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“And it smells like you,” she adds, dipping her nose under the buttoned-up collar.
“Is that a good thing?” he asks, reaching for her hand and intertwining their fingers.
“It’s a very good thing.”
Brett gives her hand a squeeze at her response.
“So, who all is going on this ride?” she asks.
“Just Floyd, Grey, and Coop are joining us. Which means you’ll have to do some herding,” he says with a wink.
“And the cattle just went where they wanted all summer? How do you know where to find these wanderers?”
“We let them roam with guidance. The guys go out and move them certain places when needed. But no one is with them 24/7, so some find a path of their own. A team was out scouting the other day, that’s how we know the general area to head today.”
“And where’s that?”
Brett smiles at her, “across the river and up into the northwest region.”
Laurel looks over her shoulder eagerly at the ridge line she didn’t think she’d have a chance to experience. “I thought I wasn’t to cross the river,” she quips.
Brett let’s out a huff. Smiling he says, “yeah, well like you said, things changed.”
They reach the barn to find ten horses out of their stalls, half with saddles and half with packs. Laurel grins when she sees Dune out and waiting for a rider. Following her gaze, Brett leans down to tell her, “he’s all yours.”
“About time!” Grey calls, coming around the corner. “I thought the military taught people to be prompt,” he says with a grin, elbowing Brett.
“What can I say, something came up,” Brett responds casually as Laurel’s face turns a deep shade of crimson. Her thoughts drift to how they’d showered together after packing to “save time” and ended up with her one leg draped over his hip. It was not unlike the position they’d been in a few times when training. This time though, she got exactly what she wanted as he’d thrusted into her until they came undone together.
Brett squeezes her hand again, peering down at her with a brutish grin. If Grey notices her reddened face, he thankfully doesn’t say anything about it. Floyd and Cooper emerge from the tack room and the three men mount their horses. Brett releases her hand and gently tugs at her blonde braid running down her back.
“Ready?” he asks.
She nods and he gives her a boost so she can get her first foot in the stirrup and swing her other leg over Dune.
—
The last time they rode was romantic and relaxing, this time is outright fun. The other side of the river is like another world. As they move further from the bank of it, the golden trees surrounding the open fields are slowly replaced by pockets of dense pine on rolling elevations, with views that are unmatched. They ride in silence, other than the occasional sound of Cooper singing cowboy ballads to himself, picked up on a breeze and carried to the rest of them. Laurel inhales deeply, savoring the crisp air, and smiles to herself as Cooper’s voice croons on.
After a while, Brett brings Maverick to a halt, the others following suit. He dismounts then comes over to help her down.
“I should really be able to do this myself,” she tells him as he settles her on the ground.
“You will, it’s your second time riding out here though and I’m assuming you always had steps in those fancy east coast riding lessons,” he says with a smirk. “Plus, you’re a short little thing on one of the biggest horses we have. Dune chose you, so there’s no shame in having some help for now.” He runs his gloved hand down her arm, “besides, I have a hard time keeping my hands off you.”
They settle into comfortable spots across the clearing and eat the lunch Floyd had pulled from one of his packs. Laurel leans back against a boulder and surveys the landscape before her. “It’s beautiful up here, but the cows really prefer it over the fields?”
“In the summer, they love it up here, and we bring them home in the fall to make sure they’re protected from the elements and fed with the hay we collect from those fields. We won’t get to the steep elevations, just these low-level elevations where they can still graze,” Floyd explains.
Laurel laughs softly, “this is low level. Back East this is the highest elevation you’d see.”
Brett studies her, asking cautiously, “do you prefer one over the other?”
She looks over at him, “seems like it would be hard for anything to compete with this.”
A small smile upturns the corner of Brett’s lips before Grey says, “there’s something about the Wild West,” with a twinkle in his eye.The men continue talking, the conversation veering to where they’ll find the stragglers from the herd, and Laurel is happy to sit back and take it all in. When the time comes, they remount and continue on their way, having a plan to locate the cattle today and bring them back to a lake where they’ll camp for the night. Then they’ll return them to the herd tomorrow.
As they ride, the team prepares Laurel for when they located the cattle.“They scare easy, we move slow and steady,” Brett explains.
