The last time she had been home was almost five years ago, right after she graduated college. As expected, she was killing it at work and quickly moving up the corporate ladder. Most of the time she thought it wasn't really her, but rather the persona she portrayed that caught her male co-workers off-guard and allowed her to take advantage. Flip the script, reverse the role, curse like a sailor, and use her sex appeal, they never expected it from a woman and it worked every time. She was ruthless, a trait ingrained in her from her childhood, from this place.
She hated this place. Every few years she'd muster up the courage to come back, and every few years she regretted it instantly. There was something though that drew her back here. It wasn't her father, and it wasn't the ranch, it was him, although she would never tell anyone that. As she pulled up the driveway there was that recurring sense of dread. She worried that maybe this time he wouldn't want her, that he finally found someone else, that after all these years of her pushing him away he had moved on. As she put the car in park she pushed those feelings down where they belonged, hidden, for only her to know. She stepped out of her car, eyes fixed on the house in front of her, not allowing herself to scan the premises looking for him.
"Daddy," she yelled as she stepped inside, "I'm home."
"Beth! I didn't know you were coming. Why can't you call first? If you called, I could make sure that your brothers were here and we could actually celebrate - since it seems you only come home every three years or so," her father John replied exasperated.
"Well daddy, if I called first you'd be disappointed because I'd probably lose the nerve to come shortly after I made the call. Anyway I'm here now and don't really give a fuck about seeing my brothers, I just came to see you."
"Well, isn't that nice sweetheart," John said with a heavily sarcastic tone. "Anyway, there's a lot going on around here, a lot to catch you up on. Take a seat."
It was always this way when she was home. Business. The land was always threatened. Someone who wanted it, someone who claimed it as theirs, and someone who was coming to take it. And so the endless cycle continued, the nonstop fight to protect the land. To be honest, it wasn't even theirs in the first place and she certainly intended to sell it the moment she had the chance to, but for now, she would sit and listen. Her father told her of the planned developments, how the city and state were trying to divide the land, and his plans to protect it. And then he mentioned his name, and suddenly she was interested.
"Wait, what did you say?" Beth asked.
"I said…I decided it was best to make Rip foreman. He's been here for almost 15 years, Beth. There's no one else that knows this ranch inside and out like he does and really no one else I can trust."
"Rip. As foreman?" Beth replied with a sense of shock in her voice.
"I thought you would be happy for him. Weren't you friends all those years ago? It's a great job, better pay, he got out of that bunkhouse. Can start to make a life for himself. He deserves it."
"No, that's great Daddy. I'm happy for him and you're right there's no one else that you can trust with this," Beth said, still taking in the news. It was true, she was happy for him, but at the same time, it felt like change, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. Rip was always reliable, always here. She left, she changed, but when she came back home he was the same, and so they were able to easily fall into their rhythm. She wondered if this would change that.
"Well it's getting late I'm gonna call it a night. Glad you're home. Next time a call first would be nice." With that John kissed his daughter on the forehead and headed upstairs to turn in for the night.
Beth sat in the study, her head still spinning from the new information. She kept coming back to one fact though - Rip was out of the bunkhouse because Rip was the foreman, which meant Rip had his own cabin. She laughed to herself, all these years of sneaking around she figured someone would've caught on, yet they hadn't, or worse, they had, and decided it was so wrong they wouldn't acknowledge it. She understood, she was the boss's daughter and he was a kid from the wrong side of the tracks that landed here without a penny to his name. Nonetheless, they were connected, both held secrets they could only tell each other, and so it worked, at least as much as she would allow it to. But he knew how she felt, at least she hoped he did. It was their language, unspoken, but still there.
She looked at the clock, it was getting late. He would typically be making last rounds through the barn, checking on the horses before turning in for the night. She wondered if he would still do that with his new job, he always said it was his favorite part of the day. Although, she laughed to herself, he may have just said that because when she was home that was usually when she would come see him.
She took a deep breath, stood up, and grabbed her jacket, "Fuck it, might as well check and see," and with that she headed to the barn.
As she walked down the path she saw the lights on inside the barn and hoped it was him doing final rounds. There was always the awkward hellos, the part where they weren't quite sure how they were supposed to act. They only talked when she was home so there was always the brief catch-up - "How are you?" "What have you been up to?" He would ask her about her life in the city and she would follow-up with questions about the ranch. You know, the customary conversation. And then there was the pause…the moment where they tried to read each other, to understand if they were picking up right from where they left off last time or if something had changed. Nothing ever changed, he was always the same and she always came back for one thing, him. It would start with a glance, a silent understanding, and he would cross the threshold and kiss her. It always set off fireworks inside of her, passion that she yearned for, that she could never find with anyone else. But they didn't have sex like they were in love, that would be too real. So they fucked. Hard and fast. Usually it was in one of the stalls, sometimes in the tack room that Rip used to call home before he moved into the bunkhouse. There's not a lot of privacy on the ranch so they took what they could get and stole minutes alone here and there while she was home. Then, when it started to feel real, when it started to feel like they would have to discuss it, she left.
"I thought I might find you here, Cowboy," Beth called from the end of the barn.
Rip jerked his head up, he knew that voice anywhere. It had been so many years since he last heard it he'd begun to wonder if she was ever coming back home. "Well, look who it is. You get stuck in that web you're always spinning? Couldn't find your way out to come back home?" He said with a smirk. "What has it been, three years?"
"Closer to 5, but who's counting," Beth said, matching his smile as she walked into the barn. It hit her then, it had been awhile. He looked different, older. No longer the baby face she was accustomed to. His face was now covered with a beard and looked weathered by the sun. He looked taller, broader. He was a man now, not the teen she had first met, or the young man she last saw. He was a full fledged man, and God did he look good.
"Well, welcome back. You look good honey," Rip drawled as he scanned her body and then turned to continue with his work.
It was something about that voice - deep, gravelly, powerful. Then he turned it on its head and called her honey with such sweetness. No one else could get away with that, she wasn't anyone's honey. But she had always been his.
While she usually loved to watch him work, she expected more of a response after five years. "What's this you got a big promotion and now you're all business - can't step away to give me a proper hello?" Beth teased.
"Beth, with you, I never know what a proper hello is. Plus, I'm trying to get this done as quickly as possible tonight." Rip replied.
Her heart sank, things have changed, she sensed it. He never had anywhere to be, usually dropped everything the moment she arrived to have their customary banter so they could have sex. This was different. "Places to be?" she asked cautiously.
"Sure seems like it now that you're standing here in front of me," he replied with a smile.
Beth let out a breath she didn't realize she was still holding. "Presumptuous aren't we?" she joked back.
"Well, I don't see a ring on that finger, so it seems like you're mine while you're here. But as you said, I am in charge now, so let me finish this. We can catch up in the meantime."
And with that they settled into their conversation. It was funny how easy it flowed after all this time, two old friends catching up like they never missed a beat. But as the conversation continued she wanted him more and more and sitting there watching him work was torture. She didn't drive for hours for a chat; she wanted to feel him against her, his lips on hers.
After what felt like an eternity she stood up and walked into the stall he was working in. "You can't possibly be this slow, you've been doing this for 15 years. I'd think you would have mastered it by now," she said with a venomous tone. "I didn't drive here from Utah to watch you work while we catch up on our mundane lives."
Rip turned around slowly, his eyes zeroing in on hers, "then what did you come here for?" he asked, taking a step towards her.
This was better, she had his attention now. "You know what I came here for."
"No, I want you to say it Beth," he whispered, "tell me what you want."
This was a new side of him, stronger, powerful, confident. She loved it. "I drove here from Utah because all I could think of for the last few weeks is how good it feels when you fuck me. So that's what I want Rip."
Almost instantly his lips were on hers and his body was pushing her back towards the wall. She hit the side of the stall with a thud but didn't care. She needed to feel him against her. She felt alive for the first time in a long time. Their hands were everywhere, trying to pull the other as close as possible. Rip deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue across her lips, begging for entrance, which she quickly granted. She moaned into his mouth. God she had missed this. After all these years it was still like a well choreographed dance, they just simply fell back into their rhythm. He knew what she needed and moved his knee between her legs holding her to the wall and allowing her to grind into him. He kissed down her neck pausing to suck right above her collarbone which he knew drove her crazy and then he heard her laugh, not exactly the response he was expecting.
"What are you laughing at?" Rip asked out of breath and looking at Beth confused.
"Nothing, don't stop," Beth replied quickly, trying to pull Rip back to her neck.
"No, I want to know what you're laughing at. I'm sure you've been with a lot of people that are more sophisticated than me but you're the one that came here, the least you can do is not laugh while you try to get off on fucking the help," Rip quipped clearly annoyed, but if Beth wasn't mistaken, also hurt.
"Where the fuck is that coming from?" Beth demanded. "You're right there's plenty of people I can fuck in the city but I came here because I want you," she paused, "and I laughed because I'm not used to your fucking beard, it tickled."
Rip put his head on Beth's shoulder and laughed, his insecurities melting away. "Sorry honey, where were we?"
"I think you were going to make me come," Beth replied, pulling Rip's lips back to hers.
"Mmm that sounds right," Rip moaned and slid his tongue back into Beth's mouth.
Beth began to once again grind on Rip's thigh as he slid his hands from her waist up to her chest. He had quickly started to unbutton her blouse, desperate to kiss her breasts and aching to be inside of her, when she grabbed his face to look him in the eyes.
"I don't want you here," Beth said matter of factly. Rip looked at her confused and clearly frustrated. Based on the bulge she felt against her thigh, she could tell just how frustrated he was. "We've fooled around in here for years. I don't want to be fucked against some wall in the barn." As Rip was about to protest, Beth brought her mouth to Rip's ear and whispered "take me to your bed, foreman."
He had never heard anything sexier. He'd never had a bed to take her to before, not really anyway. The tack room had a mat on the floor but anyone could come into the barn at anytime and the bunkroom, well that was never really an option. He would never hear the end of it if the boys saw them and worse John would probably fire him, or kill him. They always had to rush, hoping no one would come in, hoping no one would find them. Now he realized they could finally have time together. He'd be able to touch her, and look at her, and savor her all night long.
"Yes, let's go to my bed," Rip said as he kissed her. Then he grabbed her hand and led them from the barn, to his cabin, to his bed.