Page 8 of Unbroken (Poplar Springs #2)

SIX

FIONA

I felt surprisingly nervous as Eli and I prepared for our first trail ride together.

I would never admit it to anyone, but I actually did feel rusty.

While it’s true that riding horses was mostly muscle memory, I would be on a horse I hadn’t ridden before and that always came with risks.

On top of that, Eli and I were now officially in fake couplehood.

We had to find the right balance so that people would believe that we—two opposites—were really together.

“Earth to Fiona. What are you standing around for?” Eli asked, throwing a saddle on a gleaming chestnut horse. “We still have a lot to prep before the riders get here.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Yeah, boss man, I’m fine. I’ll get right back to work.”

He turned his back and I saluted him.

The drive to one-up Eli seemed to be as strong as ever.

It didn’t matter if it was grades, athletic achievements, or dumb stunts to impress our friends, it had always been competitive between us.

Eli’s approach had always been stealthy.

He wasn’t one for dramatic displays, which suited me just fine. That was my jurisdiction.

He sighed. “Stop it, I’m not your boss and you know it.”

“Yeah, you’re not,” I shot back at him trying to figure out where this tension came from with me.

We stood in silence, staring at each other, until a smile crept onto Eli’s face.

“Well, would you look at that,” he said. “It’s our first lover’s spat.” He placed his palm over his heart as if it were the cutest thing ever.

It was an unexpected break in the tension, and I couldn’t help but smile back at him. He’d always had an infectious grin but now? It was downright lethal in ways I didn’t want to contemplate.

“I guess so. May they all be this minor.”

“Amen to that,” Eli said. “Now, I’m not telling you to do it, but if you feel like saddling up Misty, that would be a big help.”

I chuckled and got to work getting the next horse ready.

I was happy the ride we were doing was beginner level with only a group of six, none of whom were big shots.

I wanted to have my shit together before the movers and shakers showed up.

I knew exactly how important the program was to my brother and to the future of the ranch, and I wanted to do my part to ensure its success.

But as I tried to focus on the task at hand, my gaze kept wandering to Eli. A lot had changed in our lives since high school, but the one thing that had remained constant was how damn good he looked, especially when he was working.

The shoulders. He wasn’t kidding when he said they’d gotten broader.

He was fit back in school thanks to football but working on ranches had taken his body to the next level.

And I’d never been into butts, but there was something undeniably juicy about his.

The way his jeans fit made it almost impossible not to look.

“What? Are you critiquing my saddling technique?” Eli demanded when he caught me staring.

My cheeks went hot. “No, no, I uh … was just thinking about our fake dating stuff. We need to come up with a backstory for how we got together. It’s like the first question women always ask. The details are important.”

He paused, still holding a saddle, and frowned. “You moved home, I asked you out, and now we’re dating. Boom, backstory.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “That won’t pass the gossip test, trust me.

And we might as well make it good. Let’s come up with something sexy and cool.

How about … we haven’t talked since graduation, and the second you saw me at the ranch, my beauty overwhelmed you and you suddenly realized that you had to have me! ”

I posed with one hand flung against my forehead and the other over my heart.

Eli threw his head back and laughed uproariously.

“What?” I asked in a mock injured tone, crossing my arms. “Why is that so far-fetched?” Okay, maybe I was a little hurt at the level of his amusement.

“Anyone who knows our history knows that wouldn’t happen. And getting overcome isn’t my style.”

“Okay,” I pouted. “So, let’s go with a slow burn approach.”

He walked the newly saddled horse to the paddock where the others were patiently waiting. “I’m listening.”

“Maybe, uh, you reached out to me after my parents’ funeral, and we started … writing letters! That’s romantic. ”

Eli winced when I mentioned the funeral but recovered quickly. “That could work,” he said quietly.

“And we didn’t talk on the phone or email or anything. Only letters. Because writing everything down was slower, and it allowed us to get past our history.”

He nodded. “Believable. But …”

I gave him a questioning look.

“Do you really think that people will buy us being together? We’ve got all that baggage from high school, plus we’re total opposites.

Even more so now than in high school. To the rest of Poplar Springs, I’m a sad sack single dad who wants to fade into the background, and you’re a fancy city chick who’s the life of the party. ”

His characterization of me caught me off guard. That was how he saw me?

“I said it before and I’ll say it again. I was born with my boots on. So take your ‘city girl’ cliches and shove them where the sun don’t shine. And anyway, opposites do attract. And hey, you’re a total catch. Why wouldn’t I want to date you?”

It came out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying, and Eli’s wide-eyed expression made it clear that I sounded a little too convincing.

“I mean, if we didn’t hate each other,” I backpedaled quickly.

Eli closed the distance between us slowly, his eyes locked on mine and sending a shiver down the back of my neck. “When did I say I hated you? I don’t hate you, Fiona. Not even close.”

The air went heavy and silent, both of us seeming to wait for the other to fill in the blanks about what was changing in the atmosphere between us. But I couldn’t name it, and the unspoken tension made me feel twitchy.

“Okay, good, good,” I said, turning away quickly so he wouldn’t see the flush spreading on my cheeks. “So, we’ve got a backstory. We can embellish as we go.”

“Yeah, speaking of that, can you reel it back a little when it comes to telling our story? You have a tendency to say the first thing that pops into your head. I mean, that’s why we’re in this predicament, right?”

I opened my mouth to argue against playing it safe, but then remembered that the last time I took a risk, it ended up getting me fired.

I’d always lived my life listening to my gut, jumping on every opportunity without hesitating.

In the past it had paid off, but now I felt as though I couldn’t trust myself to know the difference between leaping at an opening or tumbling off a cliff.

Eli strapped down a trail bag on the side of a saddle and glanced at me. “There’s that expression on your face again. I have no clue what’s going on in that head of yours.”

“Why are you watching me?” I asked in a petulant tone, pushing down the doubt and shame that were clawing their way to the surface.

“Because we still have a shitload to get done, and the guests are due to arrive in about fifteen minutes. So, are you helping me or standing around and watching?”

“Ugh.” I huffed and flounced toward the tack room. “Fine, whatever you say.”

“There’s my girl,” Eli called after me in a joking tone.

I was about to whip around and say something sarcastic back but realized that being called Eli’s girl had a certain appeal.

Even if he was bossy.