Part 6 (1/2)
”What's up?” He grabbed his t-s.h.i.+rt from the stack of hay beside him and wiped down his face and chest before jumping from the pile.
”Um.” She'd completely forgotten why she'd come to the barn in the first place.
A devilish grin lit up his handsome face. ”Were you spying on me?”
”No!” Heat radiated from her cheeks. ”I was looking for my dad. I wanted to tell him I was going on a run.”
She watched his eyes slide over her hot pink sports bra and running shorts and on down to her trail running shoes. ”I'll go with you.”
”You will?” Chanel couldn't believe her heart could beat any harder than it already was.
”Sure. I'm in workout mode, could use some cardio.”
”Um, kay.” Chanel turned and headed back down the stairs. She'd been looking forward to clearing her head as she raced over familiar trails through the woods. That certainly wouldn't happen with Maddox at her side adding to the tangled thoughts.
They exited the barn, and Chanel turned toward the road. ”We'll start on the road. I have a five-mile loop. Just so you know, I don't stay on the road for long. Most of it is trail.”
Maddox shrugged and tucked his s.h.i.+rt into the waistband of his shorts. ”I'm game.” He coiled up the cord between his ear buds and iPod, sticking them on a shelf beside some currycombs. Apparently, he was settling in, realizing no one was around to swipe his stuff.
Chanel took off at a brisk pace, Maddox falling in step beside her. After a half a mile, she peeled off the dirt road and up the hill toward Christine's house. They pa.s.sed it and followed a deer trail deeper into the woods, grading upward as they went. Even though she knew the route well, Chanel paid close attention to where her feet were falling. The forest wasn't static. New obstacles like brush, rocks, sticks, and holes appeared all the time. The trail was skinny, so Maddox dropped behind her. She could hear his even breath, and he stayed right on her heels.
They crested the hill, and Chanel paused to take in the view. Before her sloped a valley full of aspen trees. She loved how the little leaves quaked in the slightest breeze. The rustling sound never failed to soothe her jangled nerves-on a normal day, anyway. Too bad someone had tagged along. She had some sorting to do. Should she approach Christine about Fritz? Why did Maddox drive her so crazy, and even more frustratingly, why was she so attracted to him?
”What's in the f.a.n.n.y pack?”
Deep in her thoughts, Chanel jumped at the sound of Maddox's voice. He stood sweating beside her, close enough to feel the heat radiating off his big body. Chanel glanced down at the black bag cinched around her waist. For the last several years, she'd worn it on every run and never noticed it anymore. Of course, he'd been on her tail for the last three miles, and f.a.n.n.y packs weren't things many people wore these days.
Keeping her face neutral, she said, ”Smith and Wesson .38 special, five shot.”
Maddox's eyebrows reached his hairline, and his draw dropped a bit. After a beat, he said, ”No way.”
Without a word, Chanel circled the pouch to the front and unzipped it. She pulled out the gun and grinned.
”What the h.e.l.l is that for? s.h.i.+t, a person's more likely to need that running in the city than out here.”
”For the wolves,” Chanel said tucking the revolver back into the f.a.n.n.y pack.
”Wolves.” Maddox looked around, his brow furrowed in thought. ”Seriously. I thought they were extinct.”
”Not so much. They've become a bit of a problem the last few years. They manage to take a few of our calves every year. They got one of Theo's dogs last summer. They're fearless. Dad's had them follow him on his horse before. I'm an easy target for a pack if they're so inclined.”
Maddox shook his head as he processed her words. ”So what you said about a horse dumping a person and leaving them to the wolves. That could happen?”
”You never know,” Chanel said running an index finger along the barrel. The prospect made her plenty nervous, but she'd never let him see it. That's why she packed. There was a lot of confidence stored in that black f.a.n.n.y pack.
”Could you really shoot one?”
”If it came after me, yes. I don't intend to be wolf food.” Chanel tucked the gun back into the bag and readjusted it on her waist. Then she turned and continued to run along the ridge. When she didn't hear his footsteps behind her, she stopped to look over her shoulder. Maddox was still standing where she'd left him. His expression was incredulous.
”You coming?” His presence agitated her. Normally, her runs were a time to work out her anxiety and think, but that wasn't going to happen with him along, so she just wanted to get it over with.
Finally, he strode over to her and grabbed her around the waist. His lips were on hers before she could protest. Surprised, Chanel's lips parted and Maddox's tongue darted between them. She caught her arms moving to circle his neck, but feeling his bare biceps under her fingers brought her back to herself. Running her hands over the contours of his muscles made her reluctant to let go, but she had to stop this. It was getting ridiculous. They had to work together, and this fall they'd be back on campus. He'd go back to his role as football star, and she'd disappear back into the student body.
Wrenching her swollen lips from his, Chanel said, ”No, this is not okay,” She pushed him away, hating her sharp tone, but figuring it necessary to separate herself from these confusing feelings.
”I've wanted to do that since the branding,” Maddox replied tucking a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear.
”Right, only because I'm the only single female for thirty miles who isn't jailbait or old enough to be your mother,” Chanel said giving him a doubtful look. His eyes were intense as they bored into hers. She couldn't read them. Was he looking just to get laid, to have a summer fling, or was there more to it? Giving herself a mental shake, Chanel took another step back from that tempting bare chest. He was used to getting whatever he wanted, and she was nave to think she was any different from the coeds he seduced during the school year. ”Look, we have to work together for the rest of the summer. I think it's probably best if we keep our hands to ourselves.”
”C'mon, Chanel, this isn't some uppity corporation. h.e.l.l, your dad owns the place,” Maddox said tossing his hands in the air.
Chanel told herself he was just frustrated at being turned down. There was a good chance this was the first time, which amused her. That was one notch she was happy to claim.
”Maybe so, but our work here is just as important and probably takes more attention to keep people from getting hurt.” It felt good to fight with him, helped chase away the other feelings. ”Especially people who are unfamiliar with ranch work. It's not like an office where your biggest danger is a paper cut.”
”I think I'm doing pretty d.a.m.n well,” Maddox snapped. ”I got your hay planted. The fields are staying irrigated. n.o.body shot me in the a.s.s or roped me at the branding.”
”You're lucking you didn't get your teeth kicked out the way you took after that first calf.”
Maddox put his hands on his hips. ”Once, little miss perfect. I screwed up one time.”
Chanel hated that he was right. She had to get away from him. ”Out here sometimes you only get one chance.”
”What's that supposed to mean?”
”My Uncle Gerald? Christine's husband? He was killed when the tractor tipped over on him. He turned a little too tight when he was circling around for another pa.s.s in that steep section in Lonely Hollow. One of the neighbor family's kids didn't listen when her parents told her not to run through the barn when horses were tied in there. She got kicked in the head and died. She was only five.”
Maddox worked his jaw and looked into the distance. Chanel continued. ”You're here because you think you're so smart you don't need to listen to anyone else. Maybe you can get away with that on the football field. The worst that will happen is your team will lose. No one will die. So, who really cares, right? Well, out here it's for real. This isn't a game.”
She turned and picked up speed as she ran back the way they'd come. If he was smart, he'd follow and keep up, but at least if he didn't she wasn't leading him into uncharted territory.
”I just don't know what to do about him!” Chanel fumed into the phone.
”Shhh, c'mon, calm down,” her cousin and best friend, Seth Eber, soothed from his end. ”I don't think it's as bad as you think.”
”You're kidding me, right?” Chanel had bee-lined it for the phone the moment she came in the door. She couldn't take this anymore, and she was sure Seth would have the answer. Bert would just encourage her to sleep with Maddox and get it out of her system.
”No. You know why?”
”No.” Chanel pressed a gla.s.s under the refrigerator water tap and watched it fill.
”Because a guy has never riled you up like this before.” Seth sounded smug, and Chanel had no reply. He let the words hang for a moment before continuing. ”James Emmerit, Farley Cole, Tyler Maze.” The names of her high school crushes.
”What about them?”
”You were sure you were in love with them, fawned all over them. But they never irritated you. They could do no wrong.”
”They were also competent cowboys,” Chanel said before taking a deep drink of water. Sweat was still running down her neck and back from her hard run back to the house. She wondered if Maddox had made it home yet.