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Technically,I kissed him first, but it was a spontaneous little peck on the cheek, nothing at all like what he answered with. It was as if someone had put the sprinklers on to mist the lawn but ended up on the receiving end of a fire hose, except in a good way. I can’t explain. There just aren’t the words. He was everything I’d hoped he’d be, inquisitive, passionate, tender, insistent. He made my knees go weak. Literally. I mean, how I can get that out of two minutes of kissy-face, I do not know, but it’s the truth.
“Lolly? Earth to Lolly!?”
“Oh,Alicia, he said the most amazing things.” I tell her all about thenot herand thenot boffing for moneyand howit was me, Lish, ME! that made him not do it.
“And we believe him.”
Bucket of ice water,right to the face! “I guess I do?”
“Because I want to,Lollz, but you know how I also want to beat the living pulp out of anyone who hurts you.”
If she could only have seenthe look on his face, felt his hands, heard the words, understood that he’d never feltall the thingsfor anyone else. He picked me. I’m ninety-six percent sure that I believe him, with a teeny sliver of ‘what if’ going on in the back of my mind.
“If you’re sure,I’m sure.” Her voice isn’t the strongest I’ve ever heard it, but she’s doing her best on limited information. Which is why the rest matters.
“This kiss,Lish, was just the best. I don’t want to gush…” I do. “But there’s nothing like it. All that daydreaming I did about him? Not even close. Not by a long shot. Take your crush on Idris Elba, mix it with how you felt about Tom Holland when he did that lip-sync to Rhianna’sUmbrella…”
I don’t getany more words out. I have to hold the phone away from my ear because Alicia is screaming on the other end of the phone. That lip-sync video did it for her. If anything saidsexymore than Tom Holland in fishnet stockings riding an umbrella and flipping water at the camera, Alicia said she has yet to see it. Bless her, she’s lived a sheltered life, but I don’t begrudge her that. She knows what I’m talking about: knee-shaking, panty-watering, gut-wrenching sexy vibes. The end.
“And that was justthe kiss… Imagine what the main course is going to be like…”
“Miss Benoit?”It’s the stable manager. He’s found me. Perhaps because of Alicia’s screaming. “Time to help the students mount up.”
I’m on duty,and, in any event, walls have ears, so there’s nothing to be done but promise to call her back with a full report when I get done for the day. “Love you.” I’m so happy I have someone in my life who’s as happy for me as I am.
“Love you more,”she says. And she means it.
I glideout of the wheelbarrow bay and walk right into him. Mariano. Who wants to kiss me. Who hasbeenwanting to. Who is, maybe, possibly, I think, officiallymyman, given what we’ve just done in public. I know I’m speeding way ahead of the curve, butbeing seen, being the reason someone changes their whole life’s trajectory,is intoxicating. He’s here, not there. With me, not her. Going the long road to meet his obligations, rather than making a fast buck the other way.
AND ALL BECAUSE OF ME!
Also,a kiss like that certainly counts more than any dance. I’m in. We’re on. I’m buying what he’s selling.Actions speak louder than words, but in this case, they match up perfectly!Who is blushing more, him or me, is impossible to say, but we’re both grinning as we march back out to the arena and proceed with the lesson.
Never has there been somuch touching in a riding lesson. Every time he passes behind me, he has to ease his hand across the small of my back, just at the curve of my ass. With each rider I lead to the mounting block, our hands tangle in the reins, as I pass them off to him. When I slip past him to help the riders properly position their feet in the stirrups and make last minute adjustments, I make sure to brush against him, to whisper my breasts across his back. I have to force myself to remember that this is my job and there are real consequences for messing up.
But he’s magnificent,already instructing the students on how to use their breath to lighten their seats in the saddle and ask—“a polite request, as we do with friends”—the horses to move, and I’m freed up to watch him without guilt or subterfuge. I don’t care who sees, or knows, or asks questions: Mariano Arias wants me, and I want him, and this is all going to end in me shaking in my boots because I was wrong, and now that I understand the truth, I can’t wait to pull him into the tack room, or an empty stall, or, lord, even behind the bleachers, and get my hands back on him.
When we finally—deargods, did that lesson last forever—help the riders dismount and hand the horses off to the grooms, Pippa’s back. Damn. There goes my plan out the window.
“Miss Hainbright has very kindly invitedus to tea. Can you come?”
Well,I can’t not come, seeing as I live in the house and she’s my aunt, but they don’t seem to know that, and I’d rather not tell them, because I don’t want them to think I only got the job because of my connections. Which, of course, is partly true, but only partly. My mother would be damned lucky to find a second assistant trainer as good as me to fill the position. “I’d love to. Just need to go and freshen up a bit.”
The bathrooms areluxurious by even the highest standards. Mummy knows it’s the little things that make a place truly luxurious. There’s an attendant, heated towels, new soaps at every sink, and the stalls have doors without those terrible little gaps. Unfortunately, the presence of the attendant means I can’t call Aunt Dottie and fill her in on my plan not to be her niece for the time being—just until everyone’s had a chance to see I’m not some nepo baby and that I’m worth my salt.
Inside the stall,affixed to the wall above the three-ply toilet paper, is one of those wonderful Japanese contraptions that mask the sound of you urinating, so I’m able to mask, with the sound of larks and a brisk flush, the fact that I don’t need to pee.
I don’t haveany money on me and can’t tip the attendant, but then it’s England and she won’t expect it. But, you know, they hope—the workers who would get tips in other countries—they hope the Americans will bring their good/bad habits across The Pond and slip some extra cash their way. As I scrub my hands and wipe the dirt from my face, I make a note to give her double next time I’m here and deposit my heated hand towel in the laundry basket by the door.
Pippa’s right there,waiting for me. “I have room in my car, if you like? Or do you have a vehicle?”
I don’t.I came here with Dottie, who is still under the impression that we’re related. I can’t very well turn down a ride. “She won’t mind? Us turning up in our uniforms?”
Pippa shakes her head vigorously.“I told her you’d be teaching until gone three o’clock, and she said to come as we are. It won’t be anything formal. Just a nice, older lady who wants some company. I couldn’t very well say no when she’d invited everyone.”
“Oh! Ms. Hainbright!”Best to get in front of my little subterfuge. Some of them saw me falling out of her Mini Cooper, after all. “The one with all the blue hair?”
“That’s the one.”
