Page 50 of Flirting with My Billionaire Enemy

“Is he the neutered kind, or does he still have all the plumbing available?”

Kaison laughs. “Firebolt is a stallion. He’s fathered several colts before. Many of them have gone on to be racehorses themselves.” He looks over at Langston, who’s deep in conversation with Jenni and is all aglow. “In fact, Langston’s racehorse, Thunder, is one Firebolt sired.

“I feel like I’m learning a lot about horses today.”

“We should get going. We’re running out of daylight.”

I follow Kaison out of the stable, and sure enough, the sun is low in the sky over the surrounding mountains. The hills are covered in trees ranging from yellow to orange to bright red, with golden light from the lowered sun washing over it. The air is crisp, and there’s a light wind. Now I know why cowgirls keep their hair in braids. They don’t have to worry about it blowing in their faces.

Kaison leads me toward one of the trails that leads into the woods, similar to the trail where I was hobbling around like an idiot with my broken shoe. But this one is heading in another direction. The horse moves beneath me, and it feels like I’m going to fall off at some point. But somehow, I don’t.

Kaison looks at me over his shoulder. “You okay back there?”

“Just dandy.”

He laughs. “You’ll get used to it. You just need to get used to the feel of the horse moving beneath you.”

“How long have you been riding?” I ask.

“Since before I can remember. My parents have always had horses. Some of these horses are the descendants of my ancestors’ horses.”

“So they’ve just kept having babies and staying at this stable throughout the years?”

“Yes, just like my family.”

“Aww how cute. The horses and the people—living here and raising babies here together.”

Kaison chuckles. “Pretty much.”

“So your dad grew up here too?” I ask.

“Yeah. And his dad before him. And so on.”

I look back at the mansion in the distance when there’s a break in the trees. It feels like I’m in one of those regency novels I love so much. The sun is dipping low on the horizon and will disappear beneath Blue Mountain in just a few moments.

Whack!A branch slaps me across the face. I startle, and the motion causes my heels to jab into Smokie’s side. The horse bolts forward and dashes down the trail. I scream and jerk back on the reins. Kaison is ahead of me, but Smokie just darts right past him. I’m bouncing up and down and squeeze my legs to hold on. Smokie only runs faster. I dig my hands into her mane and hold on for dear life, heart pounding in time to the hooves pounding the ground at lightning speed. Just when I’m sure this supposedly gentle horse is about to buck me off, I do the only thing left to do. I scream my head off. “Help! I’m going to die!”

Kaison appears at my side. “Pull back on the reins,” he calls.

Oh yeah. Pull the reins to stop. But I don’t want to let go of the mane to find the reins, so Smokie just keeps dashing down the trail.

Kaison rides up closer to us, keeping pace with my very naughty horse. He reaches over and pulls on the reins and says, “Whoa.”

Both horses slow down. But my heart is still beating at warp speed.

“I think I just saw my life flashing before my eyes,” I say.

Jenni and Langston come galloping up on their horses. I mean, I don’t know if that’s the official name for whatever their horses are doing because I’m not a horsey kind of person, but it looks like something I’d call galloping. Or maybe trotting? Or cantering? Is that a thing? Who knows? All I know is their horses are coming at me fast.

“Are you okay?” Jenni asks. “I heard screaming.”

“We have it under control now,” Kaison says. “It was a little sketchy for a moment there.”

“Yeah… that’ll teach me to enjoy a nice sunset when there are branches lurking about.”

“At least you didn’t get knocked off by the branch that hit you,” Langston says.

“Good point. I’ll count my blessings.” I know I’m being snarky, but I really am grateful that I’m okay. I could have died today. Okay, maybe not died, but it was pretty scary for a minute there.

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