April, Dani - Raven's Ranch (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme) (12 page)

As she prepared herself in front of the mirror she drank her morning coffee and turned on a morning show on the flat-screen TV. My God, this almost felt like just any other day, coffee, morning talk show, long shower and wild, flyaway hair.

She finished her coffee and set the mug down in the sink for later cleanup, turned off the TV, unable to concentrate on the talk show anyway. Slipping into her flip-flops, she headed out the door, the caffeine from the coffee giving her an adrenaline rush and a confident start to the day.

Back outside in the trailer yard she got the feeling of utter emptiness and aloneness she had gotten on her first morning there. No vehicles were around, no signs of human life, off in the distance the mountains, taking on a blue haze in the morning light towered over everything and seemed to march off to the end of the world, and a bird cawed somewhere out on the prairie.

Where was Chip’s trailer from here? She recalled that it was only a few hundred yards to the north down the gravel road. She could have walked the distance, but decided to take control and get on her bike. She threw her bag with her wallet, iPad, makeup and breath mints over her shoulder and hopped on top of her bike. Kicking off its stand, she revved the little engine, clutched the handles, and let the dust fly behind her as she headed for Chip’s.

This was Chip’s day off. When she got to his trailer, she saw his truck still parked out in front. Her heart did a bunny hop in her chest, and she took a deep swallow to steady her nerves. This was just a date with a guy she really liked, and who she thought was movie-star gorgeous. No big deal, she tried to lie to herself, just a normal date. Oh, but it was so far from normal.

Chip opened the door of his trailer as she approached. He could hardly meet her eyes. If she was feeling nervous about the whole wild setup, taking one look at him she realized he was terrified.

He was dressed as he always was, in old jeans, a tight T-shirt over tighter abs, and tall cowboy boots.

“Hey, stranger,” Raven called to him.

“Good morning.” She saw his eyes briefly roam the length of her body, and then, as if afraid to explore anymore for fear of getting into trouble, he returned his gaze back to the weeds on the ground.

Raven came up to him. She had to rise up on her toes to reach him as he was almost a foot taller than she was. She put her arms around his shoulders and gave him a kiss on the lips. The kiss was sudden and brief and promised things to come. He smelled so fresh and clean. He had just shaved and his perfectly featured face was smooth and, to Raven, very inviting. She smelled cologne on him and wondered if he ever wore it before.

She pulled away from their embrace and looked up into his beautiful eyes. He could still barely face her, and she noticed his breathing was already heavy.

“You ready for our day together, cowboy?”

“I don’t know.” He still couldn’t meet her eyes.

“What do you want to do first?”

“Raven…I…” He struggled for words.

“Because I’m open to suggestions.” She put her hands on his shoulders and felt the muscle beneath his shirt. “I’m new to all of this, too, but don’t worry, we’ll work it out together.”

When she touched him, he was able to look down and meet her stare, his beautiful emerald-green eyes finding hers. “Raven, you don’t have to do this,” he told her, and for the first time she heard his voice fill with self-confidence.

“I know I don’t have to do anything.” She smiled up at him. “No one’s making me do anything. I’m doing this because it’s what I want. You still want me?”

“Oh, God.” He gasped. “More than anything I’ve ever wanted in all my life.”

“Good,” she told him and turned from him, looking over at his truck. “I’d like to go into Masterson and do some shopping.”

“You want to go shopping?” he asked, and she thought he may have been slightly disappointed.

She nodded and laughed at him “There are a few things I want to buy, and as I remember Masterson had a pretty decent mall outside of town. Is it still there?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” He was confused. That’s okay. She’d have all day to un-confuse him.

She looked over her shoulder to him, her hair blowing across her face. “Take me in for a day of shopping, Chip?”

“Yeah, sure…absolutely…Just let me get my keys and we can start.” He ran back inside his trailer.

She couldn’t help but laugh again. A guy like him in the city would have had a hundred girls trying to get into his pants and would have developed the ego of a rock star. But out here on the prairie he was so pure and unspoiled, untouched even. She smiled to herself and laughed at the image of him running for his truck keys.

“You ready?” she asked him ten seconds later when he came running back out of his trailer firmly clutching his keys and now wearing a big, white cowboy hat that seemed to go perfectly with his boots.

“Yes, ma’am,” he told her as he ran to open the passenger side door for her.

When she climbed up past him to get inside his truck, she got another whiff of his cologne. He had put it on too strong, but she decided she liked the scent and would just have to teach him to apply it more conservatively next time.

He climbed in next to her and started up his truck. She was not seated close to him, not wanting to frighten him any more than he already seemed to be. There would be time to sit close to each other later once they had gotten better acquainted.

“You don’t know what you are in for today,” she teased him.

“Ma’am?” He was still confused.

There was no air-conditioning in Chip’s truck, or if there was it did not work. His truck was old and from the loud noise of the engine, badly in need of repair.

Raven rolled down the passenger window next to her, no automatic windows in this old truck, and let the wind from the prairie whip inside against her face. It felt good, and she had to play with her long hair to keep it out of her eyes.

“I’m a shopaholic,” she told him. “I just have this problem whenever I get around a mall or any store. I can’t pull myself out of it. I just wanted to warn you before we start. My shopping problem has brought many a good man to their knees.”

“I’m real happy to go shopping with you.”

“You don’t mind spending your only day off running all over the mall with a chick?”

He smiled at her, his eyes barely meeting hers and then flirting with her curves under her short T-shirt for the barest fraction of a second before he lost his courage and turned back to look at the dirt thrown up on the gravel road in front of them.

“I don’t care what we do together, Raven,” he told her, his voice quiet and sure. “I just want to spend my time off with you.”

“Thank you, Chip, that’s sweet.” Raven loved it when his voice became confident, chasing away his fear, and hoped she could get him to be like this all the time. A man like Chip didn’t deserve to be timid. He had far too much to offer. “You don’t mind if we make a day of it at the mall then?”

“That sounds nice. I’d like to.”

“Masterson mall, here we come!” Raven squealed and decided Chip was definitely going to be fun to shop with.

They had a forty-five-minute drive into Masterson and a ten-minute drive beyond that to get to the mall. Once they parked in the big lot outside and climbed out onto the blacktop Raven took Chip’s hand in hers and led him inside,

“You’ve never been shopping with me,” she warned him again. “You’re going to have to be real patient with me.”

“I don’t mind, Raven,” he said, and she felt his hand trembling just slightly inside her grasp. The poor guy was really nervous.

“I’ll make it up to you later. I promise.” She gave him a big kiss, briefly wrapping him in her arms. Then she tugged him on into the mall with her. He was in a daze. Did he know what she had just promised him with that kiss, she wondered?

Raven purchased herself a powerful, late-model, portable PC and all the software she needed to run the ranch from it. Chip didn’t like computers too well, but he tested some of the new PC games while Raven discussed deals with the salesman. It was amazing what a just-under-the-limit credit card could buy.

When she finally checked out with a cart full of boxes at the PC store, Chip took them to his truck for her. When he returned, she gave him another kiss and let her hands run across his chest, giving him more promises of what was to come by her touch.

Her next stop was a bed and bath store where she purchased simple curtains for the vacant windows of her trailer. She had measured for the size the day before and found some that would just fit. She gave the sacks to Chip, and he once more diligently ran them out to his truck for her.

Inside a ladies’ shoe store, Raven took almost an hour picking out a pair of lady cowboy boots to wear on the ranch. She finally settled for utility over style but liked the design of them nonetheless, and though the feel took some getting used to, she thought she would definitely like to wear them as she walked across her land out in the great open.

Again Chip was there for her and ran the box out to place in his truck after she had made the purchase.

“Thanks for that,” she told him as he returned, “but we’re not through yet.”

“What else do you need?”

“Clothes and shoes and cheap jewelry.”

“You really want to buy all of that?”

“Well, maybe not buy it. I might not buy any of it because I don’t have very much money left on my card, but looking for it is the next best thing to buying it, so come on.”

Again she tugged him down the middle of the mall. It was like pulling a stubborn horse, a very big horse. She laughed at him. “I’ll buy you that computer game you like and let you play it on my PC whenever you want if you’ll shop for clothes with me now.”

“I’m all right. Don’t worry about me,” he told her, his hand beginning to feel more comfortable cradled over hers as they walked. “But please let me pay for something. I want to buy you something in here today.”

She looked around. No one was looking. She reached up and kissed him again, a quick brush of his lips. “You’re really sweet, Chip. I’ve finally found the perfect man, one who’ll shop with me and be patient.”

“I’d do anything for you, Raven.” He looked down at her. His eyes were so honest. However, right now she thought all he wanted to do was get inside her pants.

“I believe you would, but you still don’t have any money. Wait for the fall when we sell the herd and you get your big payday.”

“Okay, we can come back here and pick it out together, something you really like.” He looked a little hurt at her mention of money and him not having any at the moment.

“I tell you what,” she told him, walking ahead of him and taking both his hands in hers. “When we’re finished shopping you can buy me a banana split. I love ice cream after I’ve been shopping.” She looked up at him, and she realized her teasing smile had become positively wicked. “I also love ice cream after doing other things, but you might find that out later.”

He blushed so badly she thought he was going to melt, and he couldn’t look her in the eye or even speak clearly for the next hour.

So Chip got his computer game, and Raven spent the next three hours looking through every store inside the mall.

“Just one more hour and I promise you our shopping is finished for the day,” she said, giving him another playful kiss when they exited a ladies clothing store and headed for the next one.

Inside the intimate wear store at the mall Raven used the remainder of her card balance to purchase a string bikini, thong panties, lace bra, and an ultra-short, see-through, red satin nightie. The bikini was just two little pieces of cloth and she would have been too embarrassed to ever wear it at a public beach or swimming hole. The panties hugged her so tight they were uncomfortable but looked pretty good in the dressing room mirror. The bra was also uncomfortable, but it made her breasts stick up proudly beneath her shirt. The material of the red nightie felt really comfortable against her skin, but it was so short and also of a sheer fabric, and she knew she would be embarrassed to try it on even if she was alone.