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Bud arched a brow. “Do youwantto talk?”

“Well, no… but—”

“Then enjoy your ride and stop making goo-goo eyes at young Miss Callahan.”

Riley clenched his jaw. He could spit back any number of retorts, but he thought better of it. Bud clearly didn’t have any interest in what Riley had to say. As much as he preferred this kind of hands-off therapy, Riley couldn’t help but feel he was missing out on something.

He chanced another look over to Grace, then pulled his horse around. The steady plodding beneath him soothed the sense of instability he felt. He refused to think the insecurity he was experiencing had to do with his PTSD. He was on edge because of Grace. That was it.

After all the sessions with her, he felt he’d convinced her he was doing well enough to have his sessions passed off. He would be cleared of his court-ordered reasons for being here, which meant the shadow of his PTSD wouldn’t loom over him. Grace wouldn’t be able to force him to talk out anything if she thought he’d gotten past the worst of it.

As soon as his final session was over, they could shift into a more normal relationship. That’s all either of them needed. No more of this focus on what he was or wasn’t struggling with.

“A little faster,” Bud called out to him.

Riley glanced over his shoulder and gave the man a nod. Maybe working with Bud wouldn’t be so bad. These were more like riding lessons than therapy sessions. There was a normalcy about it all and the stress he carried melted away.

Once his ride was over, Grace climbed down from her perch and walked beside him. He reached for her hand, lacing his fingers within hers. Bud walked a few yards ahead of them and Riley slowed his pace so the old man couldn’t overhear their conversation.

He brought her hand up to his lips and murmured. “I was thinking about something.”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe I could come to your place and meet the rest of your family.”

She stiffened. It wasn’t in the way she held his hand—but rather the way her face tightened and her mouth formed a strained line. Grace didn’t meet his gaze right away, but when she did, the forced smile did nothing to assure him of her feelings for him. “You know I care about you, right?”

Riley ground his teeth back and forth. “Sure,” he muttered.

“Don’t you think that’s a little fast?”

He stopped and faced her. “Fast?”

“Yeah. We’ve only started dating. We have a lot more to learn about each other before we move to that point, don’t you think?”

Except she was wrong. Heknewwhat he wanted, and that was Grace. Staying in this state of limbo only caused more frustration. He swallowed that ugly feeling down. “When do you think you might be ready for that?”

“Me? It’s not just me.” She peeked at him, then looked away. “It’s both of us. I…”

“You two coming?” Bud had stopped and he stood in the doorway of the barn with his arms folded. “I told Shane I’d help out with these sessions, but if you’re going to be using this time for your personal relationship, then I’m going to have to reconsider.”

She reached forward and grasped his hand. “I’m not saying never. Of course I want you to meet my family. I just want to make sure we’re both ready.” Grace dropped his hands, then grasped Dolly’s lead rope before leading her toward the barn without another word.

Once again, he felt lost. When he’d made up his mind to introduce himself to her father, he’d been in control. He’d figured out a solution for the way he was feeling. Back in the day, men would approach the fathers of the women they were interested in just to make clear their intentions.

That couldn’t hurt. A quick five-minute meeting wouldn’t make anything worse than it already was. The last time he’d followed orders without challenging them, he’d been broken. That wasn’t going to happen again. Grace didn’t know what was best. She didn’t have the experience he had. She might be smarter when it came to certain things, but in this case she was wrong.

Based on what Shane and Michael had said about Zeke Callahan, Riley was only making matters worse by staying away.

He shoved his hand into his jacket pocket and took the folded napkin out of his wallet. The plan was still on. When Grace left, he’d take a short ride to her family’s place and see if her father was around to visit with him.

Theirs would be a short conversation where Riley could assure Zeke that he only had the best of intentions.

* * *

Riley saton his bike at the edge of the Callahan’s property. He’d lost his nerve the second he turned onto the winding road that would ultimately take him to Grace’s home. He was out of his depth. He’d probably been out of his mind, too.

What had gotten into him that he’d decided to come here without Grace?