Page 62 of Take My Love

“Thanks for invitin’ me.”

“Ridin’ always helps me clear my head,” she explains as I drive us to the stables. “And I thought you might enjoy it too with everythin’ you’re going through.”

“I appreciate you lettin’ me come.” I grin, and she smiles in return.

When we walk inside the barn, we’re greeted by Bodie who works at the stables with Warren.

“Hey, what’re y’all doin’?”

“Gonna ride,” Posey says. “Wanna join?”

“I’ve been on and off ’em all day, so no thanks.”

Bodie takes guests trail riding in between taking care of the horses, mucking stalls, and training to become a farrier, so I don’t blame him for not wanting to go.

Posey tells me which horse to take before grabbing her own. We cross-tie them in the aisle so we can groom them and put their tack on.

“Priest is a good horse. Warren rides him a lot,” she explains, throwing her hair up and exposing her bare neck that I shouldn’t be staring at for many reasons.

But I’ll take it as a good sign that she didn’t give me a bad one.

“Who do you have?”

“This is Blythe. She’s a bit of a spitfire but she’s a good girl, aren’t ya?” She pats her back.

Once I have the saddle on, I ask Posey to double-check it for me since I haven’t done this in a while. She yanks on one of the straps and tightens it a bit.

“You did good.”

“Thanks,” I say behind her. “I’m surprised I remembered after all this time.”

“It’s muscle memory. Once you learn it, it’s hard to forget.”

I smirk, thinking of something else that’s forever engrained into memory. When she turns, we’re only a few inches apart.

“What’s funny?”

“Nothin’.” I quickly wipe it off my face before she reads my mind.

She narrows her eyes, looking around us. No one else is here since the workers either left or are on the trails with guests.

“You can back up now.”

“Oh right, sorry.” I give her space to walk past me but notice the way her cheeks flushed at how close we were standing.

Once we’re set, we untie the horses. I jump on Priest and she gets on Blythe.

“Ready?” she asks over her shoulder.

“Yep.”

Or rather, I hope so.

Posey takes the lead out of the barn and toward the trails. Although it’s later in the evening, the weather’s beautiful. The sun’s not high in the sky, but there’s enough light to give us a few hours before we’re in the dark.

“I wanna apologize for being short with you this mornin’,” Posey says when our horses walk side by side. She doesn’t look at me but there’s sincerity in her voice. “I guess my mind and heart aren’t on the same page when it comes to you. We went from not talkin’ to suddenly being roommates and sharin’ intimate personal details. It’s a bit of a mindfuck, if I’m being honest, and gave me whiplash.”

Her honesty takes me off guard, though I’m not surprisedshe’s struggling with our new arrangement. Posey likes to be in control, that much is obvious, and with me re-entering her life, she’s having to come to terms with what happened between us.