Chelsea's heart began to race as Vaughn pushed her up against the wall. She closed her eyes as the herd of cattle thundered past. After the dust had settled she opened her eyes to see a very unimpressed looking cowboy. His purple eyes shot daggers, "And what do you think you're doing?" he harshly asked.

She shrugged. "I just thought I would come see where you worked."

Vaughn sighed. He was still standing with his feet and arms on either side of her. She looked cute, even when she was guilty. She was rubbing the toes of her boots together, which he had noticed she would do when she was nervous. She glanced up at him with her puppy dog eyes and a pouting lip. He felt his face flush and felt the impulse to kiss her. He quickly looked away and began to walk towards the gate.

She stayed on his heels and smiled as he mumbled, "Well I guess since you came all this way you can stay."

He showed her the house and took her things to his room. "You're staying in here. I'll take the couch for the next few days."

She smiled. "Thanks! I promise I'll help out while I'm here."

He nodded and left the room. As soon as he closed the door she started to investigate. It was very simple and clean room. She was relieved to have not seen any pictures of a girlfriend, but she realized that there wasn't any of family either. She frowned and ran her hand over his dresser. One of the drawers was open a little and she hesitated a moment, but her curiosity got the better of her and she slid it open. She blushed when she saw that it was his underwear drawer and almost slammed it shut, when something in the corner caught her eye. There was a red bandana, just like the one she wore, tucked into the back. She reached out for it as he knocked on the door.

"Hey supper is ready." He waited a moment and lifted his hand to knock again when the door flew open. She smiled up at him and they walked to the kitchen together. She gasped when she saw the food on the table.

"Wow you made all of this?"

"Well yeah, working on a ranch takes a lot of energy."

"But it looks so fancy!"

He blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Well I might have put a little more work into it since I have company."

"Aww how sweet of you!" She smiled and sat down. "Well let's dig in!"

A slight smile crossed his lips as he sat down across from her.

He was a little surprised to see how well she worked with animals. He knew that she a few on her farm, but she had already brushed the entire herd that morning. He walked over to her and asked, "Where did you learn how to take care of animals so well?"

She continued to brush as she replied, "Well I have Betsy and I guess she likes the same things these cows do." She giggled, "I haven't gotten any complaints yet."

He nodded. "Maybe you have a gift." He patted the cow and walked off.

She smiled as she watched him walk away. It was the first time he had complemented her. He always acted standoffish, but she knew that he was sweet deep down. He never refused to help her if she asked for something and he seemed to be warming up to her more and more. She had been bringing him milk from her farm on the days that he was in town and she noticed that he had started waiting for her if she was ever running behind. Sure there were other guys around, but there was something about him that enchanted her. Her favorite thing was when he smiled. He always tried to be serious, but sometimes he would forget. Her next goal was to get him to laugh.

It was an unbelievably hot day. With the extra help on the ranch he was relieved that all of the chores got done early. He walked into the house and heard the water running in the bathroom. He started to walk towards the door when it swung open. She was standing there in a red and white checkered bikini. His face turned the same color as the red bandana she was wiping her forehead with.

She smiled and said, "Oh I was just coming to get you. Since its so hot today and we're done with everything I figured we should go down to the beach! You do have a swimsuit, right?"

He nodded and mumbled, "Yeah I'll go get it." He tried to get his heart to stop racing, but he couldn't get the image of her out of his head.

He changed and walked out onto the porch.

She looked up at him and it was her turn to blush. She had never seen him without his hat, let alone without a shirt. He was rather muscular from working on the ranch and she thought of what it would be like to be swept up in his arms.

His voice brought her out of the fantasy, "Are you ready?"

She nodded and walked down to the beach by his side.

At first he was reluctant to get into the water. He tried to just stay on the beach, but she eventually got tired of asking him to get in and resorted to force. She seized his wrists and grunted as she tried to pull him into the surf. He sighed and got to his feet. She grabbed a hold of his arm and continued to pull as he unwillingly walked into the water. She let go and started to splash him. Irritated he just stood there and took it. She stopped and frowned, he resembled an unhappy wet cat. He glared at her from under his dripping wet silver bangs. She hung her head then screamed as a huge splash hit her. She looked up to see him with an evil smirk, poised and ready to splash her again. They began to battle and then it happened; he started to laugh. She blushed and swore that it was the cutest thing she had ever heard. She started to run away from him, but he pursued her. When she glanced back she lost her footing and fell backwards onto the beach. Surprised, he tripped and fell over of her. He caught himself before their heads collided, but just barely. With their faces so close they blushed and he felt the urge to kiss her again. He started to lean towards her lips when he saw something red out of the corner of his eye. She must have caught her arm on a rock when she fell. There was a small stream of blood dripping from her arm and he sat straight up.

"You're bleeding!"

She looked down at her arm and laughed. "It's just a scratch, I'll survive."

He shook his head. "Well we should head back and get it wrapped it up anyways." He got to his feet and held out his hand for her. She took it and was pleasantly surprised when he didn't let go.

He tried not to think about how nicely her hand fit into his while they walked. He tried to convince himself that the only reason he was holding on was so she wouldn't fall again.

After bandaging Chelsea's wound they changed into dry clothes and sat together on the porch. Vaughn noticed that she was sitting closer to him than she usually did and awkwardly fumbled for her hand. Realizing what he was trying to do she interlocked her fingers in his and squeezed. They sat there in silence for a while watching the cattle graze. Chelsea took a deep breath and scooted closer to Vaughn. When she was close enough she laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. She felt him stiffen at first, but then he seemed to relax. Her skin prickled as he started to make small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb.

"Vaughn?"

Her voice seemed sweeter than usual to him. "Yes?"

"Thanks for today."

He chuckled. "But I haven't done anything."

She nodded and sat up. Her face was just inches away from him again. "I had a lot of fun with you."

"Yeah, I um had fun too." He noticed how soft her lips looked.

"I hope I'm not causing you too much grief by staying here."

He shook his head. "No. It's been . . . nice. Nobody has ever come to see me on my ranch before." She smiled and he started to lean towards her.

Chelsea blushed as Vaughn's lips came closer to hers. She was nervous, it was her first kiss after all, but she was glad that it would be with him. She closed her eyes and she heard the phone ring.

Vaughn froze. The phone was ringing inside and he couldn't ignore it in case it was a customer. Caught in the momentum of the moment he did manage to quickly kiss Chelsea on the forehead before running in to answer it.

Chelsea's heart raced. It wasn't what she was expecting, but he did kiss her. Surely that meant that he really did have feelings for her.

Vaughn did his best to focus on the phone call, but he kept replaying the moment he had just had with her in his mind over and over. He had never felt so strongly for anyone before in his life. He had kissed her, maybe not like he wanted, but he did and she didn't pull away.