Big Sky Eyes by Sawyer Belle Read Free Book Online Page A

“I found it in the corral. I
don’t want bits of rope left in the corrals for the horses to munch on. That’s
all we need is a blockage.”
    Mackenna’s face, even her ears, reddened with chagrin. She
refused to look at Brent as she answered Ty.
    “It’s mine,” she called out. “Just go ahead and toss it on
the fire. It’s no good to me anymore. Sorry for leaving it out there. It won’t
happen again.”
    Ty nodded then threw it on the fire. Brent’s brow furrowed
as he wondered why Mackenna’s rope would be all cut up. He looked over at her.
She had her face planted in between her hands, with the back of her hand facing
Brent, blocking him from seeing her. He looked down at the rope near his feet.
Picking it up, he inspected it more closely. He knew for certain it was not his
rope. Suddenly, it all became clear. She hadn’t figured out the knot at all.
She’d cut her way free!
    He crossed his arms over his chest, and slowly shook his
head. In a mock voice, high-pitched and girly, he mimicked her.
    “All it takes is a little brain power,” he said, then
returned to his normal voice. “Yeah, all it takes is a pocket knife and a
gullible opponent!”
    She could hold back no longer. Her shoulders shook with
silent laughter and as he playfully shoved her in the shoulder she laughed loud
and long, hugging her middle as she did so.
    “You should have seen the look on your face,” she said
through her tears. “Aw, man. It was priceless.”
    “You play dirty,” he said, fighting back his own chuckles.
“Would you have ever told me the truth?”
    “Not a chance,” she said and he laughed right along with
her. Suddenly, he realized that it had been a long time since he’d laughed like
that, for nothing more than his own enjoyment. Years, in
fact. It almost made him stop. Almost.  
    When Mackenna finally settled down, she smiled at the
effects the moment had on Brent. His eyes were glistening brightly, his jaw was
relaxed and he seemed completely unwound. She was glad to have brought it out
of him. Perhaps he would laugh more often now.
    “You have a nice laugh,” she said casually.
    “And you’ve just bitten off more than you can chew with that
stunt,” he countered.
    “Oh, it’s on now, is it?”
    “Absolutely.”

 
    Over the next two weeks they were ruthless in their pranks.
When Brent squatted down to gather a sip of fresh mountain water during one of
their rides, she shoved him face-first into the icy stream. At the end of a
dusty day, she splashed her face with water from a trough and called for a
bandana to towel her dry. The one he gave her was full of dirt, leaving her
face caked with mud.
    The occupants of the lodge usually discarded their muddy
boots into a wooden bin with a lid on the porch by the front door before
turning in at night. That way, they wouldn’t track mud through Bev’s place.
Brent slept outside in the second story of the stables and so one night he
crept to the front porch with a palm full of fresh horse dung and shoved it
into the bottom of one of Mackenna’s boots.   He chuckled all the way back to his loft.
    When dawn broke and the wranglers were making their way to
the corrals to feed, guests were ambling sleepily toward the lodge, answering
the inviting scents of bacon, eggs and coffee. Mackenna and Kelly chatted with
a few guests on the front porch before tossing the remnants of their coffee
over the railing and retrieving their footwear. Brent lounged against the
stable doors beside Ty and Leslie who were chatting about the forecasted rain.
His eyes and ears were pinned firmly on Mackenna as she slipped into her boots.
    She took one giant step, then stopped. A perplexed look on her face, she took another step. Her lips twisted
in disgust as she made it down the steps and yanked her boot free. What was
left of the horse droppings tumbled out while the rest was squished down into
the boot and soaking the bottom of her sock. She let
out a repulsed cry and her