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Kyle thought it over and nodded, so Heather pointed to the post at the side of the tower.
“There’s already a rope attached to the rail. Hook it to the halter under his bridle, and make sure the reins are up and out of the way, so he won’t step on them.”
Kyle dismounted and did as she said, then walked back to the wall and looked up to the tape. “I take it I don’t get a safety rope today?”
“It was my intention to hook you up, but Marcus seems to think you’ll be okay without it. It’s up to you, though. The harnesses are in the tower, and the code is the same as the one for my garage.”
He shook his head. “It isn’t that high. I’ll be fine.”
True to his word, he was fine. He reached up for a handhold and stepped up with his feet, quickly moved up to the tape, touched it, and climbed right back down.
When Kyle had both feet back on the ground, Marcus said, “Since that was so easy, try it again and see if you can get eye level with the tape. When you’re eye level, stop until I tell you to come back down, please.”
Kyle didn’t turn around to look at them, he just climbed right back up, doing as Marcus had asked, stopping when he reached eye level with the tape. Marcus used his phone to take a few shots, and then told Kyle to come down.
While Kyle was getting back on Zeus, Heather told him, “You have great technique, Kyle, I’m impressed. You’ve obviously done this before, and you’ve had someone show you how. I wasn’t expecting that, but it makes things so much easier. With your strength and agility, you could bereallygood.”
Marcus wrapped his arms around her again and said, “His technique has never been the problem — it’s the height we’ll be working on. Using the idea of the horse seems to have helped him get started, and that was brilliant on your part.”
Kyle was back on Zeus and already heading away from them, so Heather nudged Phantom to get him moving as well. There were several ways back from here, but one involved a mandatory jump, so she needed to make sure he didn’t choose that one.
Chapter 26
Kyle and Marcus seemed deep in a discussion, talking at the fence while Heather put Phantom through his paces. She wanted to know what they were talking about, but didn’t feel like she should interrupt.
She tried to ignore them though, because Phantom needed her undivided attention, so she sank into that place she went when she and Phantom became almost one — horse and rider so in tune with each other that all Heather had to do wasthinkof an instruction, and Phantom did it.
When she finished, she dismounted Phantom while still in the ring and walked to his head, keeping her back to him so he could lean his face down beside hers. She reached up with her arm to rub the right side of his muzzle, and he rubbed the left side of his face against her head. They nuzzled each other a moment, and then she turned and they looked into each other’s eyes. She kissed the top of his nose and said, “C’mon, boy, let’s go untack you and rub you down, does that sound good?”
He headed towards the barn, which was all the answer she needed.
Jonah was rubbing Zeus down when she reached the barn, and she told him, “Kyle should be doing that. He’s been out here with me enough to know how to do it without supervision.”
Jonah kept his focus on the horse. “I offered to do it, since it sounded like he and Marcus needed to talk, and Marcus was wanting to watch you on Phantom. Speaking of which,two guys, Heather? I’m very happy for you. No judgment here, and I now understand what’s been keeping you so busy.”
Heather’s face went hot, and she knew she must be blushing. “What... what do you mean?”
Jonah chose his words carefully. “I’ve always seen you as asexual. I could never get a handle on straight or gay. I’ve seen you date guys, but it never really seemed right. Even with Kyle, until today, I couldn’t see the two of you — you know —together. But today, you’re practically oozing sexuality, and it’s focused on both of them, not just one of them.”
She worked at removing the saddle as she talked, since that kept her from having to look at him. “Is it that obvious?”
“Only to those who pay attention to such things. Call it part of my gaydar if it makes it easier, but my subconscious picks up on little looks and touches and signals. I guess I’ve programmed myself to automatically pick up on what is sexual and what isn’t. Nothing you’ve done has ever hit my radar as sexual before. Ever. Which I’ve always seen as incredibly odd, but never felt it was something you’d want to talk about. But today? The way you look at both of them, the way you leaned backward into Marcus’s arms, the way you talk to Kyle, the way you fed him sausage this morning — and, by the way, that was hot. There almost seemed to be a bit of...”
He trailed off, and when he didn’t continue, Heather asked, “A bit of what?”
“Nothing. I’m sorry I said that part. It would’ve been out of line. You and I’ve never talked about this sort of thing, and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
She sighed. “I promise I won’t hold it against you. I just need to know what you think you saw.”
“Power. Control. It seemed as if he was allowing you control over him.”
Remembering what Marcus had said about Jonah, she said, “Hmm, you mean something only another Dom would notice?”
Jonah gave her a great big mischievous grin, and she decided there was no sense in denying it, so she rolled her eyes and said, “I told him he wasn’t allowed to feed himself any meat this morning, that any he ate would come from my hand. I thought we were being circumspect about it, though.”
“You were. If I wasn’t a Dom myself then I’d have just thought it romantic. So, can I ask what the deal is with Marcus? I’m pretty sure he’s a Dom, and I’m pretty sure you aren’t a sub. Though, I guess I could be wrong about that. It seems I’ve been wrong about everything else about you.”
She shook her head and then tried to figure out how to explain without embarrassing herself. He took that to mean she didn’t want to talk about it, and said, “Sorry, that was too forward.”
