Page 16 of Flyboy

They rode out to the end of the pasture where Fatima had told him there was a patch of green grass and a small stream-fed pond. When they each hopped off their horse, Omar groaned and walked around with a full wide-thighed duck waddle. “I will never be the same. Dude, I’m gonna be sore while trying to train the pilots. Is that what you wanted?”

Colton laughed. “You’re gonna be just fine. Look at Ivy. It’s like she was born on a horse.”

She was rotating her arms in a semi stretch that emphasized the length of her beautiful body, and Colton had to force himself to keep things light. Wow. What a woman. Seeing her on a horse like she was . . . that image was going to stay with him for a long time. Too long.

She turned to Omar. “It’s gonna hurt tomorrow. No doubt about it. Not all of us have been riding horses since we could walk.”

Colton studied her. Would she realize she’d just given away an intimate knowledge of his past? Seeing his face on her computer screen, an old high school picture of himself, had done things to him, more things than were already racing through him in response to Ivy. She’d googled him. His grin started small. “You maybe haven’t ridden for as long as I have, but you’re both naturals. You look like you belong on a horse.” His eyes watched Ivy, who disappointingly did little in response.

But Omar made a huge fuss. “Well, I’ll be sitting over here, holding up this tree, if you need me. If my eyes close, don’t even think about messing with me, Flyboy.”

Colton looked up into the sun. “Well, I’m going to take a dip.”

“What? Again?” Ivy looked like she might turn and run.

“You nervous?” He grinned and then pulled off his shirt, totally gratified with her obvious perusal of his upper half. But he deflected. “The water around here is perfectly safe. Though it might be chilly.” He made his way to the edge, but he didn’t dive in as he’d planned. He still had his jeans on, and suddenly, he thought stripping down to his compressions would not be the funny idea he’d originally thought. So he just dipped a hand in and showered his top half with water. As the rivulets ran down his torso, he enjoyed the refreshing feel on his skin.

“Now that’s just unfair,” Ivy said as she approached.

“What?”

“You, stripping down to your skin and splashing water all over yourself.”

“It’s perfectly fair. You’re welcome to do the same.”

Omar snorted.

But Ivy stepped closer and raised one eyebrow in challenge. “Just what are you saying, Lieutenant?”

He stood taller, drinking in this bold and daring Ivy-woman he’d never known existed. “I’m saying, you’re more than welcome to strip down and get a little refreshing water on your skin.” He winked. “Or keep your clothes on, whatever suits you.” He wiggled his eyebrows, lightening the moment that was starting to overpower his good sense.

“I just might.” She turned from him, ready to pull a shirt off over her head. He swallowed twice and shared a look with Omar, who was deliberately looking away like Colton should have been. But when Ivy tugged at her shirt, lifting it up over her head, she had a tank top underneath.

Colton exhaled, and some of the tension left him. Was it relief or disappointment? Or both? Relief, certainly.

She moved to the water and let some of the coolness drip down her front. He did look away as her shirt became wet through. And for the first time, he wondered if asking for Ivy to be on his team was such a great idea. He’d wanted to win her over, yes, but he hadn’t counted on this intense new attraction between them. She felt it too. How were they to work together with this distraction going on? Omar was going to notice too, and how did that look? Maybe he’d call Ace and see if he would swap assignments or something.

Colton shook his head. The guy was in Brazil, finishing up in the Amazon. Ridley had a team, and Amanda . . . maybe he could trade with Amanda. Mustang loved working with Ivy. They could woman it up together, and Colton could move safely across the world. He watched Ivy turn away and stretch her arms above her head, her firm biceps flexing as she did so. Ivy was a powerful woman, no doubt about it, and Colton . . . he wasn’t sure what to do about the power she was starting to hold over him.

After a brief rest and ten minutes of cajoling Omar back up onto his horse, they urged their horses forward again. Ivy sprang ahead. “Watch and learn,” she called back over her shoulder.

She led the horse to a low-lying fence, and Colton shook his head though no one could see him. She should not be jumping over fences or anything else with a horse she didn’t know well. She was being way too reckless, but there was nothing he could do about it. He gritted his teeth, clenching the reins like they would stop her in her tracks and winced as she approached the fence, but she just sailed right over as if it required no effort at all.

He let some of the tension leave, and he rotated his shoulders. “Don’t you be doing that,” Colton growled at Omar.

“Easy, boss. I have no plans to let this horse leave the ground. I leave that to man-made gadgets only.”

When Ivy circled back to them, all smiles, Colton’s frown deepened. “You’re out of line, Tenderfoot.”

She laughed into the air until she glanced back twice and must have seen his frown because then her eyes narrowed. “And just what was out of line, Flyboy?”

“You, riding an unfamiliar horse over a fence. You could have hurt yourself, and you could have hurt the horse.”

“You need to gain a little trust. I know what I’m doing.”

“If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn’t have attempted such a thing without walking her through it, without knowing her background. Ivy, you could have fallen.” He looked away, unreasonably upset. But before he could blow off any more steam somewhere else, he turned back. “I don’t want you out here riding like that again.”

She sat taller in her saddle. “And just who is going to stop me?” Her eyes flashed at him in a brilliant sort of way that he might have enjoyed if he weren’t so flaming mad.

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