He chuckled. “You can keep your paycheck—don’t worry. I’ll be right back. I need to grab the saddle.”
I watched him walk away and discovered that he’d been hiding a darn good butt in his saggy court shorts.
“How am I doing so far?” I whispered to Cedar.
He flicked his ears around, and I realized that I knew nothing about horse body language.
“Are you happy or sad?” I asked him. “Am I standing too close to you?”
I stroked his nose, and he flicked his head away, making the cross ties jingle.
“That’s a ‘no,’ huh?”
“You telling Cedar your secrets?” Owen’s voice echoed from behind me.
“Just trying to figure him out,” I answered. “This issucha different world for me.”
He placed the saddle on a rail behind him.
“Well, get ready for yet another new horizon, because it’s time to ride.”
Chapter Seventeen
I immediately knew the guy sauntering across the dirt ring toward us was Josh, and even though Owen hadn’t agreed to my fake-dating scheme, I was going to force the issue.
Owen was focused on lining Cedar up at the mounting block so he wasn’t prepared for my sudden shift to girlfriend mode. He froze when I slipped my arm around his waist.
I went up on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear. “Incoming.”
A constellation of expressions flashed across his face, and I half expected him to step away from me. Instead, he met my eyes with a softness that was real enough to make me question if my acting skills could compare.
“Okay,” he murmured to me. “I guess we’re doing this.”
As much as I wanted to assess Josh as he walked closer, I couldn’t tear my eyes from Owen’s. My arm around his waist felt familiar, normal even, despite the fact that we’d only touched once before. When I wrote about fake dating, I always highlighted the awkwardness of the initial stages, the fumbling of two people forced to fast-track intimacy. Based on the way it felt with Owen, I seriously needed to recalibrate my approach to the trope.
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and I melted a little.Damn, he was good.
“Well, hey, man,” Josh said. “Been a while.”
Cedar jostled as Josh came to a stop in front of us, hard enough to pull Owen away from me.
“Hey, yourself,” Owen answered, reaching his hand out to Josh. “Good to see you. This is, uh, my girlfriend, Brooke.”
I was on. I smiled prettily at Josh and nestled close against Owen, like I couldn’t bear to not be touching him. He draped his arm around my shoulder. “Hi. I’m sorry, what’s your name?”
“Josh McLain. I’m an instructor here.” He puffed up his chest like he was insulted I didn’t know who he was.
There was no question that Josh was conventionally handsome. Tall, fair-haired, with a regal carriage that was probably due to years of horseback posture scrutiny. But to me, he looked plastic. His eyebrows were unsettlingly light, making his face look like it was halfway through a drag makeover.
“Ivy just told me you’re doing something withpickleballnow?” Josh asked, sounding incredulous. He crossed his arms and eyed Owen. “Always jumping on the next trend, huh? Good for you.”
I felt Owen stiffen. “Yeah, I wouldn’t call it a trend. I’m an investor at a club in Manhattan. First of its kind in the city.”
Investor?I had to force myself not to react, because it was news to me. I needed to stay in character no matter the plot twists. I rubbed Owen’s back and gazed up at him adoringly.
“Huh,” Josh answered. “I’ll have to check it out.”
“Oh, youmust,” I purred, really pouring it on. “It’s stunning.”
