I was meeting my friend Jessica at the county fair. She was going to watch me barrel race my little mare, Brandy. I had just broken her enough to ride and taught her some about barrel racing and wanted to see how she would do at our local county fair. I had Brandy all cleaned up and her tack was shining from the back seat of my Ford truck. I had on my best pair of jeans, a cute hot pink western shirt with pearl snap buttons and my best boots. When I pulled into the fair, pulling my red horse trailer behind me I began looking for Jessica's car. I saw it parked up by the barn and she was leaned against the hood talking to two very handsome guys. One was tall and had long hair. He had a sweet smile and was looking at the ground more than at Jessica. The other was also tall but maybe a few inches shorter than the first. He had short cropped hair and his smile was more of a smirk. He looked Jessica in her eyes as she spoke to him. I parked my truck and waved to Jessica as I went around back and opened the trailer. Brandy, having been loaded and unloaded a few times knew the routine by now and began backing out of the trailer. I took her lead rope as she stepped softly onto the gravel driveway.
I led Brandy over to where Jessica and the two guys were. Jessica looked up and gave me her biggest smile, "Hey Aponi! I would like you to meet Sam and Dean!", she said as she gestured to first the taller of the two and then to the one that looked like he was always up to something. I stuck out my hand to Dean first. He shook it and said, "Hey nice horse." I nodded at him and then shook Sam's hand. His hand was so large that when he took mine it dwarfed it like you wouldn't believe. My green eyes met his hazel ones and he gave me a dazzling smile. Those dimples presented themselves and I felt my mouth go dry. He spoke in a quiet but oh so very sexy voice, "Aponi? But you don't look Native American." I lowered my eyes a little and smiled. "Yeah my grandmother on my dad's side was Cherokee. My mom was blonde so that's where I get the blonde hair and green eyes." Sam looked at me and I could see he approved. "Aponi means butterfly, right?", he said looking proud of himself. I looked up quickly at him. "No one ever knows that! How did you….?" Sam held up his hand, "I did a little studying about some of the Native American culture and then got interested in the unique names." I nodded as I heard a voice crackle over the loudspeakers calling for all the barrel racers to get signed in.
I pointed to the back of the barn. "Well they're calling me. It was nice to meet y'all.", I said but I never took my eyes from Sam's soft hazel ones. Jessica questioned, "Do you guys want to stick around and watch to see how Aponi does with Brandy? She just broke her and is trying her out for the first time today." I saw that Sam was very interested and Dean…well he was interested in whatever Jessica was interested in. The guys followed Jessica to find a seat in the bleachers and I went to get signed in. When that was finished I had to get Brandy tacked up. I tied her to the trailer and reached into the back seat to grab my saddle. When I turned around Sam was standing there smiling down at me. Now I'm scaring 5 feet tall to death on a good day. I smooth my blonde ponytail over my shoulder holding the saddle by the pommel in one hand. "Do you need some help?", Sam says and offers to take the saddle. "Nah I'm used to it.", I say as I walk to Brandy and throw the saddle onto her back. Sam stands beside Brandy's neck and watches with his hands in his pocket as I begin to cinch up the girth and make sure my stirrups are in the right notches and then I check the leather ties to make sure they're in good shape.
When I turn back around Sam is watching me with some kind of awe. "What?",I said and put my hands on my hips. Sam smiled almost shyly and looked down at the ground. "Nothing. It just amazes me to see you being so small and handling this huge horse and all of the stuff that goes with it as if it were nothing. How long have you been riding anyway?" "I don't mean to be rude but I've got to get Brandy ready and get to my place in line back there. I've been riding since before I could walk. My dad never let me be too girly. He said if I was going to ride horses I had to learn to not only tack them myself but I also had to break them.", I talked as I worked around Brandy and finished getting her ready. Sam watched me until I was finished. I stood in front of him, holding Brandy's reins in my hand when everything was ready to go. "I'm the 5th one to go.", I said looking up at him. Sam licked his lips and I inwardly groaned. Why did he have to do that? "Are you staying to watch?", I asked trying to keep my mind off of his perfect teeth and his lips and that damn tongue. "Yeah I'm going to go back over and sit with Dean and Jessica. I was giving them some time to get to know each other. They didn't even know I left." "Well ok I'll see you after then if you decide to stay.", I lay my hand on Sam's arm and smile at him. He leans down and kisses my cheek softly and chastely, "Good luck out there." My heart flutters like it's got butterfly wings and I nod.
I swing up onto Brandy and look down at Sam. He's smirking at me now and I realize that I had to turn my back to him to mount. He probably just got a clear view of my ass. I shook my head and kicked Brandy firmly in the side sending her swiftly to the other end of the arena. When I get in line I look into the crowd to see if I can spot Jessica and the guys. I saw Jessica sitting between the two. She already had her arm under Dean's and had it lying on his thigh. Sam sat beside her and when he saw me looking he waved. I smiled and gave a small wave back. I looked to see how many were left before it was my time to go. I had two left in front of me. I reached down and patted Brandy hoping to relieve some of her tension and mine. I wasn't nervous about doing the barrel racing but I was very nervous that Sam was watching.
Soon it was my time to run. I loped Brandy to the far back corner of the arena to give her a good running go. I knew the time wouldn't start until I broke the light barrier. When the buzzer sounded I dug my heels into Brandy's sides and she was off like a shot. We broke the barrier and turned to the left to make the first turn around the blue barrel. I leaned low over Brandy's neck and grabbed a handful of mane as we made the first turn. My knee brushed the barrel but it stayed upright. We were around that barrel and across the arena to the next barrel to make a right turn. Again I was low over Brandy's neck and she took the turn really well. Now last barrel, I took off like a shot to the front end of the arena toward the last barrel. We made another left hand turn and my knee brushed the barrel again. It began to tip but I reached out and placed my hand on top of it steadying it. It stayed upright so no penalties for me. Brandy and I were at a dead run now to the finish line. We had to get across that barrier to stop the clock. When the buzzer sounded on the other end I hauled on the reins and Brandy slid to a stop almost sitting on her behind. I wheeled her around to see what our score was. It was a 15.1, not the best ever but not shabby either.
I waited for the other three horses to run and then it was time for the awards. Brandy and I came out with a second place ribbon which I was pretty happy about. I rode her slowly back over to where my truck and trailer was trying to cool her down some. As I neared the trailer I saw Sam leaning against the bed of my truck. When I stopped beside the trailer and swung my leg over Brandy's hips and onto the ground I felt Sam's presence very close to me. I turned and he stepped close, pressing me against Brandy and crushed his mouth down on mine. I started to struggle until he wrapped his long arms around me and I lost all resolve. I let him kiss me, long and hard, our tongues doing a dance as old as time. When he finally broke the kiss he looked down at me, "That was the hottest thing I believe I've ever seen a woman do!" I licked my lips and blinked up at Sam. "That's….that's quite alright.", I stammered.