On the Fence

Chapter 12

It was Saturday morning, and I was loading up my ATV to go out and finish out the half day of work. The previous day had been much the same in the office as others; Zeke didn't do anything wrong, but it still felt strange to me. I had sworn I saw him checking my ass out when I bent over for a paper I had dropped. I did my best to brush it off.

"Heading out?" I turned to see Brant coming up, leading his horse by the bridle.

"Yeah, what are you up to?"

"Need to head out to the east pasture to check on the herd." I smiled at him as I climbed on my ATV. We headed out together, riding along the fence with one another, though I kept a reasonable distance from his horse so as not to spook it. I raced him for a bit and waved when he had to split off to check on the herd. I headed up to where I was slowly fixing fence.

I was working when I caught sight of those damn coyotes again.

"Worse than rats," I muttered, reaching for the riffle. They were far off, so I jumped up on my ATV for a better vantage point. I wrapped the riffle strap around my forearm and brought it up to look through the scope.

I took a moment to count them and line up a shot. I counted four of them. The pack had to be large with that number out in the middle of the day, though they seemed bold and much less sneaky than some.

I lined up a shot and dropped one, reloading to bring my rifle up again. Another shot echoed out into the valley, dropping a second. I reloaded and looked through the scope, but the others had high-tailed it. I sighed with irritation and lowered my rifle, cursing them.

I started and about fell off the back of my ATV when I turned; Brant was on top of his paint, watching me.

"Dammit, Brant! Jeez, say something next time, would you! Scared the shit out of me," I muttered the last bit, climbing off the ATV, making him laugh a little. He dismounted and walked up to me with a smile. He reached out and caressed my face, looking at me tenderly.

"You're one hell of a shot, Taylor," he laughed. "How did yesterday go?" He asked gently.

"Fine, the usual. Though I swear, Zeke checked out my ass at one point," I almost laughed.

"Well, you can't blame him for that," he said teasingly. I looked back at him, a little shocked at first, and then I smirked, raising an eyebrow. He had never so openly flirted with me before, and I found that I rather liked it.

"Him checking my ass out is a little different," I teased back.

He laughed and leaned forward, whispering like he had a secret, "Every man on this ranch has done the same, I can assure you." I laughed, throwing my head back with it, before I smirked at him again, narrowing my eyes.

"And how do you know that?"

"I've caught them doing it when you weren't looking. Good grief, woman, our afternoons at the watering hole should speak loud enough," he teased, his eyes lit up with mischief.

"Ha! Tyler, sure thing, can't argue there, but you should speak for yourself," I teased, turning to slide the rifle into its holder.

"Maybe I was," he teased back. My eyes grew a little wide, facing away from him.

I turned, saying, "That so?"

His flirty smirk was back, and he moved into my space, whispering in an unashamed tone, "You bet." A huge smile broke out on my face, and I blushed my stomach fluttering.

His face turned a little as he took in my blush, his eyes darkening and the smirk on his face becoming more predatory. He moved closer, pressing me against the side of the ATV, putting his hands on either side of me, holding his face close to mine as he ate me up with his eyes.