"You worry too much. And look, he even comes with wine." He points to Rusty's saddle, which has something attached to it.
"There's wine in there?"
"Yeah. You like wine, right?"
"I love wine."
"You don't get any until we get to our destination so you better get on."
"Where are we going?"
"Stop asking questions and get on the horse." He smacks my ass.
"Hey!"
"You'll get another if you don't get on."
I hesitate, looking up at the large horse. He is really pretty and he seems old. Maybe he'll go slow.
This is another something I never thought I'd do but what the hell? I put my foot in the stirrups and climb up on the horse.
Tyler hands me the sack of cookies. "Don't forget these."
He climbs up behind me and reaches around to grab the reins.
"You good?" I hear a guy yell. Looking over, I see him walking toward us.
"That's Randy," Tyler says, then yells back at the guy, "Yeah. Thanks. This is great."
"Don't worry about the gate. I'll get it."
Tyler gives him a wave as the horse starts walking to the open field. I'm not used to the motion and start to get nervous.
"I'm gonna fall," I say.
"No you're not. I got ya." Tyler's arms move closer around my sides as he keeps hold of the reins.
"Have you ever ridden a horse before?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"I had to do a commercial where I was riding a horse. It was for an expensive watch. I spent a couple weeks at a ranch learning how to ride horses, then another week riding them during the shoot. After all that, the commercial never ran. The ad agency decided to go in a different direction."
He leads the horse through the field. We're going a little faster now but I'm not as nervous. Tyler seems to know what he's doing and the horse is very calm.
"When did you plan all this?"
He sighs. "Do you ever stop with the questions? You're supposed to just relax and enjoy the ride."
"I am enjoying it but I'm still curious how you did all this. You just asked me out a couple hours ago and you didn't know if I'd say yes."
"I planned it during dinner. I texted Randy when we were waiting for our drinks."
"You planned it that fast?"
"I told you I figure things out as I go. I do what feels right in the moment, and this felt right."
"But the wine? The cookies? How did you—"
"Okay, no more questions. Just look around you. Take it all in."
We're surrounded by open fields, the long grass blowing in the breeze. It's beautiful. Peaceful. Quiet. There's no one around. Just the two of us.
The horse slows down as we approach a line of trees. We make our way through them to the other side where's there's a small stream.
I feel Tyler pull on the reins. "This is it."
"What? We're stopping here?"
"Yeah." He gets off the horse, then helps me down. "Have a seat." He points to one of the large rocks along the stream.
I sit down and watch as he gets the wine. He sits beside me and pulls out the cork, which had already been removed and then put back so it was ready to drink.
"Sorry, but there wasn't room for glasses." He holds the bottle out to me.
"That's okay. Glasses don't really fit out here." I take a swig of the wine.
"What do you think? Too rustic for you?" Tyler asks, taking the wine and drinking some.
"If you'd told me beforehand this is what we're doing, then yes, I would've probably said it was too rustic, but now that we're here, I'm glad we did it. I really like this. The stream. The fields. It's beautiful."
"The best part's still coming."
"What do you mean?"
"Just wait." He opens the sack of cookies and hands me one.
A few minutes later, I figure out what he meant. Shades of pink and purple take over the sky as the sun slowly sets.
"Wow," I say watching it. "It's beautiful."
He looks at me and smiles. "Good first date?"
"Great first date." I give him a kiss, then lay back against his chest as he puts his arms around me.
I really want this. I want more nights like this. More nights with Tyler. More of how this feels. I'm really happy right now and I don't want it to end.
Chapter Twenty
"Thanks for tonight," I say as Tyler walks me to the door.
"You still afraid of horses?"
"A little, but Rusty was a good horse."
"We can ride him again sometime. Randy wouldn't care."