Play Me

I couldn’t help but laugh at her attempt to throw in a southern accent. The girl was from Georgia, after all… but she certainly lacked the accent.

The trip back to the ranch was filled with shoptalk. I got Kendall caught up on what had been going on the last two weeks, how well the new coach was doing, and even how the players were coming around. Even Josh McEvans seemed to be getting his shit together. Of course, I knew that stemmed from our announcement in practice that we did not know who the starting quarterback would be. The fact that we hired a third-string quarterback, as well, had lit a fire under his ass.

Once we got back to the ranch, Kendall asked to see the garden out back, and we spent a good amount of time working in it. My mother had, of course, done an amazing job getting it in order for spring, and I was hoping the new foreman I hired would keep up with it. Once mom and I left, there wouldn’t be anyone at the ranch to take care of it.

Kendall stood and wiped the sweat from her brow. She’d been working in silence next to me and my mother as we pulled weeds, planted vegetables, and tried to fix the sprinkler system. It was no surprise that she was a hard worker and liked to get her hands dirty. I knew she came from a pretty wealthy family, but it was clear her folks had given her balance. Kendall wasn’t a snob or afraid of hard work. Working together in my garden had triggered something in me, and I wanted more of it. Hell, if I was being honest, I wanted Kendall here on the ranch with me. That thought made my heart drop. She had her own dreams, and I wouldn’t stand in the way of them, no matter how sick the idea of living in Tennessee while Kendall lived in Atlanta made me.

“I’m going to turn on that sprayer in the last bed down there!” I shouted. Kendall was leaning over it and lifted her hand up to give me the go-ahead. I flipped on the zone and suddenly heard screaming.

When I turned around, I watched as a gush of water from the flower bed sprayed directly up at Kendall. She was holding out her hands as she leaned over and tried to make it stop. I couldn’t help it; I lost it and burst out laughing. My mother rushed over to Kendall and attempted to help her stem the rush of water.

“Hunter! Turn it off! Turn it off!” Kendall screamed.

Part of me enjoyed the show. Why? Because I could now see through that ridiculous T-shirt Kendall had on. And what I saw had my dick coming to attention.

“Hunter Owens!”

My mother’s stern voice had me jumping out of my fantasy and rushing to turn off the water. It also made my cock instantly deflate.

“Goodness, Kendall sweetheart, let’s get you in the house and into a hot shower.”

“Can I come?” I called out. That earned me a dirty look from both women.

“You did that on purpose!” Kendall shouted out. “Payback’s a bitch, Hunter.”

With a shrug, I said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ll just stay here and fix that.”

She snarled at me and let my mother lead her into the house.

After taking my own shower and making my way to the kitchen, I stopped in the doorway and took in the sight before me. My mother and Kendall were in the kitchen. They worked around each other like they’d known one another for years. My eyes landed on Kendall. She was wearing a light blue dress that hugged her perfect body. I laughed when I saw she was wearing my mother’s giant green Monsters Inc. slippers my father had bought her.

“Are your feet cold, Kendall?” I asked, stepping into the kitchen.

She gave me a wink and said, “They are. I forgot to buy socks when we were in town. Can you believe that? Socks.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed. Only Kendall would do something like that.

“We’re making spaghetti and homemade sauce, so I hope you’re hungry,” my mother said as she held her hand under the pasta machine.

“Sounds delicious,” I said, reaching out to taste the sauce only to have my hand smacked away.

A squeeze on my shoulder had me glancing over said shoulder at my father.

“I need your help in the barn. We have a problem.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “What sort of problem?”

“Your golden child. She’s causing a bit of a stir.”

“Ahava?”

“That’s her name, huh?” my father asked with a wide grin. “I like it.”

“Kendall came up with it,” I said, glancing back at the two women. They clinked their glasses of wine together and then started talking, completely ignoring the two men in the room.

“Dear God, help us all. Your mother broke out the wine she bought today.”

I laughed and took in my two favorite women laughing and getting along so well.

Just when I thought things were perfect in my world, Kendall turned on music. Eighties music. When they broke out singing, I took that as my cue to leave.

“I’m out of here. Call when dinner is ready!” I shouted over the music. Both women ignored me as they danced around, singing Phil Collins’s “You Can’t Hurry Love.” I couldn’t help but chuckle when I heard them singing.

Five minutes later, Dad and I were attempting to calm Ahava. She was rearing up and making a fuss about something.

“Have you checked around her stall?” I asked, turning on the flashlight to get a better look around the stall. Ahava had two stalls that had been converted into one. She was my spoiled girl, no denying it. I smiled when I saw the reason for the horse’s behavior.

“Dad, want to grab hold of Ahava while I remove this hideous thing that has her all in an uproar?”

“Sure. What is it?”

I bent over and picked up a white and orange kitten. She couldn’t have been more than eight or nine weeks old. I turned around and held her up to show my dad. Ahava’s eyes widened in horror, and it was a good thing Dad had her because she went to rear up. I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

My dad laughed as well and said, “Jesus, she’s afraid of a kitten.”

Walking past the horse, I tucked the kitten into my chest and headed to the office in the barn. I could hear Dad speaking softly to Ahava and calming her down.

“You causing trouble?” I asked, taking a closer look at the kitten. A little girl. She looked up at me and meowed. My heart melted on the spot. “Damn it. You know I’m going to have to take you up to the house now. Then the women are going to fall in love with you and the rest will be history.”

I had a few barn cats I kept around to keep the snakes and mice away, but this little girl must have been the product of a neighbor’s cat. All of mine were fixed.

“If they get one look at that cat, you’re done for.”

With a chuckle, I turned to my father. “That’s why I plan on keeping her in the office.”

He frowned. “Hunter, you can’t lock her in there. She’s a baby.”

My mouth gaped open, and I stared at him. “Who are you and what have you done to my father?”

He grinned. “I’ve grown soft-hearted in my old age.”

“Or Mom has trained you well.”

He scoffed. “Probably both. Come on, let’s bring her up to the house and get her something to eat. Who knows how long it’s been since the poor thing ate.”

“You didn’t see another cat around here?”

“Besides the barn cats? No, none.”

“Let me do a quick once around the barn and then we can head up to the house.”

My father and I both gave the inside and outside of the barn a quick sweep. No cats were around except for mine, and none of them wanted anything to do with the kitten. I couldn’t leave her out there all alone.

Lifting her up, I looked into her blue eyes. “Well, looks like you’re heading up to the house. Try not to let Kendall fall in love with you.”

“She’s not allergic to cats, is she?” Dad asked as we walked up the path to the house.

“I don’t think so. If she doesn’t like cats, then I’ll just keep her.”

“Now who’s the softy?” he asked, nudging my arm with his. We both let out a chuckle.

I reached for the back door and found it locked.

“Shit, I must have locked it by mistake,” I said, knocking on the door. I could hear music coming from the house.

“Those two must be having fun.”

I nodded, knocking again. “Must be. They can’t even hear us knocking.”

Dad turned to follow the wraparound porch to the front door. “I’m sure the front door is open. Let’s just head around, and if it’s locked, too, maybe they’ll hear the doorbell.”

As we walked around the house, I tried to glance into the windows, but the blinds were all closed. I could hear my mother and Kendall laughing their asses off, and I couldn't help but smile. I loved that the two of them were getting along so well.

My father opened the front door, and I walked right into him when he stopped on a dime. Looking past him, I saw my mother standing in the hall with a wide smile and a glass of wine in her hand. She was dressed in what looked like one of my father’s white, button-down shirts.

“Oh dear God,” my father whispered. “Aubrey, you didn’t.”

Maneuvering around my father, I stepped into the foyer. “Mom? What are you doing?”

Lifting her wineglass, she yelled out in her wine-induced buzz, “Your turn, Kendall!”

I heard a yelp coming from behind Mom, and the sounds of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” started. I walked further into the house only to have one very drunk Kendall come barreling down the hallway dressed in one of my white shirts and the damn Monsters Inc. slippers. She went into what would have been a damn impressive slide had she not hit a roadblock.

Me.

She slammed into me so hard I lost my balance and stumbled back until I landed on my ass. Kendall landed on top of me, laughing her head off. Then she saw the kitten in my hand.

“Oh my gawd! Kitty!”

My brows pulled in tight as I stared at her. She grabbed the kitten and jumped up like she had springs on the bottom of her feet.

“Where did you come from?” she asked.

My mother and Kendall went into a laughing fit for some unknown reason.

“Aubrey, sweetheart, how much of that wine did y’all drink?” Dad asked.

My mother fell into my father’s arms, looked up at him, and giggled. “The whole bottle. Some of the other one I bought.”