Shattered Essence (4 page)

Relieved, I realized she was in
total control.

Man she looked sexy bopping up and
down on the mammoth horse. I closed my eyes, tattooing the vision to my memory.
For a brief moment I was envious of the horse. I wanted to be the horse.

When I opened my eyes I caught her
eyes watching me from the side of her father. I started debating on whether or
not I should introduce myself to her dad or just wave. I wasn’t even done with
my mental debate when I saw her leave her father’s side. I would have to wait
till later to introduce myself. It wasn’t long before she caught up to me.

“Morning Drew, how are you?” Her
voice sent chills down my body. In a good and naughty way.

Shifting in my saddle, “It’s a
perfect morning now that you’re here.” I gave her my best smile.

She laughed. “Is that so?”

I spoke the truth. “Yes, all true.”
I grinned at her. “When you weren’t at the barn this morning I thought you
weren’t coming.”

Looking a little embarrassed she
replied, “I thought I was going to be early. I had no idea I was running late.”

“I’m glad you made it,” I responded
with a smile.

Smiling back at me she said,
“There’s no place else I’d rather be.”

Her response had the Captain’s attention.

Her cheeks flushed pink. I couldn’t
help wondering if it was from running her horse. Did she notice the movement in
my pants? Maybe she was embarrassed, or did I embarrass her? She appeared to be
in high spirits, vivacious almost. I craved to feel her skin on mine.

Last night I thought today would be
fun. Today I knew I was in trouble. How in the hell was I going to keep my
hands off her? Truth? I didn’t really want to.

Heaven help me, I am so screwed.

My horse must have sensed my
uneasiness; he started fidgeting. His head was moving wildly up and down. His
eyes were wide as saucers as if there was something behind him he was afraid
of. I turned to see what was making my horse behave so erratically. The black
horse Espe was riding opened his mouth and chomped down on its target. My horse’s
ass!

A millisecond later I felt my own
ass leave the saddle. My stomach dropped and I felt dread for the first time in
years. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what was happening. But I think my horse
was bucking. I grabbed the horn on the saddle, dug my heels into my horses
ribs, doing whatever I could to hold on.

I think I see my life flashing
before my eyes.

I saw trees, lots of trees and
shadows. I saw people in a blur. I couldn’t make out any faces. I heard screams.
I heard my brother laughing hysterically.

Screams? Shadows? Laughter? This
can’t be happening to me.

This was really messed up. It was not
my life flashing before my eyes. It was only my horse running like a bat out of
hell.

I needed to control the situation. I
needed to get ahold of my emotions. I needed to think fast. The only thing I
could think of was to pull up on the reins to slow down my horse.

Why are the reins dragging on the
ground?

My mouth dropped and my fear level
went up ten notches. My mind was in fight or flight mode, and flight was
winning. Should I try to jump off? Should I hang on till the horse gets tired
and slows on its own? Should I reach for the tree branch in front of me?

Son of a bitch!

Too late! The branch hit my face so
hard I felt my teeth rattle. I surprised myself by staying in the saddle.

That fucking hurt!

I could hear another horse closing
in behind me. I was afraid to turn and look; what if my horse ran into another
tree? I was embarrassed as all hell yet thankful someone was going to help me
stop this monstrosity. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be wrangler Sam or
wrangler Bob. I didn’t care as long as I got off this damn horse.

“Whoa, there boy.” I heard as I saw
a hand reaching over to grab the reins from near my horse’s mouth. Blinking, I
couldn’t believe it wasn’t wrangler Sam or even wrangler Bob, it was Espe. She
was slowing my horse down. I was completely mortified. I felt like a complete
moron. A damn pussy. I was speechless, I couldn’t even look at her I was so
embarrassed. I closed my eyes blew all the air out of my lungs and waited for
my blood to start circulating again.

“Wrangler Sam told me Ace here liked
to tease the other horses. I never thought he would bite another horse.” She
smirked at me. “Maybe Ace here liked the ass he was looking at and just
couldn’t resist taking a bite.” She smiled mischievously and said, “I know I
thought about it.”

Mortification? Embarrassment?
Dismissed!

Damned if I didn’t want to drop my
pants and let her take a bite. My entire body twitched right before my dick
attempted to jump out of my pants. Thankfully, I was able to cover my erection
by placing my hands on the horn of the saddle.

My horse was finally standing still.
It wasn’t until I had a chance to breathe easy that I realized my cheek was
throbbing. I raised my hand to touch the growing knot on my cheek. I looked at
Espe and noticed she was also sporting a red mark on her check.

“Did you get hit with that branch
back there too?” I was caught off guard by the pain I felt in my jaw when I
spoke. “You have a big red mark on your face.” Grimacing. “It’s on the opposite
side but in the same spot as mine.”

“Huh?” She frowned and touched her
check in confusion. “I don’t remember getting hit, but then again all I could
think of was stopping your horse.” Sucking in her breath and wrinkling her
nose. “Does my face look as bad as yours?”

Chuckling. “Thanks. What are you
saying? Are you saying I’m ugly or something?”

“Well yeah, kind of.” I noticed she
realized what she said and I raised my brows.

“No, I didn’t mean you where ugly. I
meant the bump looks ugly.” Her gaze fell toward my crotch and she started squirming.
“Not like it’s all that big or anything.” I raised my eyebrows again knowing my
face must be pretty messed up. Except it dawned on me, I hadn’t covered up my
erection as well as I had hoped.

“I ... I didn’t mean it wasn’t big,
because I’ve never seen anything so big,” she said looking down at my crotch
again.

Fuck!

Her face instantly turned fire
engine red. “Oh god, why am I still talking?” she said while burying her face
in her hands.

I had her flustered and I couldn’t
help laughing. She was baffled and embarrassed. Releasing a deep breath she
said, “I’m sorry that sounded so wrong.” She rubbed the welt on her face and
said, “That did not come out the way I intended it to.”

I noticed her take a large swallow
before she continued, “Let me try again. You are definitely not ugly but your
face looks like it hurts. The bump on your check is big and you’re probably
going to have one hell of a bruise.”

I asked, “Does your face hurt?”

She rubbed her welt again. “It
stings a little, but I don’t think I got hit as hard as you did.”

I said, “I’m sorry you got hurt
chasing me.”

She looked baffled as if trying to
recall the moment she became injured. “I’m sorry. It’s just a little weird. I
don’t remember running into anything. I must have been running on pure
adrenalin and didn’t notice when or what I hit.” Smiling at me she reached over
placing her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal. It
will heal.” The electricity from her touch went straight to my navel.

She gently caressed my battered
face. “I’m sure mine doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as yours.” Her eyes were filled
with compassion. “We should head back to the group and maybe find some ice or
something cold to stop your cheek from swelling anymore.”

I was smiling from ear to ear. “Hey,
I was hoping to be your knight in shining armor. Not the other way around.”

She bit the inside of her lower lip
before saying, “Who says you’re not?”

Damn if she wasn’t bewitching.

I leaned into her and captured her
lips in my mouth. She tasted sweet and refreshing. I wanted to taste every inch
of her. I had to control the urge to place my nose on her neck. I wanted to
sniff her.

Did she smell like sugar and
spice and everything nice?

Before the Captain figured out a way
to free himself from the confines of my jeans I released her lips, took control
of my horse, and galloped back to the group.

Espe

This morning several of the guests
headed out for a five-mile hike toward a hidden waterfall in the mountains. Drew
and I walked behind the crowd with Paula and the rest of the teens. We laughed
and joked till our sides hurt. On the way back from the falls Drew and I ditched
the others, and we talked about school, our parents, and his siblings. We even
talked to each other about our hopes and dreams.

The more I learned about him the
more I wanted to know. I knew his birthday was February 19
^th
. His
favorite color was blue. His favorite food was pasta. He owned a motorcycle,
and he loved to surf. He lived in his parents’ guest house while attending San
Diego State. He was going to spend his sophomore year studying in Mexico in
hopes of becoming fluent in Spanish. His dream was to be a government agent. He
thought Spanish would give him a head start.

I contributed to the conversation by
telling him I was born and bred in Colorado. Grew up in Manitou Springs, a
suburb of Colorado Springs, and was attending the University of Colorado in
Boulder, where I was majoring in accounting. I told him about my life as an
only child. How I loved being outdoors. How I liked to draw and read in my
spare time.

By the time we arrived back at the
ranch my head was in the clouds. I had never felt such a connection with
another human being. I wasn’t sure if my mind was playing tricks on me. Was I only
seeing and feeling what I wanted to? As much as I discounted my own mental
trickery I could not dismiss the chemistry between us. I felt drawn to him. It
seemed like me soul recognized him. It felt like he was an old friend I hadn’t
seen in a while and all we were doing was catching up on each other’s lives. It’s
hard to explain something even I don’t understand.

Before we sat down for dinner his
parents introduced themselves to my parents and me. During dinner I discovered
his dad owned his own accounting firm and his mom was a special agent for the
FBI. This gave Max and Tito plenty to talk about. My dad was also an
accountant. Although my dad did not own his own business he was the Chief Financial
Officer for a rather large international construction company. Max and my dad
spent most of dinner talking about reconciliations, tax laws, audits, and the
construction business.

Drew’s mother, Mary Kay, was
absolutely beautiful. She looked more like a Victoria’s Secret model than an
FBI agent. She was tall and slender with golden hair long enough to cover her
shoulders. Her skin was flawless with high cheekbones, a perfectly straight
nose, and pouty lips. I’ll say it again. Mary Kay Malone was stunning. Drew’s
dad, on the other hand, was quit ordinary looking. Other than his kind eyes and
the fact that the hair next to his ears was white there was nothing about the
man that stood out. He wasn’t tall or short, fat or skinny. He didn’t have
bushy brows or a crooked smile. Nothing. There was no doubt all three of the
Malone children got their looks from their mother.

After dinner Drew asked, “Do you
want to walk around the lake?”

“I would,” I replied. What I really
wanted to do was jump his bones.

Scooting his chair back he added, “Maybe
we could stick around for a while to see the meteor shower.”

“Awesome!” I turned to let my
parents know I would be back later.

My dad gave me “the look” before
saying, “Mija, be careful and don’t stay out too late.”

I knew the look actually meant for
me not to do anything foolish. I hugged my dad from behind.

“I’ll be good, I promise,” I
whispered in my dad’s ear.

Drew and I left the main cabin and
started walking toward the lake. He reached for my hand and I laced my fingers through
his. His touch was comforting.

“Mija means daughter and Esperanza
means hope, right?”

“Yeah, why?” I asked.

“I like to surprise myself with what
I’ve retained. I took four years of Spanish in high school and two semesters at
San Diego State. There’s still so much I don’t know.” Smiling he added, “I’m excited
about going to Mexico City in a few weeks. I can’t even imagine how much I’ll
be learning.”

“Being thrown into the lion’s den is
certainly one way to learn quickly,” I said as I nodded in approval.

“Are you fluent?”

“Yes, I’m a third generation
American Mexican. My parents insisted I know not only Spanish but also another
language.” I shifted my gaze. “I was raised with both English and Spanish being
used at home. When I was eight I started taking French lessons. ”

Smiling. “French, huh?”

Drew pulled me into him. “You are
amazing. Do you know that?”

I felt his lips brush mine. It was
gentle, soft, and I wanted more. I took a step back and let my eyes roam over
him from head to toe.

“You’re not so bad yourself Andrew
Robert Malone,” I teased.

We walked hand in hand around the
lake till we reached the dock. Standing in the middle of the dock we looked up to
watch the stars. I couldn’t believe how dark the sky was. Even the bright moon
didn’t take away from being able to see the hazy band of light which was part
of the Milky Way. I could see thousands upon thousands of stars. They were so
bright. Some of them appeared to be sparkling.

Drew sat, saying, “If we lie down we
can get a better look.”

He leaned back, pulling me down with
him. He placed one arm under his head and welcomed me into the other. I moved
closer by placing my head on his heart and my hand on his chest. He pointed out
the summer sky constellations, Hercules, Draco, Ursa Major also known as the
big dipper, Libra, and the Corona Borealis.