Title: Riding the Track
Author: Kara Ripley
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: May 28, 2018
Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex
Pairing: Female/Female
Length: 28600
Genre: Contemporary, Australia, bisexual, lesbian, outback, trail ride, vacation
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Synopsis
Herding cattle and drinking Australian
beer aren’t pastimes that particularly appeal to an ‘indoor girl’ like Clara,
but she’d be damned if she’d let her cheating ex-boyfriend have the vacation
they were meant to share. So, to salvage some piece of her self-respect after a
bad break-up, she finds herself riding a horse along the Oodnadatta Track for
five days.
When Clara arrives, she can’t help but
feel an intense attraction to Evelyn, the drover who guides their group through
the immensely unique landscape between Coober Pedy and the Anna Creek Station.
Clara’s never been one for a no-strings-attached fling, but cowgirl Evie
becomes increasingly difficult to resist.
In combination with the exquisite
outback, soulful horses, and overly cheerful tourists, Evie may just be exactly
what Clara needs to escape her own pessimism.
Excerpt
Riding the Track
Kara Ripley © 2018
All Rights Reserved
A week traipsing around the ass-end of
Australia was not my idea of a good time. As I exited the airplane, all I could
think was: what the fuck am I doing here? Rather than at home in Sacramento,
curled up with my sociopathic cat on my favorite sofa, drinking away my sorrows
with my favorite wine, and obsessively rewatching my favorite episodes of
Gilmore Girls. Instead, I was on my own—yes, traveling alone is a thing people
do—waiting to be picked up by a tour guide who would probably smile too
broadly, laugh too loudly, and abbreviate every other word to the point where I
wouldn’t be able to understand a damn thing.
Regardless, it was still worth taking
the trip, because it meant Austin (otherwise known as my idiot ex-boyfriend)
had to stay home. Standing in line, another international zombie waiting to get
my passport stamped, the thought made me smile.
“What brings you to the land down
under?” The customs officer’s words might’ve suggested he was interested, but
his monotone made it obvious he’d already asked at least fifty other people the
same thing. But he was making an effort. I hadn’t realized how utterly
terrifying the officials were in the airports back home. Contrast was sobering.
“Here for one of those outdoor adventure
vacations,” I told him. I left out the part about taking the trip as a way to
say “screw you” to my moronic, cheating ex-boyfriend, the one who’d actually
wanted to go to South Australia. “It’s a cattle drive.” My voice was scratchy,
my throat dry. I hadn’t actually spoken to anybody for hours. I didn’t have
reason for complaint, though, since I managed to get an empty seat next to me
and the flight attendant didn’t push too hard for conversation.
“Wonderful. Well—” He returned my
passport. “—have a fantastic time, Clara Adler.” It always sounded strange to
me when a stranger used my full name. I tucked the passport into my back pocket
and nodded politely before moving on.
A few hours and two way-too-strong
cappuccinos later, I was on yet another flight. This time, though, a small
crowd of us were crammed into the world’s smallest cabin. The guy in the window
seat next to me had serious need of some mouthwash or a mint. I had to keep my
face turned away from him to avoid breathing in his noxious cigarette breath. It
was a shame because, from what I saw through the window across the aisle, the
landscape became increasingly orange as we put more distance between us and the
capital city. It wasn’t quite the same color as the Nevada desert I’d visited
with my parents. Nor did it seem as stagnant. Even with brief glances, the
scorched land below us asserted itself as a living entity—a bear reaching the
end of its hibernation period. Still and seemingly peaceful, yet hungry.
From the sky, the low-lying rectangular
building in Coober Pedy reminded me of a roller-skating rink more than an
airport, as though I could reach through the window and pick the whole thing
up. When they finally opened the hatch and let us out, I wanted to guzzle the
fresh air like a dehydrated alcoholic with their lips wrapped around a beer
tap. I hadn’t been all that excited about the whole idea of being outdoors, but
after such a suffocating trip, I wondered if there was something to be gained
from this whole affair after all.
The tour guide waited on the tarmac,
holding a sign that read “Clara, Louise, and Michael. Let’s round ’em up!” I
suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. To be fair, she was probably trying to be
welcoming. Ordinarily, I might have even appreciated the effort. Reflecting on
how hostile I’d been lately made me remember the-idiot-named-Austin again. It
irritated me that my loser ex-boyfriend had made me so moody.
The woman holding the sign noticed me
staring and waved, lifting up onto her toes, even though there wasn’t anyone
between us. Her dark eyes widened beneath a charcoal-colored hat as she smiled
at me, gesturing for me to join her. The hat fascinated me. It looked like
something a cowboy would wear, except the crown didn’t reach so high, and the
brim had a less severe curl than I would have expected. I suddenly remembered
mention of them in a magazine I’d skimmed on the flight over. An Akubra.
I took a deep breath to prepare for
extended social interaction and walked over. Two others fell into step with me.
Louise and Michael?
“Welcome to Oz!” The shine of the
sign-holder’s white teeth was intensified by the dark tones of her face. “I’m
guessing you two are Louise and Michael,” she said, offering a handshake.
“You guess right! You maybe ought to be
a fortune-teller,” Louise replied enthusiastically, her Southern accent
asserting itself. It was clear that Louise was going to get under my skin for
the next few days. She was too cheerful. It just wasn’t natural to be that
excited to meet new people.
“G’day. Good to meet ya,” the Australian
replied. “My name’s Evelyn. But you can call me Evie, yeah?” I’d always assumed
films and television programs exaggerated the Aussie accent and vernacular. If
the woman was any indication, the stereotypes were more than fair. My guess,
though, was that she probably had to speak that way to appease the tourists.
“That leaves Clara,” she said as she held out her hand. Her grip was strong as
she gave my arm one quick up-and-down before releasing it. I wanted to rub the
back of my hand like a child but decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to
offend the one who’d be guiding us. I needed another coffee. Or maybe a cider.
Was the early afternoon a reasonable time to start drinking in Australia?
“Right.” Evie clapped her hands
together. “You lot are the last ones to arrive. A few hours and we’ll be at
base camp. You can get some good bush tucker, have a few drinks, enjoy a few
songs, meet your horses, and get a solid night’s sleep before the real
adventure starts.”
Horses. Fuck. I was so busy avoiding Mr.
Stink-Mouth on the plane that I’d forgotten the horses, even though it was one
of the main reasons Austin had wanted to come on this vacation. The fifteen
hours of travel before that probably hadn’t helped my memory either.
Five days wandering through the South
Australian outback. Sure, I could handle that. Probably. But on a horse? Jesus
H Christ. I hadn’t been atop a horse since the seventh grade. Summer camp. A
ripped seam in my jeans. Jonas Egan laughing at me from his saddle. God, Jonas
was such an asshole. I imagined him as an adult, living in some overcrowded
apartment building with his eight illegitimate children and underage
girlfriend, still scratching his balls when he thought no one was watching.
I was going to have to actually ride a
horse. For five days. Shit. My crotch and thighs were practically aching
already. Fuck you and your cowboy obsession, Austin. If I kept my bad track
record up, I was going to need an asshole display cabinet for my growing
collection.
As the four of us walked through the
small building toward the baggage claim, I couldn’t help but notice the jeans
Evelyn—Evie the Drover—was wearing. Dark blue. Bootleg. Tight. Did my eyes just
linger on her butt? I had to admit, it was a damned impressive butt. I wanted
to ask her if she had a regular routine of squats or if the muscle tone came
from all the riding. Either way, I didn’t think too much of my little rear-end
inspection at the time. It’s not as though it was the first time I’d checked
out a woman, and there wasn’t anything else to see at the Coober Pedy airport.
The car was a well-traveled pickup
truck, the kind with two rows of seats. It was probably white, but under all
the orange dust, it was difficult to be sure.
“I’ll take that for ya,” Evie said as
she made for my duffel bag. Her fingers grazed against mine as she wrapped her
hand around the handle and gently pulled it out of my grip. Though we both had
dark hair and eyes, my skin was pale against hers, almost sickly.
“Thanks.” I redirected my gaze to a
rather exciting rock a few inches away from the rear tire. It was the safer
option, given my brain seemed to want me to inspect the front of Evie the
drover in much the same way I had the back.
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Meet the Author
Kara Ripley is the romance-writing alter ego of Australian sci-fi and fantasy author, Rebecca Langham. Even though she’s named after two iconic sci-fi characters, Kara reflects Rebecca’s inner romantic, that part of her secretly wanting to leave the aliens, magic, and spaceships behind every now and then.Website | Twitter | eMail
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