Page 97

While showering together, I make love to Hattie again. I’m a man obsessed. I can’t get enough…will never get enough. Ten days apart was more than I could handle.

I get dressed while Hattie dries her hair. As I’m buttoning the last button on my shirt, the blow dryer pauses, and she pokes her head out of the bathroom doorway.

“Oh, we left my bag sitting by the front door. Could you get it? I want to show you something.” She smiles, biting her bottom lip.

I nod, and she disappears back inside the bathroom.

Striding down the stairs, I take in Hattie’s house for the first time…seeing as I was a bit distracted earlier. Her home is polished; everything is clean and new. The neighborhood is a ritzy, gated community. Thankfully, Blair was willing to text Poppy with the gate code.

Seeing how she lives gives me a new appreciation for how big of an adjustment it was for her to stay in Hank’s shabby guest cabin. Her shiny Land Rover sitting in the driveway takes me back to the first day I met her. No wonder she was so surprised to see my old pickup.

Grabbing her handbag and heading back inside, I picture myself here. Could I adjust the same way she did in Montana? I’ll do it for her. But it’s difficult to picture coming home to this pristine neighborhood with perfectly trimmed boxwood trees. Will the neighbors stare at my dusty clothes? Probably.

Hattie’s coming down the stairs as I close the front door. I smile at the sight of her with her smooth hair and glowing skin that’s clean from the shower. She’s wearing a silk pajama set like the pink one she had in Montana, but this one is black. And instead of a button-down, the matching top has tiny lace straps, and the fabric ends just above her belly button.

My shoulders relax. This right here, seeing her smile…that’s how I’ll adjust to California.

She crosses the space between us to take her bag from my hand.

“What?” Hattie asks, noticing my stare.

“You’re beautiful.”

She bites her bottom lip. “I thought you might like this set.”

I pump my eyebrows. “They show off your sexy little belly button. I could toss you over my shoulder and take you back upstairs. Show you how beautiful you are with or without the pjs.”

She shoots me a saucy smirk, waggling her index finger. “Calm your dick for just a second.” Hattie pulls a notebook out of her bag and guides me toward the white sofa. “I want to show you something.”

I sit down beside her, worried I’ll get dirt on her couch somehow, even though my clothes are clean.

Hattie, clearly noticing my stilted movements, laughs. “You won’t ruin my couch, Sunshine. Relax.”

Taking a deep breath, I roll my shoulders back. She cuddles against me, opening her notebook to a page that’s filled with her loopy handwriting.

“So, I’ve been kind of miserable this past week,” she admits. “I had a long conversation with my trainer and admitted that my heart wasn’t in competing anymore. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I might like to do instead.”

Hattie worries her bottom lip, her finger pointing to a few words on the paper that she wrote larger than all the rest.

My eyes read the three words:

Youth Jump Academy.

“You want to teach,” I muse.

She nods, her eyes moving back to the page. I get the sense she wants me to keep reading, so I do.

“From Olympic bronze medalist Hattie Townsend, comes a youth show jump academy for young equestrians looking to learn to hone their skills.” My eyes fly over the information she’s written out. She’s thought of every detail. Time slots, age groups, a curriculum.

When I get to the bottom of the page, my eyes widen. “Youth Jump Academy begins in the new year at Whispering Pines Ranch.”

I move to face her on the couch. She’s grinning at me. “Hattie, is this for real?”

She nods. “Yes. I’ve been working with Hank on this all week.” Hattie takes my hand. “Lincoln, it means the world to me you’d move here, that you’d leave everything behind…but I want to be in Montana.”

I bring her hand to my face, closing my eyes and leaning into her palm. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything,” she whispers. “My only hesitation was things being awkward between us…but I don’t think I have to worry about that anymore.”