The Stars in the Sky (Giving You ... #2) (11 page)

I didn't know how I got myself into this. I went from pissing Will off, to being attracted to him, to yelling at him, to fucking him, to being sweet with him, to fighting with him, to meeting his parents. This was so confusing.

But damn, if Fox News wasn’t on, it would've been perfect.

Eating Dinosaur

I HAVEN'T HEARD FROM you in days because by now you're sleeping with Will, right?

Upon reading this text, I immediately picked up my phone and dialed Amelia. I needed girlfriend time and I needed it now. Between sex, politics, and my new job, let alone Will's statement that we were dating, I had a lot to cover with her and I wanted advice.

After talking with Will's parents, who were incredibly nice, his mom outgoing, his dad friendly, but less talkative, just like Will, we excused ourselves. He walked me to the bunkhouse, telling me that because his dad took care of his mom, he was rarely out of the house. His mom would go out to see the animals and loved the life on the ranch. And Will ate there on weekends and stopped in often. He told me he’d take me back if I wanted to go. I absolutely wanted to see them again.

He followed me inside the bunkhouse, all the way to my room, and when we got to it, he closed the door and kissed me hard. Then he said that he had to go check on things around the ranch and left. I heard him whistling for Trixie once he got outside.

I changed clothes into jeans and my vegan boots and went into the bunkhouse office to finalize my plans for the upcoming week, a group of thirty twelve- and thirteen-year-olds from Oakland.

Then I remembered that I hadn't checked my phone in a long time. Funny, now that I was enmeshed in life at Headlands, I didn't seem to check it very much, unlike how I spent every waking hour on it at home. There was just too much to do here—horses and fresh air and taking care of kids and spending time with Will, among my favorites.

Amelia answered immediately.

"How did you know we fucked?" I asked, without preamble.

"Ha! Lucky guess."

"That's not all that's lucky," I said, and she laughed. "Listen, though. It's an emergency. I need Amelia time. Can you come up?"

"Sure. When?"

"Uh, today?"

"I can leave in an hour and be there in two. Should I bring Ryan so that we can all go out to dinner?"

There was a reason why Amelia was my best friend and this was it. I told her to bring boots and jeans in case she wanted to ride a horse, and stuff to stay overnight and go out to dinner.

Two hours later, she and Ryan pulled up in Ryan's SUV, a surfboard tied to the top.

"I totally have to pee!" exclaimed Amelia, as she burst from the car and gave me a rushed hug.

I laughed. "I know the feeling. Go into that ranch house, down the hallway, two doors down on the left, and don't forget to knock first."

As she ran off, Ryan stepped out of the car.

I mentioned it before, but Ryan was so hot. Tall and lanky, but muscular, dressed in jeans—Levi's, thank you very much, that hung down nicely on his hips—and a plaid shirt over a white t-shirt. He had wild, curly blond hair and tanned skin, and when he smiled he had dimples.

He was Amelia’s, but I had eyes.

"Hey, Marie," he said, in his low, sexy surfer voice, and pulled me into a tight hug.

Just then, Will walked around the barn, wearing a fitted, but faded black t-shirt that showed off his chest, a trucker hat squashing his waves, and his usual Wranglers and boots. Even from this distance, he affected me in the worst way. He saw us, and a strange look came over his face as he strolled over.

I called out to him, waving, excited, "Will, this is Ryan Fielding, my best friend Amelia's fiancé. She's using your bathroom." Will looked at me, and I could read a bunch of emotions that passed over his face—apparent relief that Ryan was not with me, surprise that my friends were visiting, and humor at Amelia being just like me.

The guys shook hands, gripping firmly. "Will Thrash."

"Ryan. Nice to meet you. This ranch is great. I work with coffee growers in Kona," and with that Ryan was off chatting with Will as if they’d known each other forever. Ryan was the type of guy who would be equally comfortable talking with drunkards at a demolition derby or at a formal dinner with the Queen of England, just a cool guy. So perfect for my girl, and he’d really helped her through her personal issues. I also knew from Amelia that he was dynamite in bed, so I was happy that she’d finally found her partner for life. They really were meant to be together.

The ranch house door opened and Amelia walked down, got a glimpse of Will, her violet eyes wide, and mouthed "Holy shit" to me.

"I know," I mouthed. Then I turned to Will. "I invited my best friend up to visit and I thought we could all go out to dinner. Would you like to come?"

"Sure, darlin'," he drawled, and Amelia got a look on her face that wasn't hard to figure out. She liked him.

"I'd like to take them horseback riding too, if I can find Jimmy or one of the wranglers."

"Sounds good."

Amelia walked up and I introduced her to Will and she shook his hand. She seemed to tremble in his presence, and I didn't blame her.

We agreed on a time to meet up for dinner. Ryan unstrapped his surfboard, saying that he was going to explore a secret surf break that was supposed to be around here. Amelia, who was already dressed for riding, and I headed over to the horses. Jimmy got us saddled up, me on Happy, Amelia on Astrix, and we headed out on one of the well-worn trails.

Once we were out of earshot of everyone at the ranch, Amelia started. "Marie, he's mesmerizing. No wonder you wanted to tap that. I’d want to, too."

"I know. He's stunning. I feel this overwhelming attraction to him, but also this repulsion because of his backwards politics. It's like we're both magnets, and if we get the sides right, there's no separating us, but if we turn the magnet around, there's no getting us together."

Our horses walked past sagebrush on the hills, which scented the air. The sun overhead warmed us.

"So is the issue that you may want to be with him for more than just the summer?"

"That's part of it. Part of it is that I feel like I’m a hypocrite. Like on the outside I’m all green and on the inside I’m not.”

“But does he respect you?”

“I don’t know. His politics tell me he doesn’t, but his actions tell me he does.” I paused. “Isn't it crazy? He's not my type. I mean, remember Jeremy?"

We rode on, through a lemon orchard and out to the rangeland where cattle gathered under the oak trees.

She laughed. "Man Bun. He wasn't enough of a challenge for you. What does your heart say?"

"My heart says that if I don't protect it, I could fall in love with him," I said, admitting and articulating thoughts that were buried really deep. "And then what would I do? I'm only supposed to be here for the summer. I can't be with him, I have to finish my school. I'm the girl who always moves on. I don't stay still."

"I think you're getting ahead of yourself and you have to trust what you feel," said Amelia gently, "and not worry about the consequences yet. There are ways of still going to school and seeing him, if that's what you want to do. This isn't all that far away from home."

"No. But what about this feeling that I'm turning into a cavewoman if I hang out with him. Is he going to start ordering me around and making me eat dinosaur?"

Amelia laughed. "Well, a certain amount of being bossed around is hot. There's a balance. If he respects you, and despite what you think, I think he does, then you'll work it out. You wouldn't be attracted to him if he treated you shitty. I think you guys just argue because you like each other. And cavewomen didn't eat dinosaur."

"I still feel the need to remind him that I am a modern woman. He's only two years older than us, but some of his attitudes are from a different generation."

She smiled.

"But he's fucking hot in bed."

Amelia laughed, a full-on laugh, and said, "Girl, now you must spill."

So I told her. I went into detail about Will's immensely huge junk, which made her eyes flash. I continued with a discussion about the way he went down on me at the beach, how he had me riding reverse cowgirl in his bed the first time we did it, how I then sucked him off in the bathroom, then he nailed me in his shower, and then he made gentle love to me first thing that morning.

"All of this since yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Ohmigod."

She needed time to recover.

Once she had been fully briefed on the situation, she said, "I have an idea."

"Yeah?"

"I think we need to throw these guys off their game. Ryan can be very take-charge too. After dinner, we need to do something that they wouldn't expect. Make
them
be along for the ride instead of us, for a change."

"Will likes to drive."

"So does Ryan. Okay, here's what I'm thinking," she said in a rush. "I'm thinking we take them to a strip club and see how they act with modern females getting lap dances from strippers."

I snorted. "Amelia! You're starting to think dirty, all the time, like me. And, um, that's random. How does going to a strip club with them serve any purpose?"

She looked a little embarrassed. "I've been talking about them with Ryan. I've never been to one and I think I should."

"Part of your rule-breaking is it?" I asked.

She looked at me, exasperated. "It was never a Rule but yeah, kind of." Then she said in a rush, "Okay, I have a list of reasons, wanna hear them?"

That's my girl, with her lists. I nodded.

"One, they're used to telling us what to do and so, for once, we can tell
them
what to do. Two, it's hot. Three, I want to see their faces. Four, strip clubs aren't just for men. Women can enjoy them too. Five, I think they won't be able to stand it and I totally want to torture them, especially if Will is anywhere near the horny bastard Ryan is. What do you think? Surprise them?"

"Totally. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces."

"Or what’ll happen afterward."

Blue Clear Sky

SO, WILL TOOK US all to a steakhouse.

After Amelia and I returned, helped Jimmy put the horses away, and cleaned up, and Ryan finished surfing and showered, we all dressed to go out. Amelia and I both put on little dresses, mine electric blue, and shorter and tighter than her longer, strappy, black one, but her red platform heels were higher than my silver stilettos. Will wore a black western shirt and his usual jeans and boots and looked yummy. When I saw him, I couldn't help but whisper in his ear, "I dare you to wear a cowboy hat."

He looked me up and down in my dress, planted a wet kiss on my lips, grinned, and went into the house. He returned with a black cowboy hat, the first time I'd ever seen him wear one, which made him look dangerous, in addition to his usual sexy. Ryan wore his surfer jeans and button down plaid shirt and looked lickable too.

Then we piled into Will's big truck, boys in front, girls in back, because we were with cavemen, and drove up north to Santa Maria to a restaurant that Will liked.

We walked into the steakhouse and I could tell immediately why he liked it. It was the epitome of "Beef, it's what's for dinner." It felt Western, with low ceilings, dark wood paneling on the walls, and branding irons as decoration. The home of some famous Santa Maria steaks, both Amelia and Ryan seemed excited to check it out.

But Will told me, with undisguised disgust, that he had gone online beforehand to make sure that they had a vegan meal, which, I found out, consisted of all of the side dishes that the restaurant had on one plate—baked potato, mashed potatoes, sweet potato fries, broccoli, mixed vegetables with broccoli, and corn. Like Will, the restaurant didn't know what to do with me. Good thing I thought this was funny and I didn't really care what I ate this evening.

It was also thoughtful of him to find out beforehand.

We were seated in a booth, all squished together, and ordered drinks, Amelia and I going immediately for cosmos because that's the kind of girls we were, the guys ordering beers.