Chapter 13

Tina hurried to her tutoring session with Austin. Of all the things that could have happened over the weekend, the last thing on her mind would have been ‘being discovered.’

Tina was still uncertain whether it was real, so she’d not told anyone, not even her parents. But she might explode if she didn’t get this off her chest. Who better to share it with than Austin? He would never breathe a word of her news. He’d proven that when he didn’t brag about their kissing practice. Austin was the only boy at school she knew who wouldn’t have been strutting around and claiming more happened than had.

She found him in their study room and stopped.

“Austin? What happened to your eye? Did Luke and his friends jump you?”

“No, I supposedly ‘ran into a door,’” he said with the appropriate air quotes.

“No, really? What happened?” Tina asked.

“I got into a bit of trouble with the Houston boys, and my dad showed his displeasure.”

“He hit you?”

Austin shrugged.

“It’s all good,” he said, attempting to play it off, but Tina didn’t believe him.

“What did Maverick do?” she asked.

Austin chuckled and shook his head.

“You’ll have to ask him. I’ve already said too much.”

There he went again, proving her point. He wouldn’t even rat out Maverick.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” Tina asked.

“All good. What did you do this weekend?” Austin asked, giving her the opening she’d hoped for.

“I got discovered.”

“What do you mean? Like, people found out you believe unicorns are real?” Austin teased.

You share one video about unicorns, and some people never forget.

“No, jerk. I was approached about being a model,” Tina said excitedly.

“Tell me all about it,” Austin said and leaned forward, clearly interested.

“I got gas at the Texaco and decided I wanted a Coke, so I stepped inside. I had my earbuds in, so when a young guy was like, ‘Ma’am ... ma’am,’ it took me a moment to hear him,” Tina said.

“A young guy?” Austin asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I know, right? But he didn’t give off a creeper vibe, so I took my earbuds out so I could find out what he wanted. He was cute, with a nice build, in his early twenties. He had longer hair and wore a t-shirt with a Japanese manga character. It wasn’t like he resembled some comic-book nerd boy, but more an artsy, hipster type,” Tina said.

“Okay.”

“He said he didn’t mean to bother me and didn’t want to be rude, but that he was in need of something and wanted my help,” Tina said.

Austin snorted in disbelief, but Tina powered on with her story.

“He handed me a glossy blue business card, told me he was a photographer, and said he hoped I would model for him.”

“In your underwear,” Austin said with a tight-lipped grin.

“Bite me,” Tina shot back. “He had a real business card with his name, phone, email address, and a social network handle. He also had the cutest blue eyes.”

Tina hadn’t meant to say the last part and saw Austin was about to comment on it, so she jumped in before she became more embarrassed.

“I basically told him that sounded like a pickup line, which caused him to blush. He told me he was dead serious and wanted to buy me lunch so we could talk about it.”

“Did you go?” Austin asked.

“No. My dad has always said that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Besides, I’m not sure I have what it takes to be a model.”

Austin looked like he did when figuring out a particularly tough math problem. Then he held up a finger and said, “There’s one way to find out.”

“What’s that?”

“Let me take some pictures. We can use your phone, so you won’t have to worry about them getting out.”

Tina smiled.

“That’s not a bad idea.”

Austin moseyed through the barn, leisurely surveying his domain. All the horses had been tended to, so his work was finished for the day. Since Jimmy Lopes left, his dad had been looking for a ranch hand, so far without success. Until his dad found a suitable candidate, Zeb agreed to pay Austin to look after the horses after school.

Austin stepped out of the barn and spotted Nora riding Bliss. The setting sun caused her blond hair to have a golden spark. She was a sight to behold astride a horse. One would think she’d ridden all her life, but she’d confessed she hadn’t started until they moved to the farm. Nora apparently had a natural talent for riding.

He stepped back inside to Red’s stall, saddled him, and rode out to join her for the evening ride.

“Race you to the north lake,” Nora called as she and Bliss bolted for the trailhead.

Red didn’t have to be told to give chase. No girl was going to beat his stallion.

They thundered down the trail, laughing as they rode through the trees. Austin loved this. Being in a saddle as he galloped next to a pretty girl was much better than spending time with cows in Montana. His life had changed for the better since he moved here.

Once they returned to the barn, they took care of their horses. Austin had just shut Red’s stall when he saw Nora staring off into space, deep in thought.

“What’s up?”

Nora’s eyes snapped toward him, surprised.

“What do you mean?”

“You were just standing there, looking confused as you stared off into space,” Austin said.

“I was thinking.”

“Happens to the best of us.”

Nora gave him the evil eye, quickly followed by a tiny grin.

“My back is sore,” she said, then bit her bottom lip.

It was more like the little minx liked him running his hands all over her body.

“We can’t have you running around with a sore back.”

Her tiny grin got much bigger. Seeing her light up like that made something else get much bigger.

Nora took her clothes off in Austin’s bathroom. This time, she removed all but her panties and came out wrapped in a towel. Nora found him wearing only his gray boxer briefs. She couldn’t help but take a quick peek at the bulge as she lay down.

“You know, you can take your panties off if you don’t want them to get dirty,” Austin said.

“Turn around,” Nora said.

When he had his back to her, she pulled down her panties, took the folded towel Austin had set out, and used it to cover her backside.

“Okay,” she said to signal him she was ready.

Austin straddled her butt, put some liniment on his hands, and began to work her neck and shoulders. Nora hadn’t realized her muscles were so tight, and she moaned in pleasure as he worked his magic.

She relaxed when he didn’t make any overt moves with her naked in his bed. She gave Austin credit for paying attention and giving her a better massage each session. He alternated between the deep tissue probing that loosened her muscles and the lighter strokes that set her ablaze with desire.