Between Two Sisters (contemporary western romance novella) (2 page)

“Well? Aren’t you going to say hello to an old friend?” she demanded with a sexy pout.

“Cass.” He exhaled the word, shocked that the pesky little girl from his memories had turned into the beautiful creature before him.

“Hi, Billy. I heard you were coming back.” She moved from the doorway with her arms outstretched, and Billy reluctantly rose to hug her. She squeezed him a little too tightly, and he tried to ignore her breasts, crushing against his chest as she pulled him to her.

“I always thought you’d make a mighty fine man,” she said, holding him at arm’s length once their hug was done, looking him up and down.

Familiar desire crept up in
Billy, but he hastily stuffed it down. This was Cass, little Cass who always wanted to tag along with the bigger kids on the ranch. Time had passed, and she had grown, but he felt strange thinking of her as anything but the little sister type. He tried to ignore the magnetic pull he felt towards her now. The generous view of her cleavage he was enjoying wasn’t helping any.

“You look wonderful,” he told her sincerely.

“Not the little brat you remember, huh?” she teased. “I guess we’ve both grown up a bit. I just wanted to come say hi, and welcome. Now I have, so I guess I’ll be seeing you around, Billy.” Without another word she turned and left. Even though he knew he shouldn’t, Billy couldn’t help but stare at her shapely behind as she sashayed out his front door, across the porch, and down the steps. He suspected she knew he was watching, and it only seemed to encourage her as she put a little more sway in her hips. Perhaps Melanie wasn’t the only woman on the ranch worth mooning over, he thought to himself with a chuckle.

-2-

His brain was still filled with thoughts of Melanie and Cass when Mr. Haffner’s truck pulled up in front of his cabin a half hour later.

“I hope it’s acceptable for you?”
he asked, motioning to the cabin when Billy came out to greet him.

“Oh, yes, it’s perfect.”
             

“Glad to hear it. Come on, I want to show you around and start getting you used to thi
s place. We’ll get you working tomorrow; today we’ll concentrate on getting you settled.”

“Sounds good.” Billy was anxious to be distracted from the jumble of emotions he was feeling about his childhood playmates.
Visions of the two women danced through his mind and he tried to push them aside.

He spent the after
noon touring the ranch with Mr. Haffner. It was still the same set up he knew as a child, but with many improvements and their operations had expanded.

“You need a horse,” Mr. Haffner told him thoughtfully. “The ranch hands try to stick to their horses, though once in a while you may need to ride another.” He pulled out his cell phone and sent a quick text to someone. When the reply came back a moment later, he smiled. “Good. Melanie’s in the
barn. I’ll drop you off there, and she’ll help you select a mount.”

Billy tried to remind himself that he’d have to start looking at Melanie in a different fashion than he had all these years. She was his boss’s girlfriend, and that mad
e her strictly off limits. He steeled himself to think of her only as a friend on the ride to the barn, but he kept coming back to the feeling of her in his arms, when she hugged him.

Mr. Haffne
r dropped him off in front of the main barn, and he could see Melanie past the open sliding doors. She was standing on a hay bale in front of a stall, scratching a chestnut mare’s forelock. His eyes took in her long, jean clad legs and her slim midriff as her shirt rode up to reveal a thin line of skin. He closed his eyes tightly for a second, admonishing himself to knock it off. He’d have to stop noticing things like that, if he wanted to stay there.

“Hey,
ready to pick out your ride?” she called to him as she climbed off the hay bale. “What’s your pleasure- dependable and calm, or do you like your horse with some fire to it?”

Her beauty was not the flashy sexiness of her sister; it
was classier and more subdued, but Billy still felt his throat constrict as he saw her lovely face looking up at him. He longed to run his thumb down her soft jawline, or tangle his fingers in that glorious auburn hair. There was something in her eyes as she looked him, something that shouldn’t have been there.

“Follow me. The available horses are on the other side,” she told him abruptly, ending whatever moment he had felt building between them. He sighed with frustration as he followed her down the barn’s wide aisle and into the tack room to cut through to the other side. It was probably all in his head, he figured. He had spent so many years yearning for her that now he was seeing things in her expression that weren’t there.

“So, here are your options.” Melanie listed off the horses he could choose from, detailing their personalities and quirks as she rattled them off. “Of course, you can’t commit to one without test driving it, so pick your top three and we’ll take them for a spin!”

“We’ll ride today?”

“Sure, why not? It’ll help you see which horse is right for you. Who do you want to start with?”

“Gobie. He sounds good. I like ‘em not too soft, not too hard. He sounds likes he’s in the middle there.”

“All right.” She lifted up a peg to hold the saddle for Gobie and went back to the tack room, reappearing a moment later with a saddle and a bridle. She set them on the peg and motioned to a box of brushes on the side of the aisle.

“There’s the stuff to groom him before you tack up. I’ll be on the other side tacking up my mare.”

“Okay.” Billy grabbed the lead line and halter off Gobie’s stall door and stepped into the stall to get him as she went off to get her own horse ready for their ride. As he led the bay gelding out of his stall, he tried to stifle his excitement over spending some time alone with Melanie.

He tried to concentrate as he readied the horse for their ri
de, but all he could picture were her green eyes staring back at him. Getting ahold of himself, he vowed to try to find some other woman on the ranch to start something with. Melanie and young Cass certainly couldn’t be his only options.

“You ready yet, slowpoke?” Melanie called to him from the open barn door. She was already on top of her mount, waiting for him.

“Just about,” he replied as he slid the bit into Gobie’s mouth. He fastened the bridle and led the gelding out of the barn. Melanie watched him as he mounted his horse and settled into the saddle. “So where are we headed?”

“Just follow me. L
et’s get these guys warmed up a bit first.” Without waiting for a reply, she turned her mare and set her walking down the barn drive. Billy followed suit, trying hard not to notice her cute behind rocking in the saddle.

He urged his horse to walk on a little bit faster, so that he
was side by side with Melanie. They rode in amicable silence for a bit, and Billy found himself gradually relaxing. He hoped he’d eventually reach the point where he didn’t feel so unsettled around her all the time.

He let her choose their path as they rode, and he did his best to assess the mount he had chosen. Gobie was sure footed and responsive to gentle commands, making him an ideal partner for working around the ranch. He needed to test him out at faster gaits before he
was secure in decision.

Gentle pressure to his flank told Gobie to speed it up to a good trot. Billy heard Melanie laughing behind him as she urged her mount to keep up with them.

“So you wanna go faster?” she teased, with a twinkle in her eye. “Race you to the frog pond!” She gave her horse a swift kick and took off down a side path.

Billy grinned and urged his horse on as well. He felt like a kid again, racing his friend to their beloved frog pond. Ahead of
him, Melanie veered off the path and onto a smaller one that led across the lush meadows. She held onto her cowgirl hat with one hand as her hair billowed out behind her.

“Eat my dust, Billy!” she called over her shoulder, laughing at their old childhood joke. Billy grinned and urged Gobie to go faster, ever faster. The race was on.

He had caught up to her by the time they made it the half mile to the pond.

“I think we should declare it a draw,” he told her wryly.

“No way! I beat you fair and square!” she declared as she slid off her mount. Billy dismounted as well and let his horse drink from the pond. He surveyed the land around him as Gobie drank his fill. It was the same as ever, though the pond seemed smaller now that he was no longer a boy.

“Catch me a frog?” Melanie asked playfully.

“You want a frog?” He looked at her quizzically.

“Not really,” she shrugged with a grin. “I just wanted to
see if you were still the frog catching champion you used to be.”

Billy flushed with pleasure at her teasing, and rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of how to respond. She was acting like he’d never left, joking and teasing him like they were still just two kids enjoying a pleasant spring day out on the trails.

Melanie led her horse to a nearby tree to tie her up. “C’mon, let’s sit on the bank like we used to.”

Billy’s heart beat a little faster in his chest. This was quickly shifting from a trip to try out his personal mount to
something more. Nothing but friends, he reminded himself sternly. He tied up Gobie and left him to graze before joining Melanie on the grassy shore of the pond.

They sat in silence for a moment, and suddenly, Billy realized just how right it had been for him to return to the Haffner ranch. No matter that Melanie was spoken for; he had always known that was a possibility. This place was home, even if
she was off limits.

She scooted closer to him so that they were almost touching, and cleared her throat. “So, did you ever wonder what might have happened if you stayed? I mean, between us, if you hadn’t moved away?”

Billy’s eyes widened as he considered how to answer her unexpected question. He decided the honest answer was the right one. “Every day. Not a day’s gone by that I haven’t thought about you.”

Melanie pl
aced one slender hand on his bare wrist and his skin felt electrified under her touch. “You always were such a kidder.”

He stifled his protest with a reminder that she was the ranch manager’s woman, and he wasn’t there to stir up trouble.
Still, he had to know. “So, you and Marty, huh?”

Melanie nodded as she watched a pair of ducks paddling across the pond.

“Have you guys been together long?”

“Almost a year. He’s been here
for a few years, but he didn’t ask me out for quite a while. I think he was worried about what my father would say, dating the boss’s daughter and all that. Daddy didn’t mind; Marty’s a good guy.”

Billy had mixed feelings, hearing this. He was jealous of Marty, but pleased that Melanie sounded happy. He just wished it was with him.

She flopped onto her back in the soft grass with a groan.

“So, I’m turning 30 in a few months,” she sighed. “I was feeling old enough already, and then you show up to show me just how old I’m getting.”

“Are you saying that I’m old?” he chuckled. After a moment’s hesitation, he joined her in reclining in the soft grass.

“No, not at all. You look fantastic. I bet you’
re a big hit with all the cowgirls. I just meant that seeing you has reminded me of how quickly life can pass by.” She rolled up on one elbow to face him. “Enough about my dreaded upcoming birthday…how’s everything been going for you? Any special lady in your life?”

He turned onto his side
to face, mirroring her pose. He was painfully aware of how close they were to each other. She wasn’t even a foot away from him, and he could see each and every one of the reddish lashes framing her emerald eyes.

“
No, no special lady. Maybe that’s not in the cards for me.”

“I’m sure it will be, someday. Someone will snatch you up.”

“Melanie…” He wanted to tell her that he wanted her to be the special lady in his life, but the words faded on his lips just as quickly as they had formed in his head.

“What?”

“It’s good to be back.”

“It’s good to have you back, Billy.”

He longed to reach out to her. Here he was, back where he belonged, with the woman of his dreams right there, close enough to kiss. He rolled onto his back again before he could act on his impulses, and stared at the puffy white clouds drifting through the blue sky.

“You wanna head back, give another horse a go?” Melanie asked him, squinting her eyes against the sun.

Billy shook his head. “I think Gobie’s it. He seems like a solid horse. But I guess we probably should head back anyway. I’ve got a lot of unpacking to do today.” He hated to leave the quiet of the frog pond, with Melanie beside him, but to stay would just mean torturing himself further over the woman he couldn’t have.

He stood up, and offered his hand to her, to help her up off the ground. She accepted it, and Billy tried to ignore the sensation of her soft hand in his calloused one. Melanie seemed a bit unnerved by the contact between them as well. She hastily yanked her hand out of his as soon as she was back up on her feet and strode over to untie her ride. Billy did the same, and they both mounted their horses and made their way back to the barn. Neither was in a hurry to end their expedition, so they let the horses plod along at a moderate walk.