The forest that had started the slow process of waking up in the form of cautious bird calls and skittering squirrels went silent.
Before the reverberations ended Max was gone, dumping me unceremoniously and grabbing the shotgun in one smoothly instantaneous motion. "Jesus, it's close! Too close. Almost at the door."
Without time passing, with not even a thought separating our kiss and Max reaching for his gun, he was a different person, a shadowy figure whose dark and dangerous grace rivaled that of the cougar beyond. He motioned with his free hand. "Stay back."
"No."
"You don't know what could happen."
"Neither do you."
"Damn it, do as I say! If it attacks and I shoot, I want to know you're not in the line of fire."
I couldn't think of a good argument. "Okay."
Nothing had happened between us, not really, and whatever might have been was gone as if it had never existed. I took a backward step deeper into the stable, licking my lips and praying the cougar wouldn't charge.
"There's movement at the edge of the trees." He was in the doorway and his voice was excited but unafraid. I was terrified.
I moved to the door and tried to see what he saw but he pushed me back. “Stay here." I ignored him until he added, "Please," and gave me a frustrated look. "Stay with the horses while I go after him. Just in case." Defeated, I backed again into the stable as he crossed the grass and disappeared into the pink of early morning.
No sound indicated his progress and dawn didn't exist in the forest where the dark of night was still so intense that if his passing caused brush or leaves to move it didn’t show. And his movements were silent.
But I heard something in the branches of a tree. The cougar? I couldn't know, only that when Max reappeared half an hour later, as dawn became day and light began to penetrate beneath the trees, I sagged in relief.
“Nothing. Not a sign of anything and the birds are singing again. Possibly that last scream was him saying goodbye. Still, I’ll look around when it's lighter and see what tracks I can find.”
I cast an eye on the sky. "There might not be tracks. It's going to rain."
He followed my look. "Those are tiny clouds."
"It's something I learned when I started working here because I didn't want to be caught in a storm miles from home with a nervous horse beneath me." I pointed again to the few innocuous-appearing clouds he'd dismissed. "Just wait. It'll rain soon."
He shrugged and we went into the barn where he leaned his rifle against a wall before turning to me. I waited for him to speak. To say something about our earlier kiss. Anything. But he said nothing and when I tried to read his expression, I failed.
Then I felt his arms on either side of me, boxing me into a square made by his body, his arms and the wall and I knew he was thinking of that dawn kiss after all. That touch of our lips that was at the same time nothing and earth-shattering. But just then a bolt of lightning split the sky followed immediately by thunder.
Upstairs, I knew Carlos would awaken and come down. He was so attuned to the horses under his care that he normally spent stormy nights in the stable and he'd want to be there during this storm. He'd be out of his room in moments and would come downstairs at a fast hobble. But the cast would slow him down so there were a few moments before he appeared, and I wanted to find out what would happen next. So I waited.
What happened was a second kiss. Max's lips were gentle, questioning and I liked that. He purposely ignited no passion between us. Instead, this kiss was an exploration, a question, a nothing, though somehow we ended up all tangled together, tongues, lips, cheeks, and arms every which way. Different from earlier. Better. "Like I was saying, boss lady… "
A second bolt of lightning rent the air, but this time the sound of the following thunder was lost in the sudden gush of rain pounding the hard-packed dirt in the corral and the tin roof that looked so impressive in the Green Forest Stables brochure and was so loud during a storm. But over the roar of the rain we heard the slam of a door as Carlos came from his apartment, cast thumping on the floor. “I heard the cougar. Saw you head for the woods." He started carefully down the stairs, holding the railing hard. "Did you get him?”
We jumped apart, Max casually answering as if nothing had happened, as if his heart wasn't beating faster than usual, though I knew it was. “Didn't see a thing but I’ll check as soon as this rain stops.”
I spoke to cover my embarrassment. “Max says we have to keep the horses inside until the cougar is gone.”
Carlos grunted agreement. “Good thing we have an indoor arena.” Then he added, “Which means it's going to be a long day, and we might as well get started. I'll get them organized, you guys get some breakfast going. When it's ready, call me. Meantime, you two can get back to doing whatever it was you were doing before I came.” The lilt in his voice was unmistakable. Carlos has a sense of humor but he managed to keep a straight face. "When you're done, maybe you should get some sleep. What with one thing and another, it appears you didn't sleep last night."
I hoped my red face didn't show as I turned back to Max. "We never got around to showing you your room. So you'll have somewhere to sleep."
Carlos snorted and laughed at the same time but it was Max I wanted to throttle because he was the picture of equanimity while I was fighting for composure. More importantly, I couldn't tell if he'd already forgotten what happened between us as he answered Carlos. "I'll get my stuff from my truck when the rain lets up. Meanwhile, sleep does sound good, and you can always yell if the cougar returns."
As Carlos disappeared in the direction of the stable, I hastily led Max upstairs, pointed out which room was his, and beat a quick retreat to my own room and an hour or so of sleep so deep I might as well have been drugged.