Birches, Cowgirls & Angels

Chapter Two-2

“Damn! He is hot!” Cissy whispered as she followed the cheeks of Hank’s tight ass as they walked out the stable’s back door.

“Yeah, he is,” Midge agreed.

This was a tough one to read for Midge. She was seriously afraid that Cissy would go after the guy. While most girls could ward off the competing advances of a best friend, it didn’t work that way with Cissy Riverton. If Midge made her feelings known about Hank, that would only double the redhead’s efforts to nab him. Even if Cissy’s schemes were unintentional ones, she’d managed to go after every guy Midge had wanted since they were fifteen. Though she hadn’t been successful with most of her attempted conquests, she had screwed with Midge’s love life too many times to count. And she wouldn’t now! As long as Midge had anything to say about it. Unfortunately, seeing Cissy’s eyes go straight for that cute behind, she was immediately worried.

“I thought you were dating Garth?” she asked.

“Oh, I am, but you know… it’s nothing serious. I can always keep looking.”

“Well, if you want the guy, I mean Garth, you should stick with him. He’s pretty special and he’s very interested in you. Of course, if you don’t want him, I could always…”

“Like hell you will! He’s mine!” Cissy snapped. “I’d never do that do a friend.”

Sure, Midge thought, though she didn’t say a word. Even with them pointed out, Cissy refused to see her flaws, obvious or otherwise.

“I thought I told you two to get this place cleaned up,” Amanda was unexpectedly on them, “I can’t afford to pay you wages if all you do is gab.”

“Sorry,” Midge said and she went back to work.

Amanda strode out of the stable hardly more pacified than when she went in.

“b***h!” Cissy seethed under her breath. “I can see why you hate her.”

“Shush!”

Cissy scowled and finally returned to work.

***

Midge came in early every day she could peel herself from bed by six o’clock. She figured being the early bird would only help her chances with Hank—since he was always in the stables by seven, usually by six, and Cissy never showed up until eight—and then, she often came wandering in just a few minutes late. Working in the stable, everyone was too busy to notice.

At seven every morning for a week, Midge met Hank in the ranch house kitchen where they shared a donut and coffee before they went to work. They traveled a lot of territory in their early morning conversations, covering all the details new friends share until all the basics are pretty much out of the way. Midge was fast moving to the second step of their relationship, tiptoeing around more personal subjects, like girlfriends, and opinions on love and life and aspirations. Hank was a great talker and pretty open for a guy. Though he didn’t make any bones of his cowboy nature. “I’m probably the last of a dying breed when it comes to women,” he told her.

“And that means?” Midge asked curiously.

“Old-fashioned.”

“How’s that? There are lots of old-fashioned guys around here, could mean all kinds of things.”

“Well…” he paused to think. He was never the type to jump right in, and Midge liked that kind of thoughtfulness. They were sitting on the ranch house porch finishing their coffee, staring out at the paddocks and stables, hearing the sound of their charges calling to them—though Hank had already fed the animals earlier that morning. “I guess it means that I’m a real man, not some meek little kitten who lets his woman lead him around. I couldn’t take that—in fact, I won’t. Truth is, I like the idea of being in charge….”

“And women submitting?” Midge jumped in when he hesitated to finish the thought.

“Yeah, submitting, that’s a good word, even though few women want it spoken anywhere near them. I’m surprised you said it.”

“It doesn’t bother me.”

“Really?” he looked interested in her reply, enough to view the pretty brunette with a little more respect. “You’re saying you’re not some ball-busting b***h?” He looked toward Amanda Plover who’d just rode in from her morning ride, as if to suggest she was the prime example of ball-busting b***h.

“Ooo, never. My daddy would have whupped me pretty good if I had shown signs of that. Bred that headstrong steak right out of me,” she smiled demurely—speaking only half the truth. She was known to be as manipulative and stubborn as her best friend; just in her own way.

He raised his eyebrows, obviously impressed.

“And when you’re grown up?”

“Oh, I imagine if I gave him cause even now, he’d paddle my behind.”

“Would he, now?” The edge of his lip drew into a sexy snicker. “So, you’d take that kind of treatment from a boyfriend?”

Her face broke into a rosy blush of embarrassment, “I might,” she conceded.

“How novel,” he remarked, though his further interest in the topic was abruptly cut short as Amanda called the trainer from the stable. “Are you planning to work or snooze today?”

“I’m on my way, boss,” he said jumping up. “You’d better get going, too,” he reminded Midge. Just as the two were getting up, Cissy’s truck pulled into the yard, her eyes immediately noting the cozy pair walking from the ranch house toward the stables. Midge was smiling broadly until she glanced at the odd look on Cissy’s face. There wasn’t a word said between them other than a hasty, hi, as they headed to separate buildings for the morning

***

Hank and Amanda sat across the desk inside the stable office going over ledger sheets, performance reviews, and evaluations of individual horses.

“I need to make these figures look a little better,” she announced with an exasperated sigh.

“Give me an evening with them, I can make them look a whole lot better,” he replied, a little light-hearted chortle in his voice.

“I’m sure you could,” she came back wryly. “But I am serious.” She stared down thoughtfully. “What about those two, Midge and Cissy. Are they even worth my time?”

“You need to get the job done, that’s a given. Whether it’s those two you keep on, I can’t say.” He thought a minute. “But don’t worry, I’ll make them worth your time or blow them out.”

“Good.”

“And the new mare you purchased? You sure that was wise?”

“Positive. I know good horses. She’s prime.”

“I need a few more prime animals around here.”

“Don’t look so somber. The world is not coming to an end.”

“Maybe yours isn’t.”

“Never thought you were a fatalist.”’

“I’m usually not…” she brooded, then shook her head. “Things are just getting to me.” She wouldn’t say what—like Jake Colton to be exact. Something about that conversation of a week ago she couldn’t shake. She’d never met a man who had the balls to speak to her the way he did. Was it admiration she was feeling? She was forcing back her feelings about that clash, afraid to really look and see what was there.

Hank was about to console her more, but there was suddenly so much commotion going on outside the closed office door that both of them bolted out to look.

“You friggin’, lying, b***h,” Cissy Riverton snarled, pushing Midge McKenna’s shoulder hard enough that the brunette stumbled off balance.

Midge recouped quickly and went after her, flying towards her head, grabbing a fistful of hair. “You conniving tramp!”

The two were tussling on the ground by the time Amanda and Hank pulled them off.

“What the hell’s going on!” Hank was furious. Holding Midge tightly at the shoulders, the angry young woman was struggling against a grip too steely for her to break.

At the same time, Amanda had a firm grasp on Cissy Riverton. “Let me go!” the young woman wailed.

“Not until you tell us what you’re doing,” Amanda snarled.

The two angry women refused to say a word, but glared, eyes shooting daggers.

Midge tried again to shake loose of Hank’s grasp, her temper moving her far beyond reason.

Hank, pissed-off, abruptly turned the young woman around, clutching her under his left arm, while his right hand pelted Midge’s denim-covered behind.

“Ouch! Ow, ow, yeeeeeeouch! No!” she cried.

“You don’t stop your hollering I’m not stopping,” the inspired Hank informed her tersely.

After another few swats, Midge finally eased. “I’m sorry, please.” Her struggling ceased, but not the nasty sting inside her pants.

Hank stopped, turned her around, but didn’t let her go.

“See what you get for being such a b***h!” Cissy sassed.

“Oh, I think you’re going to get exactly what your friend here got,” Amanda informed her.

“Like hell!” Cissy snapped back.

“You want your job, you get spanked, too.”

“But it’s her fault.”

“I don’t care who’s at fault. You’re both grown women and you know better. But, since you choose to act like children, that’s exactly how we’ll treat you.”

Amanda pushed her toward Hank, who, letting go of Midge, put the cocky redhead under his arm, and repeated the treatment he’d given her friend.

It was Midge’s turn to gloat.

“Make sure she feels it,” Amanda said. “I have a feeling this one started it.”

“I did not!” Cissy blared.

The comment only inspired the determined cowboy.

“Ouch, so, stop, pleeeeeessssss……” Hank’s broad flat palm packed a mean punch, his swats focusing on the round centers of Cissy’s cheeks making certain they burned, regardless of how well-padded they were inside her blue jeans.

She was soon apologizing as though her life depended on it, “Please, ouch, no, I’m sorry.”

“You’re damn right you are!” Hank added. He laid on another few meaningful swats. And when he finally stopped, both were out of breath.

“Now, I’ll see you in my office,” Amanda snarled. “We have a few things to discuss.”

Minutes later, Midge and Cissy, still glaring—though much less overtly—stood stock still in front of Amanda’s desk, Hank behind them just for good measure. His arms were crossed, his face as grim as an itinerant preacher’s on Sunday morning. There was no sheepish, sexy grin anywhere around. And there wouldn’t be.

“I should fire you both,” Amanda started.

“No!” Cissy immediately interrupted.

Amanda fixed her with a lethal stare. “I didn’t ask you to speak.”

“I’m sorry,” she backed off.

“I should fire you both,” Amanda started again. “I’ve never had any employee, ever, act so irresponsibly as you two have. I trust this is just an isolated incident. It will not happen again. And, if there is any intimation of another confrontation, you’ll both be dismissed. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” they both managed to rely.

“That is, yes, ma’am. I think I’m due a little more respect around here.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Midge promptly corrected herself, while Cissy followed with a belated mumble.

“Hank,” Amanda looked to the man behind them, “you’ll keep an eye on these two. If necessary you can repeat the spanking—though if they need it again, be sure it’s with their pants down.” She eyed the two a moment longer. “Now get busy, you have a morning’s work to get done before you can take a break.”

Midge and Cissy fled the room fast, moving quickly in opposite directions. Brushing past Hank, an embarrassed Midge couldn’t even look at him she was so ashamed of herself.

Later that afternoon, Midge was tossing hay into a feed trough. Though there was no sting left on her behind—that had disappeared almost within minutes—her feelings were still smarting from the humiliatingly public scene with Cissy. She ran it through her mind a dozen times, trying to figure out what went wrong, but she couldn’t shake the truth that she’d been just plain jealous when she went after Cis.

That morning she’d arrived at the ranch, quarter till seven, sure she’d have plenty of time with Hank alone, only to find that Cissy had arrived first. The little tart was batting her eyelashes, sidling up to the cowboy as though the two were old friends. When Midge walked in on the scene, she felt like an intruder in the middle of an intimate moment. How could she! How could her best friend be so damned obvious?

Though she’d expected the move all along, knowing Cissy so well; it was still a shock to see her friend’s manipulative schemes right there before her eyes. She certainly didn’t waste any time.

Midge fumed, putting a good deal of emotional energy into pitching hay from one stall to the next, until she turned about finding Hank staring at her amusedly.

“Little pissed, are we? Thought I knocked some sense into you.”

She blushed, her anger having immediately disappeared seeing Hank’s handsome face replace the vengeful picture of Cissy in her mind.

“I’m so sorry; that was completely stupid.”

“You want to tell me what’s got you so riled.”

Oh, damn! This was bad. What could she say? “I-I, uh,” she stammered much too long. “Ah……we have a few differences of opinion.”

He nodded pensively as though he was thinking her upset might be something else. “Just wondered.”

“We’ve been friends for years.”

“Have you?” He almost seemed a little surprised. “Cissy always try to take your boyfriends away?”

Her blush expanded until her whole face felt as though it was throbbing. Her ears were hot and she knew she was red as a beet.

“Am I wrong?”

“About her taking my boyfriends away? No,” she conceded.

“Well, you really shouldn’t worry, Midge. If I were choosing between you two, I’d certainly pick you over that package of trouble.”

“You would?”

“Hell, yes. You’re a hell of a lot softer than she’ll ever be.”