Ebony River 1: His Cowboy Temptation [ManxMan]

Chapter 3

His Cowboy Tempation [ManxMax]

|Chapter 3|

By the time lunch rolled around Max felt like he was going to faint from exhaustion. Who knew how hard it was to take care of simple tasks on a ranch. The cows were rather grumpy and it took him a while to get the hang of milking them. He knocked over a couple of buckets on his attempts making Luca clear his throat in what Max suspected was suppressed laughter.

Getting them to the pasture wasn't much better. They were very stinky creatures, cows. Max shuddered just thinking about them. If he ever ran this ranch he would hire a whole team to deal with the cows simply so he wouldn't have to. Not that he would ever take over the ranch. Fixing the broken fence and taking care of the horses was much easier, especially since he preferred horses to any other animal. Not to mention Sugar, Nugget and Sunshine were very well trained creatures.

Now, the cows were grazing in the pasture, the horses were in the corral and Luca and Max were on their way to the fallen tree on the eastern side of the ranch. The summer day was hot but the sky was a beautiful shade of blue with smoky clouds and a gentle breeze cooled you when you were in the shade. Max and Luca made their way to across the many acres of land on Sterling ranch, their horses' galloping and the whistle of the wind the only sound.

Luca stopped as they reached a tree ladened area and turned to Max, "There's a nice spot to rest near the river just ahead, we can stop there for lunch."

Max nodded and followed behind as Luca lead them to their resting spot. There was a giant oak tree growing about five feet from the river. Some of its roots protruded the ground and one in particular was ig enough for a person to sit on under the canopy of the tree. Luca dismounted Cinnamon, tied her reins to a smaller tree and pulled his bagged lunch from the sack attached to her saddle. Max copied his actions and dismounted Shadow, tying him to a tree a few feet from Cinnamon, and grabbing his own lunch before going to sit next to Luca on the tree root.

"This is one big tree." Max commented as he pulled out the lunch Martha had packed them: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple and a can of lemonade.

"According to your grandfather it was half this size when he bought this land, its grown a lot in the last thirty years." Luca replied before taking a bite out of his sandwich.

Max's eyes caught on Luca's rippling throat as he swallowed and he got an unusually strong need to kiss him there. Shaking himself out of his day dreams he dug into his own lunch. Luca hadn't shown any indication that he wanted anything more than a platonic friendship during their morning together. Not even a long stare or appreciative look to let Max know if he was into men or not.

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes. Both content to watch nature as they ate. Finally when he was doen with his lunch Max turned to Luca and smiled, "This is a nice hideout you've found."

With the Ebony River flowing right in front of them they could hear the splashes of the animals living in it. No matter how many times he saw the ebony riverbed, the ancient mystery of the river always astounded, Max and he found he could stare at the water all day long. The birds flew overhead, some where in the trees giving off a soft melody, animals rustled in between the trees and crickets chirped in the grass. Everything about the space emitted calmness and Max found he actually liked the quiet stillness the country brought.

Luca grinned back, "I like to think so. Its a good place to think. Sitting here, watching the water, I find myself contemplating life."

"Your ranch." Max puts in.

The cowboy nods, "My ranch. Sitting here I let my dreams get the better of me and I imagine what it will be like when I get her back. I can't wait to restore her to the former glory she had when my grandfather was running her."