by Soraya Lane
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.
She looked up at him, wanting to avoid his gaze but at the same time desperate to know if what had almost happened before had been a mistake or not. From the hungry way he was looking back at her, she was fairly certain it hadn’t been a mistake.
“How long have you been standing here?” she asked, suddenly wondering if he’d been listening to her talk away to the horse in a low voice as she’d prepared him.
“Not long. A few seconds,” he said, running his fingers loosely through his hair. “You know, I’d love to get back in the saddle. It’s been too long since I’ve had time to actually ride for pleasure.”
She wasn’t sure what he was trying to say. “You want to cancel our training session and go for a ride around the ranch instead?” she asked.
He grinned. “Hey, I’m not letting you off that easily. How about I bring one of my own horses tomorrow? You can show me around the place after I’ve worked Tex.”
She couldn’t help the smile that quickly spread like wildfire across her lips. “I’d love that. I always try to give my horses a fun riding day once a week, so that’d be perfect for Indi.”
He nodded. “It’s a date then.”
Mia opened her mouth, about to agree, but nothing came out. She knew he hadn’t meant it like that, but …
“Bad choice of words,” he muttered. “But I’m sure you get my drift.”
Mia nodded. “I’m going to grab my things and I’ll meet you in the arena.”
She didn’t wait for Sam to answer, just hurried into the tack shed again to grab her helmet, clasp it firmly under her chin, and wiggle her fingers into her leather riding gloves.
She paused, looking out the door at Sam as he walked away. She eyed his jeans, the way his Wrangler’s hugged his ass and tapered down over his long legs. His shoulders were wide, but there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him, his shirt tucked in and making that abundantly clear. He was the perfect physical specimen of man, but something had stopped him from kissing her before, and she wanted to know what. Because now she’d almost tasted his lips, she’d be thinking about it long after he left this afternoon, she was sure of it.
She retrieved Fred, pulled her stirrups down and mounted, walking out to the arena with her head full of Sam. She didn’t know what it was about him, but her mom was usually an off-limits topic with anyone except her siblings or her best friend, Kat. But standing there before, when he’d asked her a simple question, it had all but poured out of her, and for some strange reason it had felt so right.
“We’re going to show him exactly what we’re made of today,” she muttered to the horse she was riding.
Her horse broke into a trot, and she laughed. Maybe her animals could understand her after all.
She flushed thinking about the way Sam had held her, his big arms and even bigger body engulfing her as he’d hugged her and comforted her. He might be a loner, but the way he’d behaved had shown her that deep down he was a big softie, and he hadn’t liked seeing her cry. There was a lot more to him than met the eye, and Mia was curious now. She wanted to know all about Sam and what made him tick, what had made him the man he was today, and she wanted to know now.
* * *
“He’s pretty excited,” Sam said, standing in the middle of the vast arena as Mia cantered around. He’d set up four jumps in a row, just as she’d instructed him to do, in a grid for Mia to canter down, and he was waiting for her to come back around.
“Maybe it’s because of you,” she shot back, her smile infectious when she rose slightly out of the saddle and let her horse go faster.
“Perhaps, or perhaps he just needs settling.” Sam watched her carefully, critiquing her when he could, even though her riding today was almost faultless.
“Shall I do it again?” Mia called out.
“Yes. But this time, try talking to him. You’re both doing well, but I think he would settle into his natural rhythm better if you were soothing him more with your voice. Hell, sing to him softly if you have to, but just calm him by letting him listen to you.”
“The horse whisperer telling the rider to actually whisper to the horse!” she called back.
“Laugh all you like, but there’s nothing I would change about your riding or his capabilities.”
He saw her smile and knew she liked the compliment.
“Don’t go getting a big head, just ride him and talk to him.”
She did exactly that, and he had no idea what she told the horse, but he cleared the grid beautifully, his timing perfect, his legs tucked neatly under him, his ears pricked. Even when he landed he didn’t try to rush off.
“Perfect!” he called out.
Mia slowed him to a trot then a walk, loosening her reins and letting the horse stretch his neck out. She did a big circle before coming over to him, but her smile was gone, replaced with a deep frown as she stretched her leg out, foot out of the stirrup as she flexed her ankle.
“Shit,” she swore, dropping her reins as she went to dismount.
“What?” he asked. “What happened?”
“Ugh, cramp in my calf,” she moaned. “It’s bad.”
“Stop,” he ordered as she went to wriggle down. He placed his hands on her leg, pulling her long black leather boot off.
Mia stayed still, leg stretched out as he dropped her boot and started to massage her muscle, pushing his fingers hard into her leg. He rubbed back and forth, knowing exactly what that kind of cramp felt like.
“Better,” she murmured as he kept working, not about to stop now that he knew it was helping.
Sam glanced up at her, saw the relief on her face, eyes shut, face tilted up to the sky. He smiled and kept kneading, wishing his fingers were on her bare skin instead of through her riding pants.
“Thanks,” she said, flexing again, and he took his hands off her.
“No problem. Great riding out there.”
It was hot, the sun unrelenting, and her face was pink and gleaming when she smiled down at him. He noticed the long braid she had hanging down her back had become messy, wisps escaping and sticking to her neck. She looked more gorgeous than ever, and he diverted his eyes, not about to let his mind go there again.
Mia swung her leg over and he glanced at her boot just as she came flying toward the ground. Sam acted fast, grabbing her around the waist, his hands firm to her body as he caught her and stopped her from landing.
“Boot,” he muttered as she gasped.
Mia froze in his arms, and he slowly let her go. Her hands landed on his shoulders as she turned, standing on one leg, laughing as she tried to hop to her boot and failed.
“You’re completely useless when you’re not on a horse,” he said with a laugh.
Mia was laughing too, and he kept hold of her as she bent to retrieve the boot, pink-socked foot pointed out at a weird angle as she tried to keep her balance.
“Thanks, you’re really great with compliments, you know that?”
Sam held her around the waist as she went to put her boot on, steadying her when she wobbled. He hadn’t expected her to forget all about putting her boot on and stare up and him instead.
“What?” he asked, voice low since they were standing so close.
It would have taken only one movement to have Mia’s body close up against his, her torso to his, her slender body butted right up to his chest. But instead of moving, he stayed rock still, not getting closer, not letting anything more happen.
“Before. In the tack shed,” she murmured, tilting her face up. “You stopped something before it was about to happen.”
He sure as hell hadn’t expected her to bring that up. But now she had, he could hardly lie and pretend that it hadn’t happened. He was plenty of things, but liar wasn’t one of them.
“I did.”
“Why?” she asked.
Sam groaned. This was not a question he wanted to answer. She raised her mouth, expectantly, and he stared down at her, swallowi
ng hard. This was not going to happen. His heart beat faster, hands warm against her sides.
To hell with it. Some part of his brain disagreed with him, pushed him over the edge and shattered all the willpower he thought he had.
Sam reached out and unclasped her helmet with one hand, taking it carefully off her head. She ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it off her face, and when she was done, when she looked back up at him, he bent low and kissed Mia, one hand still holding her helmet, the other around her, his palm flat to the small of her back. His lips moved softly across hers, their mouths slow, gentle, tasting her and wishing to hell he hadn’t gone there. When she let out a little moan, the faintest of noises, it was all the encouragement he needed. Sam dropped her helmet and raised his hand, stroking down her long braid and then settling on her cheek.
He kissed her again, this time less sweet and more urgent. When her tongue touched his, he responded, pushing his lower body against her as he fought to get closer to her, to feel her hard up against him.
It was Mia who broke the kiss, pulling back, palm to his chest as she smiled and then wobbled straight back into him.
“I’m still on one foot,” she whispered, laughing when he caught hold of her elbow. “And you’re kind of making it hard for me to keep my balance.”
Sam laughed too, bending to help her with her footwear. Her hands rested on his shoulders, and he listened to her sigh when he stood up.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said, looking embarrassed.
Sam touched her shoulder and studied her, wondering what she was thinking, what she expected from him. He should have told her first, before kissing her, that he had nothing to give. Not emotionally, anyway.
“Thank you.” Her voice was low as she pushed away and leaned into her horse instead, holding onto the reins and giving him a look he couldn’t decipher.
“For the lesson?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing, don’t worry. I’d better get this one back to his stable for a brush down.”
Sam stood and watched her go. He couldn’t figure women out, never had been able to, maybe never would. He just hoped Mia didn’t have any expectations where he was concerned after one kiss, no matter how good it had been.
* * *
Mia watched Sam’s vehicle disappear in a cloud of dust as he headed down the drive for home. She raised her hand, touched her fingers across her lips and smiled thinking about the way she’d felt when he’d kissed her. She should have said something, anything other than ‘thank you’ to the man who’d kissed her and made her feel like a breathing, feeling, sensual woman again, but instead she’d lost all power to speak and had fled the scene. What she should have done was wrap her arms around his neck and kiss the hell out of him again until he’d been the one to pull away.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she picked it up. It was Kat.
“Hey,” she said, smiling when she heard her friend’s cheerful voice.
“How’s your day been? Any progress with the Handsome Horseman today?”
“Ha-ha, very funny.” Mia wasn’t about to breathe a word of what had happened—Kat would never let her live it down if she knew.
“Look, I know you’ll want to kill me, but my cousin is arriving in from L.A. in the morning, and I might have promised that we’d double date. Is there any way you could go out for dinner with him tomorrow night?” she laughed. “I’ll be there too but…”
Mia groaned. She hated when Kat tried to set her up with anyone. “I’m not going on a blind date with your pretend cousin. You know I hate that sort of thing!”
“First of all, he’s not a pretend cousin. For the record, he’s cute and single and charming, so you’ll have a great night with us,” Kat said, as if she were talking to a petulant child. “Secondly, I have a dog being flown in for a specialist surgery. He’s going to be one of the first dogs in the state that receives the new prosthetic elbow joint that we’ve been trialing. I’ve been waiting a long time to find the right large canine candidate, so my cousin will pick you up and I’ll come along later with Matt. He’s the other vet consulting on the case, so we’ll all be kind of new to each other. It’ll be great!”
Kat knew all she had to do was play on her animal heartstrings and she’d have her in the bag, but a date? Seriously? Going out with someone she’d never even spoken to or met before was her idea of a disaster.
“Fine, but you need to make it clear that I’m not some desperate single and that I’m doing you a favor. This is just a group of people having dinner, not a double date, okay?”
“Of course! I promised him a fun night out, so I just don’t want to let him down.”
Mia wished she wasn’t such a pushover when it came to Kat, but it was what she’d said the other night that was playing on her mind. She didn’t get out enough, and she hadn’t dated in such a long time. Was it really that hard to meet a decent guy and have some fun along the way?
She chatted to her friend for a while then said goodbye, and her stomach did a little jump when she thought about going out with a man. Only it wasn’t Kat’s mystery cousin that was making her stomach flip and her heart race; it was Sam. She doubted she’d ever be able to look at his lips the same way again.
Groaning and pushing all thoughts of Sam away, she walked up to the main house and went around back, kicking off her boots and heading inside.
“Dad?” she called out, knowing he was in there somewhere. “Dad?” she said again, wandering down the long hallway and heading toward his office. He liked to work from home whenever he wasn’t traveling, and when she paused outside to knock on the doorframe, he finally called back out to her.
“Come in, just finishing up some paperwork.”
Mia smiled and entered, loving the feel of the thick, luxurious carpet beneath her socked feet. The hallway and kitchen were all hardwood floors, but everywhere else the carpet was extravagant and plush. She glanced around his office—her father had his head bent and was scribbling away at something—and she smiled as she always did when she looked at the pictures adoring the walls and dotted among books on his dark oak bookcase that sprawled the length of one wall. There was a big photo of her mom, her head tipped back in laughter and her eyes shut, that always sent a shiver through Mia. And then there were endless photos of her siblings—Angelina on the day she graduated law school, Cody outside his new office building, Tanner riding a bull with one hand thrown back, and Mia standing with Indi, her head resting against her horse’s neck.
“I look at every single photo every day,” her father said, rising from his desk and coming over to kiss her cheek. “How’s it going with the horseman?”
Mia kissed him back and wished she didn’t feel so conflicted when it came to her dad. She loved him fiercely but they so often butted heads and clashed over her decisions.
“He’s … well, interesting,” Mia said truthfully. “Not what I expected, but he’s good at what he does,”
“Pleased to hear it. Join me for a drink?” Her father crossed the room and poured himself a whisky. She shook her head, but happily sunk down onto the big buttoned leather sofa to sit with him.
“You’re sure it’s worth spending money on this horse, Mia?”
She nodded, hoping they weren’t going to argue again. “Yes, I’m sure.”
“There a reason you’ve come over to see me? Or was it just my good company you wanted to enjoy?”
Mia laughed. Trust him to ask her outright. “I actually just wanted to see you, but now that you’ve asked…” she cleared her throat. “I really appreciate you bringing Sam Mendes here to the ranch, but I need you to run things by me first when it comes to the horses. I thought we agreed that I was in charge of all the horses on the ranch?”
He chuckled and took a long sip of his drink. The straight liquor on ice would have made her stomach heave. “Mia, you’re too close to this horse.”
She took a deep breath, determined not to say anything
she’d regret later.
“I’m actually very proud of you, whether you believe me or not, and I can see how capable you are, but I have an obligation to keep my employees safe, and no ranch hand can be expected to go near that beast. We need to take advice on him, and I was told Sam was the best man for the job.”
Mia nodded. He was right—she knew it and he knew it.
“I need your word that this is the last time you’ll step in and go over my head though,” she said. “I understand why you did it, but just…”
“You have my word, Mia. Now come have dinner with me. This old man is sick of dining alone.”
She laughed and pushed to her feet. “Fine. But you eat out more than you eat in, and I don’t believe for a second you’re dining alone when you’re out.”
Her father gave her a wink, and she rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen. He might be old, but he was as sharp as a tack.
Chapter 8
WHEN SAM arrived the next day, Mia was a bundle of nerves. Her thighs were aching from the long, grueling training session the day before, but she was looking forward to seeing him. After so long working on her own every day, it was kind of nice, even though she knew he was only here for a handful of weeks.
And then there was the kiss.
When he got out of his vehicle and waved, she waved back, pushing her stupid nerves away and heading over to help him unload his horse. Blue jumped out with him, and she went around the back of the trailer to put the back down as he opened the side door.
“Ready?” she asked, before hauling it down.
“Yip, ready,” he replied.
Mia admired the dark bay, glossy rear end of his horse as she waited for him to give her a signal to open the back gate containing the horse. When he did, she opened it, and watched as he slowly backed his horse off.
“Impeccably behaved,” she said. She was used to well-behaved horses, but that had been effortless.
“Watch this,” he said, glancing at her before stroking his horse on the neck to get his attention.
