Molly wandered around her room, feeling bored. Over the past few days she'd done pretty much nothing but unpack. She'd tidied away her new purchases, and unpacked the boxes as they arrived. She'd sorted through things that still had a place in the house, those that could be sold and those that could be given to charity. On the fourth day she even prepped some of the food for dinner tonight while Jennifer had headed into town to look for a job. But she'd made sure to still go out for a walk every day. She saw Jake a couple of times, usually on one of the horses.
After about an hour of not having anything more to do in her room, Molly headed out onto the porch by her room and curled up on the top stair, looking out at the grounds around her. There was plenty of grass, with high grass towards the back as far as she could see. It looked gorgeous and the longer she stared out, enjoying the sun, the more she started to feel at home and understand the appeal.
After about half an hour she spotted Jake riding along the fence separating the two grounds on his horse. He looked so comfortable riding, like it was second nature. "Howdy Molly," he called out when he spotted her.
"Howdy," she called back with a wave. "Who's this handsome devil?" she asked as she approached him and the horse carefully, stroking his mane when he let her get close.
"He's Maximus," Jake answered.
"Interesting name," she smiled as she continued stroking him. "Do you have a lot of horses?" she asked curiously.
"Dozen or so," he shrugged now. "Ye ride?"
"No… I wanted to but… After my daddy… well my mama didn't want us doing things he used to enjoy doing. It was too hard," Molly answered honestly, dropping her gaze to the horse's instead of the cowboy's.
"Guess yer ma ate sorrow by the spoonful huh?" Jake said, almost sounding like he knew a thing or two about it.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," she agreed, feeling like for the first time since they met she'd actually understood what he'd said. "So, eh… Do you work on the ranch?"
"Uh huh." She looked up surprised when he sounded a little off.
"Would it be… I mean, do you think you could maybe teach me… to ride?" Molly asked now, sounding a little shy, definitely shyer than she meant to.
"I dunno…" he sounded hesitant. He had a lot to do during the day as it was, which did include working with the horses. "Yer gonna hafta listen to what I say," he started laying down some guidelines.
"I can do that, or well I'll try," she couldn't help but chuckle a little. He gave her a slight glare from under his Stetson, knowing she was talking about how she didn't understand him most of the time. "Sorry," she said quickly, wanting to keep him on side.
"Fahn, I'll teach ya. Startin' tomorrow, bright 'n early," Jake told her. "Ah'm fixin' to get lunch, wanna join?" He raised his eyebrows at her when she looked at him blankly for a minute, before she realized what he'd asked.
"Yeah, lunch. Sounds good. Give me one second while I lock the house?" Molly caught on quick and gestured to the house.
"Ain't nobody gonna rob ye," he called after her as she headed towards the house.
She gave him a wave to acknowledge his advice. Truth was she wanted to grab her phone and jacket, and double check her make up. She ran through the house to lock the front door, left a quick note on the dining table to say she'd gone out and rushed into her room to find what she needed. She freshened herself up quickly, she wasn't too worried about her outfit itself. After one last look in the mirror, she rushed back out and locked the door behind her. "Jake?" she asked confused when she didn't see him.
"Here," she heard before she saw him. Maximus had started getting a little restless so Jake took him for a trot around the ranch. "First lesson, sittin' behind someone on a horse," he told her, bringing Maximus alongside the porch. "Hold on to my shoulders as ye get on," he offered, holding his horse as still as he could. "Steady," he cautioned her as she reached out to do so. Molly took a deep nervous breath and put her left hand on his shoulder. She carefully swung her leg over the horse's back and held onto his other shoulder as she tried to get herself sat straight behind him. "Ye better hold on," Jake gave her a warning with a wink as he looked over his shoulder at her and spurred Maximus on.
"Oh," she let out in surprise as she grabbed hold of him tighter when the move jolted her.
"I gotchya," he assured her, but even so took one of her hands off his shoulder and moved it around his waist. He knew she'd be able to feel his abs under her fingers, where she grabbed on to his shirt, so he tensed them a little more than he needed to for riding. "It's safer, I ain't comin' on to ya," he said, "yet."
Molly was extremely grateful he couldn't see the blush on her face, especially as her arms were still wrapped around his waist and she was sat awfully close to his very fine ass.