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Chapter Eleven

Sienna

“How many horses do you actually own?” I asked, slowly traipsing along the corridor between the stables. Horses looked at me inquisitively as I moved between them. Some reached out to sniff me, others nickered softly as we passed.

“I couldn’t give you an exact number. Colton tends to the horses most of the time. I guess he has what some would refer to as a ‘gift’ with them.”

“Like he’s a horse whisper or something?” I paused, genuinely curious if that was even a real skill.

Instead of the laugh I was expecting to come from him, he surprised me with his comment. “Yeah. I guess you could call it something like that.”

I turned to face him. “What about you and Wyatt?”

“My brother and I are better than most at riding a horse, but we can’t seem to get them to do what we want them to out in the rings.”

“Like breaking them in?” I asked, my curiosity piqued. I walked towards the chestnut-colored foal in the pen closest to me. Her nose was just able to lift over the top. “Some call it that. Colton doesn’t though. He just refers to it as training or working them over.”

I offered the foal the remainder of the apple I’d swiped from the fruit bowl on my way out the door and it took it greedily. The fruit quickly disappeared into nothing within the first bite.

“Which horse do you recommend for me?” I asked as I turned to face him once more.

While I was occupied with the foal, he had come closer on silent feet. His arm rested on the gate of a nearby stall, causing the flannelette shirt he was wearing to mold closer to his body. A body I’d been dreaming about every night since I’d first arrived when he literally offered me the shirt off his back. And oh, how I wanted to lick the sweat from every line of those abdominal muscles. “It depends.”

“On what?” I offered the hand to the foal as she searched it for any missed pieces, smiling to myself as the small hairs on her lips tickled me softly.

“On whether you have ever been on a horse before.”

Not wanting to get into my whole career as an equestrian rider, which I only did to appease my mother’s need for a daughter doing something proper, I shrugged. “A couple of times,” I answered. “I can ride well enough. Years of dressage competitions that I would rather forget.”

The sound of a stall opening behind me caused me to jump. With a hand on my heart, I spun around to see Colton swaggering towards us, bare-chested.

Far out. Were all the Larsen boys rocking washboard abs under their button-downs? “Well, sweetness, if that’s the case, I’m the one you want showing you how to ride.”

“Is that so?” I raised an eyebrow at him, wiping my hand on the nearby horse rug as the foal decided her mother was better company.

“You heard my brother. I’m the best with the horses. Makes sense to learn from the best.” I held my ground as he leaned closer and winked at me. “If you catch my drift?” Leaning back, he winked again.

“I’ve got this, Colton.” Ryder moved from his casual position to stand beside me.

“You sure, brother? It’s been years since you’ve taken a girl for—”

“Shut it.” His tone sliced through the air, and I knew he did so to stop whatever Colton was about to say. Something told me he didn’t want me to know what he was about to come out with, so I made a mental note to quiz him about it later.

“I don’t mind having two cowboys for teachers,” I said with a laugh, wanting more than anything to lighten the mood.

“Well, if you want two at a time, all you have to do is ask,” Colton quipped as he took off his hat and draped it over the pommel of a saddle hanging over the gate next to him.

Ryder walked over to him, while his brother aimed his panty-melting smile at me, and a second later his head snapped forward after being slapped up the back of the head.

“Hey, what was that for?” Colton raked his hand through his short hair.

“To get your head outta the goddamn gutter.”

“I can’t imagine his mind lives anywhere else,” I chimed in.

“Well…” Ryder started.

“Hey, I’m right here,” Colton threw in for good measure.