Page 12 of Irresistible Second Chance

I nodded. “Most definitely.”

He didn’t need any more reassurance. He nodded and said, “Do you want to change and meet me near the beach entrance in about 15 minutes?”

I nodded and yawned. “That would be great.”

He reached out and brought his hands on my shoulders and rubbed my arms, sending goosebumps up my skin at his touch. “You sure you’re up for this? You look really tired. I won’t be offended if you want to skip this.”

Rolling my eyes, I said, “I’m one-hundred percent sure. Stop babying me. I’m fine.”

“Alright,” he said dropping his hands, “I’ll see you then.”

I climbed back up the slight hill and made my way to the house. I took another shower since I felt sand in weird places and slid on a pair of shorts and a loose-fitting t-shirt. I kept the hat on. When I looked in the mirror, I realized that my sunglasses had left a very silly looking tan line on my face. It was subtle, but still noticeable if you were standing close enough to me. I sighed. I really couldn’t catch a break.

Feeling self-conscious for the second time that day, I made my way to where Chris said we were to meet and saw him standing at the far end of the beach. Next to him were two of the biggest and shiniest horses I’d ever seen in my life.

I practically squealed in excitement at the sight of them. I didn’t know how to ride a horse. I didn’t even remember how to get on one, but at that moment I found that I didn’t care. I found myself jogging in his direction. He saw me and waved me over.

“That was fast,” he said before introducing the man with him. “Sydney this is Santos. Santos this is Sydney.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sydney. Are you ready for the tour?”

I nodded, “More than ready. This is probably the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in years.”

He laughed, “Glad to hear it. Do you need some assistance getting on?”

“Which horse is mine?” I asked looking from one beauty to the other. I reached out and stroked one. One was dark brown with a white star in the middle of its forehead, and the other was more of a tan color with white spots every now and then. They were both beautiful and I found myself reaching out to stroke them both. The dark brown one nudged me and I smiled to myself.

“This is going to be fun,” I said to no one in particular and then turned to Santos and said, “I’ll take this one.”

“You sure?” he asked.

“Very.”

“Let me help you up,” Santos said, and I let him.

“Ok, put your foot here first,” he said trying to help me into the stirrup.

“I don’t know if I can raise my leg that high.”

“It’s not really that high,” Chris said.

“I’m not that flexible Chris.”

“You got this, just put your leg in,” Chris was saying now.

Next thing I knew he was pushing me on the horse, his palms nestled against my bottom.

I swatted at his hands and swung my leg over the other side of the horse, not very gracefully, but I’d done it. My sunglasses were now lopsided, my hat had fallen to the ground, and my shorts had climbed into a very uncomfortable place, but I was on, that’s all that mattered.

“See, I told you I could do it,” I said victoriously.

Chris bit back a laugh and climbed into the saddle of the other horse effortlessly.

“Show off,” I said. “Where’d you even learn to ride?”

“Wow,” he said, “You’ve forgotten that I used to clean out stables over on Mr. Richardson’s property as part of my community service hours more than once.”

I had. I’m not sure how I’d forgotten. He’d always come home smelling like manure and I was sure to point it out to him.

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