Page 11 of Hello Handsome
For the next fifteen minutes, Gray gave me a quick lesson about horses, warning me not to walk too close behind them or make loud and sudden noises. Then he went over the parts of a saddle, where to hold when riding, and how to keep your feet safely in the stirrups so you wouldn’t get hung up if you lost your seat for whatever reason. He made it all sound so easy.
“It’s a lot to remember,” I said, impressed. “Where did you learn all of this?”
“My dad... and a lot of trial and error,” he added, a nostalgic look to his face.
“Were you and your dad close?” I asked him, patting Acres’s neck now. He had the prettiest chestnut mane falling over his soft coat.
Gray nodded. “My dad was a good man. Taught me everything I know.”
I twisted my lips to the side, wishing the same could be true for my experience with father figures in my life. But maybe Gray could teach me what I hadn’t yet learned.
“Ready to get started?” he asked.
My heart fluttered with nerves. “After you warned me about getting kicked and strung up in the stirrups?” Not to mention, I still worried I’d be too big and Gray would have to witness it all.
He covered my hand with his on Acres’s neck. “Like I’d let you fall.”
My stomach swooped.
Maybe that was the problem—I’d been falling for twenty years.
So the better question was, would he catch me before I hit the ground?
6
GRAY
Aggie grabbedthe saddle horn like I showed her and lifted her leg to put her foot in the stirrup, but she was short enough that she still had a good six inches to go. After trying a couple times, she gave me an embarrassed look.
“Guess that dream died,” she muttered. “Sorry you got them all saddled up for me.”
I hated the shame in her eyes as much as the smile she tried to use to cover it. She didn’t need to hide her feelings or put on a front around me. Especially since this was a problem easily solved. “Let me give you a leg up,” I said, hooking my hands into a makeshift stirrup for her to step into.
I waited for her to put her foot in my grip, but she didn’t. I looked up at her to see her giving me a skeptical look, hands on her womanly hips. “You’re joking, right?”
“What?” I asked, straightening up.
“I’ll break your back, that’s what,” she half laughed, half cried.
My son Hayes would have made a comment about that not being a bad thing. And my son Fletcher would have given me his most doctorly look and reminded me to lift with my legs. But itwas all me when I said, “No more arguing. Put your foot in my hands and step up.”
“Bossy,” she grumbled.
But I simply bent back over, linking my hands and refusing to move until she did as I asked.
“Really?” She waited a moment. And when I didn’t speak, she huffed out a sigh. “Fine. Fine. But this was all your decision, okay?” Carefully, her fingers landed featherlight on my shoulder. It was just her fingertips… so why was my heart pounding like this?
I hadn’t felt a woman’s touch in years; that had to be it. My body was getting ideas.
Tightening my core muscles, I said, “Step up and grab the saddle horn. I’ll boost you.”
She made a protesting noise, even as she pushed her foot into my hand. I made sure to use all my strength so she felt supported. I lifted her up to the saddle and she grabbed on, swinging her leg over the top.
Her eyes were wide as she looked down to me. “Are you broken? Did I break you?”
I huffed out a laugh. “It’ll take a lot more than that.”
Her lips slowly spread as she looked around at the horse underneath her. “Oh my gosh!” she whispered, almost to herself. “I’m on a horse!”
