Page 27 of Falling

I’m contemplating that question when I see her horse go down in front of me. My heart leaps into my throat. Geneva goes over its shoulder and lands on the ground.

I’m off my horse faster than I thought possible. Eros hops back up to his feet. Peels of laughter ring from Geneva. When I reach her, she’s sitting on the ground, still holding the reins.

“What happened?” I ask, sliding to my knees in front of her.

“I’m not sure. One moment I’m taking in the scenery from the back of Eros; the next minute I’m sitting here.”

“Are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so.” I search her legs, check on her ankle, and help her to her feet. “Something is wrong with Eros though.” Her hand runs down the horse’s leg. It picks its hoof up when she reaches the fetlock. “The shoe isn’t loose.” Her fingers probe the hoof until she finds a sore spot on the frog. “I think he has a stone bruise.”

“We’re going to have to lead him the rest of the way,” I state. “You can ride with me.” She looks at me, then around me to Cupcake. I’m not sure if she’s questioning the horse being able to hold both of our weights. I should probably be insulted. “Or you can take Cupcake and I’ll lead Eros out,” I grumble. A smile lights up her face.

“Do you want to drive or ride shotgun?” she asks.

“Your choice.”

“I’ll drive. At least for a while.” She ties one of Eros’s reins to his saddle and takes the other in her hand. We transfer the gear from my horse to hers. I help her on Cupcake, then swing up behind her.

There’s no way we both fit on the saddle. I’m relegated to the space on his rump behind it. It’s going to be a long ride with no padding or stirrups. “Ready?”

“Drive on,” I say. She hands me Eros’s remaining rein to hold. I snake a hand around her waist. I sure don’t want to fall off from back here. It takes a moment to convince the horse to follow us. I quickly become an expert in pulling along a pack animal behind us.

We continue down the Wildcat Canyon trail to the connector and into the Hop Valley. Eros limps behind us the entire way. I’m positive that I have no feeling in my ass. This time, if she wants to rub all over it with her balm, I might just let her.

The Hop Valley turns out to be the best part of the ride. It switches back through one of the creeks several times.

The first creek crossing, I thought I was going in when Eros hesitated on the bank. With a little coaxing, he finally followed. Poor guy has to be exhausted. There’s no way, though, we could leave him behind. The wranglers will be waiting for us at camp. He’ll be well attended to then.

“Would you like to trade?” Geneva asks, pulling Cupcake to a stop.

“I’m fine. I don’t think if I get off, I’ll ever make it back on.”

“You must be dying.”

“I can think of worse ways to spend the day,” I answer. “Getting to spoon you the whole way is a definite bonus.” I squeeze my arm to pull her closer.

“One of these days we should reverse so I get to be the big spoon.” She encourages Cupcake to continue down the trail.

“Do we, though?”

“It seems reasonable. You shouldn’t be the only one who gets to hoard all the big spoon power.”

“Geneva,” I scold. “You always have all the power, whether you’re the big spoon or not.” She leans back against my chest and kisses my cheek. “What was that for?” I’m not complaining. I need more information so I can make it happen again.

“For being you, Peter Winsloe. You don’t need a superpower, you are a superpower.”

“I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” I blush, but, fortunately, no one can see it except Eros. I don’t think he’ll rat me out.

“Then that’s my fault. You deserve to hear nice things.” I don’t know what’s happened to her. Maybe all the bouncing on Cupcake has done something to her brain. We’ve never said nice things to each other. Snark is our thing.

“Don’t go all soft on me, ice princess.”

“Fuck you, Winsloe,” she snarls.

“That’s better.” I kiss her on the temple. We ride the rest of the way in silence, but she’s not pissed at me, though. The smile on her face every time we splash into the creek tells me everything.

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