I could already tell that I liked being next to Sarah. She was kind and knowledgeable. Although, she didn’t seem to be taking to me like I was used to women doing. Typically, if I flirted with them a little and gave them a wink, they were practically throwing their panties at me. But I figured that Sarah was only one of two women on the ranch and she was the only single one; she was probably pretty familiar with men flirting with her.
It was nice just to have a woman to talk to. Men weren’t much for talking and hanging out, it just wasn’t a trait that I had found very often in my male friends. But women loved to talk and spend time together. Even if Sarah was nothing more than a friend to me, I’d be all right with that. It would be enough for me. I desperately needed a friend while I was here on the ranch and couldn’t wait to grow that friendship with Sarah.
“Tomorrow, try and wake up for breakfast and afterwards I’ll show you how we feed the horses. It’s much more fun than picking up their shit.”
“I honestly don’t know how anyone wakes up so early. Is there some sort of trick to it?”
Sarah just laughed and then stood up and went back to work. I didn’t know why she was laughing or why everyone seemed to think it was some sort of joke that I couldn’t wake up. I had tried over and over again and I just couldn’t get my body to wake up that early in the morning without some sort of alarm clock.
Then, like a strike of lightening to my head I finally figured it out. Forest had offered to take me into town to get a watch and on a watch there would be an alarm clock. That must have been how all the other guys were getting up in the morning. But I would have thought that all their alarms going off would have woken me up as well. Either way though, I was going to find Forest and give him some money for a watch, although it wouldn’t help me with waking up the next morning.
“I have a proposition for you,” I said to Sarah as I stood in the doorway.
“Oh, that sounds intriguing.”
She looked wary of me as I stood there. It was clear that she didn’t fully trust me yet, but that seemed reasonable. I hadn’t been honest with her at all and I wasn’t who I said I was either. I couldn’t fault her for wanting to keep her distance from me. Although I wanted her to be close to me more than I wanted anything else at that moment.
“Wake me up when you start cooking and I’ll help you.”
“You just want me to be your alarm clock,” she teased.
“God, I could only be so lucky,” I smiled and moved a step closer to her.
I could feel the sexual chemistry between us. There was no doubt that she wanted me, but she was doing everything in her power to block the signals from her body to mine. Sarah took a step backwards and looked away from me. If she did want me, like I felt she did, Sarah was doing what she had to in order to make sure I didn’t think she wanted me. Oh, the twists and turns of male and female relationships.
“So your solution to not waking up on time is for me to come wake you up even earlier? Did you ever think that your body is just tired and perhaps you should go to bed earlier?”
“Don’t go throwing your common sense at me, young lady,” I laughed.
“Yes, I’ll wake you up. But only this one time; my father would kill me if he found out I went into the bunkhouse. And he’d kill you, too.”
I could only imagine that what Sarah was saying was true. A bunkhouse full of young men wasn’t the best place for a young woman to be in the middle of the night. But I was getting to know the other guys a little and I didn’t think any of them posed a threat to Sarah. Plus, they would all be sleeping at that hour anyways.
I didn’t just want to wake up in time for breakfast; I actually wanted to spend some more alone time with Sarah. If that meant that I only got a few hours of sleep, then so be it. I would much rather be tired and happy than just tired.
“I bet you’re right. Your father would kill me. So don’t go telling him,” I said as I took one more step closer to her.
She put her hand out and pressed it against my chest as her big, brown eyes caught a h
old of mine. Sarah was a powerful woman. I felt it in the way she pressed against me and I felt it in the way she looked into my eyes. She wasn’t the kind of woman who would give in easily to my advances. Sarah was going to take some work if I ever wanted to land her. Although that plan still seemed very dangerous given the fact that I knew her father had plenty of guns on the ranch. He would probably hesitate a little to actually kill me, since he was being paid to protect me, but I suspected and accidental shoot to the foot wouldn’t get him in too much trouble with the feds.
“Get going,” she said as she pushed me toward the door.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” I smiled.
Chapter Four
Sarah
“Wake up,” I said as I poked Garrett in the cheek.
I only stood there long enough for him to open his eyes and realize it was me and then I quickly left. My father would have killed me if he saw me anywhere near the bunkhouse. When I was younger, I loved to flirt and hang out with the ranch hands and my father never allowed it. It was fun back then to go against his wishes, but now I knew better. Many of the men who worked for us were on the run from the law, family, and other obligations. Some were good men who had made bad choices, but some weren’t good men at all.
I thought Garrett was one of the good guys. He looked the part at least and didn’t disrespect me, although he certainly could flirt better than most of the guys on the ranch. When men normally tried to flirt with me, they ended up fumbling their way through it, but Garrett seemed much more confident. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought he was quiet the ladies’ man outside of a ranch environment.
The ranch was a world all of its own. As much as we had to work, most of the people who worked the ranch also lived there and everyone was friends as well. We didn’t get days off and we didn’t have much time for going into town or socializing. The ranch was our morning, noon and night; so I was happy to have someone cute and interesting around.
The ranch was quiet at four o’clock in the morning; I loved the feeling in the air before the sun rose. Over the years, one of my favorite parts of helping out at the ranch was making breakfast for the men. It was the start of a new day and optimism was always in the air. All the tiredness from the day before had worn off and most of the men had a smile and were ready for the new day of work.