My word.
He’s fucking beautiful.
“It’s great,” I answer him. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure, sweetheart.”
Oh boy.
“That one is mine,” Emily says, watching him go. “Oh my.”
I laugh. “He’s too young for you, the man looks like he’s barely thirty.”
“Exactly, imagine the stamina,” Emily says, fanning herself.
Kara grins, nodding.
I glance at the rest of the group. We’re all sort of sectioned off into our little groups. The three guys – Taj, Rick and Nathan, all stick together, talking amongst themselves. Then there are two other girls outside of Kara, Emily, and myself. Grace and Maria, who are both on the prissier side and tend to stick to themselves. We get along well with them, but they’re just very different to us. They’re both prettier, too, which I think contributes to their far more confident attitudes. Especially toward men.
They haven’t taken their eyes of the group of guys since we got here. They’ve been laughing and flicking their hair. I can’t say I blame them, they’re both incredible musicians, and they deserve a break just as much as the rest of us. If that means they spend the next few weeks staring and drooling, then so be it. I’m sure that every single one of us with a vagina will be doing the same.
“At least there are plenty of them to go around,” Kara says to Emily. “We can all have one.”
“Oh god.” I laugh. “They’re not candy.”
“Aren’t they?” Kara grins.
“Stop it,” I scoff, but I’m grinning. “Besides, they could be taken. Men like that ... they don’t stay single.”
“Yeah they do,” Emily says. “Most of the time they just sleep around because they’re manwhores.”
I snort. “You’re exactly right.”
“Even better.” Kara sighs. “That means we can dive right in. I’ll take Enzo.”
“I’ll take whichever one wants me,” Emily says with a laugh.
We finish with dinner and head back to our cabins to settle in for the night. Kara and Emily are both staying in the cabin with me, Grace and Maria have one on their own and the guys are all sharing one, too. The cabins are large, three bedrooms in some and two in the others. They’re only new and well presented with everything you need right there at your fingertips.
It’s perfect.
“I am excited to wake up tomorrow and get this month started,” Kara says as she brushes her teeth in the luxurious bathroom the cabins boasts.
“Me too,” I say, taking out my toothbrush. “I don’t think I’ve ever done watersports, so that’s going to be something new.”
“I’ll be falling off, on purpose, of course. If it means those edible pieces of human candy will come and save me, I’ll break a leg to make sure it happens.”
I shake my head with a grin. “I can see it now, your show should be entertaining.”
She winks at me and disappears into her bedroom. I go to mine and climb into the beautiful new bed, that I just know I’m the first person to sleep on. Then I take out my phone and research Rhett a little more. Now I’ve met him, I can’t help but wonder about his past. Of course, I read the main articles about this place, but there is sure to be more than that hidden beneath the surface.
He sure makes me wonder.
I start by typing in his name, Rhett Walker. The first few pages of search history are about the ranch, some good articles, some bad. A few critics saying this place is a waste of money and will fail, and others saying that it’s just what this town needs and people will come from far and wide for the chance to stay there. I am certainly on their side. I think people will do what they can to stay at a place like this.
It’s perfection.
I stumble across an article about Rhett’s father and how the two of them had a falling out when Rhett was the one to take over the ranch. It would seem like his father was meant to be the one who got it, but instead it was his son, and this caused major problems in the family. Not long after, he lost his mother to suicide. There is a big article about it, and it has someone giving a statement that they heard multiple fights between Rhett’s parents and called the police in regard to domestic abuse.
Is that why his mom killed herself? The rumors are sure there, but I wonder what the real story is.
Why didn’t his father get the ranch? There must be a good reason for that, too.
I read a little more, mostly about him being a ‘play boy’ who runs illegal business around town, but I don’t see why you would start up a retreat if you were running the risk of being shut down over illegal business, but then, in saying that, I know nothing about how anything works so I’m not going to even try to understand.
I close off my phone and nestle into the pillows, wondering about Rhett and his family, wondering how this month is going to go and feeling relaxed for the first time in a good long while.
I drift off to sleep with a smile on my face.
Ready for tomorrow.
Ready for all of it.
3
I’m not ready.
I lied.
I lied so hard that the lie knew I was lying before I even told it.
I grunt as I shovel up the biggest mound of horse shit I have ever seen in my life. They weren’t kidding when they said we would be put to work. I know it’s good for us, and our mental health, and blah blah blah, but that doesn’t mean I like it. I’m the most uncoordinated, clumsy person you would ever meet and they’re going to trust me to be able to figure shit out on my own?
Doubtful.
I glare at Diablo, who is in his stall still, stomping his hoof every single time I try to get the shovel into the shit. I give him an expression that I hope scares the demon horse, but he just snorts at me and slams his chest into the stable door.
“Oh, settle down,” I mutter to him. “You’re all talk, I can see it. You want to fight me? While I’ve got the shovel, scooping up your shit? You think you’ve got rage, buddy, you don’t even know the meaning of the word.”
He snorts again.
I snort right back.
His eyes widen and his nostrils flare, but he doesn’t snort at me again.
“You might be bigger than me, but I can promise you I’m far more determined than you. So give it up.”
“Still talkin’ to my horse?”
I spin around to see Rhett walking into the barn, a hay bail in his arms, making his muscles bulge in a way that has my eyes widening. Holy shit, is it possible for him to look better? I didn’t think so until right now.
He dumps the hay over the fence into Diablo’s stall, and then turns to me. “Nobody ever showed you how to shovel shit before, did they?”
“Why,” I breathe out, “in the ever-loving hell would someone show me that?”
His mouth twitches. “Most people don’t get taught these life skills.”
“Life skills?” I scoff. “You call this life skills? I don’t think everyone just has a horse rolling around in their yard that they have to clean up after. What the hell do you feed him, it sure as hell isn’t just grass!”
Rhett grunts, but his eyes are playful. “Diablo gets fed like a king, because he works like a king. Speaking of working, I’m saddling him up to go and move my cows into their new paddock. You want an experience, I can give you one.”