Page 68 of Silent Betrayal

“So, you ready?”

“Umm… I think so. What do I do?”

“Do you want me to lift you up, or do you want to try getting up on your own?”

She places a finger on her lips as she looks up at the large horse. “Am I supposed to put my foot in that stirrup?” she asks, pointing to it.

“Yeah, it’s a little high, huh?” I ask, realizing it’s as high as her shoulder. “Okay, turn to face Pickles and I’ll lift you up. You’ll want to lift your right leg over top of her so you can straddle her.

Placing my hands on her waist, I easily lift her onto the horse and she quickly grabs the saddle and gains her balance before smiling down at me proudly. “Good girl, slip your feet out of the stirrups though, I’ll need those.”

She does as I ask as I untie Pickles’ reins and quickly get mounted behind her. I don’t waste a second pulling her back against me so her back is flush with my front. “For safety,” I whisper, my hand landing on her stomach.

Her hands drop down to my thighs as she replies, “for safety.”

The trail is gorgeous, and at first, neither of us talk as we take in the beautiful colors of the fall leaves surrounding us. About forty minutes into our ride, she speaks.

“It’s beautiful out here. What made you choose this for our date?”

“Well, I wanted to share a little piece of myself with you, while giving you an experience that you’ve never had a chance to have before.”

“That’s… really sweet, Tucker. Have you ridden horses a lot?”

“Actually, I grew up on a farm.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, in Wyoming.”

“Did you always want to leave that life and become a PI?”

“No. I grew up the eldest of six. Three brothers and two sisters. We were always helping out on the farm. Farm life is busy, and there’s always something to do, our parents needed as many hands as they could get. And I didn’t mind helping, I even loved it for a while. But when I started high school, it was a bit further away than our elementary school had been, in a bigger town and I met a lot of new friends there. I started to see that there were other ways to live besides farm life.

“Don’t get me wrong, I respect what my parents do, running a farm, but the more I saw of the world, the more I started to question if that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. One of my friend’s dads was a detective and one day he came to talk to our class and I was so intrigued. The thought of solving a puzzle and catching the bad guys was thrilling.

“I told my parents I wanted to be a cop, and they told me I had to take over the farm. We fought about it for years, all through high school. My dad would always demand me home right after school and never gave me enough time to join any extra-curricular activities or even finish my homework. I swore he wanted me to do poorly in school so I’d have no hope of going to college. And it worked.

“When I turned eighteen, we had a huge fight. He told me I’d come crawling back when I realized chasing criminals won’t pay the bills. I toldhim I’d rather fail doing what I love than spend my life miserable, living up to his expectations. And that was the last time I ever spoke to him.”

“You haven’t seen or spoken to him since? What about your mom or your brothers and sisters?”

“I text with my siblings on occasion, and I write my mom letters to let her know I’m okay. She doesn’t write back, though.”

“I’m sorry Tucker, that must have been so hard to leave your family like that.”

“It was, but I landed on my feet. I took a few side hustle jobs as I tried to find my feet. I managed to work as an assistant for a private investigator, and it was when I was on a job for him that I met Dom and Atlas. We connected pretty quickly and they asked if I wanted to join their team, and not as an assistant, as a partner. I’ve never looked back. They’re my family now.”

I want to tell her she’s my family now, too, but I don’t want to spook her when things are going so well.

Suddenly, the trees part to reveal the part of this trail I’ve been waiting for. The pictures I saw of this overlook online were the reason I chose this ranch.

“Wow!” Mina gasps when she sees we’ve come out to a wide rock cliff that overlooks a beautiful forest below, which is full of yellows, red, oranges and greens.

“Pretty spectacular, ain’t it?”

“You’ve been here before?”

“I saw photos online, it’s why we came here,” I tell her as I pull Pickles to a stop. “Hold tight, I’m getting down,” I tell her as I dismount then reach up for her. She reaches for me with no hesitation and as I pull her off the horse, I let her body slowly slide down mine. When I place her onher feet, she stares up at me, licking her lips with desire in her eyes.Does she want me to kiss her?

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