fun.”
He strolled away and I stared after him, dumbfounded. Now my cheeks weren’t the only thing burning.
Chapter 17
Sawyer
I was sleeping peacefully, the night air filling my lungs and the silence of the open ranch making me calm. This was my favorite part of the week. Getting to bring people out, give them a good hard day’s work, then camping out under the stars. It was life as it should be, at least for me. I understood somewhere in my mind that other people liked living life in other ways. A part of me wondered what that kind of life would be like too. If I would like it.
But a larger part of me knew that nothing that could be out there in that big old world would be better than sleeping in a bag, the brilliant night sky blinking above me as dawn rushed to meet us. The velvet of the night with its pockmarked light was a vision of sanctity and calm. It was my happy place, as people called it. There was a bunkhouse not a hundred yards away from where we slept, but I chose to have us all out here and everyone agreed. They could see what it did for me and wanted a piece of it themselves. I reveled in sharing it.
I turned in my bag, having woken up briefly and settling back down into that sleep that was the best of all sleeps. The one when a person wakes up and realizes they don’t have to be up for hours more. They can lie down in the warmth of their chosen bed, close their eyes, and rejoin the dreams and rest that they woke from.
Before I closed my eyes, they fell on the mound where I knew Jane was. Only her hair could be seen above the edge of the bag. Otherwise, I could just make out the shape of her body, turned on its side away from me. The curve of her hip after the dip of her waist. The perfect shape of her peach bottom. I closed my eyes with a smile, and my dreams took over. I slept for a little while longer, blissful and happy.
A scream pierced the air and I woke with a start.
I knew that sound deep in my soul, and my heart raced when it repeated itself. Only Colt woke with me, and we made eye contact quickly. The others stirred, and I got out of the sleeping bag, grabbing my boots to toss back on. Walter turned his head toward us. His eyes squinted as he tried to see, and his hands reached for his glasses. The tuft of white hair he combed over was sticking straight up like a wild man.
“Did I hear something?” he asked.
“We gotta go,” Colt said. His boots were on and we were running for our horses before Walter even grabbed his glasses. He was shoving them on when I stuck my boot into the stirrup.
“What’s going on,” Rubin said distantly as I mounted Smoke. He was sitting up, clearly confused but waking quickly.
“Fucking wolves,” Colt said.
I grimaced. The last thing I wanted the guests to think was that things were dangerous or that things might go wrong. I wanted them to feel safe and like everything was under control. But at the same time, this was still a working ranch. Sometimes, shit happened.
“Damn wolves,” I muttered under my breath but a little more controlled than Colt. I directed my voice at Rubin, who nodded and looked over at Walter. I pulled the reins and got Smoke ready to go.
Colt pulled the rifle out of the safety strap on the back of his horse. The whole family was awake now, in various states of standing and sitting, and looking around at us blurry eyed. Colt checked to make sure the gun was loaded and then that the safety was on. He would ride with the safety on until he saw something, and then his thumb would swipe it in the same motion his finger would reach the trigger. Colt was the damnedest shot on the back of horse I’d ever seen. If we got a look at the wolves, they likely wouldn’t stand a chance.
Then the scream ripped through the air again.
“What the hell is going on out there?” Lucien said from the comfort of his pillow and sleeping bag. I saw him rustle inside his tent where the flap stood open. Everyone had brought tents and set them up except