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“That was a test, and you failed.” She ignores looking at me and instead keeps talking to Fireball. “He also doesn’t respect people’s privacy.”
I grab the saddle off the rack and walk back to them. “I respect your privacy,” I inform her. “It’s why I didn’t get my Uncle Casey to get me your number.” I throw the saddle on Fireball. “You’re welcome.”
“I would have killed you,” she hisses. “That’s not funny. We said it was between us.”
“And it is.” I cinch the saddle under Fireball’s chest. “I didn’t kiss you in front of everyone.”
“That was a good decision on your part since I would have kneed you where the sun doesn’t shine, and then you’d be icing the boys for weeks to come.”
I turn back to her. “Good to know that’s where you draw the line.” I tilt my head to the side to kiss her lips. “Now let’s get you out there.”
We walk outside to the arena where we train the horses. “I don’t know about this.” She hesitates as we get closer and closer to the inside of the arena. “Why don’t I just walk with her?”
“No,” I tell her, “you are going to get on that horse and do something new.”
“Wow, bossy much?” she snarks. “It’s no wonder no one likes you.”
I roll my lips not to laugh at her. “Okay, so you are going to get up on her like you got on with me before,” I remind her, “and when you get up, hold on to the horn.”
“The horn? What is a horn?” The look of panic is in her eyes and written all over her face.
“The little handle thing.” I point at it, and she nods. “Now, let’s go. Daylight is a wasting.”
“You really need to stop saying that. You sound like you’re a hundred years old,” she huffs as she puts her foot in the stirrup and gets on. “Hold on to the horn,” she repeats my instructions and once she is still for a full ten seconds, she looks over at me with glee. “I did it.”
“You did,” I praise her. “Now hold this.” I hand her the two reins. “When you pull back, it will make her stop,” I instruct her, and she just holds them in her hands. “Don’t hold them tight, or else she won’t move. You hold them loose enough for her to go but tighten when you want her to stop.”
“That’s a lot of information for a beginner,” she mumbles.
“Here is what we are going to do. I’m going to walk with you around the arena.” She nods. “Then we’ll let Fireball take you for a ride.”
“Um,” she hums as I pull the reins for Fireball to start walking, “I don’t really think we should let Fireball take me for a ride.”
I look up at her as she looks down at the horse, and I know I have to get her to forget what she’s doing. “What do you do for work?”
“I’m an interior designer and stager,” she replies, and I look up at her. “So if you are selling a house and you want it to look like it’s in a magazine, you call me. Or if you buy a house and don’t know what to do with it, you also call me, and I’ll decorate it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I work with my mother, who is a real estate agent, so when she has clients whose houses are a touch either too old or too cluttered, she calls me in and I work magic.”
“So you’re a magician.” I smile up at her. “You should come over to my place and let me know what is working and what isn’t.”
“You just want me to come to your place so you can show me your bedroom.” She side-eyes me.
“I mean, if you are offering.” I wink at her, and she shakes her head, but I see she’s getting a bit more comfortable. “Where do you live?”
“I live in New York City. Daniel and I had a townhouse in Brooklyn, but now I guess you would say I’m between places.”
“Do you like the city?” I ask her, and she shrugs.
“It’s where I’ve always lived, so it’s like home to me.”
“What’s your favorite thing about the city?”
“That I can get my groceries delivered to me and also they have takeout restaurants on every corner.” She laughs.
“Those would be reasons I would hate living in the city.” She looks over at me as we make a full circle of the arena. “I can’t imagine walking into a store and someone not knowing my name. It’s just?—”
