Page 110 of Opposites (Never) Attract
Thunder rolled through the valley.
“Shit,” Tag cursed. “Wasn’t paying close enough attention to the sky.”
Dark clouds were gathering on the mountains to the west and the herd perked up, gathering together for protection against the hard wind blowing the storm closer.
“Let’s go,” Tag snapped, turning Diablo on a dime and taking us back up the valley. “Now.”
“Are we going to have to gallop?” I asked, unable to hide the fear in my voice. I could sit a horse. I didn’t know if I could sit a horse in a gallop.
“Not if we move, now.”
The wind gusted again and this time it smacked me directly in the face. I could feel my hat blowing off and I reached to grab it, but it was too late. It swept away from me and I cursed.
Instinctively, my thighs squeezed Shirley’s flanks and she came to a stop. Acting on what I’d been taught without over thinking it too much, I dismounted and started running as soon as my boots hit the ground.
“Goddamnit!” Tag barked. “Sunshine, get your ass back on that horse!”
“I need my hat!” I shouted back over my shoulder, as the wind tumbled my hat into the long grass.
Fortunately, it got caught in brush a couple of yards away. I scooped it up as soon as the first big drops of rain started to fall.
“Forget the damn hat!” Tag shouted.
I couldn’t.
I was trying to belong to this place. This hat was my first real cowboy hat. I had to save it. Giving up on it felt bigger than just a lost hat.
I shoved it on my head and turned to run back toward Shirley when lightening lit up the sky, followed by a sudden bang of thunder so loud I flinched and froze at the same time.
If the thunder was that fast after the lightening, it meant the storm was close. I didn’t know what the protocol was for being this exposed during a storm. Normal rule of thumb, if there was lightening in the area you needed to take shelter, but there was no shelter to be found.
Should I flatten myself against the ground, curl up in a ball to make myself smaller?
Suddenly, I heard a different kind ofthunder behind me. A horse running at full speed right at me. Was it Shirley? Had she spooked?
I took off, trying to look over my shoulder to see how close I was to being trampled, when I felt an arm circle around my back and ribcage and lift me up so that I was planted in Tag’s lap, both legs on the one side of Diablo’s saddle, with my side and shoulder pressed into his chest.
All at a full gallop.
“Tag!” I screamed. How in the world had he done that?
“Hold on, darlin,” he shouted, loud enough I could hear him above the wind, rain and thunder.
“Shirley!”
“I’ve got her,” he rumbled into my ear.
And somehow, he did. Shirley was keeping pace on Diablo’s right flank even as he rode Diablo at a full gallop.
Tag had her reins and Diablo’s reins in one hand. His other hand was firmly wrapped around my ribcage, holding me in place against him. I’d never imagined I could ever move so fast on a horse, never imagined being completely out of control as Diablo ate up the grass and dirt in front of us like he was running for his life.
Thunder crackled overhead again and I planted my hands on my head to hold my hat in place and felt the rain sting my cheeks, it was coming down so hard.
It felt like hours, but I knew it was only about ten minutes until the paddock and the massive barn behind it came into view.
Mac and Carter were at the edge of the paddock, both covered in sensible rain gear, both of them standing on either side of the gate that was already open for Tag.
Tag dropped Shirley’s reins and let her take the lead through the gate first, while Diablo followed after her. Mac quickly took hold of her loose reins and began cooling herdown as he slowly brought her from a run, to a slower canter, until she was walking.
