Page 44 of Three Rules I'd Never Break

After putting the stuff he’d brought into a saddle bag, Eli pointed to a small step. “Hop on the mounting block, and I’ll help you up.”

This was the part that made me the most nervous. Not true. The whole part about being on a horse made me nervous.

I nodded and stepped up.

He put his hands on my hips. “You want to keep your hips pointed this way.” He tapped my left hip. “Put this foot into the stirrup.”

Warmth spread across my back as he joined me on the mounting block. “Put your hand here on the saddle, then push up and swing your other leg over. I’ll be right here if you need me.”

I sucked in a deep breath, then pushed up like he’d explained. A second later, I was sitting in the saddle. “Whoa. I’m on a horse.”

“You mounted like you’ve done this a lot.” He showed me how to hold the reins, then stepped back onto the ground. “Sit tight.”

It wasn’t like I was going to go trotting away. At least not on purpose.

He swung up onto his horse like a cowboy about to ride into the sunset. This was a side of Eli I hadn’t expected. He wore a cowboy hat and boots on the job because that was part of the uniform, but there was more cowboy in him than I’d realized.

He gathered his reins and adjusted his ball cap.

Sugar took a step, and I yelped. “How do I make her stop?”

Eli rode up beside me. “She’s just shifting. Let me give you a quick lesson in how to move.”

He explained and demonstrated how to get my horse to go where I wanted her to go. Completely out of my element, I gave him my full attention. Right now, he didn’t have any trouble with words. He was fully in his element, and I loved this shift.

“Ready?” He lifted his eyebrows.

“As I’ll ever be.” When Cream started down the trail, which was really just a line where the grass was matted a bit, I nudged Sugar’s sides. “Okay, girl, follow Cream.”

And she did. It was less nerve-wracking than I’d imagined.

Birds sang as we rode. Sunlight dappled the ground as we meandered through trees and alongside a stream. Then we cut back uphill and into an open meadow. Wildflowers danced in the breeze.

“Eli, this is beautiful.”

He pointed toward a large oak tree. “Over there is a good place to stop.”

After surprising a jackrabbit and sending squirrels running for cover, we stopped near a large oak tree.

“This tree must be hundreds of years old.” I wasn’t an expert on trees, but one with a trunk that size had been around a while.

“You’re probably right. I bet he could tell some stories.” Eli swung off his horse, then walked up beside me. “You’ll get down doing basically everything in reverse.”

I nodded. Praying I wouldn’t land on my butt, I swung my leg over the horse and hovered with my stomach over the saddle.

Eli patted my left leg. “Pull this foot out of the stirrup, then ease down.”

He’d touched me more during the instruction for horseback riding than he had in all the time I’d known him... with the exception of the doughnut shop kiss, but I initiated that. Maybe I needed to ask him to teach me CPR.

Once my feet were on the ground, Eli strode back to his horse and emptied the saddle bags. He spread a blanket on the ground before opening a small soft-sided cooler. “I asked Tessa if you had any food allergies or dislikes. She said you didn’t like raisins, so I made sure they didn’t put any on your sandwich.” He delivered the statement with a straight face, but the twinkle in his eye gave away his attempt at humor.

I laughed. “You’re funny like your granddad.”

“I hope to be when I grow up.”

That was funny because looking at Eli there was no question that he was a fully grown man.

I sat down beside him on the blanket and unwrapped the sandwich. “Where did you get this? This looks amazing.” The word sandwiches conjured up an image of peanut butter and jelly or a thin slice of ham stacked with cheese. This sandwich looked fresh from a deli.

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