Page 19 of Spark
“Oh, God,” Matt said, recoiling in horror. Having his younger sister stick her busybody nose into his love life was the worst thing he could imagine. “Not Maggie! I swear, if she breathes a word to Sophie, I’ll—well, I don’t know what I’ll do, but she won’t like it!”
“Better hurry with your courtship, then. Before your little sister decides tohelpyou.” Dad chuckled, and they went back to work.
* * *
After breakfast, Matt was preparing to drive out to the eastern pasture and do some fence repairs.
He was loading his tools and a coil of barbed wire into the back of one of the ranch’s pickups parked in front of Grandma Elle’s house when he spotted Sophie coming out of her parents’ house.
She caught sight of him, and waved. “Hi, Matt! You’re up early!”
“Every damn morning,” he agreed. “The animals around here are morning people.”
She laughed and strode over to join him.
He took a moment to appreciate the sight of her. As usual, she wasn’t wearing any makeup. Her shining dark brown hair, as thick and glossy as a beaver's pelt, was pulled back into a simple ponytail today. She was wearing jeans that hugged her lushly-rounded hips and butt, and an off-the-shoulder peasant blouse embroidered with bright yellow, orange, and red flowers that revealed smooth, tanned skin and a nice bit of cleavage.
Sometime in the past year, she’d stopped wearing glasses and switched to contacts. Her brown eyes were warm and direct as she met his gaze.
He debated briefly about whether he should offer her a hug, and decided hell, yeah, any excuse to hold her deliciously curvy body again and breathe in her scent.
No risk, big reward.He opened his arms as she drew near.
To his pleasure, she didn’t hesitate. She stepped right into his embrace and went up on tiptoe to wind her arms around his neck.
She pressed herself against him as he gave her a quick squeeze then forced himself to let her go.
His bear protested. It wanted to hold her, and keep inhaling her scent.
Patience, Matt counseled.We don’t want to scare her away by coming on too strong.
“What are you up to today?” he asked as she stepped back.
“I was planning to drive back over to the Bearpaw Springs Resort,” she said. “Chris really helped me out yesterday, and he just texted me the names of a few more people to talk to.” She looked at him quizzically. “Why do you ask?”
Matt glanced up at the sky.Chris texted her? At this hour? He’s up way earlier than normal.
Because of his work schedule, Chris rarely got home before one or two in the morning, and he usually slept late. The fact that Chris was up so early today after having spent yesterday morning and afternoon on Sophie’s ghost hunt was a bad sign.
It’s never going to be the right time if you keep waiting, his Dad had told him.
“I was hoping you had time to go for a horseback ride,” Matt said in a burst of sudden inspiration.That fence can wait for a few hours.
Taking shameless advantage of the fact that Sophie was an Ordinary and therefore couldn’t smell a lie, he continued, “Grandma Elle asked me to come up with a new trail ride for the ranch's guests. Something short, so that the city folks don’t get too saddle-sore.” He grinned at her. “Want to be my guinea pig? Or did you do a bunch of riding while you were in Todos Santos?”
Sophie returned his grin. “I’d love to go for a ride, and no, I haven’t been on a horse since, um,” She made a show of thinking. “Two Christmases ago. I haven’t seen snow since then, either,” she added.
“Awesome. You'll be the perfect guinea pig—er, riding companion.” He couldn’t hide his delight, and he didn’t even bother trying. “Let’s go saddle up.”
A short time later, he was mounted on Macaron, one of the ranch’s geldings, and Sophie on Cream Puff, a gentle mare that she’d ridden before and liked.
“Macaron? Does that mean that your mom still names all the horses and ponies around here?” Sophie asked, as they rode away from the stables.
Matt chuckled. And realized that this was the first time in a long time that he’d felt like laughing. Sophie’s return was like a beam of warm sunlight in a darkened room.
“How could you tell?” he teased.
Sophie rolled her eyes. “Oh, I don’t know…lucky guess, maybe? Also, your dad’s never struck me as the kind of guy who would name his horses after pastries.”
