“Your horse is trying to eat me!” I felt alright when I was standing next to her, but sitting down here, she looks huge. I can’t get up as she’s in the way. I’m trapped. Maybe this is how I’ll meet my death. I can see the headlines—chef mauled and eaten by giant horse.
“So she’s a sweetheart when it suits you andmyhorse when it doesn’t?” Andrés chuckles. He doesn’t look bothered by howclose she is. It figures. He was probably raised by horses, and learned to stand by hauling himself up by one of their legs.
“Exactly,” I huff and he laughs again.
“It’s the carrots,” he says.
“The carrots?”
“The ones in your pocket. She’s trying to get to them.” I’d forgotten all about those.
“Oh, can I feed them to her now, then?”
“Yes, she’ll be fine to have them,” he says and I pull the bag out of my pocket and offer her some. She takes them gently, no longer trying to seek them out herself, and she no longer feels threatening.
“Here you go, sweetheart,” I say deliberately and Andrés laughs again. He scoots sideways off the bale of bedding and stands, stretching his back. He gives her a check over and looks satisfied, so he fetches her some food. The carrots now gone and with the prospect of another meal, she moves away from me and I have room to stand. I look over the low wall and can see the barn is a hive of activity—people everywhere, horses being taken out of the stalls, a lot of cleaning taking place. Jorge comes over and he and Andrés exchange a few words. They both look over at Chispa so I guess they must be discussing her. I roll my shoulders a few times and try to remove the kinks in my back. Sleeping in a sitting position in a cold barn is not comfortable; I do not recommend. I glance at my watch, it’s six in the morning.
“Are you late for work?” Andrés’ face creases to a worried frown as he comes over.
“No, I’m not on the early shift today. I don’t start until ten,” I explain, and his face changes to a hopeful smile.
“How about a hot shower and a couple of hours in a comfortable bed first?” His offer does sound attractive.
“Sleeping? You didn’t mention sleeping.”
“I can’t promise that.” His husky voice sends a thrill through my body. Fuck it, who needs sleep.
“Good, just so long as we’re clear on that,” I reply, and he flashes me a grin with his perfect white teeth. “What about the horses?” I ask.
“Jorge will see to them, and there’s plenty of time, we don’t start loading them until twelve.” Oh, yes of course, he really is leaving today. I turn away from him so he can’t see my face fall, and I go to Chispa.
“Goodbye, sweetheart. Hopefully I’ll see you again one day,” I whisper to her and give her a final stroke on her neck. When I leave, Andrés is looking at me with a wistful expression on his face.
“Come on,” I say. “You did at least promise me a shower.” We walk between the stalls and I have a thought. “So how will they get to the UK?”
“On an aeroplane.”
“Huh. How does that work?” I never thought about it before, but I suppose they’d have to.
“They’re taken by trailer to the airfield, then they have special stalls they’re put into. There are like three stalls joined together.Then these are loaded onto the plane, which is fitted out to take them.”
“Who takes them? I guess not a budget airline.”
“Not any airline,” he laughs. “Austin owns a horse transport business, so it’s his plane they’ll be flying on.”
“Austin owns a plane?” I’ve never met anyone who owned a plane before.
“He has several. He flies horses all over the world, to competitions, for breeding, the Olympics.” Andrés shrugs like it’s no big deal, and I suppose he’s used to it. It sounds pretty cool, though.
“Do the horses mind? Flying, that is?”
“Not usually, no. Occasionally one has to be sedated, but not often. They’re better than most passengers.” We’ve reached the hotel now and I see his grin in the mirrored wall of the elevator. I laugh. I can imagine they don’t complain about the food.
Once we’re in Andrés’ room, he pulls me into a deep kiss. His nose wrinkles as he pulls away again.
“We both need a shower.”
I take a deep sniff and pull a face; he’s not wrong. He goes into the bathroom and switches the water on. When he returns we both undress quickly, and I feast my eyes on his body, homing in on his long cock. Fuck, I’m gonna miss it, every inch of it filling me. I can almost feel it, I need it.
