Ride Me Cowboy

RIDE
ME COWBOY

BOOK
1

By
Alycia Taylor

Copyright
2015. All rights reserved.

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CHAPTER
ONE

LEXI

“You have got to be kidding me!” I said this aloud
to my empty car. I know talking to yourself is the first sign of losing your
mind, but seriously…this is ridiculous! Maybe my mother has lost hers, as well.
I was on my way to spend the summer with her and her new husband on his ranch.
I wasn’t thrilled about the ranch part. I was born and bred for city life. I
loved the noise and the chaos. I loved the fact that it never slept. I knew
that I wasn’t going to love this…but it’s what you do for family, I guess. I’d
already blown off their wedding. Well, truthfully I hadn’t blown it off, but I
wasn’t there, so I had a lot to make
up for
.

I had turned off the main highway ten miles back.
According to my GPS, my next turn was five miles ahead on the right…that was
before the GPS stopped working and before I lost all cell service. I turned
around because I hadn’t seen the road and I went all the way back to the main
highway again. The GPS came back on, and I sat and waited for ten minutes for
it to load up and tell me where I was. The little robotic bitch told me once
again the road was five miles up on the right. And in exactly five miles…I had
no GPS or cell service once more and there was no damned road here called
“Sunset Ranch Highway.” I seriously considered just going back home and calling
my mother and saying, “I’m sorry, I tried.” I knew she would be terribly
disappointed, she was so excited about me coming to spend the summer here with
her and her new husband, but what was I supposed to do? As I started to pull
off and turn around, I saw it. Alongside an almost invisible dirt road was a
tiny little sign that said,
Sunset Ranch
Highway.
You have got to be shitting me.

I made another U-turn and then a sharp left onto the
stupid little road. I was all kinds of confused about what my mother was
thinking. My mom likes money. She’s not a bad person, and she actually has her
own money. She doesn’t want a man that she has to support and I can understand
that. She likes money because she likes to be comfortable. I’ve met Rob a few
times, and he seems nice and he’s a very nice-looking older man. Every time they
came to the city before they were married, my mother had been dressed to the
nines and Rob had taken us to dinner in one of the most expensive restaurants
in the city…so I assume he has money. So why on earth would they choose to live
in the middle of nowhere? Between the dust and the mud holes, the money I had paid
the guy who details my Charger was out the window. Damn it! I had to shake my
head again. This guy might have money…I’m sure he does if my mother is with
him… but there is no way that living out here could be comfortable.

I followed the long dirt road for probably another
five miles before passing what looked like a big row of stables and then some
kind of pen full of cows…or bulls? Then there was a small row of little tiny
cottage-looking houses, a big barn…and then the house came into view. It was
nice…not as imposing as the mansion in Orange County that the last guy mom was
with lived in, but nice. It looked like one of those houses you might see on
the cover of a
Country Living
magazine. Everything was freshly painted. It was white with yellow trim, and it
had a giant bay window on either side of the front of it that almost seemed to
be watching me. It was two stories high and had a chimney on each end. There
was a wide, wrap-around porch with rocking chairs on it just
like
you’d see in a movie. It was cute. Not my mom’s usual style, but cute. Maybe
she was going through a mid-life crisis.

The gardens in front of the porch were filled with
colorful flowers and what looked like river rocks. Behind the house as far as
the eye could see was nothing but rolling hills, grass, and trees…and a cow…or
a bull here and there. It was a pretty picture, but one that I would prefer
hanging on my wall rather than to be living in. I just cannot imagine what she
is thinking, I thought again. It has to be thirty miles to the closest
Starbucks.

I turned off the car and started to step out. I
caught a flash of blue coming towards me and when I focused on it for a moment
I completely forget where I was. Hell, I may not have even been able to
remember my own name at that very second if someone had asked. The blue was a
shirt – one of those long-sleeved cowboy things. It was hugging one of the most
impressive…if not the most impressive torso that I’d ever seen. He looked rock
hard underneath that shirt, but not hard
like
you get
from going to the gym. It wasn’t all bulky and massive. It was long, lean
muscle – the kind you get from years of hard work. I was shocked to find
suddenly I found that much more attractive. Who would have known? The shirt was
tucked into a pair of well-worn blue jeans holding a pair of legs that went on
forever. A pair of dusty cowboy boots poked out from underneath them. I let my
eyes travel up then and they landed on a pair of blue ones unlike any shade of
nature I had ever seen. It took me way too long to be able to draw my own hazel
eyes away. Thankfully, I was still in the car, and I still had my sunglasses
on. Wouldn’t want to get caught lusting after a cowboy…or ranch hand? I’m not
sure exactly what he was…besides hot. Anyways, he tipped the dark brown suede
hat he was wearing in my direction, and I caught a glimpse of dark curly hair underneath
the hat that totally contrasted with the blue eyes. The whole package was like
a little glimpse of heaven. I gave him a little nod back and adjusted my
rear-view mirror so I could shamelessly watch him walk away. It was as
impressive as the sight of him coming towards me.

I opened the door of the Charger and sucked in a
lungful of the fresh country air. Maybe it would calm down the hormones that
were suddenly raging. Maybe Mom knows what she’s doing after all. They sure
don’t grow them like that in the city. I thought my last boyfriend was hot.
Compared to this guy, he was a troll. Maybe I’ll take a wait and see approach
to how this would all play out. This summer might not be too bad after all.

CHAPTER
TWO

MARK

I watched the pretty little sports car coming up the
dirt path towards the house, and I knew it must be my new “sister.” I was home
for a couple of months because all of my competitions are pretty close by. I
was right in the middle of rodeo season, but there were only three important
ones I had to attend this summer in order to still be a contender.

Dad told me that his new wife Lydia’s daughter was
coming to stay for the summer. Dad also told me to be nice, like maybe I’m
still twelve and needed to be told how to use my manners. He seems to think
that since I choose not to live my life the way he thought I should, that meant
I wasn’t as mature or intelligent as I should be. He would never say that out
loud, though. Nope. Talking was over-rated as far as he was concerned – talking
about real feelings, anyways. If he wanted to spout a bunch of B.S. about how
proud he was of me at a barbecue or charity event where people were suddenly
interested in
me and what I do
, that was different.
All of a sudden, I was no longer the prodigal son.

I have no idea why he might think that I wouldn’t be
polite to Lydia’s daughter. I was polite when I first met Lydia. I’ve been nice
to her every time I’ve stayed at the ranch. I like Lydia and actually prefer
her company
over
my father’s. She’s a genuinely nice
lady, and she had gone out of her way to make me feel welcome since they’d
gotten married. Even though she was straight up city when she first got here,
she tries hard.

I stood on the porch looking at this pretty car that
looked like it’s just been detailed…that is before it had to drive five miles
in the mud and muck to get here. I’m guessing Lydia’s girl is as city as her – if
not more so. Folks around here don’t flaunt their wealth. Our houses are sturdy
and comfortable, and our vehicles are usually beat up old pick-up trucks
because you never knew when you would need to haul something, and you didn’t
want to drive around on the ranch worrying about putting a scratch or a dent in
your pretty new paint. City people always thought they had to go around “one-upping”
their neighbors. In our neck of the woods, we help out our neighbors and wish
them well. We’re happy for them when they do well, not envious. I’m not much of
a fan of people who live and thrive in the city. I’m not judgmental either,
though. To each his or her own, I suppose.

With resolve to “be nice” as Dad had asked me to and
since I had to go to the barn anyways, I walked by and tipped my hat to her as
she was getting out of the car. I didn’t get a good look at her because she had
a giant pair of sunglasses on that nearly hid all of her face, but I’m pretty
sure I was right about the city attitude based on those alone. I’d also seen
one shiny new boot as she set it out on the ground. I just love how city people
think it makes them look like us when they slap on a pair of designer jeans and
cowboy boots made by Jimmy Choo. I’d be willing to bet my next rodeo purse that
Jimmy Choo had never even seen a bull in the flesh.

I stopped walking when I got to the barn and turned
around to watch her maneuver the path up to the front porch. It had rained like
a son of a bitch last night…thank God. We’ve been stuck in a drought for the
past year and a half and the ranch was starting to suffer for it. Dad had to
spend a lot more money on hay for the cattle and horses since things in the
pasture were so dry, amongst other expenses that the drought brings along with
it. The lake on the property saved our ass when the brush fires came, but even
drinking water was scarce. Right now, the path was full of mud and muck. Dad
had the intentions of paving it, but now he’d have to wait until things dried
out. It’s been dirt and mud for as long as we’ve lived here. I’d have to guess
that the paving was Lydia’s idea. City people loved all of that concrete and
asphalt. I wasn’t typically a rude guy, but as polite as I’d promised to be, I
was kind of looking forward to watching her make her way through all of that mud
in them pretty new boots.

I watched the other shiny boot come out and as she
stood up, the smile fell off of my face. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but
a gorgeous leggy brunette was not it. From where I stood, she looked like she
was modeling those boots and jeans. Damn! If this was my new “sister,” I just
sinned like a son of a bitch in my head. All I could think at that moment was,
“Please let her be anyone but Lexi.”

CHAPTER
THREE

LEXI

I stepped out of the car and right into a puddle of
mud. Are you freaking kidding me? I just bought these stupid boots and I had
paid a fortune for them…well, I guess Mom paid a fortune for them since she
still paid most of my bills, but it still sucked. It was my first pair of
cowboy boots, ever. I bought them because I wanted to look like I belonged
here…but I didn’t seriously want to belong, if that made any sense. I just can’t
imagine why anyone would want to belong to a place where
they
don’t even bother paving their roads or their driveway.
To
each their own,
I suppose. I was trying hard not to judge, but as I
stopped and looked at the path ahead of me and realized it wasn’t paved either,
it was hard. Jeez! Do they have something against sidewalks out here? There was
no other way up to the house and it was completely submerged in mud. Who the
heck lives like this? As I splashed and gushed along, I suddenly heard the
sound of footsteps behind me. I turned around and came face to face with hot guy
ranch hand or whatever he was. He was splashing through the mud in his already
caked boots, and he was grinning. The grin only added to his physical appeal,
but it pissed me off because I’m pretty sure he was laughing at me.