Page 10 of Riding the Line (Willow Ridge #2)
Cherry
‘Feeling alright?’ Duke asks, resting his thick frame against the metal fence beside me after sauntering over. The woody, cypress scent of his cologne swirls around me. My eyes dart to the tattoos covering his arms, the way they shift over his corded muscles as he rests.
But I quickly force my gaze back to the pen ahead of me, where I’m reaching out and stroking the beautiful chestnut filly down the white blaze on the bridge of her velvety nose.
I let my fingers filter through her silky, lighter forelock and scratch behind her ears, relishing the way she angles her head further into my hand, as if to say, more, please.
Just being in the presence of such a sweet creature kneads away any tightness in my body, fishing up golden memories of being free-spirited, riding along the trails around Willow Ridge with the hot sun beating down.
Before everyone started worrying that I’d fall again.
Before I started to believe the same story.
Regardless, right now, it’s serving as the best way to keep me distracted from the reminder of how Duke kissed me in celebration merely an hour ago.
I’m sure Sawyer and Wolfman have jokingly kissed me on the head or cheek or whatever countless times celebrating at rodeos or football games, and I’ve never been bothered then.
If anything, I probably would’ve shoved them or punched them in the arm, which is why I made myself act the same with Duke and Rory, as opposed to standing there dazed, batting my eyelashes like an infatuated teenager who had just met their celebrity crush.
So, here I am, pretending to have gone to the restroom after the show, but instead having run off to get some alone time with the horses while everyone chatted to the rest of the bull riders with Sawyer, hoping it will help me calm down.
‘You ready to go?’ Duke throws out, finally drawing me from my thoughts and making me realise I never responded to his first question. He must have been sent over here to get me.
‘Sorry.’ I turn to him, offering a smile and he mirrors it, dark eyes lit up under the arena lights. Not as enlarged as they were earlier after he kissed me. ‘I got distracted.’
‘You always do here.’ He reaches over the fence to brush a hand across the filly’s neck.
It’s then that I notice a small new horseshoe tattoo on what was once bare skin on his inner wrist. After all the late nights closing up the bar, I’ve come to learn most of his tattoos, usually asking him their meanings as we clean up – so I’m intrigued as to how he snuck this new one past me in the last week.
When he clears his throat, I snap my eyes back up to his.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Get distracted.’ Duke nods to the pen. ‘With the horses.’
‘Yeah.’ I sigh out a small chuckle, though struggle to maintain my smile – a momentary flash of the last time I ever rode forces it down into a frown. ‘I just miss riding, I guess.’
It’s not a second more before I’m leaning over the fence again, giving the filly a few more tickles under her chin, eliciting a soft nicker from her. Mirth bubbles up into my chest at the sound.
Duke hums. ‘That wasn’t on the list.’
I furrow my brow at him.
‘The bucket list,’ he continues, studying me with an angle of his head. ‘It wasn’t on the bucket list. You don’t want to try riding again?’
I nibble on my thumbnail as I consider. If I hadn’t fallen all those years ago, I might have been here competing today. Barrel racing was what I’d always had my sights set on, eager to convince my parents to let me start practising.
It’s not like I was going to be a bronc rider or anything.
But sometimes life just nudges you onto a different path than you expected.
Without my epilepsy and my fall, I wouldn’t have found my passion for interior design during all those days off school where I spent probably too much time designing and decorating houses on The Sims and learning to draw digitally.
That doesn’t mean all the what-ifs aren’t in the back of my head, though.
It’s partly why I love the days we get to watch Sawyer at the rodeos, knowing I can catch a glimpse of the other riding competitions, living my old dreams through the women competing. Wondering how much they’re risking each time they settle themselves in the saddle.
‘Yeah, maybe one day. When I feel ready,’ I eventually respond, shrugging as I’m bombarded with all the reasons I shouldn’t be up there, fulfilling the image that I’ve built of myself for years. ‘Though, once I get a job in the city, I doubt I’ll be that interested anymore.’
Duke just bobs his head. I’m sure he knows I’m dialling down how much I want to get back in the saddle, but he’d never call me out, he always just listens, like he trusts me to eventually make the best decision for myself.
Which, as someone who has grown up with a lot of rules around what I can and can’t do, means more to me than he probably realises.
Duke regards me for a beat, then he returns to resting against the fence with me, watching the horses. I guess that’s the end of that conversation. I twist to finally head off and find the others—
‘I was actually, um …’ Duke starts but trails off, rubbing his hand along his jaw.
A divot appears between his brows as his gaze drops from mine, but it’s back after a second, and I swear whenever he looks at me the rest of my surroundings quieten.
All the chaos of the world suddenly disappearing.
No more whinnies from the horses echoing across the pens or Morgan Wallen songs blasting from the speakers.
Just the two of us.
He tries again. ‘Well, I was thinking about what you said the other day and I thought … maybe I could help you out with it?’
My bottom lip drops. ‘What?’
‘The bucket list.’
I stand there in dumbstruck silence, blinking as I try to comprehend whether he’s just offered what I think he has. ‘Wait, are you being serious?’
‘Yeah, why not?’ He releases a breathy chuckle. ‘If it means you’ll feel better. Unless Montana is helping you—’
‘No!’ I blurt out, and quickly school my features into something less wildly enthusiastic. ‘No, she … well, she is, but she’s been seeing this guy, Austin, a lot recently so she’s been pretty busy.’
A dimple pops in one of his cheeks as he gives me a lopsided grin. ‘Right. Obviously, I’m only talking about the, um …’ Duke rubs harshly at his forehead, clearing his throat. ‘The non-sexual stuff. Just want to make that clear, Cherry.’
Wishing the ground would swallow me up is starting to become a regular thing now.
I’d almost forgotten that he’d seen all of it. But, clearly, Duke wouldn’t want to do any of that with me. And he said he was offering to do the bucket list with me to help me feel better. Just a friend helping out another friend, right?
I’ll take what I can get.
‘Right, obviously .’ I laugh, waving him off, while my mind desperately scrambles for something else to say so we can quickly move on from the sexual topic. ‘Doesn’t helping me with the bucket list go against what you said, though? Your whole old man spiel about small moments being better.’
Duke pokes his cheek with his tongue, eyes darkening slightly at me. ‘I’m not that much older than you. Six years is nothing.’
‘Stop calling me Baby Hensley then, if I’m not that much younger than you.’ I cross my arms and tip my chin up.
‘Never. You hate the name too much.’ Duke leans lazily against the fence. ‘Anyway, helping you does go against what I said, but that’s why I’ll only do it on one condition.’
Duke steps forward, eating up almost all the space between us.
I might be tall for a girl, but Duke towers over me, his broad frame so close, I notice the distinction between his almost black irises and pupils, watching them expand the longer he stares at me, like they’re feeding off being near me.
‘For every big thing we do on your bucket list, you have to enjoy a small, little moment of my choosing. Something I think makes life worthwhile. So you don’t forget that the slow life here ain’t all that bad in Willow Ridge when you’re living it up in the city. ’
‘Like what?’ I breathe out.
‘Like spending the evening surrounded by friends, laughing in your favourite bar. Which is where we’re supposed to be right now.’ Duke pushes off the fence with his foot, signalling for us to start walking. ‘We probably shouldn’t keep them waiting much longer.’
Right, he basically came over here to tell me to get my ass moving because it’s time to leave. God, why is it suddenly so hot in here?
‘So, do we have a deal? A big moment for a small one?’ Duke checks over his shoulder at me as I catch up, a smirk dancing on his lips.
I grin, not even hesitating to say, ‘It’s a deal.’
Because when life gives you an opportunity like this, you don’t think twice about taking the reins and jumping into the saddle.