Page 16 of Cowboys & Horses
For the following twenty minutes, I played with the amazing horse beneath me. He was so responsive and obedient, none of my dressage horses could even compare to his foot perfect performance. As I got used to Cody’s sharp reflexes, Brady let me finish my session with a couple of speedy spins.
I dismounted beaming from ear to ear. “What an incredible horse.”
Brady gave him a pat on the neck. “He is. That’s only the tip of the iceberg with what he can do, but we’ll leave that for another day.”
“I look forward to it.”
He smiled at me as I handed him the reins. “Do you want to help me sort him out?”
I hesitated for a second, not sure why he seemed to be having a complete one-eighty with me. “Sure.”
We took Cody back to his stall in silence. I eased over my awkwardness by patting Cody’s neck as we walked, talking to him about what a good boy he was.
As we turned into his clean stable, Brady pointed to a crate in the corner of the barn. “There’s some apples in there.”
I nodded and picked out the biggest, juiciest apple I could find. I hid it in the corner of the stable and helped take his tack off. Whilst Brady was taking his boots off, I went for the saddle. As I slid the heavy saddle from his sweaty back, I stumbled back, not in the best position to take the weight of it. It was surprising how much heavier these things were than English saddles.
Brady stood watching me, a curious look on his face. “You ok with that? Can your wrist manage?”
Before I could even answer, he slipped his arm underneath the saddle. His hand brushed against mine, and I couldn’t help but blush. He leaned forwards to take the weight of the saddle, spiking my heart rate to dangerous levels.
“Thanks,” I said, my voice coming out no less than a squeak.
We were within inches of each other. He smiled and lingered for just a fraction of a second. My breath caught in my throat. I hadn’t realised quite how nervous he made me.
He walked out with the saddle leaving me to finish Cody’s boots. I let out a deep breath. The tension now rising between us was becoming something else entirely.
As I stood up from doing the last boot, I brushed against the hay rack, my hair snagging on the rough, dried grass. I pulled my ponytail loose and shook my hair, picking the stubborn bits out.
I gave Cody his apple and turned to walk out, stopping dead as Brady stared back at me over the stable door with a grin. I smiled back and made my way to the door. Before I knew what was happening, he reached out to me, pulling at the hair around my face.
My heart stopped. My stomach somersaulted. His hand was so close to me I thought he was going to touch my cheek. I held my breath, expecting it, wanting it. My cheeks were burning so hot I was sure he could feel the heat from them.
He pulled back and presented me with a strand of hay.
I exhaled, almost going light headed from the loss of tension. “Thanks.”
“Any time.”
He turned and walked off. I couldn’t help but trail my eyes over his fine masculine form as he gradually disappeared from sight.
I settled into bed that night, thinking of his hand, so close, so near to touching me. I dozed off wondering what it would be like to have his fingers caress my cheek, gliding over my soft skin.