Page 29 of Flirting With My Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

I slow Marshmallow to a stop and climb down to the ground. The mud, still wet from the downpour that lasted most of the night, squishes below my cowgirl boots. The bad thing about these boots is that they have no tread and tend to be slippery. So I walk gingerly over to where the hat is floating around like a boat in the mud puddle.

Langston’s steps suck into the mud as he comes up behind me.

“You didn’t have to get down,” I say. “I’ve got it covered.”

“It’s my fault that I wasn’t watching for the branches better, so I should be the one down in the mud. Not you.”

“Langston Keith? Are you actually being nice to me?” I look around. “No one’s even here to witness this.”

He trudges through the muck as he catches up beside me. “I can be nice. In fact, most people would say I’m a great guy.”

I give him the side eye. “You probably haven’t thrown those people into a lake when it’s forty-seven degrees out.”

He throws his head back and laughs. “That was a good day, wasn’t it?”

“Maybe once I had my dry clothes back on.”

Langston’s face goes weird, and then his cheeks get all red.

Wait a second… “Were you picturing me naked just now?”

His mouth forms anOlike he’d just been caught.

“You’d better clean up your mind. Because we’re just friends, remember?”

His spine stiffens. “Thank you for making that perfectly clear. But I remember. You won’t have to worry about that.”

I’ve made him angry. But I refuse to feel bad about it. I stomp away from him toward the fallen hat. I reach down to get it, but it’s floating to the middle of this huge puddle and I can’t reach it. Maybe if I just stretch a bit more, I can get it.

But now I’m starting to lose my balance, and my slippery shoes slide across the mud. I wave my arms around like an angry goose, trying to keep from falling into the puddle. Langston steps to catch me, but it’s too late. Just as his arms reach around my waist, I fall face first into the mini lake. The water splashes around me as I hit the ground. And I’ve brought Langston down with me. He must have lost his footing as I tipped forward. We’re in a heap of arms and legs, all tangled up in the mud. And it’s everywhere. All in my hair, up my nose, and some has even gotten in my mouth. I crawl from under Langston, and he scoots through the mud away from me before standing.

I get on my hands and knees, my hair dripping, and stand, spitting the mud out of my mouth onto the ground beside me.

The hat is still floating in the puddle like we haven’t even been there.

Langston must have spotted it too because he swoops down to get it, and he crams it onto his head. Water drips down his cheeks and over his ears.

I can’t help but laugh. There’s nothing else we can do in this situation. “Why’d you put your hat on?”

“I figured I’m already covered in mud. What’s it matter now? I might as well enjoy my favorite hat.”

“It’s a good look on you.” I snicker.

“Oh, you like it?” Langston gives me a crooked grin. “You should see yourself. You look like you went to one of those mud spas they have at those fancy resorts my dad owns.”

I wipe the mud from my nose, which only smears more across my face. I don’t feel like getting my saddle muddy, so I grab Marshmallow and walk with him back to the stable, with Langston doing the same with Thunder.

“I’m going to need five showers after this.”

“I think I’ll take one really long one,” Langston responds.

I nod. “That would probably work just as well.”

“Do you think people will assume we were out here doing more than riding horses?”

“Well, we are a couple, but that would be weird.”

I can’t help but dissolve into giggles.

---