Wild Hearts (28 page)

He traced his fingers down my neck as we kissed. I had pictured this moment a thousand times before. All the time that we had been forced apart, I'd thought about kissing him all night long. I'd even shared some of my make-out session daydreams with Amy. I'd been putting on lip balm a zillion times a day trying to get pillowy soft lips.

“Your lips are so soft,” Logan murmured as if on cue.

We kissed for what could have been five minutes or five hours. Finally, Logan lay down on top of his blanket and rolled onto his side so he faced me.

I scooted closer to him, pulling my pillow with me.

“This is the best trip ever,” Logan said. He ran his hand up and down my arm and stopped to brush a stray hair from my face.

“It's definitely up there for me, too,” I said.

Logan dropped his jaw. “You wound me. What trip topped this? I want to know.”

“Oh, it was a trip with Mom and Dad,” I started. Logan's eyebrows went together. “I got out of the car to . . . what was it?” I pretended to forget as I watched Logan squirm. “Oh, right, I got out to photograph bison! This jerk revved his
engine at me and I went over to his truck, ready to scream at him.” I looked into Logan's eyes. “I took one look at him and he was way too hot for me to do that. So I called him a jerk instead.”

“That was a great story,” Logan said. “I'd like to hear exactly how hot this ‘jerk' was.”

“Shut up!” I said, kicking at him with my socked foot.

Logan picked up his cell phone. “Dispatcher, please send an officer to a tent on the mountains immediately. I'm being beaten up by my girlfriend.”

“Logan! You big baby!” I carefully kicked him again and used my free arm to lightly punch his chest.

“I'm glad you think that's so funny,” Logan said. In a quick move, one I barely saw, he had pinned down my hand and had his leg slung over mine. I wriggled and fought to get free.

“Logan!” I said, trying not to laugh. “Let me go! You totally ambushed me.”

He laughed. That laugh that was deep in his chest and made me smile.

“You thought
that
was an ambush? Oh, Brie Carter. I'll have to show you what a real ambush is.”

Logan shot forward, keeping my leg and hand pinned, and kissed my forehead. Then he quickly gave my right cheek a barely there kiss. He kissed the top of my nose, my other cheek, my chin, my mouth—all in rapid succession. I was laughing so hard that I was crying.

“
That
was an ambush,” Logan said. He removed his leg and freed my hand.

I wiped under my eyes, thanking the makeup gods that I had used waterproof mascara today.

I rolled onto my stomach and looked at him. He had a satisfied smile on his face. He looked so young with hands beneath his head and elbows bent.

“Look at yourself,” I said. “You think you won. You just wait.”

“I hope I don't have to wait for this,” Logan said. He pushed himself up onto his elbow and put a gentle hand behind my head.

His lips touched mine and I felt as if I'd finally found my place in the world.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Talk slowly, think quickly.

Before the sun came up, Logan and I were dressed and had the horses saddled. I had woken up with Logan snuggling me. I hadn't wanted to wake him, but when I sat up, he rolled over and smiled at me. I grinned at him—his messy hair and sleepy eyes. As we had coffee, we watched the sun rise.

We crossed the creek and started the rest of the trip up Blackheart Mountain with the cattle carefully picking their way up the rocky incline. Logan led the herd from the front and I resumed my position in the back. I kept playing over every minute from last night in my head.

We had talked for hours about our plans for the horses and when we would throw a fundraiser. Logan wanted to work fast and get the horses moved. Once we got them settled, we would petition the town to let us host the event at the end of July. That date would also be in our favor because Kate would be coming to visit sometime in July. I'd never needed sister backup more than I would then. I wished that I could be hopeful that Dad would be pacified with the horses off his land and wouldn't care that I had been involved with moving them.

Logan figured that since it was mid-May, we would have enough time to get the horses off Dad's land well before his July first deadline, then have some time to look over the horses and
make decisions about what each horse needed. It was also soon enough that we would hopefully raise some income to pay for the horses' keep.

Logan didn't think the horses would be ready for any kind of adoption event until early next year, so we settled on January as our target date. With Dad planning to move likely in April of next year, early in the year felt like a safe target.

After we brainstormed and filled a paper pad with ideas, we cuddled. I'd slid my blanket closer to Logan. He draped an arm over my side and I didn't have any memories after that.

The steep hill started to level off and Logan twisted around, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Hold on to the horn. This part is steep. Over this next hill is the pasture.”

“Okay!” I called. I leaned forward and gripped the Western saddle's horn with my hands. Mazy lurched forward and I squeezed my legs tighter around the saddle. “Should we get off and walk?” I asked.

“Too dangerous! Stay on!”

The cattle started to slow and the path up the mountain's side became narrower. I kept my eyes forward and didn't let myself look over the path's side into the steep drop-off into the trees below. Mazy's hoof slipped on a rock and she stumbled. Tightening my grip on the horn, I gritted my teeth. After a few more excruciating minutes, the incline started to level off and I sighed with relief. My death grip on the saddle relaxed and I leaned into a normal position.

Logan let Lara and Jane herd the cattle into the field and he cantered LG up to me.

“Interesting, huh? You'd never guess there was a flat plain after climbing as long as we did.”

The flat ground had a creek rushing on the right side and lines of trees that would provide shade for the cattle in the hottest days of summer.

“No kidding,” I said. “I thought I'd die back there!”

I grinned and watched the cattle eagerly spread out in the thick grass. Lara and Jane trotted back over to us and they seemed to know their job was done.

“It'll be much easier going down,” he said. “Now that we don't have the cattle, we can take a different path. We'll get home quicker.”

We plopped into the grass and started munching granola bars. The cattle settled down to graze while Jane and Lara rested in the shade.

“I survived my first cattle drive,” I said, raising my bottle of water.

“And lost your greenhorn status,” Logan said, clunking his bottle against mine.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

You can take the cowboy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the cowboy.

Hours later, Logan and I had made it safely back home and I'd raced through my back door just before six on Sunday evening. Mom, Dad, and I had a long dinner at the quaint new Italian place in the next town over.

They asked me a few questions about my night at Amy's. I successfully lied my way through it, feeling a twinge of guilt—particularly after my dad told me that things were well in hand at the job site and, if I wanted, I could take tomorrow off to hang with Amy again.

When we got home I launched myself onto my bed. I grabbed my phone and blinked, forcing my eyes open. I was so, so tired. After Logan had dropped me off at Amy's for my bike, he headed to work a shift in the field. He had superhuman powers.

I typed a text and sent it to Logan.

I can't stop thinking abt the trip. Thank you. <3

One message to Amy.

Will tell you everything! Can't wait but too tired. Talk tmrw! xx

When I woke up the next morning I went straight to the bathroom for ibuprofen. I had sore muscles on top of sore muscles from the ride.

Mom and Dad were both gone. Dad was at work and Mom had left a note that she was out scouting locations for a new set of photos.

I jumped on my bike, glanced at Logan's directions, and headed to Pam's. Logan was meeting me there and we were going to explain our plan to Pam. We needed her okay for the fundraiser and for a future adoption event.

Logan was waiting for me atop LG and holding Mazy's reins.

He dismounted to pull me gently to him, push back my cowboy hat, and kiss me.

“Hi,” I said, my tone almost two octaves higher than usual.

Logan kissed me again.

“I'll give you a quick tour,” he said.

He handed me Mazy's reins and I mounted. We did a quick loop around the near parts of the property. I fell in love with it.

Pam's place couldn't have been more perfect. She had a small farmhouse a few miles outside of town. She didn't have any pets aside from a couple of dogs, and there were several areas for us to work with the horses—two round pens and a fenced arena.

“That's where we need to get them,” Logan said, pointing to a silver gate. I counted nine pencil-thin wires that were attached to wooden poles.

“What kind of fencing is that?” I asked him.

“It's called high-tensile fencing. Basically, you can have as many or as few wires as you want. The more wire—the higher the cost. You have to weigh the cost, though, against the idea of your horses, cattle—whatever—escaping by jumping the fence if the wire is too low or wiggling under it if the wires aren't placed right.”

“So that fencing goes all around Pam's property?”

Logan chuckled. “Yep. Basically, once we've moved the mustangs, they won't be able to cross it to get back to their old grounds. They'll be safe. You're going to get a chance to see that for yourself.” He laughed again.

“What's so funny?” I edged Mazy closer to LG so I could swat his arm.

“Pam hasn't used that land in a couple of years. So before we usher any horses into this space, you and I will need to ride the entire pasture fence line to check for broken or twisted wire.”