Count This Cowboy In (19 page)

"
That's my girl," he said, pulling her into his chest and kissing her soundly.  "Thank you." 

"
I'm trying," she said.  "This whole letting you watch out for me thing is hard sometimes."

Grinning, he said,
"Especially when you're not getting what you want."  He stopped her before she could object.  "I just meant I understand.  It's not at all what you're used to and I appreciate that.  I'm proud of you."  When he kissed her again, she was lost to him.  She would have agreed with about anything he said at that moment.

The next morning after their chores were done the men started branding the calves.  If she couldn
't be a part of it, Sam wanted to go out and at least watch.  She started out the door to do just that until she remembered his words.  If she were out there he wouldn't be concentrating fully.  She didn't want him to get hurt because she was there.  She thought a minute and had an idea.  There was a large tree between the guesthouse and the barn that would be a perfect viewing spot.  She could approach it from the guesthouse and the men would never see her.  She could use Trevor's binoculars and climb up onto where the two big limbs came together.  It made a perfect spot to sit and watch unnoticed.  She could watch her sexy cowboy without him knowing it, so he wouldn't worry about her.

She quietly slipped out the side door and around back to the
guesthouse.  She looked to be sure none of the men were looking in her direction.  Once she was sure the coast was clear she quickly approached the tree and climbed up into her perfect spot.  She settled in and got comfortable before taking out the binoculars. 

She looked out where the branding was going on and could actually see pretty well without the binoculars.  But with the binoculars it was as if she was right there.  She settled in and watched.  She wasn
't sure why it seemed so important to her to watch this, but it was.  It could be because it felt so good to be living on a ranch again, and seeing the routine things that go on on a ranch would only make the whole experience seem more real.

It could be that it br
ought back fond memories of when she was young and would sit or lean against the fence and watch her dad and their ranch hands do this same thing.

Or it could be because her boss cowboy was so darn fun to watch.  He was so big and strong
and he made everything he did with the cattle look easy, when she knew it wasn't.  She could tell he was keeping an eye on the young guys, pulling them aside to talk to them from time to time.  She could tell from the demeanor of the young man that he was encouraging, not belittling him; directing or guiding him to do better. 

Just like he did with her.  Or tried to.  Why was she so impressed with him for helping his men like that, in such an understanding way, but fought so hard against letting him guide her in much the same way?  She
'd think about that later.  Right now there was a sexy cowboy in front of her that she fully intended to stare at and drool over. 

She watched in awe at how efficiently he worked, until she could tell they were breaking for lunch.  She quickly climbed down and scampered back around and in the side door.  She hurried into the office and started working on
the computer.

Ten minutes later Trevor and Grant came in for lunch.  As usual, he stopped in to say hi and let her know they were in before he went to clean up.  By the time he came back to the kitchen she was helping Consuela by pouring drinks for everyone. 

They had a nice companionable lunch with lots of talk of the morning's branding operation.  She asked how it was going and they filled her in on a couple of the more memorable moments.  She tried to act like they were new to her, even though she'd witnessed each one.

After lunch she was helping Consuela carry dishes to the kitchen, when Consuela asked,
"Miss Sam, where were you this morning?  You got a phone call, but I could not find you anywhere.  I took a message.  I will get it for you."  She left without waiting for an answer, which was fine with Sam. 

Unfortunately, Trevor had heard the conversation and he did want an answer. 
"So you went missing this morning, Sweetie?  Everything okay?"

"
Yeah, fine.  Maybe I was in the restroom or something."

He looked at her rather oddly, but said,
"I've gotta get back out there.  We've got a lot more to do yet today.  I'll see you this evening."  He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss before putting his hat on and heading back toward the barn.

Consuela returned then and handed her a message.  Sam took it, saying,
"Thank you, Consuela.  I'll take care of this this afternoon." 

Sam went back into the office and waited until she heard Consuela doing the dishes in the kitchen before sneaking back out the side door and back up into her hiding spot in the tree.  Her afternoon went much as her morning did.  Once again, when she saw them quitting for the day she climbed back down out of the tree and back into the house.  Again she quickly went to the computer.

Trevor came into the office looking tired, but extremely sexy.  She went over to meet him at the door, reaching up to meet his descending lips.  "I smell like my cattle right now, Sweetheart.  I'm going to take a shower, then I'll be back.  I'll give you a real kiss then."

"
Oooh, that sounds nice," Sam sighed, "although the scent of you with a touch of cattle isn't at all hard to take."  She reached up and kissed his cheek again as he turned to leave.

He chuckled as he said,
"You really do like living on a ranch, don't you?"

"
I love it," she admitted.  "And I love you, with or without a little cattle scent mixed in."

He stopped and turned back toward her, a big smile on his face.  He retraced his footsteps until he was standing in front of her again.  He gently took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes as he said,
"Sam, I'm really glad you get to live on a ranch again because I can see how much you really do like it.  I want to always be able to give you things that mean this much to you.  I want you to be happy and safe more than I want anything in this world.  I love you, Sam."  He leaned down and kissed her lips gently, but very passionately." 

He pulled away and said,
"Now I really do have to go shower.  See you in a bit," and left.

Supper was an entertaining time for Sam, as the men talked about their afternoon
's activities.  When they were about done eating, finishing desert, Trevor asked, "So, Sam, what did you do today?"

Sam
's head jerked up to look at him.  He'd never asked her that before and she heard something in his voice that she couldn't quite identify.  She nonchalantly answered, "Oh, you know, mostly worked on the computer."

Without missing a bite of his pie he asked,
"Was it hard to do that from your perch in the tree?"

Sam dropped her fork and looked at him.  Grant and Consuela looked at each other, both totally perplexed.  They looked at Trevor and Sam and saw the look between them.  Sam quietly asked,
"How did you know?"

"
The sun caught the lens on your binoculars.  I had to look to see what the glare was coming from.  To say I was shocked to see you sitting up that high in that huge tree is a bit of an understatement."  Their eyes met and held a few moments. 

Consuela said,
"I'm going to do the dishes.  Grant, would you mind helping me take the dishes to the kitchen?"

"
Not at all.  As a matter of fact, I'm not doing anything special this evening.  I'll just help you do the dishes and clean up the kitchen.  Sam, why don't you and the boss take a walk or something?"

Trevor quickly said,
"Thank you both, I appreciate it.  Sam and I are going to take a walk to the guesthouse.  We have a couple things we need to discuss."

Sam knew better than to object.  Instead, she took his proffered hand and walked with him, hand in hand, although he was holding hers tighter than she would have preferred, through the kitchen and down the walk
out back.  Once inside, he took them to the living room, where he sat on the couch, sitting her on his lap.

She hadn
't said a word yet.  He wondered what was going through her mind.  He also wondered whether she'd share it with him.

Not one to draw things out much, he started right in. 
"Sam, I want to know what you were thinking, but first I want you to know what I was thinking.  When I first saw you there I was upset.  I was scared to death that you'd fall out."

"
But I've ––"

"
Ssshh, let me finish, please.  I thought about it and realized that you've probably been climbing trees since you were a spoiled little girl.  I also realized then how badly you wanted to be out there with us.  I was proud of you for not going out."

"
I wanted to at least go out to watch, but I didn't want to worry you."  She dropped her head as she said, "Apparently I worried you anyway."

"
Yes, you did," he said sternly.  "When I saw you up there my heart about stopped."  His voice gentled then as he said, "But then I realized you were probably doing that so I wouldn't worry about you."

"
So how mad are you?"

He chuckled as he said,
"It depends on when you ask me.  I think about you up there in that tree, high enough to really get hurt if you fell and I'm angry.  Then I think about you watching it from there instead of closer so I wouldn't worry and my anger dissipates a bit."  He had a frown on his face as he said, "But one thing that I think about that always upsets me is that you didn't talk to me about it."

"
What?"

"
Sam, I want you to be happy.  If watching the branding meant that much to you, I wish you had told me that.  We could have talked about it."

"
But I was afraid you'd say no, I couldn't go out there and watch because you'd still be worried about me.  I didn't want to put you at risk because you weren't concentrating on what you were doing, so I figured if I watched from here you wouldn't know, so you wouldn't worry about me."

"
I understand, but you didn't even give me a chance to solve the problem.  You must not have much faith in me."

"
I didn't think there was any other solution."

"
But again, you didn't even give me a chance."

"
What would you have said?"

"
I would have suggested you watch from the outside patio off of my bedroom upstairs." 

Sam looked like she
'd seen a ghost.  He gave her a hug and said, "Honey, if you were there I could look up and see the little woman that owns my heart, but know she's safe.  Tomorrow while we finish the process that's where I suggest you watch from.  You'll be able to see as well as from the tree, but I won't have to worry about you falling."

She was quiet a moment, before softly saying,
"I never even thought of that."

"
That's because you've never been in my bedroom, so you've never been out on the deck.  You don't know what the view is like from there.  I'll take you out there tomorrow morning and you can watch from there."

"
Thank you, Trevor."

"
You're welcome."  He kissed her forehead before saying, "But we need to discuss a few things here and make sure they never happen again."

"
That means you're going to ––"

"
That means you're going to bed with a sore butt tonight."  She sighed and pouted.  "Before you get yourself in trouble for pouting, I suggest we get started."

He helped her stand in front of him and made quick work of unfastening her jeans and pulling them down.  She found herself over his leg again, her upper body lying on the couch before she could object.  He handed her a pillow from the couch saying,
"We have a lot to discuss, Honey.  It's a nice night out and the hands are probably all sitting outside enjoying the cool breeze.  You may want to scream into the pillow before we're done."

She swallowed hard as she took the pillow.  Th
at didn't sound good at all.  By now, though, she knew not to argue with him during a spanking, so she didn't say anything, just steeled herself and vowed to think of the aftercare.  She could get through this. 

Once she was over his lap, exactly how he wanted her, he lowered her panties, baring the cutest, most spankable bottom he
'd ever seen.  He'd never tire of spanking her, though he would prefer to give her a much different kind of spanking.  Some day he would, he was sure, but for now he took a deep breath and prepared to do what he knew he had to do.

He started the spanking with quick, crisp swats covering her entire bottom.  Once the initial warming was accomplished, he began his talk. 
"Samantha, we're going to talk about a few things, so I want you to listen carefully.  Do you hear me?"

"
Yes."

"
Good.  We're going to be talking about your safety again."