Wild Trail (Clean Slate Ranch #1)(24)
Wes plucked the small pink one off the rack and popped it onto Sophie’s head. “There, perfect.”
“Shut up.” She snatched it off and replaced it with a light tan hat. “What do you think?”
“Like you’re ready for reverse cowgirl.”
Sophie giggled. Miles, the poor thing, looked confused. Wes would explain later. They all picked out hats, but then another problem presented itself: no cashier.
“Oh here, look.” Sophie pointed at a sign on the wall. “Sign out what we took and the cost, and it’ll be charged to the credit card that paid for the trip. Cool.”
Oh yeah, supercool, I get to buy everyone hats.
Oh well, small price to make his sister happy. Wes wrote down his name and the three hats. He also added a tin of mints, just in case he needed them in the near future. It was almost too bad the place didn’t sell condoms, but maybe Mack kept one in his back pocket for emergency wilderness fucking.
A city boy could dream.
On the walk to the corral, Wes turned the Wi-Fi off on his phone. He needed to preserve the battery life so he could get pictures and video, not waste it searching for a signal. Miles had his ever-present camera strapped around his neck, but Wes couldn’t imagine him letting go of the reins long enough to snap even one shot. Even though he had more riding experience than anyone, the guy was not comfortable around horses for some reason. And not for the first time, Wes second-guessed needling him into the trip.
Outside of the corral, a small wagon had been attached to Hot Coffee, who seemed totally comfortable with the new gear. Reyes was milling around, double-checking the buckles. Seeing him fussing over his horse made Wes smile. Miles tried to be discreet, but Wes caught him snapping a photo in that direction—whether of Reyes or the horse, he didn’t know.
Probably the wagon, but Reyes looked up as they passed. Wes waved, but Reyes wasn’t paying attention to him.
Somebody’s taken a liking to Miles. Maybe I won’t be the only one who gets a vacation fling.
Except Miles didn’t seem like the one-off kind of guy, falling into bed with a stranger just for kicks. He was more of the hearts-and-flowers, let’s-date-for-a-while-before-we-have-sex sort of gay. To each his own. Not everyone was a slutty stereotype like Wes.
Wes impressed himself by flinging himself into Blizzard’s saddle without a single hitch in his giddy-up. The horse seemed to like him, anyway, which was good as they’d be traveling companions for the next twenty-four hours. Next to him, Miles sat atop his horse, Tango, a plain brown horse with a white spot on his forehead. Miles clutched the reins so tight he was going to break his knuckles if he didn’t relax.
“Dude, calm down,” Wes said. “Your horse looks like it had a few Xanax with its hay. You’ll be fine.”
Miles gave him a wan smile. “Sorry, it’s just I’ve never been camping before. Not even fake camping in the backyard.”
“We went once when I was ten and Sophie was six. I hated it and complained so much about the bugs that our parents promised we’d never do it again.”
“Now why does that not surprise me,” Mack said somewhere behind him.
Wes angled his upper body around. Mack sat in Tude’s saddle like he’d been born there, reins loose in his big, meaty hands, scowling slightly under the wide brim of his cowboy hat. “Because you’re under the assumption I’m some sort of dirt-phobic princess.”
“You are a dirt-phobic princess,” Miles said.
Mack chuckled, a lovely, rumbling sound that Wes wanted to hear more often. The man probably had a fucking sexy belly laugh, too. He urged Tude forward, then turned the horse to face their group. “All right, we’re about set to leave. Remember, your horses are trained. They know these trails, so once we get started, you shouldn’t have to lead too much. You start to wander too far from the path? Gently guide the horse back in line. Questions?”
“Are there going to be bobcats out there?” Miller asked.
“Yes, but probably not where we’re camping. In case anyone’s worried, we’ve got shotguns in the wagon as a precaution. We’re heading out into Mother Nature’s territory. Always expect the unexpected.”
Always expect the unexpected.
Mack met Wes’s eyes, and Wes’s heart leapt. The words had a double-meaning, he was sure of it. Mack didn’t say anything else, simply turned Tude toward the corral gate, and then let out a sharp whistle. Tude ambled forward, and the other horses started moving, seemingly on their own. Blizzard fell into line next to Sophie and Zodiac. Wes tried to keep his body rolling with each step so the big animal didn’t jostle him too much.
This whole horse-riding gig was weird and totally unnatural, but also sort of fun. They crossed the main yard, heading toward the line of trees east of the big house. A well-worn path wound its way into the trees, which cast shadows all over the ground. The air was cooler, a little more dank with the oppressive scent of wet dirt.
Ugh.
Pretty, though, with all kinds of vegetation and swooping birds. He glanced behind him. Sure enough, Miles was still holding tight to his reins, his camera unused against his chest. He’d be sore as hell later if he didn’t loosen his posture a little, but Wes was too far ahead to tell him so without embarrassing his friend.
After a peaceful walk through the woods, the trees thinned out to reveal rolling countryside. Distant mountains that reached toward the heavens. Blowing grass, scrub trees, and so much open sky that Wes suddenly felt very, very small. He spent so much time as the center of attention, watching the world revolve around him, that he’d never considered how tiny he really was in the grand scheme of the world.