Page 14 of Flyboy

So, he rode horses.

She suddenly needed some water. His hotness level just amped up by like a thousand. Something she did not need right now. She pushed off the covers as she pulled up the article associated with the picture. No one knew it, but Ivy had a thing for a guy on a horse. She laughed at herself. She could blame the old westerns she used to read, but really, it was a matter of the cowboy. In her head, they were a dying breed of heroic gentlemen. They lived by a code of good manners and respect for women.

In Ivy’s parochial school in Boston, she’d ridden an English hunter jumper for the school’s team. And she’d even won a ribbon in an event once, but it had never sated her desire to ride across the plains of the old west. Did such a place exist anymore? She put the laptop aside, her thoughts well and truly distracted by her boss. Her boss. She tried to remind herself that theirs was a business relationship, that she had complained about him just last week, that he did not see her in any way other than a fellow pilot, and that they had work to do.

It didn’t matter. Colton up on a horse, after he’d been so . . . new and appealing, was more than her resistance could take at the moment.

A knock at her door made her jump and squeal. She dropped her face into her hands. She hadnotjust squealed.

“Ivy?” Colton’s voice through the door shot a bolt of electricity through her. She jumped up, ran a tongue over her teeth, pulled her hair back in some kind of bun, wrapped a robe around herself, and opened her door.

“You doing all right in there?” He craned his neck to see past her.

“Of course.” She widened the door to show him a perfectly normal room. Then she gasped at her laptop, still open to a full-screen image of Colton on a horse. But he seemed not to notice.

“Yep. Can’t see a single reason you should be yelping and hollering in here.”

“I’m not. Yelping and hollering. You knocking on my door just surprised me.”

“Something you don’t want anyone to know about?”

“What? No.” She would have given anything at that moment to run to her laptop and close it. Luckily, the screen blackened. She let out a slow breath. “So, what can I do for you?”

“Omar and I want to take out the horses.” Did she imagine it, or did his gaze flicker to her computer screen?

Her cheeks warmed. “Do—Do you?” She looked away.

“Yes. But we want to go out early—now—so we have time to go into town this afternoon.” He waited, studying her face. When she couldn’t find her voice to answer like a normal person, he added, “You in?”

When she nodded, his smile grew. “Okay, then. See you downstairs in ten. Jeans are good. Closed-toed shoes.”

She nodded again and then closed the door. Leaning back against its cool surface, she tried to catch her breath. Colton. On a horse. Colton, seeing evidence that she’d been searching him online. Colton. She shook her head. If she wanted to keep any distance at all between them, she must not get up on a horse with Colton.

She closed her eyes. But how could she resist? She loved riding. That land out her window was just begging for someone to tear across it on the back of a beautiful animal. And besides, Omar would be with them. She straightened and hurried to her suitcase. She would go. She would talk to Omar. And she would manage this new, odd fascination with her boss.

But was he really her boss? Ivy was a team leader as well. She’d run several of her own assignments, with the board only remotely involved. They were more partners than boss and employee. Right?

She shook her head, slipping on her favorite soft jeans. She splashed water on her face, added a touch of mascara, brushed her teeth, and then headed out the door.

Omar and Colton were down on the front porch, and it looked like they were stuffing biscuits in their mouths. Omar waved.

Fatima came toward her. “These boys. They can’t even sit at the table to eat their meal.” She gestured to a huge selection of fruits and breads and some salami. “Please, eat.”

Ivy sat and smiled. “This is lovely. Thank you.” She poured herself some juice and filled her plate. “I hear you have horses here?”

“I do. They’re really my neighbor’s, but we have an agreement. Good animals. Do you ride?”

“I did when I was younger. I loved it.”

“Ah, yes. Once you are up on an animal as magnificent as a horse, you don’t often forget. It becomes a part of you.”

“Yes, it does.” She sipped her juice. “This is delicious.”

“I make it from the mangoes hanging in that tree out back. We have Aracaju and maracuja also. Coconut water is my base. Maybe you stay longer with us?”

She laughed. “If you keep spoiling us like this, I will be tempted. Everything is just right. Thank you, Fatima.”

“And your men.” Fatima fanned herself. “Are they as good as they are handsome?” Her grin was kindly, and her eyes twinkled.

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