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“I see you talked to Andrew,” she said.
“Briefly. You get a nap in?” I asked.
“I did. But when I woke up, Lizzie and Whitney weren’t around. You know where they headed off to?”
“My guess is either back to the bar or the pool, though they might’ve been scheduled to leave today. Most of the guests were before things happened.”
“Oh, man. I didn’t think about that. They did tell me they wouldn’t’ dare to wake me up after my wicked hangover. You think Dylan would look it up for me and see if they’ve checked out?”
“I’m sure he’d do anythin’ for you if you flashed him that pretty smile of yours,” I said. “You gettin’ yourself into anythin’ today?”
“Just a horseback ride. I was going to see if the girls wanted to come with me, but since there’s a chance they aren’t even here, you want to go with?”
“That’s actually what I was headin’ to do. Work’s got me all tangled up in my brain, and I need a chance to clear my head.”
“Awesome. I went to see if Hunter wanted to come, but he’s nursing a pretty bad hangover himself. He was still throwing up when I knocked on his door.”
“Yep. That’s a bad one all right. So, what you’re sayin’ is that I was your third choice to go ridin’ with.”
“You weren’t even on my list until I saw you,” she said with a grin.
“Oh, I’m hurt. My poor heart.”
“Come on, Mr. Sensitive. Let’s get us some horses.”
“Sensitive? I ain’t sensitive. I’m a cowboy.”
“That you are,” she said with a giggle. “Now come on. We’re burning daylight.”
Katie took my hand and tugged me out the back door. Her skin was soft and smooth against mine. Inviting, just like her hug had been. I held her hand tightly as we walked toward the stables and I released her to pick out her horse. She came trotting back with the all-black stallion and a big smile on her face. I watched as everything came rushing back to her. How to put a saddle on a horse. Cleaning his hooves before we went out. I watched her fluid movements as she mounted the horse, throwing her leg over Midnight’s back as she sat tall with pride.
I thought back on her prom night, when I was her date. There was so much sexual tension and attraction between us, but I didn’t have the nerve to kiss her like I wanted so damn much. That bothered me for years. It was a regret I carried for a long time.
It was really good to see her smiling again.
“You coming?” Katie asked. “Or are you gonna rearrange that saddle one last time?”
“Just makin’ sure the horse is comfortable, too. This one here’s Sunshine. She’s a spitfire with an attitude. Gotta make sure she’s comfy, otherwise, she’ll buck you off,” I said.
“Yikes. Well, be careful. I’m not equipped to administer CPR.”
The thought of her lips anywhere near mine caused me to stumble as I threw my leg over the back of my horse.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Yep. Let’s go.”
The two of us rode together in silence as the stamping of hooves underneath our bodies filled my ears. I was glad to finally have some alone time with her. It was something I’d been craving for years. But when she announced her engagement, I threw all ideas of that out the window.
Until a couple of nights ago when she called the wedding off.
We rode down a trail that went through a bit of the forest out back of the resort. It was one of the more intermediate trails, and Katie was handling it like a champ.
The smile on her face was so big it almost closed her eyes, and the way she stayed mounted on the horse gave me the perfect view of her ass.
It was hard paying attention with her body rolling up and down like it was.
So I ran up alongside her and slowed both our horses down.
