But it does.
Everything about this man makes my heart race and my breath come quick.
By the time I settle onto the saddle, my pulse is in my throat. Cash is still close, adjusting the reins, his fingers brushing my knee.
“See?” He looks up at me. “It’s not so bad up there, is it?”
I take a moment to assess the situation. It really isn’t all that scary at all, despite how high off the ground I am.
“Not yet,” I whisper, making Cash laugh.
“Wait here.” He starts to walk away as if I’d go anywhere. Or that I even know how. I watch while Cash quickly saddles a black and white spotted horse. He moves with the ease and confidence of a man who’s been doing it his whole life.
With my notebook on the bench where I left it, I make mental notes about how he straps the leather buckle tight around the horse while talking soothingly to him the entire time. He stops to pat the horse and scratch its nose as he goes, never forgetting that he’s working with another living creature.
Cash doesn’t need any help as he heaves himself up and onto the saddle with a smooth flash of masculine energy. Seeing him astride the horse just might be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.
I swallow hard and remember myself as Cash and his horse join us.
“What’s his name?”
Cash pats his horse’s neck. “This is Oreo.”
I lift my brow, and he shrugs. “I don’t name them,” he says. “Well, not all of them.”
“I like it,” I say with a smile.
“Are you ready to go for a ride?”
There doesn’t seem to be much option now that we’re both on horseback. Besides, while I was waiting, I got more comfortable and it doesn’t feel quite as foreign sitting in the saddle as it had a few minutes ago.
“Let’s do it.”
Cash smirks. After a few basic instructions, he leads the way on Oreo out of the barn.
Thankfully, Joey seems to instinctively know what to do and, without any encouragement from me, begins to follow Cash and his horse outside.
The horses start to move a little quicker, and for a second, I panic. Then something shifts. The easy sway of his gait evens out, and the rhythm becomes almost hypnotic. My bodynaturally starts to move back and forth in time to the movement as we go.
Cash and Oreo lead us out into the snow-covered pasture. The crisp air fills my lungs, and the mountains stretch out around us. It feels open, and spacious, and…free.
I laugh, unable to keep the feeling inside me. “Oh my God. This is…it’s amazing!”
Cash glances back, that handsome smile that makes the skin around his eyes crinkle, stretches across his face. “You’re a natural.”
The simple comment hits me. “You think so? Really?”
He nods. “You’re doing great.”
Something in the way he says it makes me sit a little taller in the saddle and breathe a little deeper. Cash circles around, so he’s riding next to me now. He’s quiet but attentive. I try to watch him and the way he handles his horse, mimicking some of the little movements he makes.
Every once in a while, our knees brush, and every time, heat flares low in my belly.
By the time we circle back toward the barn, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much, and I’m not ready for it to be over.
“Well?” he asks as we reach the barn. “What did you think of your first ride?”
“I loved it. It was amazing. I can see why you like it so much.”
