Sunny was white with big, black patches scattered over him. His mane and tail were streaked black and white, and he had one blue eye and one brown. He was beautiful in a very . . . odd type of way.
Jesse stepped in front of Sunny and ran his palm down the horse’s face. “Hey, boy, this is Rowen. We’re going to go for a little ride and I want you to be a good boy. She’s special to me.” His eyes shifted to mine when he said the last part.
Special? Special? No one had called me special once in my entire life. At least not in the way Jesse had meant it.
Sunny’s big head flicked into the air a few times before Jesse came back toward me. In yet another seamless move, Jesse swung up on Sunny before I even noticed his foot was in the stirrup. He held his hand out and waited.
“Come on, Rowen. You’ll be fine. Besides, if he didn’t like you, you couldn’t be as close to him as you are now.” Jesse reached his hand toward me again.
I glanced over at the truck. The guys were already tossing around sandwiches and water bottles. A few of them looked as though they’d already finished their first ones. Lunch was served. Time to live a little.
I took Jesse’s hand, and his fingers wove through mine. “My life and limbs are in your hands, Cowboy,” I said.
Jesse chuckled. “Put your left foot in the stirrup.”
I inhaled and followed his instructions.
He chuckled louder. “Your other left.”
I was off to a great start. I did, contrary to appearances, know left from right. Dropping my right foot back down, I tried again.
“Okay, good. Now just step up, keep your weight in the stirrup, and swing your right leg up and over Sunny.”
“I’m sure it’s nowhere near as easy as you make it sound,” I said, gripping onto his hand like it was a life ring.
“It’s not,” he said. “It’s easier.”
I narrowed my eyes at him which only made his smile widen. I felt everyone’s eyes on me. I was sure I was quite the spectacle. After blowing out a breath, I tightened my hold on Jesse’s hand and got after it.
Jesse’s bicep flexed as he curled his arm up, and once I found myself magically on top of Sunny, I knew it had more to do with his effort than my own.
“You did it,” Jesse said, looking over his shoulder at me.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” I said as I shifted in the saddle. The thing was really only made for one backside, but I couldn’t exactly complain. The front of my body was pressed tight into the back of his. The apex of my legs was pressed into that perfect butt of his, and when Jesse shifted in the saddle, I suddenly became very aware of the spot below my belly button.
“You want to back out of this adventure?” he asked, sounding like even if I wanted to, he wouldn’t let me.
“I think it’s a little late for that,” I replied, feeling every eye on me. I hoped no one could hear the way my heart pounded, or noticed the pick up in my breathing. I’d never felt like such an open book before. Usually I controlled my emotions and the physical reactions accompanying them, but with Jesse, I could do neither. The way I felt about him wouldn’t allow me to hide it.
“Wrap your arms around me and hold on tight,” he said, grabbing one of my arms to wind around his torso. We hadn’t taken one step and I already loved horseback riding. “And don’t forget to enjoy the ride.”
I wound my other arm around Jesse’s middle and clasped my hands together. “If I had a dollar for every time a guy gave me that line . . .”
It took a moment for that to sink in since Jesse’s head wasn’t as sick and twisted as mine, but he shook his head and laughed when it did. “I will gladly take you for any and every kind of ride you’ll let me, Rowen.”
Before my stomach had a chance to bottom out, Jesse clucked his tongue, and Sunny lunged forward.
The ride was surprisingly smooth, and I could, literally, feel the wind breaking over my face. Jesse held the reins in one hand and covered mine where they were locked together around his stomach with the other.
Riding through a grassy green field at a breakneck pace while wrapped around Jesse Walker’s body on a warm summer afternoon was the closest I’d come to perfection. It was the closest by a long shot.
I didn’t do perfect. I didn’t believe in it and, up until right then, I hadn’t wanted it either.
My whole life was shifting, like I was experiencing my own personal earthquake. I felt the plates shifting and rearranging below the surface. I felt the fire and heat molding and shaping them. I felt change, whether I wanted it or not. It was happening, and I might as well embrace it.
So while my instinct was to push someone away if they tried getting too close, I rested my head on Jesse’s back and breathed in as much of him as I could. It was a powerful moment and over much too soon.
Jesse pulled back on the reins a few minutes later as we approached a fast-moving stream.
“Still back there?” Jesse’s voice was light, not a worry in the world.
“You feel that death grip around your body?” I loosened my hold just barely. We might have stopped moving, but I was still five feet from the ground on a horse.
“I’m feeling it,” he said. “I’m feeling a lot more than just a death grip around my body, though.” Jesse’s back did a little wiggle to prove his point. Hello, Jesse’s back, meet Rowen’s front.
“So much for all those sweet county boy manners I thought you had,” I said, pinching his side.