Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“I can’t,” I said, and cringed at how my voice wavered. I wasn’t a teenage girl anymore who hid in the restroom after gym classes, damn it.
Xavier stepped up close behind me and put his hands on my waist. Tension shot through my body at the unexpected closeness, at the way my body responded to it. Then another thought struck. What did Xavier think of the soft feel of me? I wasn’t all muscle and bone.
He released me with a small frown. “I wanted to help you. I should have asked first.”
He sounded regretful, but there was a darker note to it. I searched his face, but it was closed off.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I was only startled. You have touched me before.” Not on my waist, not anywhere near it, and heaven have mercy, I wanted his touch back despite my worry about his opinion of my soft body. “I need your help. But I doubt you can hoist me up.”
Xavier shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous, Evie,” he threw my words back at me with a confident smile. His hands returned to my waist, big warm hands, hands I wanted to feel everywhere on my body. “On three, you pull.”
“Okay,” I said quietly.
“One…two…” His fingers on my waist tightened, sinking into my softness, but before I could feel self-conscious about it, he said, “Three,” and lifted me. I quickly pulled at the horn while pushing against the stirrup at the same time, and suddenly I was on top of the horse, safely positioned in its saddle. I stared down at Xavier with wide eyes.
Xavier was a beast. All muscle, all strength, all man. God have mercy.
“See?” he said smugly.
I swallowed as I stared down into his cocky gray eyes and handsome face. This was getting dangerous. “Thanks,” I said with a shaky smile.
Xavier stepped closer. “Are you okay up there? You look scared.”
I was scared, very scared, but not of the horse or the riding. “I’m fine. It just takes some getting used to being up so high,” I lied.
“You will get used to it quickly.” He touched my knee briefly, lightly, like a friend, but the contact zapped through me like electricity. Xavier pulled away, walked to Adobe and swung himself up as if it was the easiest thing in the world, then he grabbed the reins in one hand and straightened leisurely in the saddle.
My eyes trailed over his muscled thighs pressed up to the horse, up over the ripples of his stomach that his shirt didn’t hide, to his flexing arms. He patted his horse lightly, then steered it toward me. He grabbed the reins of my horse as well. “I will lead for now because you haven’t done this before. If you feel confident on top of Cinnamon you can take over the reins, all right?”
I nodded. There were so many things I hadn’t done, and wanted him to take the lead in. He clucked his tongue, tugged at the reins and Cinnamon began trotting beside Adobe.
I let out a startled gasp and clutched the horn as if my life depended on it, my thighs clinging to the horse’s belly.
“Straighten your back. Don’t just hang there like a limp dishrag,” Xavier instructed.
I stiffened my spine with a glare, but Xavier only laughed and turned back to the front. Eventually I started to feel more comfortable on Cinnamon. She followed Xavier and Adobe obediently, and Xavier oozed enough calm for the both of us. He looked at peace, as if this was who he truly was. That he let me see this side of him meant something. Problem was, I didn’t know exactly what.
After about thirty minutes in which I got magnificent views of the rugged hilly landscape of the Blue Mountains, Xavier handed the reins back to me. “You can do this,” he assured me when I gave him an uncertain look. “It’s like riding a bicycle.”
I didn’t mention that I’d always hated riding a bike and hadn’t done it in years. The beautiful landscape made up for my fear of dropping to my death from the horse. I’d have to visit the Blue Mountains National Park when Xavier and I weren’t on a family visit. Even from a distance the forested rock formations were breathtaking.
I clutched the leather reins and clucked my tongue like Xavier had done while pressing my thighs against the horse’s sides. Cinnamon started trotting at once. Xavier stayed close by the entire time until Georgia fell back and led her horse alongside us. “Why don’t you talk to Willow for a bit?” she suggested to her son.
“Don’t interrogate Evie,” Xavier muttered before he twitched his thighs and Adobe sped up.
“There’s really nothing interesting I could tell you about Xavier, nothing you can’t read in every tabloid in the country,” I told her when she fell into step beside me.