Mustang Dreams (COMPLETED)

Chapter Eighteen

      "Hey, how was the ride?" Clay asked, smiling at Misty as she pulled her horse, Midnight, to a stop in front of his barn.

      "It was fine. Jace and I made up; we are friends again, so that's good." Misty gave Clay the short version of the story, kicking her feet out of the stirrups. Lifting her right foot over the saddle horn, Misty sat sideways atop Midnight.

      Without Misty having to ask him, Clay walked over to stand in front of her, reaching his hands up to her hips, carefully sliding her off her horse. Instead of pulling back when both of her feet where safely on the ground, Clay pulled Misty's hips closer against him. "I'm glad y'all made up." Clay smiled, reaching a hand up to take Misty's cowboy hat off her head, setting it on her saddle horn.

      "Ugh. Why did you do that? I have hat hair." Misty groaned, reaching up to try to tame her crazy locks.

      "Because I wanted to be able to fully see your beautiful face." Clay grinned down at his girlfriend.

      Misty leaned back slightly, her sore back resting on her stirrup fender and horse. Reaching up, Misty draped her arms over Clay's shoulders, toying with the edge of his hair at the neckline. Slowly, she reached up and took off Clay's cowboy hat, slipping away from him, knowing he would try to steal it back.

      Laughing hard, Clay ran after Misty, "Hey, give that back!" He chuckled out as Misty ran down the barn aisle.

      "You gotta catch me first!" Misty played back. Making her way outside of the small barn, she hid beside the far side of the lean-to, peaking around the corner to see if Clay was still following her. Not seeing him, Misty slipped out of her hiding spot to creep around the other side of the barn.

      Just as she left the safety of her hiding spot, Misty felt one hand slip around her waist, and the other grab the cowboy hat out of her hand. "Gotcha!" Clay cheered proudly, wrapping both arms around his hostage.

      Putting both hands up in surrender, Misty smiled. "Okay, you got me."

      Clay's chuckles silenced as he buried his face into Misty's neck, placing a soft kiss behind her ear. Loving the feeling of being so close to him, Misty rested her hands on Clay's arms, leaning back slightly, into his hold on her.

      Lifting his lips off her neck, Clay bent down enough so he could press his cheek against Misty's, breathing in her smell. "Mmm, I missed you today." He said into her hair, landing a soft kiss on her blushing, red cheeks.

      "I missed you, too." Misty replied, reaching a hand up to his cheek, softly rubbing his scruffy jaw line.

      Pulling back from their cuddle fest, Clay grabbed Misty's hand, interlacing their fingers as they walked back into the barn. Plopping his hat back on his head he asked, "How's your ribs feel after the long ride?" Clay asked, glancing down at her waist momentarily.

      "Sore, honestly. And so is my back. I don't know if it's because I haven't rode in about 3 weeks, or if it's because I've been lifting a lot more at work, or just because of the nature of the injury."

        "Mmm, I'm goin' to D, all of the above. You're never gonna recover if you keep straining yourself, Mist." Clay said, caring, looking at Misty just in time to see her roll her eyes. "What?" There was a grin tugging on his lips, already knowing what she was going to say. 

        "You know that I'm not the 'sit back and rest, wait it out, take it slow,' type of girl. It is so hard for me to just sit in the house and do nothing." Stopping beside Midnight, Misty grabbed her cowboy hat off her saddle horn. "Even if me goin' out and doin' stuff doesn't seem like the smart thing to do, it's better than doing nothing, and I think it really does help me." Turning around to start unsaddling her horse, Misty added, "But, I really appreciate you caring, though."