Page 50 of Stables Spurs Suits
“What do you mean?”
“We sort of took a small walk the day before yesterday.”
“You and Loki?”
“And Gramps,” I say, and the stern look on his face softens.
“I swear you can take the cowboy out of the ranch, but it’s never really out of their heart.”
“He wanted to see it, you know, now that it’s done. And Dean told him you wanted to go through first to check it out, but then he saw me practicing walking Loki on a lead rope, and given Loki likes Gramps, and you know, didn’t play dead, or even stir at the sight of him when he asked us to join him for a walk, I figured, why not. I swear, at first, I had no idea that he meant along the trail.”
Atlas leaps over the rail like it’s nothing and strides over all sexy like.
“It’s okay. I honestly don’t mind. Gramps has a way of getting what he wants, so when he heard I was caught up with shoeing the horses, I figured he’d find a way to check it out for himself.”
“Really? You don’t mind?” I ask.
“I don’t mind,” he says again, this time leaning down and giving me a soft kiss on my lips. My stomach flips, and I look around quickly to see if anyone might have seen us.
“Anyone might have seen that,” I say, my cheeks growing warm.
“I don’t care. Do you?” he asks, and I shake my head. “Good. Now show me how you get up on this fella. We’ve got a trail to explore.”
It takes me two goes to get up onto Loki, but it’s not his fault. I didn’t push myself up hard enough the first time and couldn’t get my leg over. Once seated, I give Loki a good pet to congratulate him on his achievement and then hold the reins. While with the other horses I can grip them further up, resting my hands basically in my lap, Loki likes me to hold them closer to him, so that my fingers rest against the sides of his neck.
“See, he’s good to go.”
“We’ll see,” Atlas says, and in one swift leap, he’s on his horse, feet in stirrups, and he’s swooshing his reins, making a clicking sound with his tongue to tell his horse to move on.
I slide my hands forward on Loki’s neck up toward his head, the reins slacking around his bridle, and he starts walking.
“That’s a good boy, just like we practiced,” I say, resting them back into the holding position. If I need him to slow down, I can pull back on the reins a little, and he follows left and right fine with a soft jerk in that direction too. The only thing I haven’t figured out is how to get him to go faster, but considering this is a walking trail, I don’t exactly need to know how to do that yet.
At least Loki won’t get spooked by some rustling noises in the woods.
My pocket vibrates, and I release the reins on one side to check it in case it’s Connor. Loki slows like he knows I’m not giving him my full attention.
It’s an email from the internal recruitment team, and the subject reads:Congratulations. Please review the enclosed offer for the position of Junior Project Manager.
Chapter twenty-one
ATLAS
WELL, THAT FUCKING BLOWS
I check behind me for Matthew and Loki. They’re coming along behind me slowly, Matthew staring off into the distance like he’s deep in thought. I pull Thor up to wait for them to catch up.
“You okay?” I ask when they reach us, and Loki snorts, pulling him out of his daze.
“What?”
“Is everything okay? You looked like you were off with the fairies for a minute there,” I say, and he nods and smiles, but it’s forced.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. Good. It’s good. Loki is great, isn’t he?” he asks, and the smile turns real as he leans into Loki’s mane and gives his neck a hug.
“So far.”
“This is totally his speed. Maybe if we had the guests go ahead of him, and he could watch them, he might stay upright,” Matthew suggests, and I laugh.
