Shine Not Burn(76)

I snorted. “Yeah, right.” My hands and thighs were trembling.

He came to my left side again and put the reins in my hand, leaving his fingers on top of mine. He stared at me as he gave me a quick lesson. “If you want to go to the left, just move your hands like this.” He dragged the leather strips to the left. “The bit in her mouth and the reins on her neck and head will let her know what you want to do. If you want to go right, take the reins and do this … see?” He went the opposite direction, reaching over the horse’s neck to demonstrate, waiting for me to nod my head before continuing. “When you want to stop, just pull back gently. Not too hard, she has a sensitive mouth. Try not to raise them up high, just keep them at waist-level. When you want to go, loosen the reins and give her a kick or squeeze her with your legs and click your tongue and she’ll go.”

“I thought you said I was just going to follow you and I wouldn’t have to do anything.” Sweat kept pouring down my sides and back. The heat had nothing to do with it; it was all plain old, garden-variety, paralyzing fear.

“I’m giving you instructions, just in case,” he explained.

“Just in case what?” The pitch of my voice came out way too high, but I couldn’t control it.

He didn’t answer me until he was on his horse’s back. “Just in case my horse bucks me off and throws me to the ground, knocking me unconscious.”

“What?!”

He shot me a grin and pulled his reins sharply to the left while kicking his horse and talking to her. “Get-up there, girl.”

I was so busy watching him ride away, I was totally unprepared for my horse to follow. She jerked me to the side and then backward as she moved to follow Mack’s horse, and I had to grab the saddle horn sticking up in front of me to keep from falling off. My reins dropped to her neck and hung down limply on the sides in big loops.

“I lost my thingies!” The right words wouldn’t come out in my panic.

“What are thingies?” he shouted, not even looking.

“The leather things! The reins!”

“Pick ‘em up.”

I held onto the saddle with a death grip in one hand and reached out with the other to grab the knot holding the two thin straps together. As soon as I snagged it, I pulled back on the reins, anxious to get control of the horse.

The horse stopped going forward.

I panicked, watching Mack get farther and farther ahead, worried my horse would run to catch up and dump me on my sorry butt. I’d probably fall right onto a snake, and with the way my luck was going, I’d land on him while he was sunning himself fang-side-up. My whole body tensed into a human-shaped board of solid fear.

The horse snorted and began walking backwards.

I yanked on the reins some more, trying to get her to stop, but she wouldn’t listen. She just kept going faster the wrong way.

“Mack!” I shrieked. “It’s broken or something! It’s in reverse! It’s going in reverse! How do you make it go into drive?!”

He twisted in his saddle and started laughing.

I was torn between laughing with him and crying, my whole body trembling, even my lips.

“Stop squeezing her sides and let the reins loose. You’re telling her to go backward with your conflicting signals!”

I immediately shot my legs away from her sides, sticking them straight out like Hawaiian canoe out-riggers. I dropped the reins to her neck again and held onto the horn with both hands. I would have slid right off and saved myself from the nightmare of riding this beast if I’d thought I could land without dying.

The horse moved forward and ambled over to where Mack was waiting. The bulk of my rear end was pushed up off the saddle by two very tense ass-cheek muscles.

He couldn’t breathe for a little while, due to all the laughing he was doing. I, on the other hand, was sweating-hot and cranky, wondering what had possessed me to listen to this idiot and get up on this monster when I knew damn well it would be a mistake. He could charm the fangs off a snake if he wanted to. “Can we go back now? I think I’ve seen enough scenery.”

Mack leaned over and grabbed my horse’s reins, pulling the animal up next to his. “Get over here, girl,” he said, wrapping his hand around my neck and pulling me closer. He leaned in and kissed me right on the mouth.

I squealed against his lips, fearing I was going to fall too much to appreciate their warmth.

“I gotcha,” he said, putting his arm around my waist and steadying me. My horse shifted under the saddle, but she didn’t move away.

I let him kiss me this time briefly before pushing him back. It felt too nice not to. “You’re going to make me fall,” I said, pushing him away.

He smiled, all kinds of happiness lighting up his eyes. It made me think of sugary sweetness and vulnerability, things I never showed anyone. Things I’d removed from my repertoire a long time ago. He’s braver than me.

“I think you’re going to be a natural in the saddle,” he finally said.

I tried to hit him, but he was too far away. “I think when I finally get off this thing, I’m going to kill you. I hope you can run fast.” I plucked the reins off the horse’s neck and held them in a slightly-less-shaky grip.

“Is that a promise? Cuz if it is, I can run extra slow and give you half a chance of catching me.” He winked and clicked his tongue, sending his horse forward and leaving me behind again. He spoke to me without looking back. “Pick up the slack in the reins, but don’t pull on them. Rest your toes in the stirrups but don’t squeeze the horse with your legs. Just pretend you’re straddling a log. Find your center balance.”