19. Lily

19

Lily

“How about we get going ?” I said weakly.

He held my gaze for a second longer and then nodded. Marching past me, he opened the stall of the brown horse I’d already met and strapped a saddle onto it. Then he did the same with the huge black one next to it.

“I’ll take Apollo,” he said, nodding at the black horse. “You take Caliope.”

The bareback conversation seemed to be over. Thank God. I mean, obviously Thank God. Though I had a feeling I was going to come back to it again when I was safely on my own. My reaction to what he’d been suggesting required further analysis. And possibly a long bath and my waterproof vibrator.

I cleared my throat. “Are they safe?”

He’d stopped with the teasing tone again. “About as safe as it’s possible for a horse to be. These two know the area better than I do. Hell, you won’t even have to do anything, just sit back and enjoy the ride.”

I nodded. And then there was no more delaying it. I looked for a sensible way up. Was there a ladder, somewhere?

Bull watched me patiently. “Put your foot in the stirrup.”

I looked blank.

“The thing that’s dangling from the saddle,” he said.

I put my foot in.

“Your other foot. Unless you want to sit backwards.”

“I’m from New York!” I snapped, swapping feet. “Maybe we should do a cultural exchange, and you can try to hail a cab at rush hour in the rain!”

“Why did you leave?” he asked mildly.

That threw me completely. The last thing I’d been expecting was for him to start delving into my past. I didn’t have a good answer ready, so I ignored him. “Now what?” I asked.

“Push up using that leg and swing your other leg over.”

I tried a couple of experimental hops and then a jump, worried that I was going to wind up on the floor with my leg still up in the stirrup like a hospital patient in traction. I vaguely remembered seeing women do this in movies and they always looked dainty and elegant. I felt like an elephant trying to do ballet.

“Want a hand?” he asked in that low, melodious drawl. He’d moved closer—right up behind me.

Without thinking, I nodded.

Suddenly, the promised hand was right on my ass, gripping my left butt cheek. I just had time for a yelp of shock and outrage and a hot throb of sexual heat to blossom through my lower body. Then I was jumping again and he was powering me up, up, up… . I remembered just in time to swing my other leg over and landed with a thump in the saddle. I teetered there for a second, not quite level and worryingly high off the ground. But I was up.

I stayed silent while he grabbed my ankle and fitted it into the other stirrup. I was so pumped full of hormones, at this point, that just the strong grip of his fingers around my ankle and the rattle of the leather and metal as he pushed it in unleashed dark thoughts of bondage.

He swung himself up onto Apollo in one smooth movement. “You okay?” he asked with a grin.

I assessed things. I seemed to be at least a hundred feet off the ground—death was a certainty if I slipped off. I had visions of rotating completely around and dangling underneath the horse, or it could bolt and carry me off into the distance, or hurl me from its back and trample over my body.

“Yep,” I croaked.

He made a clicking sound with his tongue and Apollo obediently trotted forward. Wait—he can speak horse? I can’t speak horse! I looked at him helplessly.

“Pick up the reins.”

I’d been completely ignoring the reins. I snatched them up.

“Lily,” Bull said chidingly, eying my white knuckles. “You can relax.”

I relaxed my grip a millionth of an inch.

“Good. Now press with your legs a little. Gently.”

I’d been trying to avoid thinking about the fact I had a huge, warm-blooded animal between my thighs. I looked down at my legs and felt his gaze there, too, which didn’t do anything to cool me down. Thank God I was wearing jeans. Why hadn’t he warned me he was taking me riding? What if I’d worn a skirt?

Had he been hoping I’d wear a skirt?

I squeezed my legs together, feeling the hot mass of muscle and power between them.

“Not that gently. She’s not made of marshmallow.”

I squeezed a little harder and Caliope started walking. Suddenly, I was bouncing up and down, her warm body pressing hard up against my groin and then falling away. She walked straight past Bull and Apollo and towards the door.

“Um—” I started.

I emerged out into the light, blindingly bright after the dim stable. Caliope turned right and headed down the ranch’s driveway, walking faster. I felt about a thousand pairs of eyes on me—ranch hands, visitors, even the horses. All staring at the dumpy girl on the horse.

A horse that was—yes, we were definitely speeding up. Oh shit. I made the mistake of glancing down at the ground and the hard-packed dirt was flashing past. This was almost certainly a gallop. I was going to die. Help!

I twisted the reins around my fingers, but I had no idea what to do with them. If Bull comes and saves me now, I’ll kiss him. He can have me naked and willing. I’ll do every depraved thing he wants—

Bull rode up alongside me. “How do I stop?” I called.

He blinked. “Stop? You’re barely trotting. Relax.”

Annoying, arrogant idiot!

We approached a bend in the drive. “How do I turn?” I yelled. “How do I stop? I don’t understand the controls!”

“Relax your legs. You’re still squeezing.”

Ridiculous, I’m not—Oh. I guiltily relaxed my legs and Caliope slowed to a gentle walk.

He showed me how to gently pull on the reins to guide her. “What are you so scared of, exactly?” he asked, sounding genuinely bemused.

“That she’ll get out of control!”

Bull made another of those weird noises with his mouth and both horses stopped, very close together. His dangling leg brushed mine.

“I don’t think that’ll happen,” he said, looking at me seriously for a second. “She’s pretty sensible. She knows what she’s doing.”

And he leaned in towards me.