Country Lovin': Chapter Six

"I said I'm going into town to get the bread. I'm not going over to Jessie's to get the eggs. I don't care if that's where you always get them." Valene retorted as Kitty followed her outside. Outside was warm and the breeze was perfect.

"I always get my eggs from Jessie. You said you wanted to do my errands for me, so do them and do them right." Kitty declared.

Valene turned around and ran a hand through her bangs. "Oh. Is that how it is? What is it with Jessie anyway? Is he some kind of damn saint? Should I sacrafice a lamb to him? Should I pray to him three times a day? What is it with this guy? Everyone loves him, but the day I come into town, he shows me his good side." She walked over to her car, which had been fixed and brought over early that morning.

"You just have to get to know him. You're lucky that you came when you did. Jessie doesn't have a woman."

Valene groaned as she climbed into her car. "Aunt Kitty, you are one sad individual. You know that? Why would I care if Jessie has a woman? He can have any damn woman he pleases as long as he doesn't come after me. He doesn't like me. I'm a city girl." Valene toshed that out and Kitty didn't respond.

"You're still going to get the eggs from Jessie. I don't like the eggs at the market. I'll call him to make sure he knows your coming. I'll have him call me to make sure you've come." She snickered.

"You're evil. You've turned against me." Valene said playfully.

"That day I turn against you will be the day the ocean turns bright yellow." Kitty shut Valene's door and smiled. "I love you, Valene. Don't ever forget that." Kitty turned and walked back towards the house.

Valene sighed deeply and started her car. She looked over in the passenger side seat and noticed that someone had found her cellphone. Rolling her eyes she tossed it into the backseat. It would do her no good out here.

She stopped at the market first to buy her Aunt Kitty's groceries. She needed bread, milk, lighter fluid, cereal, mustard, mayonaise, cookie mix, and butter. Valene had no idea to why she just didn't buy her milk from Jessie as well. Since he seemed to be high on her Aunt Kitty's list which only made Valene frown.

There was no saying that Jessie was extremely attractive. He had that brown hair, brown eyes, beautiful farm tan and a whole-lotta muscles, but it was his attitude. She wanted to smack him upside his head. He thought he was all high and mighty, just because he was from the country.

She shook her head as she paid for her Aunt Kitty's groceries. She said good bye to the cashier and carried the groceries outside. Now, she needed to go get eggs from Jessie. She rolled her eyes as she began to drive. This was pathetic, she wasn't going to let the man intimidate her. She wasn't like that and she wasn't going to start.

She followed Aunt Kitty's instructions to finding his house. It was only a couple more miles up the road from Aunt Kitty's. It was a beautiful farm house, she thought with a dry smile, she had to give him that, she pulled into the driveway and stopped.

Finding it getting incredibly hot inside the car and outside, she grabbed a hair band and wrapped it around her hair. She took off her sunglasses and tossed them onto the dash.

Jessie walked out from the bar, wiping his hands on an already dirty cloth. "You here for the eggs?" He asked.

She raised an eye brow. "No, I'm here because I just thought we could sit down like two goody goody friends and drink some tea." She rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "Of course I'm here for the eggs. Talk about naive country folk. Where are the eggs anyway?"

"There in on the kitchen table. Stay right there."

She smiled and walked into the barn. She heard horses snorting and neighing. She loved horses. She remembered riding them when she was a little girl. She had gone over to her Uncle's and had ridden their horse. She always thought of them as beautiful creatures.

She spotted one and smiled. It was a beautiful horse. It was white where a gray speckled behind. The horse walked over to her and she petted his snout. "You're beautiful, you know that." She laughed when the horse neighed.

"What the hell ya doin' inside my barn. Don't you city women listen? Damn." Valene looked to see Jessie standing in the doorway of the barn.

"I thought I heard something. Just came in to see what it was." Valene said with a smile.

"I think you're full a shit." He shoved the eggs into her hands. "I think ya outta go."

"You don't think I could ride, do you?" She asked.

He raised an eye brow. "When did that subject come up? And to answer your question, I don't think you can." He looked up at his horse and smiled. "I'd bet on it."

"You don't have much faith in me, country boy." She shoved her eggs back at him. She opened the stall to the horse she had been petting.

"His name is Clearwater and he's my horse." Jessie retorted trying to get in the way.

"Back off, country boy. I won't break your toy, so calm down." She used a small stool she found in the corner of the stall to help climb onto the horse without a saddle or without reins.

"You're going to break your neck." He shook his head.

"Am I? You don't know much about me, do you, country boy?" She was sitting comfortably on top of Clearwater. She remembered visiting her Uncle in Oaklahoma and riding his horses, bare back. She clung to Clearwater's mane. She gave the horse a gentle kick and the horse began to move foreward.

"You better get the hell off ma horse." Jessie demanded with his hands on his hips. Valene noticed a gleam of anger and amusement. She smirked and gave the horse a stealthier kick and the horse began to run. She rode out of the barn and she turned right and headed out towards the fields.

This felt so good. She hadn't ridden like this since she had been sixteen years old. Of course, riding a horse was the same as riding a bike; you just never forgot. She could feel the power of the horse beneath her. She could feel every muscle move with such power beneath her legs.

"Damn you, woman!" She laughed as she turned to see Jessie riding a different horse. It was jet black with ravenous eyes.

"So, you can ride as well? Good for you." She yelled as it was filled with laughter. For some reason, she loved the look of annoyance upon his face.

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His hands were gripped in the horse's mane. There was another look inside him. It wasn't just anger, but shock. It had surprised him to see her ride Clearwater with such ease. He didn't expect her to be able to ride. Especially, without a saddle or reins.

"Get back here! This isn't funny! You could get hurt!" He yelled as he turned right to follow her. They were coming to where the cows came to pasture. He saw her hair bellowing out and fluttering around her. It was almost--He shook his head in disgust.

"Having trouble catching up, country boy?" She exclaimed as she slowed, almost to a complete stop. Then, for some reason, she stopped. She waited for him to stop next to her. He stopped and eyed her. "Didn't think I could ride, did you?" She asked as she released her hands from the horse's mane.

He shook his head. "I think I lost a bet." He replied dully. It was a good thing he didn't place any money on it, even though if it had been ten minutes ago, he would've.

"Want to race back?" She asked. She ran a hand through her hair.

He eyed her, watching her watch him, then shook his head. "Ya are some woman, ya know that?" He asked.

She grinned. "I've gotten that told to me a few times." She reached for the mane. "I bet you a beer that I can make it back before you."

"You do beer?" He asked.

She nodded. "Doesn't everyone?"

With that, she took off. He cursed to himself as he got his horse going. It didn't take that long for him to catch up. It was trying to pick up some more speed to beet her, that was the problem. She was a good rider. A damn good rider for a city girl.

He looked over at her then ahead of them. A wire fence was coming up and she wasn't swerving to the right, where there was an open path, but she was ready to leap over it. He knew that Clearwater was capable, but the horse he was riding, Midnight, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to do it.

Later, he'd probably say that it had been his ego which had made him do it. So, instead of going through the opening, he continued to pick up speed, ready for the jump. He watched as Clearwater gracefully made the jump. He closed his eyes and waited to hear the sound of Midnight's hooves hitting the ground. Instead, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulders and a sudden black out...

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Cursing, for what seemed like the hundreth time, she applied the peroxide to the gash on his forehead. "You had to go and be a show-off, didn't you?" She cursed him. She stood and walked across the living room; his living room.

She had just managed to place him ontop of his horse, then ride Clearwater back to the barn. She had used his horse to get him to the porch, where she got him inside the house, how, she didn't know.

She had been so frightened. He had fallen from the horse onto the ground and had immediately blacked out. She picked up his Stetson off of the coffee table. She laid it back down and placed a bandage on top of the gash.

She wiped his hair away from the bandage, to make sure his hair didn't get stuck beneath the tape. She couldn't wait for him to wake up so she could smack him back into unconscienceness.

She stood and walked to the mantle. She smiled as she saw an old family picture. She saw Jessie, then his little sister, and his parents. The picture made her smile.

He had a nice house, she thought happily. It was a beautiful farm house. She had only rummaged through the bottom floor and didn't have the guts to go upstairs. She was afraid of what she'd find.

She had called Aunt Kitty to tell her about Jessie and his little accident. Aunt Kitty had told her that if he didn't come to within a couple of hours, to take him to the hospital.

They had been inside for almost twenty minutes. She sat down on a recliner and curled into the corner of it. She looked at Jessie and she really looked at him. She noticed he was all muscle and that had been what she had dragged through the front door. She knew he had beautiful brown eyes and a great smile. She had seen it, earlier, when she had first met him. It had about melted her into a muddle in the front seat of his truck.

She raised her eye brow and sighed. The sigh turned into a yawn. She figured, while she waited for him to awake, she could take a small nap. It was the most she could do, since she didn't feel like snooping around his house. She was deathly afraid she'd come upon a naked woman magazine or a porno movie. Or, dirty underware. She shuttered at the thought.

She yawned as she curled into the corner of the recliner, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her chin upon them. She fluttered her eyes and yawned again.

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When he awoke, he had a splitting head ache. He groaned and tried to sit up. It was hard. His shoulders and back hurt and his head was giving him wave after wave of nausea. If he didn't slow down, he was going to blow all of his breakfast all over the couch and floor.

As he sat up, he noticed he was in his living room. He wasn't on the ground. He reached up to his forehead and noticed that it had been properly bandaged. He closed his eyes and reopened them. He almost died of shock when he saw Valene asleep on his recliner.

Had she done this? He shook his head. Of course she did, you dolt. She dragged you inside the house and tended to your wound, because you had been a complete imbecile. He shook his head. It was right, he had been a complete imbecile. He knew that it had been wrong for him to make a horse jump over a fence he had been sure wouldn't make it. But he had wanted to impress her, whatever the hell for, and he had failed and had made an ass out of himself.

As he tried to stand, a wave of nausea flowed through him and he groaned, quite loudly. This awoke Valene. She stirred and looked over at his direction. He heard her curse and she stood. She walked over to him and placed her hands against his shoulders. A shot of pain shot to his brain and he called out. "Careful! That hurts!"

She brought her eye brows together. "Well, if you hadn't been a complete idiot, you wouldn't have hurt yourself. You're lucky that I at least have some muscles in my arms and legs, or you'd still be out there in the pasture with your head cut wide open."

He winced as she pressed her fingers against the bandage. "Ya know, it's your fault."

She sighed deeply. "My fault? How the hell is my fault that you hurt yourself?" She demanded.

"If ya hadn't climbed onto my horse and rode off on it, I wouldn't have had to come and get ya."

She laughed and stood up. "I see how it goes. You made a fool of yourself, so it's my fault?" She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Typical male ego. Nothing is ever a man's fault is it? So, blame it on the inferior species, right?" There was a tone of anger and amusement in her voice.

"That's right. For a city girl, you sure are quick witted. You know that, don't you?"

She crossed her arms in front of her and because he deserved it, she punched him in his right shoulder, the one she knew was tender. He cried out and grabbed her arm. "What the hell was that for?"

She raised an eye brow. "Would you have rather gotten your little peanuts crunched into peanut butter?" She smirked and he released her.

"You're lucky you're a woman. I would've cracked you one. You're damn lucky I'm not your father, then I would've cracked you anyway."

She laughed and threw his hat at him. "Stay off your feet and drink water. Got it? I don't want to find you dead on the floor because you wanted to impress me again." She laughed again and walked to the front door. She ran a hand through her hair. "It was fun, Jessie. Real fun." Then, before she left, she turned back to him. "Just don't underestimate me anymore, got it?" With that, she walked out onto the porch.

"Country Lovin': Chapter Seven"