“Don’t sell yourself short,” I retorted, forking some bacon and egg into my mouth, making sure I’d swallowed before adding, “You’ve done a bloody good job this week. You’re a natural.”
She sat down with her own plate, nowhere near as full as mine. “I’m sure I was slowing you down.”
I shook my head. “Not at all. And this will go on for a couple of weeks yet as we have thousands of the buggers to do, depending on time of year. And you’ve already spoken to most of the lads. They’re a good sort.”
“Well, at least they don’t make a big deal of me being a girl.”
“You’re getting stuck in and doing a bloody good job while doing it. What’s between your legs means fuck all in the grand scheme of things.”
She grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. The smile on her face spoke volumes. “Thank you,” she said quietly.
“Trust me, if you weren’t, I’d have told you. But you’ve got a good head on your shoulders. We might just need to put a bit of muscle on those arms of yours.” She laughed at that. “Want to head to the river today?”
“That sounds great!”
“We’ll saddle up the horses. Take some lunch with us too. Make a real day of it.”
“It’s a date!” I looked at her and smiled at the choice of words. I think she embarrassed herself as she clearly blushed. “I mean…”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
We made some sandwiches, adding a few bits of fruit as well, packing it all into a small bag before we changed and headed outside. Emily took the same horse she rode the previous weekend while I took my favourite black stallion. He could be an absolute bastard but I knew him well, and while he could be grumpy at times, he’d generally co-operate once I had him saddled.
It was a good couple of hours or so ride to the river, once again chatting about nothing important on the way until we crested the rise and the river came into view. Tying the horses to a nearby tree on arrival, I placed a blanket down, placing our bag of food on top of it as Emily stripped off. I’ll admit I could do little else but stare when she stood in front of me in a black bikini, a thousand unsavoury thoughts filtering through my mind, plus involuntary blood flow to my crotch. I blinked rapidly and looked away for a moment before she walked towards the water. I watched her walk into it before she disappeared underneath.
“It’s so cold!” she cried upon surfacing.
“It can be a little deceiving,” I muttered to myself, unsure if I meant the water or what my niece looked like without most of her clothes on.
“Are you coming or what?” she called out, only her head now bobbing above the water.
I spent a few seconds willing my erection to disappear before I stripped down to a pair of swimming shorts and joined her in the water. We just enjoyed the cool water for a time as the sun was properly beating down, thankful that we’d put on some sun-cream before leaving the house. After floating around for a while, she then swam towards me and wrapped me in a hug. She didn’t say anything as she did and I couldn’t help but feel her skin against my mine, and her perky breasts against my chest. I tried really, really hard but the body has a mind of its own and it wasn’t long until I heard her gasp. I pulled away in an instant.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I understand,” she said quietly.
“You’re my niece! But it’s been a while since a near-naked woman hugged me like that. I’m sorry.”
She swam towards me again and kissed my cheek. “It’s nothing to be ashamed about, Brucey. You should be glad it still works,” she said, I figured teasing me at the same time.
That defused any tension as I burst into laughter. “It works, trust me,” I stated, not caring if she knew what I meant.
She just raised an eyebrow. “Good to know.”
I didn’t know what she meant by that and, to be honest, didn’t really care. “You’re a beautiful young woman, Emily. Never doubt that.”
She smiled again before she swam away and the tension completely disappeared. I just took a deep breath and calmed down. We eventually got out and sat on the blanket I’d brought, slowly eating through the lunch we’d prepared. Once our appetites were sated, we lay back on the blanket side by side after I’d popped an umbrella to at least give us a little bit of shade.
“Can I ask a personal question?” she eventually asked.
“Sure.”
“What do you look for in a woman?”
I scratched the stubble on my chin before replying. “I honestly don’t know. Nothing in particular, I guess. As I said, I’m a rather simple man. What you see is what you get. What I have no time for is drama. I guess I would like someone as simple as myself.”
“What about looks?”
“I’m not picky, to be honest. Sure, I have favourite features but, at my age, you don’t let things like that spoil your choices.”
“What about age?”
“You’re sure inquisitive,” I replied, unable to stop my laugh.
“Just wondering.”
“Age is just a number, I guess,” I stated, with a shrug, “Though I wouldn’t want someone too much older than me. I’m not expecting kids at my age but you never know. Not too many young women could handle this life, though, as I’ve said before.”
“Oh, you’d be surprised…”
I turned to face her and she immediately looked away. “What do you mean?” I wondered.
“Nothing.” I heard the tone and I think she was embarrassed. So I left it alone.
“What about you? What do you look for?”
“I want a man. A real man. Not a boy. Not someone who spends more time in the mirror doing his hair then me. Not someone who spends more time getting dressed than me. Or, heavens above, wears more make up than me.”
I burst into laughter again. “Seriously? Guys do that nowadays?”
“You’d be surprised. Then there are those who spend entire time worrying that he’s going to offend me. I particularly hate white knights and so-called ‘nice guys’. I can look after myself. I can understand wanting to defend me. Yes, I like to think I’m a somewhat modern woman but they often ask ‘What do women want?’ I’m quite simple. I just want a real man. Someone who’ll protect and provide and, I tell you what, I’d spend my time keeping him happy.”
“Feed him and fuck him, right?”
“Spot on, Brucey.”
“Sounds like you need a country boy, then. Plenty of ‘manly’ men around here, I guess, compared to city boys.”
“Oh, definitely.”
I heard the tone again but thought nothing of it. Maybe she had her eye on one of the lads who worked for me already. If she told me who it was, I’d certainly try and introduce the two in a better setting. I picked good lads to work for me. They worked hard and were generally good boys. I knew they’d treat my niece the way she deserved to be treated. Though I’m not sure I’d want to know about them having sex in my house, particularly considering it had been a while since I’d had any.
Without a word, Emily got to her feet and bounced back down into the water, calling me to join her once again. I was ready to go to sleep but figured I could do with another dip. Thankfully she didn’t come too close to me this time as I knew how my body was going to react if she touched me again. But we spent at least another hour in the water before we got out, dried ourselves off, dressed and, after packing our gear, mounted up and headed back to the house.
It had been a long day despite it being rather relaxing, so we didn’t have much for dinner and eventually parked ourselves in front of the TV, leaving the lights off. It wasn’t long before I was feeling rather sleepy as Emily practically snuggled into me in the end. I just wrapped an arm around her and gave her a cuddle. Eventually I could sense she was sleeping, noticing her eyes closed and her breathing rather regular so figured she was. Trying not to wake her, I gently lifted her off the couch and carried her into bed, making sure she was snug under the covers. I kissed her forehead and looked at her for a moment. Even while asleep, she had a little smile on her face. I took that as another sign that she was happy. Then her eyes opened briefly and the smile broadened.
“I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetheart,” I replied quietly, kissing her forehead again, “Get some sleep. It’s another busy week coming up.”
Walking to my own bedroom, I realised that was the first time she’d said those words to me since coming back. And certainly since she’d last been up to the farm. I understood the reasoning why. Apart from her brother, who lived even further away, I was the only family she had who cared about her. There was no doubt we were already close. I enjoyed having her presence in the house and I knew she was already enjoying life on the farm and the simplicity of life in general.
It was another long week of early rises and hours of shearing in the heat, leaving the pair of us exhausted once the sun went down. We’d always have dinner together and enjoy the nightly ritual of the veranda and a beer, but we’d generally head to bed early. It was probably the Thursday when I was reading a book and felt the need for a piss. I had to pass Emily’s room on the way to the toilet and thought I heard something while on the way to the toilet. Desperate for a piss, I headed straight to the toilet. On the way back, I was sure I heard something again.
I didn’t want to invade her privacy but I was wondering what it was. Her door was slightly ajar, so I stayed out of sight and listened. There was no misunderstanding about what she was doing. I took a step back and thought to myself that I should just head straight to my bedroom. The other half wanted to listen. It was a conflict that was eventually won by the more carnal side, shall we call it. I stepped forward again and there was no missing the fact she was masturbating. And she was having one hell of a good time, from the sounds of it anyway. I felt my cock thicken but certainly wasn’t going to join in. Well, I wouldn’t do it at her door anyway.