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She reaches for me, her face pale. “Charlie—”
I rush in front of her, putting my body between her and the thrashing horse. “Go,” I order roughly. Her petite frame trembles against mine as her hand snakes up over my shoulder, sending a raging fire down my spine.
Adrenaline competes with attraction, but only one wins out.
I keep my gaze locked on the horse because if I see her face, I’ll lose it. “Get up on the bars, Ruby, and climb. Now!”
She doesn’t argue, thank fuck.
She scrambles up, and Wyatt’s there, his fingers digging into the flesh of her ass to get a good grip and pull her out. And hell, we’re going to have a talk about that later, but right now, I have to getmyass out of here in one piece.
“Charlie, hurry up, man!” Wyatt shouts.
I grab the lower rung and swing myself under right as the horse’s hooves come down.
“Fucking close,” Wyatt says, breathing heavily.
Too close.
I get to my feet and stare at Ruby.
She must see the look in my eyes because she takes a step backward.
Now I’m livid.
Wyatt clamps a hand on my shoulder, reining me in. “Dude. Chill. It’s not the same.”
“It is the same,” I snap, then whip my head to Ruby.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Charlie,” she breathes out, blinking back tears. Her hand, pressed to her heart, shakes. “I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t know because you don’t work here,” I shout. “Because it’s dangerous, and you pulled a dumb stunt that could have gotten yourself killed.”
She flinches.
“Shut up, Charlie.” Fallon gives me akeep talking and I will kill youlook. “She feels bad enough without you barking at her like an asshole.”
“You shut up,” I tell her, not in the mood to deal with Fallon McGraw’s lecture.
Wyatt bristles, anger in his eyes. “Hey now—”
“You too.” I turn my hard gaze back to Ruby. She looks so damn pretty—so innocent—with the strap of her dress loose over her bare shoulder and a dusting of dirt over her face. Anger and worry curdle in me again. “What the hell were you thinking? What were you even doing up there—”
She steps up to me, blue eyes flashing. “I wasn’t thinking because I know nothing about this ranch because you won’t talk to me, you big asshole.” She pokes a finger into my chest and I’m effectively silenced. “I may be a pushover, and I may say yes more times than not, but I will not be yelled at by some rude cowboy who can’t even act like an acceptable human being. And if I can remind you, yelling is how you got yourself into this mess in the first place.”
“She’s gotcha there,” Wyatt mutters.
Fallon and I both round on him. “Shut. Up.”
Looking back at Ruby, I clear my throat, but the apology sticks. Sweat runs down my back. My chest heaves, the air trapped in my lungs. Fuck. Her searing glare is like a red-hot poker on my tongue. Before I can get anything out, she beats me to the punch.
“If you don’t want my help. Fine. Fix it yourself.” Without another word, she turns on her heel and storms off.
I stand there blinking, feeling like shit for yelling at her, for acting like a maniac. Seeing Ruby in that pen fucked with my head.
Her earlier words pushed me over the edge.I’d love to do that.
All I wanted to do was grab her shoulders and shake some sense into her. Tell her she’s fine the way she is. Safe. Beautiful. Quirky. She doesn’t need to ride a horse. She doesn’t need to be wild.
