Chapter 8

Austin had settled into a routine over the last few weeks. Get up, turn the horses out, and ensure the stock tank float valve was working—sometimes the valve got stuck, and the tank would either overflow or not fill. Then, go to school, come home, and take Red for a ride.

He no longer had to clean the stalls. Zeb and his dad had hired Jimmy Lopes—the ranch hand Austin and his dad had met when buying Red—to take over most of Austin’s duties. Zeb had discovered that Austin’s dad was using him as slave labor and said the farm owed Austin back pay.

That was in line with Zeb and Kelly’s goal to expand the dude ranch operations. They planned to buy more horses and build more cabins. Because of that, Zeb approved a full-time ranch hand to care for the horses.

At school, the talk was about the trouble in paradise between Maverick and Tina. Though neither one of them would talk, it was apparent something was up. Several guys even approached Austin to find out if he knew what the scoop was. He was impressed that Travis and Nora hadn’t shed any light on the issue.

A couple of days after Tina saw Mav making out with Kim, she confronted Austin during their tutoring session. It amused him that she thought she was being sneaky about it.

“Maverick tells me you punched your V-card Saturday night.”

“Really?” Austin asked.

“He said he had too much to drink, so you offered to help. Did you go down on the newswoman’s daughter?” Tina asked.

“Tina, I’m not going to lie to you,” Austin began and recognized her ‘aha’ look as she figured she’d trapped him. “But my sex life is none of your or anyone else’s business.

“I also want you to think for a moment. How would Maverick know if I lost my virginity to Kim?”

Tina narrowed her eyes and considered his question.

“He said he was in the room when you did it.”

Austin shook his head before answering.

“I can say for a fact that I did not give up my virginity with anyone watching. The real question you must ask yourself is if you had to teach me to kiss, would it be more or less likely that I was still a virgin?”

Tina laughed nervously, then said, “I didn’t think so. You having sex with a girl in front of Maverick didn’t seem plausible, but he insisted it was you she slept with, not him.”

Austin instantly started to get mad that Mav would try to blame him to get out of trouble. But wasn’t that what almost every guy would do?

Technically, he’d misled Tina as well, but he hadn’t lied. He decided right then that his dad’s advice to never kiss and tell was the right way to go. Bragging about your exploits only hurt the girl and made you look bad. He’d seen more than one girl burst into tears after a rumor started. Why would any girl want to date a guy after he shared what happened behind closed doors?

After that, Tina didn’t bring the topic up again, and their lunch sessions were strictly about catching him up in his classes. They were successful: he’d had his first round of tests since they started and had done well. So they decided to continue the tutoring because his finals would cover the entirety of the spring.

Austin came home from school, did his homework, and went to saddle Red in preparation for his daily ride. When he came downstairs, he found Nora in the barn.

“Do you know where Jimmy is?” she asked.

“I have no idea. My dad and yours left for an auction to buy some horses; maybe they took him with them,” Austin said.

“No, they took Maverick and Travis. I expected Jimmy to still be here.”

“Did you want me to help you with something?” Austin asked.

“I thought I might start riding with you after school.”

“Okay, I’ll get Bliss’s gear,” Austin offered and strode off to the tack room.

Nora followed him and grabbed blankets and bridles for Bliss and Red while he pulled the saddles off the wall. He helped her get Bliss ready for her ride. Austin grinned when she kneed the filly in the side because Bliss had held her breath when Nora tried to tighten the saddle. It proved that girls were sneaky; Red had never tried that trick with him. If Red had, Austin might have killed himself when the saddle slid to the side during the ride and he flew headfirst into the dirt.

Their ride passed in silence. Austin usually used his after-school time in the saddle to think. And honestly, he didn’t have much to say to Nora after the school dance showed her true colors. His dad had shared a gem that applied to this situation: ’Don’t lock in on one girl if she ain’t buyin’ what you’re selling.’ Nora clearly wasn’t interested in him, so he’d moved on.

When they returned and passed the tree line, Nora asked, “Are you mad at me?”

They’d come out near the executive cabin, and Austin thought he heard something. Red’s ears twitched to confirm his suspicions: someone was inside the cabin when it should be empty.

“Hold that thought. I heard a noise from the cottage. Maybe someone has broken in,” Austin said, pointing.

They rode up so they could peer through the large living room window, which had narrow casement windows open on each side for ventilation. They saw Kelly pinned up against the wall and Jimmy, the young ranch hand, kissing her passionately. Austin quickly took in the whole scene and wondered when this had started.

Then he remembered Nora and looked back at her. The girl’s whole face was red at seeing her stepmom cheat on her dad.

“Don’t say a word. I want to see how far this slut will go,” Nora hissed.

Austin debated whether it would be better to end this now. But Nora’s expression made him decide to let it play out and see if Kelly was up to more than a bit of a make-out session.

When he looked back, Kelly’s legs were slightly apart, her skirt hitched up. Jimmy had pushed one of his legs between her thighs, and his hand covered her left breast. Austin’s eyes returned to their faces where their tongues were busily fighting for dominance.

Kelly had a killer body for an older woman thanks to the Pilates she did thrice a week. She was one of the hottest moms he knew. The sight of her and Jimmy together caused his jeans to tighten uncomfortably.

Austin heard Nora gasp when her stepmom reached down and rubbed the growing bulge in the front of Jimmy’s jeans. The responsible angel sitting on Austin’s shoulder wanted him to intervene and stop Kelly from making a horrible mistake. But the curious, horny devil on his other shoulder won out. Besides, Nora looked like she might kill someone, and Austin didn’t want it to be him.

Jimmy slid a hand between Kelly’s thighs, pushing her skirt up even higher until it uncovered her red panties. He then pushed his hand over the top of her panties and inside, where his fingers cupped her sex. Kelly moaned into Jimmy’s lips as the two continued to kiss. Her panties gapped as Jimmy’s hand cupped her sex, causing the front of her panties to slide down just far enough to expose Kelly’s pubic hair. She’d trimmed it into a little landing strip.

Kelly reached and pushed her panties down to mid-thigh. Nora and Austin watched Jimmy’s fingers find her entrance and easily slide inside Kelly. Jimmy began finger-banging his boss as she grasped his stiffness through his jeans.