Blackhill Ranch (5 page)

“Lex, I told you. He just
needs something good in his life. Girl wise that is. He has been
dealt some really shitty hands when it comes to romance, and I know
you could use a nice guy, too.” He said quickly and started walking
over to my stall.

I placed my hands on my
hips and shot him a dirty look. “What's that supposed to
mean?”

“Lex, Brian was nice, but
come on. He wore pink button down shirts, got manicures with you
girls, and he likes pop music!” he practically yelled the last part
as he waved his hands around.

I gasped, “So Brian did
wear pink, most guys do in L.A. He liked his nails clean because he
wanted a financial job and needed to look put together. He is not
gay for the hundredth time.” “He is, just wait. I like the guy, I
do, but he just isn't for you, Lexi. You are my sister and I know
you better then you want me to. Brian isn't it, and I just want you
to see that. Maybe Rhet will help out with it. He is a great guy. I
know you two will have a fun summer together. Just keep it PG,
please. Especially around me. Rhet already asked me what I would do
if he fell for you before you came here. He knows the boundaries
and he wouldn't break them. Besides, haven't you noticed we fall
for each other's friends?” He winked and turned to head out of
Paint's stall. 
 “Yeah, and look how that turned out. I do not want
to mess up your friendship with Rhet.” I grabbed Paint's brush and
started gliding it down his back. He twitched with approval and
scuffed his hoof against the ground.

“Well, don't break his
heart and all will be good.”

“Whose heart is Lexi
breaking?” Rhet said as he popped his head over my stall door.
Breathe. That's what my brain was telling me to do, but I wasn't
responding quickly enough. I started coughing and turned around to
hide my choking. How could he always look so good?

“You know how Lexi is,
breaking hearts left and right,” Cole teased as he walked over and
slapped Rhet on the back. “Now you two behave while I'm away with
this group. I'll be back tomorrow evening. If you'll have the
stalls ready for the horses, that would be great.” He laughed and
headed out the barn. “We are leaving in a few hours. I'll be back
to saddle up the horses.” Cole yelled as he headed to the lodge
which left Rhet and I alone.

Usually more help is here
by now to help saddle and get things ready. That meant I didn't
have much time alone with him, which may be a good
thing.

“He is silly, huh?” I fake
laughed and started brushing Paint again.

Rhet walked up behind me
and reached over to pet Paint. His breath was warm on my neck.
Chills ran down my back, and I tensed up not knowing what he was
going to do next.

“Very. You look beautiful
today.” He whispered in my ear and turned to walk out the stall. I
couldn't move. I was in a Rhet trance, and blinked like a young
school-girl.

As I finished brushing
Paint and got his saddle and blanket all ready for later, I headed
out the stall and peaked over at Rhet. He looked over at me and we
made eye contact. I blushed, waved goodbye, and quickly turned on
my heels. I peeked over my shoulder and caught him still looking my
way.

He better not wink at
me.

Wink.

Damn him.

I scurried down to the
lodge and smiled at Kim as I walked in. I'm glad my dad found her
and Molly to work here. “Good morning. Is my dad in his office?” I
asked as I walked up to the counter.

“Well, good morning
yourself, beautiful.” Kim said as she smiled and pointed down the
hall. “he is back there somewhere.”

“Thanks.” I nodded and
headed down the hall to my dad's office. I walked up to his door,
slightly knocked, and pushed it open with my fist. “Hi daddy.” I
smiled as I walked in his office. He was on the phone and smiled
back up at me and held up his finger.

“Yes, thank you. Come by
today so I can show you around,” he said to whoever he was talking
with on the line. “Sounds good, I will meet you at the lodge
entrance. Thank you, too. Goodbye.” He clicked the phone down and
looked over at me.

“Who was that?” I asked as
I sat down on the couch while eyeing him carefully. He seemed
almost giddy.

“I finally listened to you
and hired an accountant.”

“What? Wait, am I getting
punked? Really? I can't believe you actually found someone!” I
screeched. I was beyond excited, because this would take off so
much stress for him. I have been hounding him for years to pass
this along. We have a family friend who is a tax accountant that
helps out with things from time to time, but to have it completely
off my father's shoulders will be exactly what he needs.

“What's punked?” I shot my
dad a smart ass look, which earned me a head shake. “Never mind, I
don't want to know. Yes, I found someone. She is coming by today to
look around the ranch and see her new office. She is going to come
in every morning to work on the books and paperwork. You are right,
we are starting to get too big and I need the help,” he said
sheepishly and smiled at me.

“Dad, this is great.” I
smiled at him but then remember what Cole had mentioned to me.
“Cole told me about your heart. What the heck? I am so glad you're
okay, but you know you are all we have left. I need you around for
a very long time.” I lightly slapped his back as I got a little
teary eyed at the thought of losing him.

“I'm not going anywhere.
This old body is tough, and I have too many things to take care of
before I can go meet up with mom,” he said as he leaned over and
gave me a little squeeze.

“I love you, dad,” I
squeezed back. “Rhet and I worked on ideas for the website. He has
some great thoughts, and we should be all worked out by the end of
next week. Tina and I also talked about the menu, and she really
has some great suggestions. I am really excited for the ranch,
Dad.” I said as I stood up and walked over to his desk.

“Tina stopped by last
night and showed me the new menu ideas. I think it sounds
interesting, but I am leaving it up to you girls. I know whatever
you do will be a success.”

“One more thing I forgot
to tell you, Chloe is coming out for a few weeks to help out. She
needs to get away from LA. I hope that's still okay? She is just
going to stay with me,” I plopped back down on his chair and
twirled around a few times.

“Chloe, huh? I'm not sure
what that Cali girl is going to 'help' with, but she sure will keep
it interesting around here, that's for sure.” He laughed and shook
his head. Chloe had this charisma about her that was hard to
ignore. Whoever she was around ended up laughing and having a great
time with her. She is a free spirit, and I'm sure she will never
settle down. I have known her for four years and in that time she
has never had a serious boyfriend. Just “friends” that she
occasionally would go out with or meet up with. I envied her in a
way, with her carefree lifestyle.

“Come on, she isn't that
bad. She is going to be a big help, I'll make sure of that.” I
laughed and stood up to head towards the door. “I really was just
wanting to check in and say hi. Maybe I will stop by later and meet
this new mystery accountant.”

“Her name is Carol, and
that sounds great honey. I'll see you later. One more thing I
thought of. What if you start coming up with activities for the
guest after hours?” he asked as he got up from the couch and held
the door for me.

“I would love that,” I
smiled as he kissed my cheek and walked back over to his desk. I
looked at him for a moment and noticed how he looked a little older
than the last time I saw him. I sure hoped that Carol would be
great for his heart. He was still very handsome and rugged, but he
needed someone in his life to bring back some youth. Even if it was
just someone helping with the books.

I waved and headed back
outside. I walked back to the barn to help get the horses and gear
ready for the next camping trip.

**

After we said goodbye and
the group off, I started to head back to the dining hall to see
what Tina was up to and to help out with lunch. Rhet ran up to me
and walked with me down the path.

“I have a laptop in my
room, I was thinking I could grab it and we could work a little on
the website?” he questioned as he grabbed my hand again.

I smiled and looked over
at him, “You know, I kind of have a boyfriend.” Why did I just say
that? “I'm just kidding Brian really isn't my boyfriend.” Oh my
weird Lexi is back. I turned bright red and looked away.

“I heard he is more of a
girlfriend.” He barked out a loud laugh and squeezed my
hand.

“Hardy har har. Very
funny. He is actually a good guy; we are just on a break.” I smiled
over at him and he smirked back. Damn dimples. Those make it hard
to concentrate.

“I know, I'm just messing
with you Lex, but I intend to make your summer an unforgettable one
at that. You will be saying, 'Brian who?' in no time. Now, what do
you say about the website?”

I rolled my eyes at him,
and of course I was going with him.” I was just going over to go
see what Tina was up to, but knowing her she is just fine. I can
head over after we work on it, so yeah that sounds
good.”

“Great, I was hoping you
would say that.” Rhet squeezed my hand and led me towards his and
Cole's cabin.

The cabins for the workers
here were small and cozy-to say the least. Most of them just had
one large room with a bathroom. There were a few cabins that had
multiple rooms for workers who had families with them. Cole and
Rhet's cabin was one with a small living area, two small bedrooms,
a small bathroom, and a little kitchenette off to the side. As I
walked in I noticed you couldn't miss this was a bachelor pad if
you tried.

“Wow, you guys really know
how to keep a place clean and tidy.” I said with a hint of sarcasm
as Rhet moved past me.

“We don't hang out here
much and I guess we are both okay with it. You could say we may
need a woman's touch.” He looked over at me with a crooked smile.
Could he be any hotter? This summer was going to be a fun. The only
problem was it had been almost twenty-four hours since I had seen
his chest, and the image was getting blurry. Except right now was
not the time to think of his chest.

I sat down on their couch
and crossed my legs, “So, how are you liking ranch
life?”

“I'm loving it here.
Everyone has been really welcoming and your old man is a great guy.
I knew I would like working with him, I have really admired him
since I met him back in Laramie,” Rhet said with such warmth it
melted my heart a little.

“Cole mentioned you needed
to get away from life and just be happy. I guess that's what he
thinks I'm here for.” I let out a nervous laugh just as Rhet turned
around and looked down at me.

He grabbed my chin and
lifted my face up to his. “Lexi, I know I keep telling you this but
I feel like I have known you for years. You should be like a sister
to me but you're anything but. If you want to have a fun summer
with me, we can try it a try. We can keep it light and carefree,
and if we go our separate ways at the end. Then we will cross that
bridge when we get there.” He looked at me hopefully with his
beautiful chiseled face.

“Okay,” I simply said and
stood up to face him. I definitely wasn't an idiot. Rhet dropped
his hand from my face and pulled me up to him. I never noticed how
much taller he was then me. My five foot seven inch frame isn't
small, but next to a well built six foot two or three inch guy, I
seemed pretty little. Brian is only about five foot eleven, so I
never really had to look up to his face. I liked this more. A lot
more.

“Okay,” he mimicked back
to me and placed both hands on the back of my neck. Warm shivers
went through my body as he gently kissed my lips. His touch was
heavenly and I instantly melted against him. He smelled like forest
and the masculinity of man all mixed into one. He pulled back and
smiled at me. “I have wanted to do that since you walked through
those barn doors yesterday.”

I couldn't even talk. I
just stood there like Johnny Depp had taken my breath, and in my
wildest dreams I never would have thought it could have been even
better.

Rhet chuckled and turned
around to grab his computer. “We can work in here, over at your
place, or in the lodge. It's up to you.”

I seemed to finally get my
voice back and of course couldn't control my tongue, “You still
want to work on the website?” I asked and blushed
immediately.

Rhet laughed and grabbed
my hand. I got the impression he really liked to hold hands, and
hey I'm not complaining one bit.

“Let's go to yours.” He
chuckled again. “But we will behave; we have a time restraint on
this website.”

“Okay,” I was a woman of
few words, apparently. We walked over next door to my cabin and he
put his laptop on my little desk inside. We talked for over an hour
about certain ways to make our website more user friendly, and ways
to entice tourists pick our ranch over our rivals. Rhet was so easy
to work with and to talk to. He listened to my ideas and never made
me feel like any of them were silly as he tweaked and enhanced them
in his own way.