Page 17 of Broken Rock

‘I was thinking of taking Jove out. He probably thinks I’ve abandoned him. You can borrow Mum’s horse if you fancy joining me.’

Gregg snorts. ‘No thank you. There is not chance in hell you’ll get me on the back of one of those things. They’re lethal.’

‘But a motorbike is fine?’

‘A motorbike can’t think for itself. Big difference, buddy.’

‘You’re a strange one, you know that?’ Tate looks over at the door as his mum shouts that lunch is ready. ‘Presume you’re staying?’

‘When have you ever known me to turn down your mother’s cooking? And don’t go thinking for one second this is over. You know me, Tate. I will get the truth out of you sooner or later.’

5

Chloe pulls into thedriveway and smiles as she looks at the bright red door on the cottage. Her gran should be boarding her flight by now and Chloe’s got the place to herself for a month at least. If she knows her gran, she’ll be convinced to stay longer, but a month is a good start. After living with her uncle for the last year, a month to herself is heaven.

She climbs out of the car and strolls up the gravel path to the door. She stands in the hall and smiles when only silence greets her. After making a cup of tea she wanders outside. At least the overpowering smell is fish is gone. Her gran’s neighbour had finally moved the boat back to the harbour after too many fights. In the end he gave up for the sake of peace.

She leans on the railing and takes a long inhale of the fresh sea air. With absolutely no plans for the month she intends on doing a lot of drawing, a lot of sleeping, and a lot of nothing else. As soon as school starts she’ll be busy so she has no qualms being as lazy as humanly possible until then.

She frowns as she spots something moving along the beach towards her so goes back inside to get the binoculars from the kitchen. She focuses on the far end of the beach and sees a stunning black horse galloping along the water’s edge. It’s difficult to make out details from here, but the rider is male. As the horse approaches he comes into focus and she smiles to herself.

‘Well, hello there.’

Even from this distance he’s one good-looking guy. As the horse and rider near the end of the beach just below her gran’s house, he says something to the horse and straightens his legs so he’s standing tall in the saddle. The horse slows then comes to a stop, snorting loudly as it catches its breath. The rider pats it on the side of the neck then swings his leg over the saddle and drops to the sand.

Chloe climbs onto the bottom railing and leans over to get a better view. He’s even better up close... well, closer. His dark hair is cut short at the back and slightly longer at the front, so it trails over his forehead. He runs a hand over his short beard, and she frowns.

‘Oh dear. Really?’ she mutters to herself. Both hands are tattooed. That probably means he has more. She doubts he’d start with his hands.

Ignoring his hands she moves back to his face. Yet more tattoos cover the side of his neck and the ear she can see is pierced. Not necessarily a bad thing but not something she’d usually be attracted to.

He takes off his boots and socks and Chloe utters a silent prayer of thanks as he pulls his shirt off. He drops it on the sand and places his phone on top. The black tank top follows next giving her a more than adequate view of his heavily tattooed impressive chest. Chloe’s mouth drops open as he unfastens his belt and pushes his jeans down his toned legs. He leaves his black boxers on, much to her disappointment, then walks into the sea and dives under a wave. ‘Dear God, what are you doing to me?’

He surfaces further out and flicks his wet hair off his face. The horse patiently follows along the shore as he spends the next ten minutes swimming back and forth in front of her.

When he’s done with his swim, he stands up and pushes through the water back to the shore. Watching his body emerge from the sea a little at a time leaves her mouth dry and her cheeks flushed. Chloe has no doubts that image will be the highlight of her summer holiday. After getting dressed again, he takes hold of the reins and pulls himself into the saddle. He says something to the horse and it takes off up the beach at an impressive speed.

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