“I’m not stressed,” Alexis snapped back, a little too aware of the spot Birdie’s elbow had touched her arm. “I’m just calculating my odds of survival.”
“This is your first time on a horse?” she asked, lifting a brow. “Because it’s okay to be a little scared if it is. My first time, I thought I was going—”
Alexis didn’t let her finish. “It’s not,” she lied, and with that, she squared her shoulders and headed toward the horse Marie was tugging out from the shade.
“Left hand here,” Marie instructed, tapping the saddle horn. “Foot in the stirrup. Push up and swing your leg over. Easy.”
“Right.” Alexis felt her cheeks flare hot as she noticed the cameras angling in closer. “Easy peasy,” she muttered, though she wasn’t convincing anyone—not Marie, not Birdie, not even herself.
She put her left hand on the horn, shoved her foot into the stirrup, and tried to hoist herself up. The movement was graceless. And when she swung her leg over the saddle, shebecame horribly aware that she’d just given the cameraman behind her a full panoramic shot of her ass. Perfect. Exactly the kind of thing she wanted to be remembered for on national television.
“Très bien,” Marie said. “Pull left to turn left, right to turn right. A little squeeze with your heels if you want him to move.”
“And how do I get him to stop?”
Marie laughed and patted Magnum’s flank. He lurched forward, and Alexis winced as her knuckles whitened around the reins. He then tossed his head like he knew exactly how nervous she was and enjoyed every second of her fear. Great, Magnum was a psychopath.
She risked a glance sideways just in time to watch Birdie mount her horse with one smooth, sexy motion. Foot in, push, swing, settle. No wobble and no flailing. No ass in the air spectacle. Just deliciously perfect.
“We go!” Marie called, swinging herself onto a tall chestnut mare.
Slowly, ever so slowly, they moved forward along the trail. Red cliffs rose on either side. Dust curled in the warm breeze. The cicadas started up their infernal chorus, and the sun poured down like someone had spilled a vat of honey over the entire valley.
Birdie was ahead, perched on a dapple-grey horse, looking every bit as comfortable as Alexis would’ve looked if she werewalkingup the trail.
“Gardez les yeux ouverts,” Marie called, glancing over her shoulder. “These trails are older than sin.”
Alexis had no idea what Marie had said, but her thighs tightened around Magnum anyway. Which was the wrong thing to do. The horse sped up, then slowed again when she yanked the reins. She would’ve happily stayed in the back, trailing behind Marie and Birdie, but Elise, who followed with thecamera crew, gave a polite little cough that wasn’t polite at all. The kind of cough that said,move forward and engage.
Which is what she did. She nudged Magnum up alongside Birdie and surprised even herself. She hadn’t fallen off her horse yet, and that had to count for something.
“I used to ride a lot when I was younger,” Birdie said, looking her way. Whatever irritation she’d carried on the ride up was gone. This happy, cheery, smiley Birdie was probably just an act for the cameras. “My aunt has a small hobby farm just outside Crested Butte. She had three horses when I was a kid: Bella, Butternut, and Beyoncé. Unfortunately, Beyoncé died a few years back. My aunt didn’t take it very well.”
“Well, honestly, I’ve never been on a horse before,” Alexis admitted, though it was incredibly obvious. “Not unless you count a steel pony on the merry-go-round. And I’m sorry to hear about Beyoncé. I hope your aunt is doing better now.”
“She is,” Birdie said, smiling. “She got another horse. Not that Beyoncé could ever be replaced.”
“I can relate.”
“Yeah?” Birdie tipped her head. “Did you lose a pet?”
Alexis nodded. “Harry,” she said. “He was a parrot. He could talk. Swear mostly. Not that I taught him to swear. He came that way.”
Birdie laughed, bright and loud enough that it bounced off the rocks, and Alexis felt something deep in her stomach. That something was nothing she wanted to name. “I never took you for a bird person.”
“I’m not,” Alexis said quickly. “Harry showed up on my balcony one day and didn’t leave.”
“That’s got to be a good omen or something,” Birdie said, grinning as she shifted in her saddle. The sun beat down on her legs, and for the first time, Alexis could see a constellation of freckles scattered across her bare knee. She found herselfwondering if her other knee also had freckles and made a mental note to check. But then she quickly scratched that mental note because, no, she should not be checking out Birdie’s bare skin.
“I guess,” Alexis shrugged and focused on Magnum’s mane. It was thick and coarse and as dark as ink.
“How did he die?”
“Snake,” Alexis said flatly, then laughed when Birdie’s eyes rounded and her jaw dropped. “I’m just kidding. The vet said it was old age.”
Birdie chuckled. “You know, I think that’s probably the first time you’ve made a joke.”
“Is it?” Alexis asked, snapping her gaze forward just in time to catch the back of Marie’s horse disappearing around a bend. She hoped her cheeks weren’t going to turn red all of a sudden. Because Birdie was right, it was the first time. Alexis didn’t make jokes often, only when she was half a wine bottle deep and when she truly felt comfortable with someone. Which was basically never. This was a surprise. This was dangerous.
