I hope all have a wonderful Holiday Season (regardless of what you celebrate). To all a happy new year as we bring 2023 to a close and start 2024.
After eating, I made my way outside in time to see the sun rise over the fields. The sight brought me to a standstill on the porch. The dark night sky let go into deep purples before reds, pinks and finally gold hues were painted across the horizon.
"Beautiful," I breathed the word out reverently. Not wanting to disturb the feeling I was bathing in.
A small feminine chuckle met my ears. "Ah, yes, Suga'. The sun shines a fair bit out here, and almost always brings beauty with it. Hence why we have a lot of chores to do without humans around. Hard to hide our – 'uniqueness'. But thought you might want to join me this morning with milking cows and then churning some fresh butter?"
I glanced towards Charlotte with a smile. "That sounds really cool, but just remember, I haven't got a clue what I am doing." We smiled at each other as I made my way towards her and then the barn. The others were hard at work, all working at human speed when around the animals and vampire speed when not. They all seemed to know what needed to be done. I was shown to a side room of the barn that had several cows in feed stalls. Charlotte brought us to the first one.
"This here is Betsy. Have a seat on this stool, it will help with the knees and back. We have the clean bucket here for milk collection. I'll show you how and then let you do this side of cows while I do the other side."
I nodded and paid close attention to what she was showing me. It looked simple enough, but I realized once I started, that it definitely was not as easy as it looked. A few times I pulled too hard, and the cow let me know it and others the milk missed the bucket. But I was determined to be helpful like everyone else, so I kept at it.
When I finally got to the end of the row of 30 cows, Charlotte had already turned out the 30 she had done and all but the one I was finishing.
"Sorry I was so slow."
She patted my shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Suga'. It takes some getting used to. You did great for a first time. But now, the fun part. Butta'."
I laughed along with her as she took me to another door which turned out to be the churning room. There were multiple churners set up and I was so excited to try something I had only ever read about or saw at museums. We each poured a bucket of milk into one, adding salt as shown and Charlotte showed me how to grip the handle for the easiest process and I started.
This was a time that she was able to use her vampire abilities and had hers churned within only a few minutes. I kept going, trying to do as instructed. Sweat built up on my brow and dripped down the back of my neck.
Huffing and puffing, I was slowing down but was also noticing that the milk was moving thicker than before. A cold hand rested on my neck when another strong, large hand reached around to help churn. I paused to turn my head and found Jasper's face less than an inch away, his chin almost resting on my shoulder.
I swallowed and licked my lips that had suddenly dried.
He removed his left hand from my neck and wrapped around the other side, wrapping around my waist. In a split second I was lifted and sitting on his lap on the chair I had just occupied, my back pressed tight against his chest. I let out a short yelp.
Once he knew I was steady and not going to fall, his left hand joined onto the churner and we picked up speed again. He kept it to a human pace for me, but it was easier knowing that it was not my strength working against the slowly forming butter. My mouth opened and my breathing picked up, affected by his closeness and his hands on mine, moving them in a repetitive thrusting motion. My brain lost track of everything around us and focused on the innuendo, raising the heat in my cheeks and neck, and doing interesting things in other areas.
My eyes closed and Jasper began to rumble into my ear as he closed the short distance between our heads and nibbled on my ear. I was gasping and biting my lips, getting worked up when a stray thought escaped.
I am the horny one. He is feeling my lust and reacting as most males would. I need to stop and behave.
I opened my eyes and swallowed, leaning forward slightly, putting space between us again. Though not without a final tug of his lips on my ear.
Don't feel. Don't feel. Don't feel.
I kept the mantra going until finally Jasper spoke.
"I believe it is now butter, Isabella."
Not wanting to trust my voice yet, I nodded and let go as he stood us up. He opened the lid and showed me the contents. I could see fluffed butter but a lot of liquid as well. He poured out the liquid into clean jars and put lids on them. Then he labelled them all as 'buttermilk' and the date.
"Oh. I always wondered how they made buttermilk, but never really thought too hard about it."
He turned towards me; his eyes black which had me biting my lower lip again. He focused on my lips before speaking. "Yes. The process takes the whole milk and makes two products. We still need to remove the remainder of the buttermilk from the butter so it lasts longer, but I will get Char to manage that. I believe we had a horse ride planned." I swallowed and nodded. He turned towards the door. "Hey Char, come finish cleaning the rest of the butter. I am going to give Isabella a lesson on horse riding."
She came in with a large smile on her face taking the churned butter. As she left, she winked at me as she said, "Have fun."
I bit my lip harder, dropping my eyelids, fighting the blush I knew was covering nearly my entire body. A low growl had me popping my eyes open as Jasper reached a hand out to hold my chin with his fingers. He used his thumb to pull my lip from between my teeth.
"You really shouldn't bite your lip, darlin'. It makes me jealous."
I gulped.
Jasper began to lean towards me, and my breathing picked up, his lips were almost on mine when Peter and Emmett yelled out.
"You two love birds, if you are going riding, then go."
"The barn is no place for that. Find a bed."
I stepped back, lowering my face and offered a small smile as I went around him, leaving the now too small room. A growl and a thrum of sound followed as the vampires spoke around me, but I was too embarrassed they knew that I was lusting after Jasper to care.
I wanted him to kiss me.
Even though I knew he was reacting to my emotions. But I was selfish. I wanted that kiss. Even if it was only because of a reaction to my emotions and not his own. Just so I would know what it was like to be tasting the honeysuckle at the source. But it was for the better that we were interrupted. Then he would not have to regret anything later.
Making my way out of the barn, I saw two horses saddled up and being held in place by Rose. She smiled softly at me, the left side of her mouth higher than the other. "Sorry about them. I try to control Em, but we all know that it is a losing battle. Charlotte and I will have a talk with those two while you are on your ride."
I shrugged my shoulders. "Nothing to be sorry about. Nothing was happening. He just helped me finish my batch of butter. I'm not as strong as all of you and probably weaker than many other humans. Most likely all that work on farms regularly."
She raised her eyebrows at me. "Really?" I held her gaze and shrugged. She sighed and passed the reins to Jasper as he approached. "Well, good luck. She may be a slow learner."
"Hey!" My mouth was open in shock.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and smirked. "Well, I call them as I see them. I've got some other work to do. Heard that the one tractor is acting up so I think I will give it a tune up."
With that, she was gone. I scoffed, hands on my hips. Jasper chuckled. I whirled towards him. "What? What is so funny?"
He covered his smirk with his left fist, the right still holding both horses' reins. He shook his head. "Nothing. Sorry, darlin'. Ready for a riding lesson?"
I tsked but followed him as he led the horses towards a small closed in fenced area near the barn. The largest horse was Nugget. The other was a little smaller, but not by much. It was pure black and appeared to have thicker legs and body than Nugget, despite that this horse was shorter by a few inches.
Both horses were already saddled and bridled up. Jasper took a moment to flip both horses' reins up over their necks and looped them around a knob on the front of each saddle. Then he turned to me and gave me a quick lesson on the parts of the saddle (including the horn that I thought was a knob) and the bit.
"Okay. I will have you riding Nugget again, since he took to you so well. Don't worry, I will be beside you here on Abnus. He's my quarter horse and great around the farm. Now, I will help you up and let's get you learning how to guide the horse and ride properly."
My excitement was building, and I felt giddy. I walked up to Nugget and gave him a pat on the neck. He nickered at me and nudged me in greeting. I smiled.
Jasper came up behind me and lifted me high into the air. I was a little unprepared and gasped but he held me while I brought my leg over Nugget's back and settled into the saddle. Once he had my feet in the stirrups and I was sitting evenly on the horse's back, he mounted up onto Abnus and proceeded to show me how to use the reins and my legs to guide the horse as I wanted.
We were enjoying the lesson so much, that we both lost track of time until Emmett came to the fence. "So, when are you two going to stop flirting from the backs of horses and come inside, already? I want to play a game. Come on, Rose never wants to play. Petey gets ornery when I beat him in chess and Charlotte just shakes her head at me. Come on, one of you want to play something with me?"
Looking down at my watch, I realized it was nearly 2 in the afternoon. "I should get some lunch for myself. I will come watch once I am done eating."
Emmett pouted a little then pulled the biggest puppy dog look at Jasper. "Pretty please, Jasper. Please come play a game."
I chuckled as Jasper rolled his eyes.
"Well, sure. If it gets you to stop pouting. You must help me untack these horses though."
He jumped up and pumped his fist into the air as he rushed to open the gate. Jasper jumped down and passed Abnus off to Emmett and then came over to me. While riding, it did not seem so bad. But now that I needed to figure out how to get down, I feared the height I was at.
"Hey. Easy now. I promised you before and it still stands true. I won't let you fall."
I focused on Jasper, holding his topaz gaze and I felt him push some courage at me. I nodded and took a deep breath before swinging my leg right leg behind me. At first, I thought I was doing it right until my left ankle, still in the stirrup, twisted and threw my balance off. Screaming, I closed my eyes as I began to fall.
Jasper's strong arms pulled me close, catching me before I hit the ground. I was gasping and Nugget had spooked and took off from the commotion, Emmett chasing after.
I was placed back on my feet, but Jasper's arms stayed around me. "There. As promised, I did not let you fall."
He leaned down and rested his forehead on mine and I leaned into him.
Oh, but you have. I am falling for you.
