Page 3 of Haunted Hayride with the Mountain Man

I don’t know why I said that. I want her gone, out of here, so far down the highway I can’t conjure up her phenomenal perfume anymore. I won’t wish her blonde waves were unleashed from their ponytail and splayed out on my pillow, won’t think about her cute little nose and the way it crinkles along with her forehead when she’s angry.

“You said this was your farm? I was told it was sublet out; an apple orchard, the corn maze of course, petting zoo, the cute little pumpkin patch, something else. What am I forgetting?”

I cock an eyebrow in her direction but it’s not the only thing I want to do to her that involves a cock. I haven’t had this kind of visceral reaction to a woman in a long time, not since Taylor walked out the door and never looked back. And that was before I morphed into the asshole I currently am.

I hold up the head of my costume as we approach my trusty steed. Making the last two strides with ease, I pull the saddle off and drape it over the fence. With Nova’s eyes trained on me, I hop on the back of Aster and pat behind me to indicate that Nova should climb on.

Not missing a beat, she jumps on the back of the all-black Friesian mare, not even stopping the conversation. She wraps her arms around my waist so tight her contented sigh sinks into my bones.

Maybe she really is a comic book character; brave, strong and taking no shit. She doesn’t balk as I get us up to a canter, her grip making it hard to breathe, or that could be the fact that no woman has laid a finger on me in almost a year.

I didn’t set out to be celibate after my fiancée left me at the altar. I honestly thought I’d go in the opposite direction but I’ve never been that guy. Another serious relationship isn’t in the cards for me, not now, maybe not ever. I can’t do that to another person, especially one as kind and sweet as the woman with her arms around me.

The whispering pines add to the creepy atmosphere. Honestly, it was a welcome relief to find myself in a place that was already shedding its leaves for the year, pulling in tight for a long winter. The town is haunting me, it only made sense that I found a part-time job at the hayride. It’s solitary. No one bothers me, hell, they don’t even know it’s me under the mask. Plus, you can’t beat the hours, it works with my schedule.

“So, tell me about this place in the spring.”

“I don’t think you want to hold a wedding here, not for you Northern Massholes.”

“Ha. Ha.” She clobbers my arm, her dagger-like fingernails doing their damndest through three layers of clothing. If I’d thought of it, I would have offered Nova my jacket, stashed back at the fence where Aster was tied up. “The bride and groom are from New York City so tell me what that does to your small town sensibilities.”

I can’t help but correct her. “I’m not from Ashwood, my dad moved to town when I was in college, now I’m here to take care of him.”

I’m glad I can’t see the look of pity on her face, the one I get every time I mention my dad needing care. If they only knew the half of it.

“I’d say he’s lucky to have you but you’d have to smile once in a while for that to be true.”

She’s busting my balls so I bust hers right back. “I should send you over there to talk to him. Between the two of you, I wouldn’t get a word in edgewise, not that most of his make much sense anymore.”

Nova pulls a face against my back but thankfully, she doesn’t say a word. For once.

“Anyway, if the place looks familiar it’s because we gave you a tour, we were thinking about using it as our venue, somewhere close to Dad.”

“Oh. Oh! Yes. That’s why it looks so familiar. Wow, it really is a different place when it’s not decked out in Halloween décor. It’s grown a lot since then, huh?”

Since my failed wedding. Since my fiancée cheated on me and left me weeks before we said ‘I do,’ sticking me with the bill to boot. It’s what Nova’s thinking, even if she doesn’t say it.

“You should see the Apple Festival. And in the summer, when the wildflowers are in bloom…”

Why am I saying this? I don’t want a wedding here, I don’t need the reminder. I’d rather Nova convince the bride and groom that Frost Peak Farm isn’t somewhere they’d want to host their wedding, but it would be disingenuous not to let her in on how beautiful it is. It almost rivals her in that way.

Quickly, I change the subject. “Where can I drop you?”

Her confusion washes over the cool night air.

“You didn’t think I was going to leave you stranded did you? After you so gamely hopped on the back of my horse?”

She shrugs, errant strands of blonde hair escaping her ponytail and getting tangled in my beard. Without thinking too deeply about it, I take in a lungful of her essence. Damn she smells good. It’s going to be hard to get the image of her wearing nothing but this perfume out of my head. If you saw her, you’d get it. Curvy doesn’t even begin to describe her figure and with her chest mashed against my back and her thighs hugging my hips, I can attest to that fact.

“I thought you’d get me somewhere I’d have cell reception again, wait for me to get a CarHop.”

My laugh is so forceful it nearly bucks her off the horse. “A CarHop, around here?”

She’s giggling now, realizing that this far out in the mountains, she’s lucky to see a car once an hour and certainly none of them are going to have a CarHop logo in their window.

“Unless you count Stinky Carl, you’re not getting a car service in the mountains, and Carl goes to bed before the sun. I’m happy to bring you to your hotel, I’ll even trade the horse for my truck.”

She pats the sweet mare’s backside. “Don’t you dare! I’m just over at Fox Valley Resort, if you wouldn’t mind. I’ll figure out the tow situation, unless, well, I bet they’re closed for the night too.”