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Shit. How much did she like this guy? How much more would she like him if they continued like this?
A muscle in his jaw pulsed. “I don’t know why it’s so easy with you for me to…”
Beth thought they were flirting, but the pained look in his eyes said otherwise.
“To what?” she asked.
“To be. With you it’s easy to just be.”
She cupped his face in her palms and answered her own question in her head.
How much did Beth like him? She was already in too deep to even think about walking away.
Shit.
“Then be,” she told him.
She kissed him, feeling the tension leave his body as she did.
“But when you’re done being,” she added, her lips parting into a smile against his, “let’s get the chicks back in the coop and get me on the damned horse already.”
She felt him smile too.
“Five more minutes,” he bargained.
“Nah,” Beth replied. “Let’s make it ten.”
Chapter 12
Eli hadn’t meant to be late, not consciously at least. The chicks would have been fine if he’d waited until after Beth’s riding lesson to check on them, but he knew now when he stood in front of Midnight’s stall that he’d been looking for reasons to delay the inevitable—putting Beth on the back of a horse.
“Good morning again, beautiful girl,” Beth said as she patted Midnight’s nose.
The mare responded with a gentle snort, but Eli’s gut was still tied in knots.
“Did a doctor clear you to do this?” he asked, it finally dawning on him that he may actually have a way out. “I know you think you’re just sitting on the back of a horse, but riding is a weight-bearing sport for both legs, both ankles, both feet.”
Beth pivoted away from the mare and turned to look at him. No, glare.
“Doctors are not in charge of me,” she snapped.
Eli sighed. “Technically, when you’re under a doctor’s care, they are in charge of your health. And yes, you are your own person and are entitled to make your own decisions, but as a medical professional myself, I would like to know if you at least floated this by your surgeon or physical therapist or whatever.”
Beth cleared her throat and put her hands on her hips.
Eli tried to ignore how good she looked in a plain white T-shirt and a pair of jeans, one leg rolled up above her cast, the other with a lone sneaker poking out from the slightly frayed bottom.
Think like a doctor and not like a teen with a monster crush.
“I don’t need to float it by my PT because I’m not going to bear weight on my left leg. I read a few online articles and posts about amputees who ride with one leg, and the biggest issue to overcome is balance. But it’s not impossible. Plus so much of dancing relies on balance, so I’ve got that part down.” She smiled and shrugged. “So I don’t need to ‘float’ anything”—she made sure to put finger quotes around float this time—“by anyone.”
Eli knew he’d promised he’d do this for her. He also knew it wasn’t the best idea, medically speaking.
“She needs a rider, Eli. You said it yourself.”
Eli did say that. He gritted his teeth. This was Boone’s doing. Boone should be here dealing with the mare himself and leaving Eli and Beth out of it. Did having a baby and wanting to be a good father really take precedent? Of course it did, but that didn’t make Eli any less pissed at the position his brother had ultimately put him in.
Beth dropped her hands from her hips and then placed her palms gently on his chest. “I’m not insensitive to the fact that this whole situation is bringing up some stuff for you that you’d probably rather it didn’t. But maybe this could be healing for both of us.”
