A Little Country Christmas - Carolyn Brown Page 0,60
long enough for me to show you that a ride in my saddle is just as satisfying as a ride in yours.” He grinned. “That came out a little—um—” He let out a nervous laugh. “You know what I mean.”
“But I—”
“You can go for your run,” he said. “I’m happy to wait. And your ornament thing, too, whatever that is. I’m patient. I’d just really like to show you something before sundown, and Ace is the best form of transportation to get there. And I probably should have mentioned earlier that our destination is holiday-related.”
She sighed. “Are you going to kiss me if I say yes?”
He grinned. “I am.”
“And if your four-legged friend decides he doesn’t like me as much as you do and tosses me to the curb, do I get to say ‘I told you so’ and send you all my medical bills?”
He laughed. “Isn’t a motorcycle just as dangerous?”
She shook her head. “An injury on horseback is something like three and a half times more likely than an injury on a bike. Eli Murphy’s wife…” She trailed off.
“I know,” he said. “I feel terrible about him losing Tess. But Dani, I promise that I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Ace and I will keep you safe.” He kissed her. “I’ll keep you safe.”
He took a step back and waited for her to respond.
“That’s usually my job, you know. Keeping people safe,” she said, a smile on her lips to mask the fear she very poorly disguised.
“Can I ask?” he said. “Have you fallen before?”
She blew out a breath and nodded. “My dad loved to ride. He still does as far as I know.” She shrugged. “It was our thing for a while. I was fifteen the last time we went. Tried bareback for the first—and last—time. Lost my grip and broke my fall with my right hand. Heard my wrist snap and everything.”
Peyton winced. “I’m sorry that happened. Does it make me sound like a creep if I admit to remembering your arm being in a cast? It was green, right? Figured that was why I didn’t see you at the winter formal—you being injured and all.”
Her eyes widened. He didn’t see her at the dance because he’d assumed her invitation was from someone else. Still, she couldn’t hide her surprise. His so-called crush on her in high school could have been nothing more than him feeding her a line. But her cast? Her absence from the dance? While these were the hallmarks of the worst time in her life, they should have been minor details to someone like him. Yet he recalled both as if it were yesterday. Her chest tightened at the thought. “You really do remember me from high school?”
He laughed. “I thought we already established my unrequited crush.” His smile faded. “What happened with your dad?”
She let out a bitter laugh. “That day he was great. Got me right to the hospital. Took me to the bookstore for Mrs. Davis’s homemade ice cream after and promised me that every good rider takes a tumble or two but that he’d always be on the horse next to me keeping me safe. A week later he and my mom told us they were separating, and he moved out. A year after that, he moved to Miami and remarried.”
She’d always told herself the reason she’d never gotten back on a horse was because she couldn’t count on the animal not to hurt her again. Her wrist healed though. It was her family’s splitting up she couldn’t fix.
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “We don’t have to do this. The last thing I want to do is drag up painful memories for you. I’m an expert at avoiding my own, so I get it. But if you can trust me to keep you safe, on and off the horse, maybe we can make a new memory. For both of us.” He held out his hand once more. “What do you think?”
Dani released a shuddering breath. Maybe it was time to let go of some of the pain she’d been holding on to for fifteen years—about her parents, about a stupid crush on an oblivious boy who maybe wasn’t so oblivious anymore.
She laced her fingers through his, and he squeezed her tight. For the first time in years, she let herself trust someone other than her mom and Deputy Crawford, not only with her physical well-being but with a tiny piece of