People stopped what they were doing to watch.
Nina didn’t feel nervous. Modelling was just another type of acting, after all, pretending to be someone you weren’t in front of a camera while others watched the show.
‘Okay.’ Markus let his camera hang from the strap around his neck as he directed. ‘I’m thinking Nina in the saddle, Mav leading the horse.’
‘Why don’t we take the saddle off?’ Mav suggested. ‘Go bareback with us both on. Maybe, Nina in front of me.’
Markus’s eyes rounded with glee. ‘Is that safe?’
‘With Zephyr – yes.’ When Markus still seemed unsure, Maverick added, ‘I would never put Nina in a dangerous situation.’
Nina’s heart tripped a little at the words, spoken with sincerity.
It also seemed to be all the convincing Markus needed. ‘Okay. Fuck it. Let’s do it.’
Maverick patiently removed the saddle again and carried it to one of the saddle racks he and Benji had hauled out. ‘With our combined weight, we can’t move much. Zeph could manage it, but it would be a strain on her back.’
‘We’ll do mostly still shots. No walking but maybe slight movements to reposition her body.’
Maverick nodded.
Nina looked around. They were far from the barn and any mounting blocks, and without the saddle and stirrups she had to ask, ‘How are we going to get on?’
‘I’ll get on her first and then help you up.’ So saying, he gathered the reins in his left hand and vaulted onto Zephyr’s back in one smooth movement.
Markus’s jaw dropped open.
Both of them stared at Maverick.
One of the models behind them whispered, ‘He’s so smoking hot,’ to one of her friends.
At her side, Markus asked, ‘Are you a little turned on right now?’
Nina sighed, but she didn’t deny it. ‘Oh yeah.’
Watching Maverick on horseback had become her favourite pastime. He was so natural, so comfortable, and, she’d admit, impossibly sexy too. And in those small moments when she saw him soothing an animal, stroking its neck with his large hand as he whispered words of approval, Nina couldn’t bear to look away.
When he held out one hand for her, she didn’t hesitate even though she had no idea how he was going to get her on too. She went to him. ‘What do I do?’
‘My back’s not what it used to be,’ he said with a small grin. ‘So, Markus if you pop a knee …’
Markus knelt, putting one knee at a ninety-degree angle. He jokingly bowed his head. ‘Your humble servant, my queen.’
The giggle tore from Nina’s throat before she could contain it. ‘Markus, this is serious,’ she chastised.
‘Yes – your highness.’
‘Oh my God, you’re impossible.’ She laughed. But when she took Maverick’s hand and stepped on Markus’s knee, the smile on her face was big and bright.
Maverick lifted her onto Zephyr’s back easily. As soon as she had found her balance, he shimmied her back so that she was pressed against him, asked, ‘You okay?’
‘Perfect.’
She wasn’t given time to adjust to the feel of the horse’s bare back beneath her as Markus draped her dress how he wanted it and began directing them.
For close to forty minutes, they followed his orders, shifting their faces and bodies to the angles he wanted. Eyes looking forward, scanning the horizon. Nina’s head resting against Mav’s chest, one of his hands holding the reins, one of his arms around her waist. They even did one pose where she sat sideways on Zephyr’s back, both of her dress-covered legs falling next to one of Mav’s.
‘Okay, last one,’ Markus called.
