Page 41 of Stables Spurs Suits
“How many does that make now?”
“One hundred and eighty-one.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of bottled-up luck. How exactly do you use the luck you collect?” he asks, and I laugh.
“It’s not something you get to pick when you use it; you just hold onto it, and the luck grows on you, sort of. It’s hard to explain.”
Thunder claps above us, and a few of the horses neigh.
“Looks like your explanation is going to have to wait. Storm’s rolling in. Help me get these guys away?”
“Not much of an afternoon run.”
“They’ll be happier inside when it’s on top of us. You might not get back to town before it hits. You can wait it out with me if you want. You know, in my trailer. It has a huge skylight so we can watch the storm,” he says, and I try to hold back my smile, but I can feel it teasing at the corners of my mouth.
“Only if we can be naked,” I lean in to whisper.
“Did you think we’d be any other way?”
Chapter seventeen
ATLAS
DANCING INTO MY HEART
“Up a little on the left,” Connor says, and I move the string of the birthday banner to a higher branch and tie it off.
The projector screen is set up between the two large trees beside the cuddle cove, and we’ve brought out the hay bales for seating like we do when we run ranch movie nights. It’s one of Dean’s favorite things we do on Beaker Brothers for the guests and the town. Mine too, at least when it’s something I haven’t seen. We put on a movie every weekend through the summer and most of the spring. Winter, we cut back. The wet and cold make it hard to get people out here; it’s why we did the whole winter Christmas experience last year, to try to get more guests out on the ranch during a time that is frankly pretty rough for everyone. We had a good turnout, and one of the guests, Hayden, who came to write about the experience, ended up kicking it off with Connor, and now they’re living together in his tiny cabin behind the cuddle cove. Technically, they have asecond cabin too; it’s one of the smaller rentals that was almost never booked, so Connor booked it out for the year and turned it into a writing space for Hayden.
How he can think trapped in that tiny space for a whole day, I will never understand. Sure, my trailer is technically about the same size, but I basically only sleep in there, and I cut a giant skylight in the roof so I’d at least feel like I was outside when I was in there.
“It’s looking great,” Matthew says, coming over and immediately holding the ladder I’m on, like I haven’t been up one of these a million times and been perfectly safe.
“When are they due back?” I ask.
“At least a few hours. Gramps somehow convinced Dean and Preston to take him around to the old farms to see who’s left from his day,” Matthew replies, and I start making my way down the ladder. He doesn’t move, just stands at the bottom, hands gripping either side as I lower myself into the gap.
“Are you done with all your work?” I ask, stepping onto the dry soil and turning in place. He doesn’t lower his arms; instead, he steps in closer, closing the cage he’s created around me. My cock twitches like it’s remembering the last time we were this close. Inside my trailer, less than a week ago, I was lying naked under a skylight while the biggest storm in a month crossed over the ranch.
“Not yet. I just thought I’d see if you needed any help before I head over to help Connor.”
“I’m good. Perry leveled the last of the new trail this morning, so I need to check for any branches we need to trim down and then help lay the rest of the gravel.”
“It’s come together so quickly.”
We decided not to run the trail all the way around the ranch because it would force the horses onto the roadside at the end. Instead, we continued past the valley Matthew sprinted down,until we found a perfect place to set up a break spot. A few trees had come down in the last few storms over the back left corner of the ranch, and after clearing the long grass and trimming a few branches from the trees still standing, we found the perfect place. It’s on the higher side of the property, and on the left. From there, you can see the mountains, but the best part is what you get a clear view of to the right. The newly formed waterfall that’s feeding the stream Matthew found.
“I’ll be runnin’ the last of the gravel up with Perry later today, then it’s just cuttin’ into those fallen trees to make some seats and it’s done.”
“What about the troughs for the horses’ water and stuff?” he asks, and I love the way his mind goes to them and what they need.
“Already up there. I dropped off a large old laundry tub we had sitting under the house. It’s cement, so it won’t go blowing away if the weather gets a bit wild up there. Sally-May reckons we could get a few apple trees and a wild carrot patch growing too, so the horses can have freshly picked treats, you know, once they start fruiting. Until then, I’ll just be sure to take a bag of goodies with me for them.
“And Gramps loves it?” he asks, and I shrug.
“He hasn’t seen it yet. We were going to take him out tomorrow if you wanted to come?”
“You want me to come show Gramps the trail?” His cheeks blush a warm, rosy glow.
