup on your
face."

"It's not a lot of
makeup," I protested. "I just want to look nice."

"Uh huh," she said
warily, before ringing the doorbell. Rick opened the door and welcomed us in
warmly.

"You made it!" he
beamed. "Welcome to my humble commode."

My grandpa laughed, but my grandma
just looked at him warily before training her gaze back on me. After
introductions, we all sat down to dinner. I tried to hide my affection for
Rick, knowing my grandma had all but discovered it already. But it was hard
because Rick was funny, and I wanted to laugh at practically everything he
said.

But maybe I'd overplayed my hand,
because by the end of the evening Rick seemed a little colder and more distant
towards me.

"Thanks for coming,"
Rick said as we all left.

"Bye," I called one
last time as we walked out. But Rick had already shut the door.

****

The next couple of weeks dragged
by. I kept expecting Rick to stop by or to run into him somewhere, but it never
happened. I felt disappointed, and more than a little lonely. The only other
people who ever visited were old ranchers like my grandparents. With no phone
or computer to get absorbed in I started reading all the paperbacks in the
house. Reading passed the time, sure, but I still felt bored and lonely. Was
the entire summer really going to pass like this?

On the flip side I'd been working
hard around the ranch and that had earned the respect of my grandparents. And
the work wasn't
all bad
: I learned a lot about how to
run a ranch and a household, especially from my grandma. Now that they were
convinced I wasn't an out of control juvenile delinquent I had a lot more
freedom, and they let me take any of the horses out whenever I wanted. I liked
riding around, but I was always afraid I'd go too far and get lost. With
nothing but pasture and wilderness for miles around, and Rick as our only
neighbor, it seemed like getting lost would be all to easy, so I always made
sure to stay close by.

I tossed and turned in bed,
trying to get comfortable. I'd read all the westerns and trashy romances I
could find in the house, so now I couldn't read myself to sleep anymore. And
even worse, I couldn't get aroused anymore. I had been so excited to meet Rick because
he had made me feel turned on, but now I was back to the way I'd felt before:
always cold.

Was it normal? Was it something
psychological, because of how strict my upbringing had been? It kept bothering
me because I knew that pretty soon there would be pressure on me to get married
and start a family of my own. What if I couldn't fulfill those expectations?

I rolled out of bed, unable to
sleep. What was I supposed to do?

If only I could talk to my
grandparents—or anyone for that matter—about my personal problems.

Ugh. I decided to get up early
and go for a ride before my grandparents got up and before the day's work
began.

I walked outside to the stables
and fed the horses first thing, like I always did. All except for Juniper, the
same black mare I'd snuck away on during my first day on the ranch. I'd take
her out for a ride and she could graze by the creek as I contemplated my fate.

I saddled her up and we set off
across the meadow, arriving at the same faint trail through the woods. We rode
along until we were in a patch of sunlight, in a small meadow not far from the
creek.

But all of a sudden Juniper
whinnied and her nostrils flared. She stopped dead in her tracks, refusing to
go any further.

"What's wrong with
you?" I asked irritatedly. "Come on."

Then I noticed the rattlesnake lying
in the middle of the trail, just a yard away from us.

"Shit!" I shrieked, and
before I could turn Juniper around she bucked, and I landed hard in the dirt. I
heard my shoulder pop, and I yelped in pain. I heard Juniper's hoof beats
getting softer in the distance as she ran back to the ranch, and I hopelessly craned
my neck to watch her. Then I watched the rattlesnake slowly slither away into
the grass, its black tongue flicking in and out of its mouth. Then a sharp pain
shot through my neck and I collapsed back into the dirt; now I could feel just
how hard I'd hit the dirt. All the wind had been knocked out of me and I
couldn't breathe. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, hoping my injuries
weren't serious.

****

"Mary? Thank God I found
you!" I watched as my grandpa emerged from the woods on horseback.
"What happened?"

"A rattlesnake scared
Juniper," I groaned. "It hurts really bad when I move my neck, and I
think I broke my shoulder."

He spat into the grass and uncharacteristically
swore. "I'll ride on back to the house and call an ambulance."

A couple hours later, after a
rescue team came and hauled me out of the woods, the ambulance squealed to a
stop in front of the little clinic in town. The medics opened the doors and
Rick appeared to take charge of the situation, helping to carry me in.

After he determined that I hadn't
broken my neck or damaged any nerves he prepared to force my dislocated
shoulder back into place.

"This is going to
hurt," he cautioned, and then he popped my arm back into its socket. There
was a flash of pain, and then my arm was okay again. "It's going to be
sore for a few days," he said, turning around to take off his gloves.

"Okay. Thanks for
everything."

"You’re welcome. How are
you, Mary? I haven't seen you for a month."

"I'm alright, I guess.
There's a lot of work to do around the ranch."

"I bet there is. Anything
else I can help you with?"

"Actually..." I wavered
for a second. Then I realized I could trust Rick. He'd been so calm, levelheaded
and professional in the way he had treated me. "There is something I am
concerned about."

"Of course," he said
gently, giving me his full attention.

I blushed, embarrassed about what
I was about to tell him. "I think I'm frigid."

Rick looked at me in surprise. "Pardon?"

"I think I'm frigid," I
said again, feeling my skin growing even hotter. "You know, like I can't
get...excited."

"I see." Rick said,
sounding thoughtful. "Don't worry, Mary. We'll get to the bottom of this.
How long have you had this problem?"