“Well…” Anna was about to launch into a tirade of her own, but Tamsan cut her off.

“Get on the horse before you get in trouble, cowgirl.”

Following her better judgment, Anna mounted up again. What followed was a bunch of riding, a bunch more looking at cows and an ache in her butt that left her very ill-tempered and slow to respond to Tamsan’s increasingly curt instructions. They were getting on one another’s nerves and Anna was really quite surprised when Tamsan asked her back to her place at the end of the day.

“You want me to come over?”

“Mhm,” Tamsan sat erect in the saddle, looking down at Anna with an enigmatic expression. “I think you and I better spend some time together tonight.”

“If you say so.” Anna shrugged and sloped off to get a shower. It wasn’t the most gracious way to accept an invitation, but she was tired and grumpy and all out of polite.

The shower improved her mood a bit, but she was still not the best she could be when she got to Tamsan’s cabin.

“Hey,” she said as Tamsan opened the door, looking all sexy and somewhat imposing in her jeans and fresh shirt. There was something not entirely welcoming in her gaze, something a little serious. Anna didn’t fully understand it.

“Hungry? I made some spaghetti.”

“Spaghetti sounds good, thanks,” Anna said, stepping past Tamsan. She took a seat at the little table and started eating. There was an undeniable tension in the air, something she wasn’t accustomed to with Tamsan, but which she had felt with many previous girlfriends right before getting her marching papers.

“So,” she said after three forkfuls. “You want to do this now… or do I gotta eat the spaghetti before you dump me?”

“Dump you?” Tamsan cocked her head to the side and frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“That’s why I’m here, why this is weird. Because you want out, right?”

“I don’t want out.”

“What do you want then?”

“A nice dinner.”

“Huh.” Anna didn’t quite believe her.

“Maybe some good conversation,” Tamsan added. Admittedly, she seemed immune to the tension Anna felt. Anna had to consider the possibility that the problem was on her end.

“So, you, er, had a good day?” Anna tried at conversation.

“It was an interesting day,” Tamsan said, her cheek dimpling. “I don’t think you enjoyed it much.”

“Funny how hard labor isn’t that enjoyable.”

“You’ll get used to it. After a few weeks of this you’ll feel more comfortable in the saddle than out of it. You’ll learn to rope, to handle stock, you’ll…”

“Or I won’t,” Anna interrupted, standing up. “You keep telling me how I’m going to feel, what I’m going to do. You don’t know. You don’t know me.”

“Of course I know you,” Tamsan said patiently. “For example, right now I know you need to get some rest. I’ll clean up. You get ready for bed.”

“Telling me what to do again! You’re not my mother.”

“No,” Tamsan agreed as she collected the plates. “I’m not. I’m your girlfriend and I’m telling you to get your butt to bed before you start a fight you don’t really mean to.”

Anna’s fingers started to obey even as her mind rebelled. She pushed down her jeans and stepped out of them as Tamsan loaded plates into the dishwasher and wiped down the table. The woman seemed so impervious to her temper – which only served to irritate Anna further. She stood and glowered at Tamsan whilst Tamsan calmly finished tidying the kitchenette, then began to get undressed as well, starting with the belt on her jeans.

“This is fucking stupid,” Anna growled. “I’m not going to fucking…”

Before she could finish the sentence, brown leather sung through the air, whipped around and landed with a loud crack against her bare thigh.

Half-dressed with her round panty-clad bottom all too vulnerable, Anna screeched in protest and reached for her leg, rubbing the bright red rectangular spot where the lash had landed. Her freckled nose crinkled in a sneer as she rounded on the tall woman with the broad shoulders and the good right hand. “What the hell was that for?”

“Your mouth,” Tamsan said coolly, her blue eyes set on Anna hard and stern. “You just keep running it.”

“Deal with it,” Anna snapped.

Well shaped lips twisted into a smirk. “I am.”

“Deal with it some way other than hitting.” Anna pulled her jeans up quickly, still feeling the burn sinking into the toned flesh of her thigh. “Jesus, what’s wrong with you?”