The Ranch Hand

HIM

It was a Saturday morning on the farm and you had just woken up. It was 5 am, you were getting ready to do chores. You put on your t-shirt and bootcut jeans than on the way out of the door you slip your boots on and grab your hat since you'll be moving hay bales this morning.

You walk outside feeling the cold air hit your face and wake you up. You make your way over to the barn when you notice a truck you didn't recognize, but you continue on walking towards the barn. "good morning Y/N" your dad greets you once you get inside.

"Good morin' " you reply, you notice that he was talking to a man that looks maybe a year older than you. The first thing you noticed about him was how tall he was and his muscles were outlined by his tight navy blue shirt and his ariat vest. He was good-looking, he had a curly blond mullet, beautiful brown eyes, and a sharp jawline.

You snapped out of it when your dad started talking again "Y/N this is Christian, he's gonna be helping out on the ranch" I looked at my dad then at Christian, I walked up to him and greeted him "Y/N, nice to meet you" you shook his hand. "Howdy, I look forward to working with you," He said as he nodded his head.

"well I'm headed off to go get some hay if you're not doing anything you can come with me," I say looking at Christian. "that would be perfect I've gotta call the vet to get the calves checked out," dad says walking away to the house.

You make your way to the end of the barn and he follows you to the stairs to the loft and makes his way up after you. You unlock the window to throw the bales out of. He heads over to one side of the loft and you head to the other. After about 5 minutes you are almost done but on the last one just when you are walking to throw it out you get caught on twine and your trip. But before you fall you feel 2 strong arms on your waist. Christian caught you before you hit the ground. "You ok?" as he pulls you up he looks you in the eyes then lets go of you "Yeah thanks for catching me," you say embarrassed grabbing the bale and throwing it out.

"Thank you for your help, I have to go take out the horses now if you'd like to come with me," I say with a smile. "Oh sure, I don't think Mr.Wison needs my help at the moment". He replies with a slight smile. We head down to the horse's barn and we both take 2 horses down to the pasture to graze. As we're walking down there I start up a conversation. "Are you new here, I haven't seen you around before?" I asked looking at him " Well we moved a couple of months ago here just a bit outside of town with my mother, father, and my 2 younger brothers and a younger sister, ".

"oh nice, you like it down here?" I say leading on the conversion, "yeah it's different, but nothing I'm not used to, I've also got a friend down here Coltan you've probably met him before." he says with a chuckle smiling now

"You have a nice smile," I said not realizing I just said that to him. "Oh thank you" he chuckled looking at my flustered face, "you also have a nice smile," he says back to me.

I look down smiling and embarrassed. We reach the gate, you open it going in first, " So what about you, what's your family like?" He asked taking the ropes off the halters. "Well, it's my dad, me, and my little brother, my mother passed away when I was 7" I commented I looked at him still smiling. "Oh, I'm so sorry" Christian apologizes. It didn't affect me talking about her,

"I have my moments when I miss her but I know that she will always be with me where ever I am" I replied to him petting my horse. suddenly I hear footsteps coming from the right so I look over and see my dad walking towards us.

"Ah here you guys are, I need your help herding the steer into the small pen upfront I have the vet coming in at about 1. Y/N I'm gonna need you to take your horse and get the rest of the cattle from the other pens the gates are already open and Christan you'll be helping me get them into the one-way fenced area".