Country Girl - 1. Country Girl

Flirting with her was the riskiest thing I had ever done: but then, she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I was sitting on the back of my tailgate with my younger brother, the only one who knew, and a bunch of his friends had come over: all big well-muscled country boys with pick-ups of their own, blue jeans and wife beaters. I’d always thought Noah’s friend Hunter was pretty cute, if you liked that sort of thing, and he stood leaning on the side of the truck, not minding when I stole his ginger ale, and chatting with Ronnie about some party they’d been to at the weekend.

“Well would you look at that?” Jayden’s low appreciative tone broke everyone’s conversation. We all looked to where his soda can gestured, and I wasn’t the only one whose jaw fell open.

She walked towards us like something out of a country music video: she had gold blonde hair in pigtails that nearly reached her narrow waist, and green eyes like a John Deere paint job. She was wearing little cut off jean-shorts Daisy Duke would have been proud of, an over-sized checked shirt tied around her round hips, and tan brown cowboy boots that matched her tan brown legs. She walked with her hips swaying from side to side, thumbs in her front pockets, as though she didn’t know the effect she was having on me and every guy there.

And of course, my brother Noah was the first one to stick his fingers in his mouth and whistle so hard I slapped him upside the head.

“Hey, girl!” Billy called out as Noah glared at me. I glared right back, and then turned to see that the gorgeous girl had stopped and arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow at us. She smiled at me, her lips shiny and pink, and I blushed.

“Hi gorgeous,” Jayden purred, stepping slightly away from the crowd. He was intent to use his best country-boy smile to win her over. It hadn’t worked with me, and I sure hope it didn’t work on her. “How you doin’?”

“Now what are y’all doin’ staring at me, when there’s a pretty girl in that truck anyhow?” She looked at me and Noah as she spoke, and I wanted to dive into her rich caramel voice and never surface again. Who needed air when she sounded like distilled sweet tea? I glanced at Noah, who was now blushing, and slid quickly off the back of the truck.

“He’s my brother. Sorry about them.” I walked up to her, trying my very best not to broadcast the fact that her green eyes on me were making my knees become the approximate consistency of jello.

She smiled at me, and shrugged.

“I’m new in town.”

“Yeah,” my mouth was suddenly very dry, “I know.”

“You wanna show me around?” She bit her plump lower lip with incredibly even white teeth, and I felt my stomach start to flip about as though there was a boxing match going on in there. “I ain’t sure I wanna lead any of yer boys on by askin’ them.”

“Are you alright leadin’ me on?” I asked softly. I almost didn’t dare, but I knew it wasn’t only my brother and his friends who would spend the time trying to steal glances at her tits. “Jayden is crass, but he ain’t wrong: you’re the most beautiful thing I ever saw.”

She smiled at me, and held out her hand. I had expected smooth skin and a pretty French manicure, but her nails were short and unpolished, and she had enough callouses to let me know this was a girl who knew how to handle herself, and probably a lot more besides. It was the biggest turn on.

“I’m Kyle,” she shrugged happily. “My Pop really wanted another son.”

“Banning,” I took her hand and kissed her knuckles, leaving a brush of fruity lip balm on her tanned skin, “my pleasure.” To my delight, she didn’t let go of me as we turned to my truck. To my complete lack of surprise, all the assembled guys were watching us, slack jawed and speechless, and only Noah was grinning with a little bit of jealousy and pride. “This is my brother Noah.”

“Hi…”

“An’ these are the guys.” None of them moved. “Boys? Unless y’all wanna get run over, you gotta move yer butts.”

“Huh?”

“Your sister is gonna show me around town,” Kyle purred, squeezing my hand a little, “I like yer truck darlin’.”

“Thanks.” I waited for her to climb into the front and then walked around the back to shoo the boys away. Jayden was staring at me in shock.

“You-? Her-? What-?”

I laughed at the blush riding quickly up his cheeks, and reached up to pat his shoulder softly.

“Well since the idea of you and Hunter makin’ out is kinda hot to me, I’ll let you daydream ‘bout us.” Noah clapped a hand over his mouth in shock as I spoke, but I ignored him, “but don’t you be droolin’ over my girlfriend in public now.”

“What makes you think she’s gonna say ‘yes’ to you?” Billy asked his shoulders tense. It wasn’t the first time I had joined the guys in appreciating a woman of beauty, but it was the first time I had ever been so bold as to make a move. And now there she was; waiting for me. I grinned at him and flicked my hair.

“Well she ain’t sittin’ in yer truck, Billy. Bye now!”

I slammed the door and the truck into gear, and pulled away from where my brother and his friends stood in a cloud of red dust and confusion. Only once we were settled in third gear and going smoothly did I dare look over to the shotgun seat and check that I wasn’t dreaming.

“I like your truck. It’s shiny.” Kyle brushed her slim fingers over the centre console, and for a small moment I was jealous of my truck for getting to touch her.

“He’s new actually. Mom and Pop put in half, Noah added a bit too, and I paid for the rest: he’s my birthday present.” I stroked my second-hand-but-still-new dashboard lovingly, “having my own truck is way better than bein’ able to drink in bars anyhow. So how long have you been in town?”

“We arrived yesterday. My Pop bought the old mechanics shop on Main.”

“I know the one,” I was forced to look away from Kyle as we turned left towards the centre of town: it was hard looking the other way when all I wanted to do was stare at her. “It’s been boarded up for years. I suppose your truck makes mine look run down, huh? What with your Pop bein’ a mechanic an’ all.”

Kyle laughed, and it was such a beautiful sound. Her hand crept across the console and she touched my leg briefly, just above the knee. I did the best I could not to jump right out of my seat.

“I don’t have my own! I just drive around whatever Daddy is fixin’ up to sell. Or Mom lends me the Buick sometimes. You got a truck for your twenty first: I asked for another horse.”

I gulped: the idea of Kyle on horseback was somehow even more attractive than her in my truck.

“So, where do you wanna go?”

“Well I dunno.” As I pulled up at the red light Kyle turned to me, one long tanned leg drawn up underneath her fantastically curvy butt. I could barely get my eyes to leave her smile, but I knew I wanted to see more. “Why don’t you jus’ take me to your favourite places, beautiful?”

*

My favourite place in the whole world was down by the river bank, about a mile out past Mill Road and further afield than the spot where we would all go drink and dance in the dust at three a.m. on weekends. It was a spot no one ever came too, because the path was too steep and too narrow between the trees to get the trucks down to the river’s edge. I drove Kyle through town first, because I figured I would be a lousy host if I didn’t at least show her some of what she’d asked for, and we stopped at the K-mart for soda’s and supplies. Watching Kyle choosing between Sour Patch Kids and Milk Duds had turned out to be one of the most erotic things I’d ever seen, because she stood in the air conditioning with her perfect figure, licking her lips before she turned to me for my opinion. I considered the fact I hadn’t choked on my tongue to be an achievement, and I was forced to wonder as she took my hand in the parking lot, if she knew the effect her swishing hips and perfect hint-of-cleavage was having in my jeans.

“So where does it go to?” Kyle asked as we came in sight of the river. I had been sort of entranced by her faultless heart shaped butt as we walked, and the way she ran her fingers over the bark of the trees, stroking their leaves as we passed by. I was jealous of them too: at least they weren’t wishing they had chosen a slightly better outfit that morning. I was pleased my jeans weren’t full of holes, mostly clean, and at least hugged my hips in a way I liked, but I was wearing very run down khaki work boots, and an old oversized PBR branded t-shirt of my Pop’s that I had torn the sleeves off of and knotted up the sides to make it fit better. I was sure there was bull saliva on it somewhere too.

“Slate River loops around the backside of town and travels down right through the middle of Mayfield before it goes on to Canyon city.” I pointed down river, and then gestured in a slightly southerly direction of where we stood, “our ranch and the Casella farm are both on the other side, but all the smaller farms are on this side, like Mill farm is.”

“An’ what do you do at your ranch, Banning?” Kyle turned to me with a soft smile and stepped up close. I was holding the drinks and a blanket under one arm for us to sit on, and I felt like a firefly trapped in a jar under her eyes. She took another step forwards, bringing us within inches of each other, and I was finding it very hard to breath as I watched her chest going up and down.

“W-w-w-we breed bulls; it’s a cattle ranch.”

“That sounds interestin’.”

“Yes?” I couldn’t move, rooted to the spot by a combination of lust, desire, surprise, and holding things. Kyle on the other hand didn’t seem to notice, but simply placed her hand on my waist and smiled as innocently as a person could.

“Maybe you can show it to me? I’d like to meet your brother when he’s not gawping at me.” She turned towards the river and the tension snapped like an old rope. As I followed her right down to the bank, I knew there were plenty more ropes where that had come from, and I was as helpless as a puppet attached to them.

I spread the blanket out on the bank, and Kyle kicked off her boots before she sat down, wriggling her toes in the scrub grass. I took my time untying my boots, but it didn’t seem to matter, because Kyle simply leant against my shoulder with a happy sigh, and started talking. And boy, did I love to listen to her talk.

“My Pops loves his cars, and they’re OK an’ all: but a truck ain’t nearly as good as a horse, and I think Pop was a bit disappointed that neither me nor my brother actually like engines. Not like he does anyway. I always knew I wanted to ride horses, ever since I was little. Mom says rodeo is in our blood: her parents met at rodeo, an’ my grandma was National Barrel Racing Champion back in her day. She was real fancy an’ wore a red felt hat with white pipin’, I still have it but it don’t fit, an’ all the boys wanted her. People say we look alike, but I don’t think so. She had much nicer hair.”

“I like your hair.”

“I like yours,” Kyle lifted a lock of my dark brown, stubbornly straight hair with two fingers and stroked it gently, “it’s so silky. I bet you don’t have to do nothin’ to it: just wash and go.” She flicked her own mass of fabulous waves back over her shoulders, “I gotta wrestle with mine every mornin’ unless I wanna end up with nothin’ but frizz in every direction.”

“Tell me about your horses?” I asked softly. Her smooth southern voice sent shivers up my spine and crawling across my scalp, and with the soft sounds of water from the river, and the distant chirp of crickets, I couldn’t think of anything better to do than to listen to her talk forever.

“They’re my two best girls,” Kyle flicked through some photos on her phone as she spoke until she found the ones she wanted and handed it over. I glanced at them as she told me about her horses, and tried to commit to memory everything she said.

“Hazy is the chestnut. She was my sixteenth birthday present, an’ I love her to bits. Her full show name is Hazy Sunset, an’ she’s won me every rosette I wanted since Daddy bought her for me. She’s a barrel racer through and through, though she likes reining well enough. She can turn in her own hoof prints like you wouldn’t believe. She’s eleven now, an’ in her prime: but when we’re not competin’ she is so switched off. Daddy says she’s lazy, an’ that’s what he calls her, but I think she just likes to relax. We used to go for walks together across the hayfields back home: maybe you’ll have to come with me to show her the river too.”

“I’d like that.”

“That one is Jackie,” she slid closer to me so our hips touched, and leant her elbow on my folded thigh to flick through the phone and show me a picture of a strong looking black and white paint horse. She had a big white blaze down the centre of her face and she looked somehow fiercer than Hazy. “Reagan calls her ‘Jackie Chan’ because she moves so damn fast. Mom said I didn’t need more than one horse, but Reagan convinced her. My brother got sick of me borrowing his palomino for cutting, and now we go out for team penning with his best friend. Jackie is a great cutting horse: she can go so far back over her hocks tha’ she’s practic’ly sittin’ down, an’ she loves to work the cows.” Kyle elbowed me gently and grinned, “hey maybe we can come over to your ranch and have a practice!”

“You’ll be usin’ our stock at the rodeo anyway: we supply everyone round here with steers. But I love the bucking bulls.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. That’s what I wanna do. We have five bucking bulls on major circuits at the moment, but Pops and me really want to train up somethin’ good enough for the PBR.”

“Ah, the shirt,” Kyle plucked at the fabric of my old and borrowed t-shirt, “comfy.”

“Y-y-yeah…” I stammered. Kyle slid her phone out of my hand and then placed her fingers in my empty palm. I had always been bold, loud, outspoken: I was the tom-boy among my friends, who wrestled with steers and took my truck apart at weekends for fun. But I had never been flirted with by someone I actually liked and with Kyle’s lips only inches from my own my confidence had deserted me to hide under a rock somewhere.

“I think it’s kinda hot,” she whispered, her hand sliding down my side to rest on the blanket. Kyle shifted and suddenly was kneeling over me, her bare legs sliding in between my own. She was all kinds of beautiful, and I was petrified that if I touched her, I’d wake up to find out it was all a fantastically frustrating day dream. Instead, she pulled the loose fabric of my t-shirt tighter across my abdomen. “You’re so damn skinny, Banning.”

“Ohh…” I breathed against her silky lips, “sorry.” I blinked, and in the space of that motion, Kyle closed the distance between us, and kissed me.

She tasted like sweet tea and apricots, and as soon as her slips touched mine, I couldn’t get enough. She moaned softly against me and I pressed closer, pulling her down over my body and parting her super soft lips with my tongue. Kyle melted against me with a whimper and I ran my hand down her spine, but stopped before the beautiful mounds of her heart shaped ass. To my delight, she wiggled her hips in frustration, and ground her crotch into mine. It was heavenly.

We kissed until my arm ached from being pinned under my weight, and the sound of crickets was loud in the late afternoon air. Kyle knelt up and pulled me with her, and I was proud and frustrated that I resisted the desire to run my hands over her beautiful breasts. She was panting hard, and her chest heaved attractively under her checked shirt. She smiled at me, and I simply ran my fingers up into her fabulous hair and kissed her again. She purred against me, her weight settling neatly over my hips, and I allowed myself the intense pleasure of groping her denim clad rear.

“It’s getting’ late,” Kyle looked up from where we sat: the sky was turning all shades of blue and already speckled with faint stars on the western edge, “you think you can give me a drive home, beautiful?”

“Can I see you tomorrow?” The idea of letting her go made me shiver, but the anticipation of being apart was almost as thrilling as the things I still didn’t know about the most beautiful girl in the world.

“Me an’ Reagan were gonna go fishin’; you wanna come too?”

“Won’t he mind?” The idea of Kyle’s big steer wrestling older brother being judgemental about me in a small boat out on the lake sent unpleasant shivers all down my spine right through to my tailbone.

“Bring Noah and a six-pack,” Kyle wiggled her hips against my crotch again in an incredibly distracting manner, “an’ we can leave the boys to tell fishin’ stories while we play.”

“Oh dear Lord…” I gasped as she pressed her lips against my own once more.

All of my Christmas’s had definitely come at once.

*

Watching Kyle doing anything was completely fascinating, because I loved the way she moved her hands, that she bit her lower lip when she concentrated, and a shorter lock of her hair continually slid over her face and forced her to brush it back. Even with a very sharp knife in one hand and a fish in the other, there was something soft about her. She sat on the cooler in the little boat in her cut-off jeans and an old tank top, cleaning and gutting fish like a pro, and I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather be doing at that moment.

Noah had been confused as to why I needed to take him with me on my date.

“I’m not being a third wheel for you girls,” he’d folded his arms across his chest with a frown.

“You won’t. Her brother’ll be there.”

“Whoa! No way!” Noah held out his palms defensively, “not a chance! I am not going to be your wingman for her brother!”

“Noah!” I slapped his arm, “he’s not gay.” At least, I had assumed he wasn’t, and I was very relieved for Noah’s sake to be correct.

Reagan was built like his sister: slim, long in the leg, with the same kind of wavy blond hair coming out the back of his camo-print ball cap, and rough hands that I associated with those who knew how to handle ropes and animals. He wasn’t as big and tough looking as a lot of the guys who competed in rodeo, especially for one who liked to wrestle steers, but he was strong. He’d shaken my hand with a firm grip and level blue-eyed stare.

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

“I’m Reagan; Kyle’s incredibly over protective big brother.”

“Good to know.” I nodded to him as Kyle began to give her brother murderous looks. “I’m Banning: I’d really like to date your sister.”

Kyle had pulled him away while Noah had climbed out of my truck, and I didn’t make out exactly what she said, but it was pretty clear Reagan was getting his ear bitten off for trying to be intimidating.

“So how come you guys moved out here?” Noah asked as he removed another fish from the hook on his line. I could tell my brother was quite desperate not to repeat his earlier mistake and stab himself in the hand again.

“Our Pop an’ his old business partner had a bit of a fallin’ out,” Reagan replied. “They’d owned a shop together our whole lives near enough, but…” he hesitated, but his sister didn’t.

“But Mickey an’ his wife got divorced, an’ Mickey was stupid enough to try an’ flirt with Mom.” She put the fish she had finished cleaning into a bucket with the others. “He was pretty open about it, an’ that didn’t go well for him. Mom has a pretty good right hook.”

“So they sold the business,” Reagan finished, “Pop took his half an’ we came out here. There’s better access to a lot more big rodeos: but we’s gonna have to find ourselves another penning buddy Kyle.”

“We’ll get someone Reagan,” Kyle smiled up at her brother, her open expression opposite to his concerned frown, “I’ll bet Banning and Noah could help us look. You guys must know everyone in rodeo round here.”

“An’ why is that?” Reagan looked sideways at my brother, and I realised Kyle hadn’t told him what it was we did. I laughed, and nodded to Noah when he glanced at me in surprise.

“Our family owns Heath Stock and Cattle Ranch: we sell beef and breeding bulls, supply steers to all the rodeos around here, an’ Banning is in charge of Heath Bucking Bulls. She and Pop are hoping to get a bull into the PBR circuit next season.”

Reagan gaped at us. Noah grinned, jabbed his shoulder, and then they both had to reel in some fish pretty quickly. As the boys began to have a much more relaxed conversation about horses they’d known, rodeos they’d been to, and steers they’d wrestled, Kyle laid down her knife, washed her hands in the lake and wiped them clean before switching sides of the boat to slide up next to me. I took her hand right away, her skin rough and soft against my own, and she smiled happily.

“I think they’re getting’ along much better now.”

I glanced over to where Noah was showing Reagan a couple of pictures on his phone, both of them grinning, and felt something like satisfaction spread through my body. I didn’t realise how tense I’d been until it happened, and Kyle noticed too.

“Well that’s better,” she fluttered her fingers down my arm until her hand came to rest on my knee. “You look beautiful, Banning.”

I glanced down at my own cut-off jeans and fitted t-shirt combo and blushed hard. Wearing pretty clothes on a fishing boat was just silly, as it was when working cattle or training bucking bulls, and I lived in an assortment of jeans and denim shorts, t-shirts and checks. I owned a grand total of three skirts, all of which hadn’t seen the light of day since the previous summer. My only allowance for the fact that I was on a date with the hottest, nicest, and most lovely girl I had ever met, was that I had chosen a nice bra and matching cornflower blue panties with lots of lace on them; and I really hoped my efforts didn’t go to waste.

“Thanks,” I smiled back at her, “this was a nice idea. It’s so good to be out on the lake: it’s cooler.”

“Well Daddy said if we were gonna buy a boat then we had to put it to good use. An’ Mom loves it when we bring home fish.” Kyle’s eyes glowed as she grinned excitedly, “hey, why don’t you an’ Noah come home with us for dinner?”

“An’ meet your parents?” I hesitated.

“An’ the horses,” Kyle spoke like that was much more important. “It’ll be fun.”

“Are they goin’ to wanna meet me?” I asked apprehensively. “I mean I-.”

“Banning,” my name sounded different when she said it; like for the first time it really meant something, “please come and meet my parents?”

I took her hand and squeezed her fingers.

“Yes.” I couldn’t have said no to her for all the bucking bull glory in the world. My answer caused her to clap excitedly and wrap her arms around me. I grabbed the side of the little boat for support with one hand and wrapped my other arm around her waist as she kissed me. Her lips tasted like watermelons, and her body against mine was soft and warm. I so wanted to get lost in the kiss – right up until I heard my brother’s deep laugh, and reality dawned on me. Kyle pulled back blushing, and I reached out, took her jaw and pressed my lips against hers firmly but chastely. I hoped she could tell it was a promise for later.

By the time the four of us dragged the boat to shore and heaved it onto the special trailer attached the back of Reagan and Kyle’s Buick, we had a bucket full of fish and a cooler full of empty soda bottles. The six pack had been first to empty before we’d all even reached our fishing spot. Kyle went to pack the fish and cooler away safely as I helped Reagan with the ratchet straps holding the boat in place. My brother had wandered off to take a leak in the trees.

“So,” Reagan paused for long enough that I stopped to look at him; wondering if there was another half to his sentence, “my sister is sweet on you.”

“I hope so,” I replied warily, “she’s so lovely. I can’t wait to see her ride.”

Reagan stared levelly at me across the boat, and for the second time I felt like I was being examined by his blue eyes.

“You might be a girl, but believe me when I say tha’ if you hurt my sister, or take advantage of her, I will make you wish you’d never been born.”

I nodded mutely.

“Tha’ said, you seem cool. I kinda wanna meet these bucking bulls o’ yours.”

“Yeah?” I grinned at him. It was the duty of all older brothers to intimidate their sister’s dates, and I respected Reagan for his attitude that just because I was a girl, did not mean I was any less important than if Kyle had been dating someone like my brother instead.

“Hey,” Kyle appeared around the side of where I had parked my massive truck, dwarfing the Buick with its enormous tyres and gleaming chrome trim, “can I ride home with you?”

“You guys are coming for dinner?” Reagan grinned, “Awesome idea!” He turned to wave at my brother, “hey Noah! Come ride with me and I’ll show you my collection when we get back.”

“Collection?” I asked Kyle, one eyebrow raised as Noah jogged over with a grin.

“Guns n’ baseball cards,” Kyle rolled her eyes, “I just keep rosettes.”

“An’ you got enough o’ them to make into a giant quilt by now.” Reagan shook her shoulder with a grin, “See you back home sis. Race ya!”

I turned from the Buick as it rattled off with the trailer and boat in tow and watched Kyle smile at me. She smoothed her hands down her shirt and I was suddenly very aware of how deliberately provocative she was being: and that too was such a turn on.

“I think we’ll let them win,” I said, and Kyle practically purred.

The lake was a good spot, but I wanted something even more private, so I took the route that would pass through the old Wessler farmstead which had been empty and abandoned for many years. Someone had at one point planted a stand of trees which had grown slightly out of control down the back road, and I knew the perfect place to pull off and park where we wouldn’t be seen from the road at all. The whole way there, Kyle sat in my shotgun seat, humming along to some country song on the radio and combing her flowing hair with her fingers.

“Kyle?” I killed the engine, but left the radio on low, and I turned to find her gazing into the distance with a soft smile. “I had fun today. I like your brother: he seemed like a real stand-up guy.” She beamed with pride. “But I gotta tell you somethin’: I really like you. You’re nice, and funny, an’ really gorgeous…” I trailed off, unsure of how to finish.

Kyle turned to me with a cheeky grin.

“Gone shy, beautiful?” she bit her lower lip and shifted her hips as she knelt up on the wide leather seat. “I ain’t scary, am I?”

I almost told her that she was more intimidating than her brother, but I resisted. Kyle wasn’t scary, but I was scared of disappointing her. She flicked her hair back over her shoulders, a gesture which whether deliberate or not, drew all of my attention very suddenly to her breasts. Her tank top showed the smallest portion of a narrow white and red gingham strap, and was very excited to see where that led. For the first time since we’d met, I realised how shy I was being. I was the girl who could talk back to anyone, who had teased my brother’s friends for fancying Kyle, and could handle a metric ton of angry bull. And now I was acting like a scared little girl too shy to pick up the shiny thing I wanted. I reached out across the centre console, took Kyle’s hand and kissed her knuckles, and then I pulled her swiftly into my lap.

“Banning…” she purred against me as I ran my palm firmly down her spine, pressing her soft strong body against my own. I could feel the hardness of her nipples through her shirt, and I grinned as I realised how turned on she was too. We both groaned as we kissed, instantly wet and open and I realised how much I loved the taste of watermelon. I found the button with my spare hand and laid the seat back, forcing her to shift all her weight into my lap. The seats were wide enough for her to lay on her side next to me, and I wrapped an arm under her neck to keep her close. Our legs automatically tangled together.

“You’re the nicest person I ever met,” I whispered into the small space between our lips. Kyle purred happily, her smile telling me everything I needed to know. “You wanna have some fun?”

“Uh-huh.”

I closed my hand around her right breast and squeezed appreciatively. Kyle gave a soft little moan, and we both watched as I felt her up, skewing the fabric of her shirt and revealing more of her soft cotton bra. Her stomach muscles jumped as I passed across her hard nipple and I panted at the wonderful heat that spread upwards from my crotch. I wanted her so badly. Kyle picked at the hem of my shirt, but I pushed hers upwards, revealing her soft tan skin and the long sinuous line of her belly. Her navel looked particularly inviting, and I swooped my fingers across, delving in briefly as I took in the lines of her hips which pointed in a ‘V’ to her crotch. Kyle ran her fingers through my silky hair, destroying my earlier attempt at a decent braid, and making me groan as she pushed her tongue into my mouth. I was only too happy to be invaded, because the fabric of Kyle’s bra was soft and thin, and within moments I was drawing little circles around her nipples with the pad of one finger and she was panting against me as I squeezed her bountiful flesh.

“You want more, pretty girl?” I growled between breaths as she broke for air. I was still fully dressed, but I didn’t want to be: the only benefit being that the rigid seam of my cut-off jeans gave me something to grind against, not that it relieved any frustration.

“Yes!” Kyle’s voice was small but strong, and full of butter toffee as she fixed me with her Deere green eyes, “please!”

I grinned happily, and in one well-practiced move, if mostly on myself, unsnapped her bra with the hand I had slid under her neck and shoulder. Within moments she had pulled her shirt off over her head, leaving me free to peel the soft gingham of her bra away, trailing kisses after the fabric of the straps as they left her naked. I stopped as I reached the fullness of her chest, and could not resist using both hands to weigh her bosom as I stared at her in delighted wonder. She had perfect breasts, soft but taut, exactly the right size but bigger than mine, and her nipples stood out as hard points from the candy pink skin of her areolas. I adored her cleavage instantly, but even more than that was the curve of her flesh where it flowed up to her delicate shoulders, her clavicle and her neck. I kissed there softly, and she moaned against me.

“Yer fuckin’ perfect,” I sighed softly, glancing from her face down towards her hidden crotch and back again, “I’m a lucky girl.”

“Yeah you are, Banning,” Kyle bit her lip as she spoke, and a moment later her hand covered the heat between my legs and I gasped in surprise and sudden pleasure. “But so am I.”

I wanted to spend forever kissing her soft mouth and groping her fantastic tits, and my brain spun with pleasure and distraction as Kyle began to rub me through the rough denim of my shorts. I moaned into her mouth, opening up to her tongue as she teased me. Kyle whimpered as I pinched her nipples softly, and then groaned as I left her mouth and began to kiss and lick my way down her throat, her wonderful clavicle, and down to the smooth heavy flesh of her breasts. She tasted like vanilla and sunshine and her skin was hot as the sun baked rocks by the lakes edge under my tongue. Her nipples were stiff and her breathing shallow as the angle of our bodies changed and took my damp heat away from her hand. Kyle moaned incoherently, and I grinned in triumph as I lapped my tongue over first one nipple then the other. She gasped, purred, vibrated as I continue to massage her with my lips, nipping gently with my teeth to make the muscles of her flat stomach go suddenly rigid. Kyle was the most responsive lover I could have ever imagined, and her pleasured moans filled the cab of the truck and made me dizzy with desire. When she wove her fingers into the back of my hair, I crept my fingers down past the dip of her navel and dragged one short finger nail against the fabric of her shorts.

“Banning!”

“Kyle?” I broke contact to look up at her, her green eyes wide as saucers, “babe? I’m sorry…” I was suddenly petrified I’d done something wrong, but she smiled at me, and hooked a finger under my chin to bring me back up to her level. “Kyle?”

“We must have some mystery, beautiful,” Kyle slid one long tan leg between my thighs, and I gasped at the contact, “an’ it ain’t fair for you to have all the fun.”

I gulped.

“I wanna look at you,” she whispered in my ear, “I wanna touch you.”

“Ohhh…”

Kyle pulled up my t-shirt, but only enough to show off my abdomen, and I panted as she stroked her calloused fingers down my stomach. Being brave had very little do to with the wonderful helpless sensation which overwhelmed me as Kyle unsnapped the stud fastening my cut-offs and I lifted my hips automatically so she could drag the fabric off my legs. She clicked her tongue, a happy noise of praise I had heard people use with horses my whole life, and I made a strangled sort of noise in my throat as her fingertip pressed against my sit through the thin lace of my panties.

“So pretty…” Kyle purred happily, half sitting up so she could see me better, “d’ya have any idea how beautiful you are Banning?” I blushed, because having a half-naked, obviously aroused, and absolutely gorgeous young goddess telling me I was beautiful was hard to believe, but completely overwhelming. Kyle leant down to kiss me again, all warm and open, and I decided I didn’t think she was actually capable of lying and kissing so honestly in the same breath.

He hand was warm over my sex, rubbing in a pleasurably distracting manner through my underwear, and I growled happily as she kneaded me, ran my fingers into her hair and kept her close as she knelt with one knee between my thighs and balanced herself over me. I supported the weight of her breasts with pleasure, and she flashed me a cheeky grin.

“Mmm…”

“I could totally just be your bra… that’s a job right?” I arched a hopeful eyebrow at my intended.

She giggled.

“Ain’t very sensible, not tha’ I wouldn’t love it. But y’d have to be my girlfriend for such a big responsibility.”

“Go out with me?” It seemed like an odd thing to ask when I was holding her tits and she had her hand over my crotch, but I asked anyway. “Be my girlfriend.”

“Yes.” The answer was accompanied by Kyle picking up the lace edge of my panties, and I moaned in anticipation. She brushed her fingers under the fabric, barely touching, and then drew the very top of them down until I was only just exposed. She kissed me, knelt up using her hands on the ceiling of cab to help her balance, and smiled down at me. I was still partly dressed, but I’d never felt so naked in my life.

I took a deep breath, and stared up at her as she watched at the rise and fall of my chest. Her eyes travelled over me like her fingers, caressing my skin, circling my navel, teasing and taunting until I arched my hips towards her without a second thought. She touched me, pressed close, and I parted my knees for her with a whimper as she pushed her fingers into my flesh. Her breasts bounced in time with her gently thrusting fingers as she opened me up, I grabbed the at the head rest above me and moaned her name as she took her slim digits and pressed them directly against my clit. Kyle stroked me, tight rubs and little circles that had me thrashing and gritting my teeth within moments, and I hated that the constriction of the cab and the underwear pinning my thighs wouldn’t allow me to spread myself completely for her. It took my girlfriend no time at all to learn my body, and by the time she put her fingers in my g-spot, I was a shivery mess of fiery nerve endings. I came with a cry and shudder, every muscle tense as my universe collapsed to a single point of pleasure, pressure, wetness, and heat where my flesh met hers.

Kyle grinned like a cat with all the cream, and stroked the moist slit of my sex gently as I came down from the orgasmic high. She was the one who pulled my panties up and smoothed them over my crotch with soft movements. She settled down on her side under my outstretched arm, and purred happily as I began to tickle my fingers lazily up and down her spine.

“I wanna fall in love with you,” I whispered towards the roof of the cab.

“Good,” Kyle found my other hand and kissed my fingers.

“Let’s do that again.”

“After dinner.”

“But-,” I glanced at her big somehow already innocent eyes, and felt my heart doing all sorts of acrobatics in my chest, “but you didn’t-?”

“I’ll wait,” she kissed me again, and I would have been happy to drown in her sweet watermelon flavour, “I’m lookin’ forward to it.”

I swallowed even though my mouth was suddenly dry: so was I.

*

Kyle and Reagan’s parents had bought the run down garage on the very end of Main, and they’d moved into the ranch house which sat five hundred yards or so off the road behind it. The house had come with plenty of land to keep a few horses in good condition, and Kyle was planning to build a proper stable block, a round pen, and a big sand corral for reining, racing, and penning practice. As it was we saw the horses from the red dirt driveway, all three of them lying in the very late afternoon sun, sleeping on the grass as comfortably as feather blankets. Hazy raised her long head when Kyle whistled out of the window, but though I really wanted to greet her horses and see my girlfriend ride, it wasn’t the horses I was nervous of meeting.

Our brothers were sitting on the porch steps chatting gently, and to my total lack of surprise there was a polishing kit between them and each was holding a rag in one hand and a western boot in the other. Stockmen and cowboys were just the same, and we might’ve all had boots that were mostly dust and duct tape, but everyone had a pair or two they kept for good, impressing people, and going to rodeo. Noah liked to polish his up as much as the next guy.

“Hey boys!” Kyle swung out of my truck with a smile as big as the crescent moon and a swerve to her hips that would draw the eyes of anyone with a libido for a mile or more. I couldn’t imagine that she hadn’t been propositioned by every guy who’d ever laid eyes on her. “Swappin’ fishin’ stories?”

“Nah,” Reagan laughed, “I was tellin’ Noah here about the first time you got on Jackie and came right off again.”

“An’ I thought Banning said you were a talent with horses or some such,” Noah grinned cheekily, “guess you’ll have to train her up little sister.”

“Aww nuts,” Kyle glanced at me in a sort of horror, but I just squeezed her hand and smirked at my brother, “you know I hate to ride anythin’ with stirrups.”

“Babe?”

“Bulls and broncos, pretty one,” I pulled Kyle towards me until our hips bumped and wrapped my arm around her waist as our brothers gawped at us in turn, “I like somethin’ with a bit of fight between my-.”

“Banning!” Kyle jabbed me in the ribs, then straightened up quickly at the sound of the screen door. “Hey Mom.”

“Well hi,” Kyle’s mother beamed at me, and I really hoped she wasn’t psychic. “You must be Banning. Y’all had a good day out on the lake; that was a lot of fish,” she wiped her hands on her apron, “supper’s about ready. You boys wash up before you get to table y’hear?”

“Yes ma’am,” Noah and Reagan replied in unison, sounding for all the world like naughty school boys.

We followed our brother’s inside, and I copied Kyle by removing my boots in the hallway and placing them next to hers. She’d painted her toes nails, a happy bright pink shade, and part of me was a little bit jealous.

“I’mma go freshen up real quick,” she pulled me close by the front of my t-shirt and grinned. “Be right back, beautiful.” I’d never been kissed so fast and hard, or been left feeling as dizzy as Kyle dashed barefoot up the stairs.

I touched my lips and felt my own smile: I hoped dinner would finish with watermelon.

“Having fun are we little sister?” I blushed fast at my brother’s voice. “You really like her, huh?”

“Noah…” I groaned gently, “it’s not like you haven’t had a good time too.”

“Did I say that?” Noah placed his big hand over my hair and smoothed it back with a friendly little tug, “I’m pleased for you; she seems like a good sort of gal.” He chuckled, “don’t go fallin’ too hard now.”

I watched my brother go, then blinked and followed him into the kitchen where a pair of square Formica tables like those from a diner had been pushed together to make a dining table for six. It wasn’t fancy, but it worked well enough, and I took the glasses from Kyle’s mom and laid them on the table as the boys sat down.

“An’ where is that sister o’ yers? Oh, hello little darlin’.” I turned to see Kyle’s father, blond, lanky like his son, and wearing a suspicious fresh shirt over the smell of engine oil as he kissed his daughter’s newly brushed hair. She hugged him quickly, and then skipped over to pull out the chair next to mine. Kyle had a funny definition of freshening up quick, because my girlfriend had applied fresh lip gloss, styled her hair and changed into a beautiful pale rose and white dress with a skirt which looked like flower petals around her tan legs. The scooped neck showed off her precious throat and collarbone, and I found my knees turning to hot caramel even as we scraped our chairs and sat down.

“Hun, these are the kids’ new friends from town. Noah and Banning Heath.”

“Heath?” he frowned across at my brother, “as in the Heath Stock and Cattle?”

“That’s us,” Noah grinned and thanked Kyle’s mom as she handed him a plate, “but Banning is the one with the bulls. That’s her thing.”

“Well, really?” Kyle’s fathers tone held nothing but respectful surprise, “I’d never have guessed it with a pretty little thing like you, but then no one pegs my pair of stars for rodeo champs either. Good for you.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You call me Clayton little lady, jus’ like everyone else does.” He glanced from me to Kyle, who served some greens onto my plate with a little not-so-secret grin. “Is there somethin’ you’re not telling me, Kyle?”

I hadn’t seen my girlfriend look guilty before, but she chewed her lower lip, and reached out for my hand on the table.

“Daddy…”

I thought it was going to be awkward and awful: at best with a depressing silence over the table while our cutlery clanged on the plates, and at worst having to high tail it out of there in my truck with dirt lying from under my wheels. But Clayton just laughed, a rich round sound, and five minutes later we were eating fish, praising the cooking, and the boys who’d done most of the actual catching, and talking about trucks, cars, and rodeo.

“I can’t believe I’m sittin’ in my own kitchen talking to the woman who raised Dirt Highway,” Clayton shook his head, “I was never really into rodeo much, but they say kids are supposed to broaden yer horizons: these two certainly did. You must be proud o’ him.”

“Oh, I am.” I beamed. Dirt Highway had been my first bull in the big time, and the first one who was entirely, fully and legally mine to boot. “I’m hoping to get him in the selection for PBR next season, but o’ course that does mean I’ll spend most of a year travelling around with him. I know the guys who are looking after him right now really well, and Pops needs me here help work the steers up for the Tri State Rodeo. We supply everyone round here, but this is a new contact.”

“We gotta look good,” Noah chipped in, and we shared a nod and a grin that made me love my brother a little bit more. Not every brother would be happy that his little sister was better at dealing with cattle and big mean bulls than he was, and though Noah and I had our fair share of sibling scraps, my gender was never anything he had tried to hold over me. I could load a shotgun as quick as the next guy, and I could stay on a nationally ranked bucking bull for eight seconds too. I was never going to be allowed to compete, but I could dig my spurs in on a business deal and earn my own money. For that, I knew my big brother was proud of me.

All of us offered to clean up after dinner, but Clayton shooed us out of the house with a platter of watermelon slices and said he wanted some time alone with his wonderful wife. We munched as we walked down the porch steps and sat to put our boots on. I loved to see Kyle skipped about in her tan bare feet, but when she pulled on a pair of tall cowboy boots with a horseman heel, I knew she meant business.

“You wanna come meet the horses?” She took my hand and smoothed down her soft and flowery skirt with the other palm. Noah frowned at her outfit, but Reagan just laughed.

“I’ve seen my sister post championship times round the barrels in a bikini. Don’t worry about her.”

I might have been a cattle person, a cowgirl through and through as my Pop always said, but I liked horses well enough, worked with them most days, and it was plain as day that Reagan and Kyle both loved their horses with the kind of passion usually reserved for saints and angels. Kyle whistled to her girls and Hazy was the first to raise her and head and canter over like an excitable spring foal. The beautiful chestnut horse pressed her long face against Kyle’s front, her face pretty much the length of Kyle’s narrow torso, and Kyle wrapped her arms around her horse’s face and hugged her tightly.

“There’s my best girl!” Kyle pulled back and kissed the horse’s velvet soft nose, “how’s your day in the sun been pretty one?

The horse snorted happily and flicked her ears, and with a snicker Jackie trotted up to join them. Kyle climbed through the fence and stroked her two beautiful steeds, petting them softly as Reagan called to his own strong looking palomino. It was clear that the horses adored their riders, and soon enough Kyle had them both loping after her as she ran away across the paddock. Both horses came to a sliding stop by the gate, and Kyle kissed Jackie’s nose before looping a rope halter over Hazy’s ears. Jackie snickered softly, but returned quickly to munching on the pile of hay. All of Kyle and Reagan’s riding gear was currently being stored in their goose necked horse trailer, and Kyle looped the halter up to the fence as she saddled her horse with quick, efficient, but respectful movements. She smiled at me as I climbed up onto the corral fence, and Jackie appeared from behind my shoulder to nuzzle me in case I had food in my pockets.

“You wanna join me?” Kyle purred softly as she finished tightening the curb strap under Hazy’s chin. The horse nuzzled her shoulder and Kyle swished her skirt in the most inviting manner. I grinned happily, and ate the last of the red flesh of my watermelon slice off the rind.

“C’mere…” Kyle’s green eyes flashed at me as I beckoned her over with a crooked finger. “You’re the most lovely thing I ever saw.”

“Banning…”

I bent down to kiss her upturned face and for a moment had the best view of her cleavage.

“Now you ride that pretty horse of yours.”

Kyle rode as though it was the most natural thing in the universe for her to be doing, and I could imagine a line drawn between her head and Hazy’s as they rode together. They moved like one connected being, perfectly in time, neither of them acting as though it took any effort or concentration to pace then canter perfect circles in the red dust and short grass. I knew as soon as I saw them I had to get her to our ranch so that I could see them race around the barrels. Hazy Sunshine loved my girlfriend, and I knew I did too.

“She’s great, huh?” Noah folded his arms on the fence, Reagan and his palomino next to them, and the four of us watched Kyle and Hazy dance around their own hoof prints, riding for nothing more than joy.

“She’s amazin’,” I sighed, uncaring of who heard me, “I love her more an’ more each moment.”

“Well ain’t that somethin’…” Noah muttered softly, “I reckon y’might have to give me a lift home an’ all, Reagan.”

“Oh, you think?” Reagan chuckled, “c’mon, you can show me where the tailgates get parked round here…”

I watched Kyle ride as if in a dream: her horse’s coat glowing in the evening sunset, points of light reflecting from her silken hair. They moved like water, better than anyone I had ever seen, and I knew I could have sat and watched her for hours. Eventually Kyle patted down her horse and we watched Hazy roll in her paddock as soon as her saddle was taken off. Kyle stowed the tack in the trailer and pulled off her boots before taking my hand.

“I can’t wait until we have some real stables. Pop has promised to start building them next week once he gets everything straight with the shop,” Kyle swung her hips close and in the next moment she was pressed against my chest, an arm around my waist. I kissed her without thinking. “Did the boys go out?”

“Probably,” I hadn’t actually noticed them leave. “What do you wanna do now?”

“Where’s your truck?”

“Huh?” I blinked at her, my heart flipping over in my chest at the prospect of having to leave her, and worse, being sent away. But Kyle was still smiling like she’d won free tickets to the carnival.

“I was hopin’ we could sit in the back an’ watch the rest of the sunset.”

We drove a little way from the house, and I parked the truck facing east before climbing into the back. Kyle had brought her saddle rug, and spread the thick fleece and wool underneath us. The sun was red and gold on the horizon, and the sky faded through hues of pink and purple before it turned indigo over our heads; it was littered with stars as bright as rhinestones, and I blinked as if I’d never seen them before. Kyle tucked herself into the space between my knees, her soft frothy skirt settling over her thighs, and she turned to me with a kiss which tasted once again of watermelon. I pressed my lips against her hair as the sun sank lower into the earth.

“I love you.”

Kyle blinked up at me, and with one hand brushed my hair back behind my shoulder. Without words, I knew she felt the same, even if she didn’t say anything. We watched the sun go down, and as it got darker, I found myself talking to her, rambling on just as she had on our first date.

“That’s our land, jus’ north of the sunset, but you can’t really see it from here. I wan’ you to come meet my parents, an’ the hands; they live with us – it’s like havin’ a great big family on the ranch. The bulls’ll like you, I know they will. They might be all flyin’ feet an’ spit an’ horns in the ring, but I never met a softer creature than Dirt Highway. He’ll lie in the grass an’ eat clover from my hand, but he’ll give the boys hell when they try an’ stay on him.”

“I’m so lucky I found you,” Kyle whispered against me skin as the sun began to melt, “beautiful an’ strong.”

“You’re lucky? I arched an eyebrow at her in surprise.

“No, you’re right: you’re the lucky one.” Kyle pressed her lips against mine firmly, and I could feel myself sinking faster than the ball of fire in the sky.

“An’ why is that?”

“Because I can ride a horse an’ gut a fish, load a shotgun…”

“Uh-huh…”

“An’ I wanna spend the whole night makin’ you love me more.”

I pulled her against my chest as we lay down in the bed of my truck, and I couldn’t wipe the grin from my face. All those boys singing their country songs were right, there wasn’t anything to compare to a southern girl. The next kiss made up my mind and Kyle moaned against me as we began to explore each other.

Screw riding a bucking bull who weighed a metric ton: flirting with her was the best thing I’d ever done.