Not today. Maybe not ever again.
The grass was slick and mud stuck our boots, but she didn’t complain, just holding on to me a little tighter whenever we hit a soft patch.
“That window’s gone too,” I said, nodding toward the east-facing upstairs bedroom. Shards glittered on the ground like someone had dumped a bucket of diamonds. “We’re going to need a couple replacements.”
She winced. “I’m sorry.”
“For what? You didn’t throw the hail.”
“No, I meant for everything that happened before that. For stealing your horse. For being irresponsible.”
I squeezed her shoulder before she could gather more guilt. “Hey, you don’t owe me an apology.”
She gave me a look. “I stole your horse.”
“And?” I nudged her gently with my hip. “You also made it back in one piece, didn’t you?”
She muttered something under her breath. A grumble. A very annoyed, very adorable grumble. I tipped my head toward her. “What was that?”
She lifted her chin, refusing to look at me. “I said you proved that you are, in fact, a real cowboy.”
I barked out a laugh. “Did you really have any doubts?”
“I refuse to answer that,” she shot back in that prim, clipped, pure high-strung rich girl defense mechanism, and God, the way it only made me grin wider.
“That right?”
She crossed her arms, still tucked under mine. “Yes. That is right.”
“You know that look won’t scare me off, yeah?” I teased. “If anything, it makes me want to mess with you more.”
Her lips twitched. She tried not to smile, but the corners of her mouth betrayed her. “Whatever.”
After checking on the horses, we rounded the corner of the barn. A tree limb sprawled across the back road, too thick to drag without the tractor, and a fence panel hung crooked like it had nearly given up.
“Well, if this is it, then it could’ve been a lot worse,” I said.
“I thought it would be.” She leaned into me again, maybe without even realizing it. “Last night, it felt like the world was ending.”
“It wasn’t,” I said softly, letting my hand slide down her arm until our fingers linked. “Besides, you did well.”
She glanced up at me. “I panicked.”
“You were in a heck of a storm on horseback.” I kissed the top of her head. “You handled it better than most.”
She didn’t argue for once, a tiny little smirk breaking out across her lips. “You did do a pretty good job of distracting me. Eventually.”
I laughed. “Well, hey. I had to make you work for it a little bit, didn’t I?”
“No.”
I held her tighter. “It was worth it and you know it.”
She groaned, her head shaking but another smile begging to break free on her lips. “You’re really not very modest.”
“Don’t have any reason to be,” I joked as we traced the fencing, checking for breaks. The whole time, I kept my arm snug around her shoulders.
She fit there like I’d been saving that spot just for her without even knowing it. After a while, she finally glanced up at me again. “You said last night I should check the weather with you before taking a horse out again.”
