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“We’re talking horses. Jenni thinks she can beat Thunder this year at the race with Kingpin, but Thunder has won three years in a row, and I think that speaks for itself.”
“Just wait until the vet clears Marshmallow for racing again. Thunder will be eating his dust,” Jenni says.
Kaison smiles. “Well, good luck with that. Langston takes his horse racing very seriously.”
“Oh, I know,” Jenni says. She looks over at me. “Have we met?”
“I don’t think so. I’m Ariana. I’m staying with the Keiths while Kaison and I are working on a project together.”
“Oh, nice to meet you.” Her smile is warm and genuine, and I like her immediately. There seems to be something going on between her and Langston, and now I’m starting to feel like I should join the Blue Mountain knitting club because I’m just as bad as the rest of them with the matchmaking thing. It’s a little contagious. And I can’t help but feel sorry for Mrs. Keith that she doesn’t have all the grandbabies that she wants so badly.
“Are you two going riding?” Jenni asks.
“Yeah. It’s my first time.”
Her eyes light up. “Really?” She walks down a few stalls and stops beside a beautiful gray horse. “You should ride Smokie. She’s really sweet and gentle.”
“You seem to know what you’re talking about, so I think I’ll take your advice.”
She smiles back at me, and her eyes crinkle at the corners.
“She’s a pro,” Langston says. “You’d better remember this moment because you’ll never hear me saying it to the competition again.”
She elbows him. “You’re just gearing up to be a sore loser.”
He grins, and a set of dimples appears. “In your dreams.”
“Oh, do you feel threatened?” she asks, putting a hand on her hip.
His already huge smile widens even more. “Nope. Not a bit.”
Well, those two don’t have any chemistry between them at all. I’m going to need a fan because it’s getting heated in here.
Langston and Kaison and Jenni work together to get our horses saddled up. “Give me something to do,” I say. “I’m starting to feel useless over here.”
“Tighten this strap up,” Kaison says, coming up to me. His cologne encircles me, and I fight off the urge to breathe it in deeply and allow it to make my head spin. He’s standing close enough to me that I can feel the edge of his sleeve brushing against my hand. It’s quiet and intimate between us, and time slows down as he works to saddle the horse.
“There you go,” he says at last. “You and Smokie will make fast friends.”
“Need some help mounting?” he asks.
“Well, I’m not in the mood to make a complete fool of myself, so yeah. That would probably be for the best.”
Kaison chuckles and shows me how to put my foot in the stirrup and hoist myself over.
Somehow I make it up without falling and landing face first into the manure. “Wow! I’m actually up here. This is a lot higher off the ground than I was expecting.”
Kaison smiles and hands me the reins. “You’ll use these to control the horse. Pull in the direction you want to go, and Smokie will know what to do. If you want to stop, say something like ‘whoa’ and pull back on the reins and she’ll stop. Got it?”
“Yeah. And if I want to go, I kick her in the ribs, right?”
He laughs. “Or loosen the reins. You probably don’t want to be too aggressive with the kicking. A little squeeze should be good enough.”
“Okay. Got it.”
He climbs up on a spirited chestnut horse that looks to be male. I can’t tell if it’s a gelding or a stallion. I don’t really know enough about it. “What’s your horse’s name?” I ask.
“This one is Firebolt.” He leans forward and rubs the horse’s nose. “He’s one of our racehorses.”