WATERFALL AND POND
Luke was trying to think of something to do that wouldn’t require
his presence in the sun. He looked around for Hannah and saw her lead Onyx out
of his stall, climb up bareback and leave the barnyard to disappear into the
forest down behind the house. He wondered where she went but didn’t try to
follow. He kept himself busy in the barn and when it became almost too hot to move,
he left and took up a chair on the shaded porch with Thomas.
The heat didn’t appear to bother Thomas at all. He still wore his
long-sleeved flannel shirt, but had given up his boots for soft slippers. They
talked for a bit about the weather and after Luke brought iced tea out for both
of them, he asked, “Where does Hannah disappear to on Onyx? It must be
someplace cooler than here, plus I’ve noticed when she returns, her hair
appears damp and she looks way cooler than when she leaves.”
“I reckon she rides out to the waterfall.” Thomas answered. “In
all the years there’s been a Wakefield here, that waterfall has never dried up.
Sure, some times it’s been just a poor trickle, but over time, its carved out a
largish pool. I haven’t been up there in years, but it was one of Gracie’s and
mine favorite places. We always knew no matter how hot it got, we could always
go to the waterfall and cool off. You know, Luke, you’ve been here for going on
five months now. I’m surprised you haven’t gone out exploring on your own.”
“Well, Thomas, you do keep me kinda busy, and I wasn’t sure if I
had permission to ride out just any old place.”
“Sure, you do. As long as the chores are done on days like this,
your time is your own, here on the porch, in the barn or out in the
hills. I think you’d enjoy going for a nice long ride. Actually, you should ask
Hannah for a tour of her and Gracie’s favorite places.”
The following day, Luke saddled one of his horses before Hannah
left on Onyx. He went in the same direction she usually took. Once he was in
the forest, he followed the path that had been worn over years of use. It was
obvious from the marks that Hannah and Onyx went this way. Luke and his horse
moved slowly along the path. In several places, another path would branch off,
but he stayed on the main one because it seemed to have the most use.
He heard the water before he rode up to it. First it was a
smallish river that flowed downhill on his right and as he continued up the
path, the top of the waterfall came into view. It was still running quite fast,
but Luke could see it might be reduced during a hot summer, especially if all
the snow up on the mountain behind were to melt.
Luke found where Onyx had been tied during Hannah’s visits. He got
down and tied up his own horse and walked to the edge of the largish pond at
the foot of the waterfall. He kneeled and stuck his hand in the water. Oh my
God, he thought, that should have ice floating on top. He couldn’t imagine
taking his clothes off and getting into the pool which was surrounded by a number
of large and flat rocks that more or less glowed in the sunshine. He’d
bet a jump into the water would be followed by a stretch on one of those warm rocks.
Luke hopped from rock to rock until he reached the edge of one.
The pool bottom appeared to be several feet or more down. The spray from the
waterfall felt wonderful as it wafted his way. It felt so good, he yanked his
t-shirt over his head and dropped it on the rock. He didn’t plan to go
swimming, but perhaps sticking his feet into the water would feel as good as
the spray did on his head, back and chest. He rolled up his jeans, pulled off his boots and socks
and sat down on the rock’s edge. Initially, the cold water made his skin feel
as though it were burning, but his feet were soon numb and that felt great. He
lay back on the rock and closed his eyes.
Shortly, he heard noises from below and in a few minutes, he
watched through barely open eyes as Hannan and Onyx rode into the little glade
that surrounded the pool and waterfall. He saw Hannah’s face frown when she saw
his horse and then him laying on the rock. Luke opened his eyes and sat up. “Wow,
this is absolutely perfect. Your own little swimming hole even though the water’s
so cold it almost hurts.”
Hannah pasted a small smile on her face. “I didn’t expect to find
you here. This is one of my special places, actually the most special place on
the ranch. I think if there was room, I’d build a tiny house and actually live
right here. It’s so peaceful and quiet with only the music of the waterfall and
birds to break the silence.”
“I agree. Now I wish I’d done more riding about in the time I’ve
been here. It makes me wonder what other treats I’d find.” Luke responded.
Hannah was trying very hard not to stare at Luke’s naked upper
body. She decided she wouldn’t look in his direction. Instead of jumping off
Onyx, she told Luke, “Well, you were here first, so I’ll just mosey along. If
you decide to actually swim, the first few seconds will take your breath away,
but after that it feels wonderful, especially when you climb out on the warm
rocks.”
“Hey, Hannah,” Luke’s voice was pitched a bit louder and stopped
Hannah in the process of turning Onyx. “You don’t have to go. This is your
place and if we can’t share it, I’ll be on my way.”
“No, no, that’s okay. First finders is keepers…so just stay and
enjoy.”
By this time, Luke had hopped over the rocks in his bare feet and
come to stand beside Onyx. Hannah kept her eyes downcast, hoping Luke wouldn’t
notice how hard she was trying to not look at him. As he stood there, he put
out his hand and clasped her bare calf with his extremely frigid hand. “Come on
Hannah, I won’t bite you. Let’s stay here together and enjoy this wonderful
place. If you leave, then I’m leaving too and then neither one of us can enjoy
the cool before we have to head back to the barn.”
Luke’s cold hand on her calf sent shivers through Hannah’s entire
body. She hoped he wouldn’t notice, but of course he did. “Oh, I’m sorry
Hannah, I didn’t mean to put my freezing hand on you. I didn’t think beyond
getting you to join me.”
Now that Luke had let go, Hannah swung her leg over Onyx’s back to
the ground. Luke took the reins and put the big gelding alongside his own
smaller horse.
“Thank you, Luke.” Hannah said over her shoulder as she walked over
to the rocks. She sat down and removed her boots and socks. Then, she stood up,
ran to the edge of the pool and jumped.
Hannah came to the surface, gasping, “Oh, I absolutely love this,
but I hate it too. It’s so cold.” Her teeth were chattering, but she began to
swim from one side of the pool to the other. After about the tenth or so
crossing, she swam to the edge and lifted herself out of the water.
Luke immediately became aware of the fact Hannah was a woman. The
tank top clung to her like a second skin, exposing large and hard nipples on
her chest. The shorts she’d worn were denim, but it was as if the cold water
had shrunk them down a couple of sizes. He had never been so aware of a woman
physically and had to look away. He rolled to his stomach and put his head on
his arms. He’d barely made himself comfortable when Hannah stood over him and
squeezed cold water from her braid onto his back.
Luke leaped and turned over, laughing. “Oh, so that’s how you want
to play it eh?” Before she could move, he’d stood, scooped her up and made for
the pool. He was going to throw her right in the middle of it. At the edge, he
looked down into her face. She was laughing and squirming, but when his eyes
met hers, the laughter stopped and they stared at one another for what seemed like
hours but probably wasn’t even a minute.
Luke put her down and let go when he was sure she was stable. “Sorry
about that. I didn’t stop to think once I felt that water on my hot back. My
apologies.”
Hannah could feel every single cell where Luke’s body had touched
hers. She could also feel other parts of her anatomy and had to keep a tight
rein on her desire to throw herself in his arms, grab his head and kiss him
until, until, until…well, crap, she said to herself. Kiss him until what? He
kisses back? He throws me in the water? She wished she had some idea of how to
proceed here. The longer they spent time together, working, riding, eating, the
more Hannah knew she was strongly attracted to Luke. She just couldn’t tell if
he was attracted back. She didn’t want to make a fool of herself, so she turned
away and laid down on the rock, her arm over her eyes.
As for Luke, he was aware of every place on his own body where he
had pulled Hannah’s cold one against his. As he stood, ready to toss her and
had looked into her eyes, he could feel his cock stir and terribly
uncomfortable, he had quickly put Hannah down before it reached the size where she’d
be able to feel it. Now that she’d turned away and laid down, he still felt
such a strong attraction, he wanted to lay down on top of her and have his way
with her. Luke didn’t think he’d ever wanted a woman as much as he wanted Hannah.
He needed to leave and not just the pool, but the ranch because he was becoming
too fond of both Hannah and her gramps, and now, he so seriously wanted to make
love to her it hurt.
“Um, uh, I’m going to head on back, maybe check one of those other
paths that branched off the main one.” Luke said as he sat down to put on his
socks and boots.
“You sure you don’t want to stay? Maybe we could have a contest
for who can do the best cannonball? Or, can you swim? If you can, we could race
back and forth in the pool.” Hannah had raised up, rolled to her side, to look
up at him with her head resting on one hand. Her breasts looked as though they
were just about to fall out of the tank top.
My God, Luke thought, Hannah has absolutely no idea how sexy she
looks laying there. How inviting. He almost groaned aloud. Instead, he stood up, trying to keep his eyes on her face and not on her chest. “No, thanks
Hannah. I didn’t know there’d be water sports and so I’m not wearing a bathing
suit. And, I know from experience that riding a horse in wet jeans tends to be
extremely uncomfortable.
“Well then, take your jeans off and go in your undies.” Hannah
proposed with a laugh as she tugged gently on the bottom of his jeans.
Luke stepped back and away from her hand. “Well, that’s the
problem, I’m not wearing any shorts.” He couldn’t bring himself to say undies.
Good God but this was fucking embarrassing. He needed to go and right now.
“See you in the barn later.” Luke called as he mounted his horse,
turned it toward the trail and walked away.
Well, that was a little strange Hannah thought. We were having fun
until he looked at me just before he was going to give me a toss. I thought he
was going to kiss me instead, but he just put me down. I wanted to throw my
arms around his neck and find out what it would be like to kiss him, to have
him kiss me.
At this point, Hannah started to turn over and that’s when she
realized her entire left breast was hanging out of her top. Oh crap, she
thought. I wonder if that’s why he left in such a hurry? Maybe it embarrassed
him. Oh, probably not. He left quickly so I wouldn’t be embarrassed.
She tucked herself away and moved to a rock in the shade. She didn’t
want to get a sunburn, but she wasn’t ready to leave yet. She laid there with
her head on her arms and made up a few little fantasies about Luke and how she just knew
he was the one to show her what it would be like to make love.
As she dozed and fantasized, she thought of various ways in which she might be
able to seduce him. That was the word in all those romances she’d read as a
teenager. How could she make him want her? She knew he was a few years older
and as good looking as he was, she was sure he’d had a lot of experience. Maybe
he only liked girls with experience. Maybe the thought of a virgin scares him.
How would he know I’m a virgin anyway she wondered?
She was sure he had to have some idea about her life by now. He
knew how the kids in town treated her. Gramps had said enough stuff so that
Luke had to know all she’d ever done was go to school and work on the ranch
since she arrived from New York. He had to have noticed she had no friends visit during the
time he’d been here, just her grandfather’s cronies and there weren’t many of
those left either.
Oh, face it, she told herself. You’re just a country bumpkin, no
makeup, no fancy clothes, no engaging repartee about the state of the world or
whatever. Unattractive and boring, that’s me. Her optimistic side countered
with the fact Luke hadn’t been into town alone since he arrived, so unless he
was a virgin too, and she didn’t think he was, then he had to want or need a
woman soon. Maybe she could be that woman. She’d have to give it some thought.
Meanwhile, Luke was already fairly far down the trail and giving
himself hell. There’s no way I can take advantage of Hannah and her gramps. I
don’t know what I’m going to do, but I want her so badly I could almost
convince myself to turn around, go back and spend the rest of the afternoon
making love to her. But I’m not going to. I’m going to keep my distance. When I
leave here after I get whatever information Jamison wants, I don’t want to feel
any worse than I already know I’m going to feel. Slumped in the saddle,
tormented by his own bad thoughts, Luke chose a path at random. He’d just poke
along here and wander around until it was time to go back to the barn. That’s
what he was going to have to do until he could leave. Ride around, be gone, do
whatever it took to stay away from Hannah.
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