They often fell asleep under the stars and woke up just before sunrise, which was always an absolutely magical experience. On the nights they didn't spend under the stars, Jesse was sure to climb the tree right behind her and walk the tree limb back to her balcony before telling her good night. It was always very romantic. Unfortunately, this particular morning was rushed, something neither of them liked very much all. They much preferred leisurely mornings before having to go their separate ways for the day.

Jesse had to get back to the stables to feed and water all the horses before letting them out to pasture, mucking stalls and taking the hay delivery. On top of all his normal daily tasks he had to do, his father asked him to help prepare a few things for a couple of locals who were coming for riding lessons. He wasn't real happy about that part because it meant more time away from Beca, but he couldn't very well say no to his dad. Besides he had a plan to make up for the extra time away from Beca. After seeing her throw the brush and hitting her desired target, the back of Luke's head, Jesse knew exactly what their afternoon activity was going to be.

When they arrived at the stables, Beca gave Jesse a quick hug and a peck on the lips before she ran into the house. She quickly took a shower, brushed her hair and teeth and got dressed. As she passed through the kitchen she grabbed some muffins and juice then went back out to the stables to help Jesse with the horses. When she walked into the stable, poor Jesse couldn't help but think, "Damn, she's wearing another pair of those fuckin' booty shorts! She's killing me slowly but surely!"

"So, what do you want to do this afternoon?" Beca asked.

"Well…I was thinking that I'd take you out to the creek for target practice."

"Target practice?"

"Yeah…I was gonna line up some cans and let you shoot'em."

"Shoot cans?" she said with a mouth full of muffin.

"Yeah, after seeing you hit Luke in the back of the head with Whiskey's brush, I think it's time we move on to the heavy artillery."

She chuckled, "Do you really think it's wise to put a gun in my hand?"

"Yes, I do actually." He laughed, "We're gonna practice for deer season."

Her eyes got wide and she choked on a piece of muffin, "You want me to shoot a deer?"

"Yep!"

"Nuh uh. Not happening." She said shaking her head.

"Why not?"

"I can't kill Bambi."

"But…you eat deer, right?"

"Yes, I eat deer but that's only because I didn't kill it, my dad did."

"Oh come on babe…you can do anything you set your mind to."

"Are you gonna show me how?"

"Yeah. You expect me to put a shotgun in your hand and say have at it?"

"Well no, but I didn't expect that you would want me to go huntin' with you either."

"Sure I do. It's something fun that we can do together."

She smiled, "So, we're going to have huntin' dates?"

"Yeah, and if you're good at it, I'll teach you to hunt hogs with a bow too."

"Really?" she squealed as she threw her arms around his neck. "This is actually kinda exciting. My mom is gonna shit a ton of brick when she finds out."

"She doesn't have to know if you don't what her to."

"Oh, I want her to know. Rae can be her perfect little pageant queen and I'll be the camo wearin' huntin' queen!" she said excitedly.

Jesse bent down to kiss her then said "There's my girl." and kissed her again.

While Beca grew to all of about 5'2" and suddenly stopped for no reason, her little sister Rae was easily 5'7" and was the total opposite of Beca. Rae had blonde hair and blue eyes like her mother and was a total girly girl. She liked the color pink, shopping and pretty manicured nails. She owned a horse that she never rode, she was always dressed to the nines and her room was by far the girliest room in the entire house. It was full of flowers and things that sparkled. Rae's motto was "the more sparkle, the better!" Beca swore that she got the hives every time she stepped into that room. It was for that reason that she never stayed in there very long.

Beca, on the other hand, had long chestnut hair and gorgeous sapphire blue eyes, that Jesse swore stopped traffic. She was very musically inclined, loved reading, riding her horse, writing music, playing guitar and piano. She was a real outdoorsy type and hated being cooped up in the house. She was not above getting dirty and didn't expect people to wait on her hand and foot like Rae did. She hated shopping, unless it meant a new pair of cowboy boots and jeans. Her room was soothing; full of gem and Earthy tones. Her four poster bed and other furniture was cherry wood and wrought iron. The wrought iron made the bed just feminine enough for her without going overboard but the suede and leather bedding set and raw hide rugs on the floor made her room really feel like an extension of her and her personality. Her mother and sister absolutely hated her room, which she was fine with because it meant that they wouldn't spend very much time in there.

A few minutes later they set the horses to pasture so they could muck the stalls and get ready for the two students Charlie had coming for riding lessons. When Jesse told Beca that the riding students were girls she couldn't help but feel a little jealous and green with envy. She hoped that the girls were either really young or really ugly. They laughed and joked while working but Beca's mind was on the girls that would be arriving soon.

As they finished mucking the stalls, the students walked into the stables. Beca wiped the sweat from her brow as she looked up and muttered, "Well shit!" The girls were about her age, maybe a little younger, very leggy and both drop dead gorgeous. One was a tall brunette, about 5'9" with beautiful eyes with legs that went on for days. The other was a tall blonde, about 5'7" with medium length hair and long legs. They were both wearing traditional riding gear; white shirt, khaki riding pants, black jacket and knee high boots and they were carrying their helmets.

"Well…I'm screwed." She thought. "They're both tall and gorgeous; they're bound to hit on Jesse and he'll love it!" She no sooner processed the thought when she noticed that both girls were oogling over Jesse. Charlie saw the girls and immediately introduced himself, Jesse and Beca.

"Good Morning and Welcome to Robicheaux Plantation and Ranch." Charlie told the girls, "My name is Charlie and I'll be your riding instructor. This is my oldest son Jesse and his best friend Beca. Beca is the eldest daughter of Rhett "Tripp" Robicheaux, III, owner of this fine ranch." Charlie said as he motioned to the land with arms opened wide. "As you may or may not know, Robicheaux Plantation was best known for being the highest producing cotton plantation in Louisiana. We now have the largest horse ranch in Louisiana and we're best known for our first class riding lessons as well as being one of the largest therapeutic riding centers in the South."

By this point the girls were looking completely bored out of their minds and Beca had Charlie to thank for that. She was counting on Charlie on distract the girls, not bore them with worthless facts. Instead they tuned him out and continued to stare holes into Jesse. They would laugh and giggle to themselves while looking directly at Jesse and whispering to each other. They were drooling over him.

The brunette introduced herself as Stacie and the blonde was Aubrey. Charlie continued to go on and on about safety, the importance of wearing a helmet while riding and the proper clothing etc.. But the girls couldn't have cared less; they wanted a piece of Jesse bad but then again what red blooded woman didn't. He was a mighty fine piece of eye candy…her eye candy. Beca was starting to fume and her body was extremely rigid. Jesse, sensing her extreme dislike for the girls, placed his hand on the small of her back just as he had done the week before when Luke showed up and pulled his little stunt. At his touch she began to relax.

"Oh honey…you got a little dribble right there at the corner of your mouth; might wanna take care of that…it's not attractive." Beca said to the girl named Aubrey.

Aubrey looked at her with total shock and disgust as she wiped the corner of her mouth while Stacie snickered.

Charlie gave Beca a look of disbelief then motioned for the girls to follow him to where the horses were. When they were out of sight, Jesse turned to Beca and said,"If I didn't know any better, I'd say someone was jealous."

She smacked him on the chest, "Shut up."

He laughed, "My little green eyed monster."

"My eyes aren't green." She pouted.

"Au contraire little lady, they are the most beautiful shade of emerald right now."

"I'm not jealous." She folded her arms.

"But you are... it's actually cute."

"I wasn't trying to be cute. And since when do you know French?"

He looked around, put his hand on her abdomen and gently pushed her against the wall of the stable before sneaking long a kiss. When he broke their kiss Beca groaned. "And that my sweet, is the extent of the French I know." He said very proud of himself

"Wow!" She looked at him in shock. "You know they were totally eye-fucking you."

"But I don't care about them."

"I do. They're going to do whatever it takes to get in your pants."

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes, I trust you. I don't trust them."

Looking her in the eyes, he said, "Then trust me when I say, I'm not interested in either one of them. Nothing is going to happen. I promise."

"Ok." She said putting her head down in a mock pout, embarrassed that she was feeling territorial about him.

"Hey" He said lifting her chin so he could kiss her. "I promise…I won't hurt you."

"I know." She said giving him a quick hug. "Go help your dad. I'll see you later." He kissed her forehead and turned to walk away. As she walked away she suddenly got an idea.

"Hey" she said. He turned around to look at her.

"Saddle up Whiskey for me?" she asked with an evil little grin and a glint of mischief in her eyes.

"Sure. You goin' ridin' right now?"

"Hell yeah I am." She said with an evil grin "I'm gonna show those bitches how it's done!"

"You got it babe!" he said with a grin that matched hers.

Jesse saddled Whiskey while Beca watched his muscles ripple as he moved. The man was sexier than any man she'd ever seen, including Luke. All the girls in town just fawned over Luke. He was the typical blonde haired, blue eyed Ken Barbie-esque type guy. He looked more like he was from California than small town Louisiana. Beca would be lying if she said he wasn't good looking but comparing him and Jesse was about as pointless as comparing a Clydesdale to a miniature donkey.

Once Whiskey was ready to go, Jesse helped Beca to mount up. When he did he was sure to give her a quick kiss before putting a hand on her butt when he gave her a boost. This little act wasn't lost on Beca, she rather enjoyed it.

"Meet me back here in a couple hours?" he asked.

"Sure thing Cowboy." He kissed her thigh before she rode off. She was the smallest person living on the ranch and she owned the largest horse but Whiskey definitely knew who was boss. It was really quite amazing. He watched her as she caught Stacie and Aubrey's eye. They watched as she showed off her riding and jumping abilities. The girls were staring daggers into her and if those looks could kill, Beca would have fallen off Whiskey and he would have trampled her to death.

The girls continued to watch as Beca rode toward the barrels. Stacie smirked at Aubrey, "No way that bitch can barrel race! I hope she falls flat on her pretty little face."

Aubrey laughed, "That would totally make my day especially since she took such pleasure in embarrassing me earlier."

The girls were impressed when Beca and Whiskey cleared the first set of barrels. She definitely had their attention and they were just waiting with baited breath for her to screw up. She cleared the second and third sets of barrels in record time. Aubrey and Stacie were extremely disappointed when she hadn't made one mistake. Neither Beca nor Whiskey had touched a single barrel. She made the entire exercise look completely effortless which really boiled their blood.

"Little show off!" Stacie mumbled only loud enough for Aubrey to hear.

As much as Charlie tried to keep their attention, he couldn't the girls were too caught up on what Beca was doing to really concentrate on what he was telling them to do. And because they were beginners, they weren't really doing anything more than riding the horses in a huge circle anyway.

When Beca saw the girls riding back to the stables, she also rode in. There was no way she wasn't going to be around when they were around Jesse. They were gonna find out real quick that he was taken even if that meant that Charlie found out about their little romance.

She had to laugh when Charlie made them bathe and brush the horses before bringing them back to their stalls. Charlie told them that "bathing the horses was part of the riding lesson." The girls just looked at him like he was crazy. He handed each of them a bucket of warm water and shampoo, a brush and comb then told them to "get after it" and "if you do it wrong, you'll do it until you've done it right." That sent Beca into a fit of laughter, which the girls did not appreciate at all. She stood back and watched as the prim and proper princesses bathed the horses while making faces. She took way too much pleasure in their disgust.

A/N: This is the last update until March 17th or so as I'll be out of town for 10 days and I'll be unable to post a new chapter. I will be able to read and respond to your reviews and PM's though, so please let me know what you think.