The Duet(37)

“Okay, are you ready?” he asked. He’d tied Jasper to a post so he could come help me mount Dotty.

Before I could answer, his hands were at my hips, sliding beneath the vest. A thin layer of my yoga pants separated his warm palms from my panties and I knew without a doubt he could feel my thong. Why hadn’t I just gone commando? Oh right, because Cammie had scarred me last night.

“Yeah, okay. Sure, let me just—” I was rambling, but I had no clue how to mount a horse. I’d used a step-ladder when I was younger.

“Hold onto the horn of the saddle and I’ll lift you up.”

I nodded and then he counted down to one. Our timing was off though, and I freaked out when he lifted me off the ground. He ended up placing me in the saddle on my stomach with my chest on one side of Dotty’s body, and my legs hanging off the other side.

“You’re supposed to lift your leg up and straddle her,” Jason said as if I didn’t actually know that.

“Oh, really? I thought everyone rode horses with their asses in the air.”

“Well, technically it’s in my face,” Jason corrected with a tad too much amusement for my taste.

“Oh my God, stop looking at my ass and back up so I can swing myself around.”

The jerk just laughed as I performed the awkward task of adjusting my body on top of Dotty. I decided that was probably the moment when Jason finally thought, “Yeah, I will never be dating this psycho.”

“Sheesh, sorry about that girl,” I said to Dotty when I was finally sitting up like a normal person. Once I was positioned correctly, it wasn’t so bad. My feet reached the stirrups okay. I slid my sneakers into the straps, and after Jason adjusted a few things on my saddle, we were ready to go.

Jason hopped up onto Jasper easily, which ruined the jokes I’d started to stockpile about him failing. I should have known Jason Monroe didn’t fail at anything.

After a few instructions about how to use my heels to communicate with Dotty so she’d know if I wanted her to speed up or slow down, we were off on the trail, winding through the woods. The gravel path gave way to dirt and the smell of pine grew even stronger.

“This is so beautiful. I’d come out here every day if I could,” I said as I dipped my head low to avoid colliding with a tree branch coming up on our left.

“Glad you like it,” Jason said, turning to peer at me over his shoulder.

Jasper and Dotty carried us across a shallow creek and then we turned down a new trail that was even thinner and less cleared out than the one before. Every few feet I had to dip my head to duck under a branch, but it was too fun to turn back.

“So were you planning on getting to know me or did you just want to lead me out into the wilderness for fun?”

He laughed, “Isn’t this part of getting to know someone?”

I rolled my eyes. “No. We have to actually make an effort. How about we each get to ask five questions or something.”

“I’d rather just let it come naturally,” he replied, not bothering to turn around.

“Well, sitting here in silence isn’t really going to help us.”

He groaned. “Fine. Ask away.”

I decided there was no point in shooting the shit. This ride wouldn’t last all day and if there was any hope for us, we had to break down a few walls – not with a hammer, but with a wrecking ball. (Sorry to put the image of Miley in your head.)

“What’s your deepest, darkest secret?” I asked.

Jason threw his head back and laughed, clutching his stomach with his hand. I’d never seen him so relaxed. I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face, until I realized that he was about to get smacked in the head if he didn’t push an upcoming branch out of the way.

“Jason!” I yelled, but alas it was too late. He sat up at the precise moment when he was supposed to dip beneath the branch. He got a pine branch smack-dab in the forehead and I couldn’t do anything other than howl with laughter. I couldn’t even stop long enough to muster speech.

“You good back there?” Jason mocked, rubbing the spot on his forehead that would no doubt have a red welt in a few minutes. Aw, man. Now I kind of feel bad.

I forced myself to get it together.

“Hold on, let me take a look and see how bad it is,” I said, pulling Dotty up alongside Jasper on the path. The horses slowed to a stop as I reached out to pull Jason’s hand away from his forehead.

“Like I’m going to trust you. I’d be bleeding down my face and you’d still be laughing,” he said with a sense of teasing.

His words made my stomach twist with guilt. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry. I swear. You can trust me,” I said, holding his arm down with both of mine so I could get a good look. That was a mistake. There were pine needles stuck to his forehead, like twenty of them haphazardly displayed above his eyebrows.