Page 79 of Drawn to You

Today, she’s decided to detour from the group and snack on a bush not far from the trail. Nothing I say convinces her to move, so I gently dig my heels into her side the way Linc showed me.

“I’ll give you some carrots later, okay? We have to get back to the group.”

The pretty gray horse turns her head back in protest but moves anyway. She clops back onto the fresh trail and I see Josie on her horse, Nutmeg.

The group of ten slows down to let me catch up, and soon, Saffron and I are back in earshot.

“Even having a rose shoved up your ass wouldn’t improve the smell of your shits,” my teammate Justin says.

I wrinkle my brow, realizing I missed a key part of this conversation. But the fact that it includes a rose has to mean they’re talking about theCelebrity Singlesshow Dalton is leaving here tomorrow to start filming. We’ve been chirping at him nonstop about it since he signed the deal to do it.

It’s a good idea, but that doesn’t mean we won’t make fun of him over it for the rest of his life. That’s what teammates do. He needs a distraction after we choked in the first round of the playoffs a month ago. Our team hadn’t made the playoffs for seven years, and our fans were crazy excited.

All of us felt like we let them down more than anyone else. It sucked having Josie watching us get our asses handed to us at every game. It was especially hard for Dalton, who was in his first season as team captain.

The last mile of our horseback riding is slow. All eight of us who are visiting are still taking in the scenery. It’s like a painting. There are tall mountains in the distance, vibrant green trees, fields of tall grass and colorful wildflowers. And the sunsets here are spectacular.

Linc came to watch us in the playoffs, and when he offered a stay at his ranch to anyone who wanted a getaway to shake it off, several of us took him up on it. In addition to me, Josie, Jenn, Aiden, Dalton, Justin, Tate and our trainer, Gina, are all here.

Josie has become great friends with Jenn, Elena and Gina, and she’s getting closer to Trinity on this trip. Not only does she fit into our group perfectly, but I fit in better than I ever have now that I’ve settled down with her.

As soon as we get back to the newly built stables, Josie’s horse takes a massive shit. She grabs the shovel Linc showed us how to shovel horse shit with, but I take it from her.

She gives me an amused look. “You think I’m too precious to shovel shit?”

“He just loves horseshit,” Aiden quips. “Almost as much as he loves bullshit. You’ll see.”

I flip him off with my free hand before cleaning up the mess. The women all want to brush the horses, so we do that before heading for the screened-in porch for an afternoon drink.

Linc and Trin did an incredible job on the renovation of this place. They had the main lodge completely updated and they added on to and remodeled the guesthouse. There are new heated and air-conditioned quarters for their eleven rescued dogs. They also have several cats, four goats, eleven horses and a bunch of chickens.

The massive screened-in porch was a new addition, as was an in-ground pool and hot tub.

Tate slides behind the bar on the porch and starts serving drinks, starting with glasses of wine and amaretto stone sours for the women.

“Do I smell like a horse?” Jenn asks Josie.

Josie sniffs her. “Yep. But I think we all do.”

“We’ll get in the pool later,” Aiden says. “That’ll take care of it.”

Jenn shakes her head. “There’s no soap in the pool. You have to take a shower before bed tonight.”

He gives her a ridiculous smolder. “You know you love my man musk, baby. It’s my pheromones that make you jump me every night.”

She laughs as Tate passes her a glass of wine. “Yeah, no. I spend enough time smelling your sweaty hockey gear. You can at least shower on vacation.”

Josie slides onto my lap, a bottle of water in hand. “Don’t forget we’re making dinner tonight.”

I groan because cooking sucks. We divided it up, though, because none of us wants Linc and Trin cooking for us every night.

“What are we making?”

“Steak and shrimp fajitas.”

“I’ll try not to drink so much beer that I fall onto the grill.”

She shrugs. “I’d still do you if you had grill marks on your face.”

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