Page 21 of Head Over Spurs

This caught her attention. Twisting back to face him, she knitted her brows together skeptically. “You were so busy distracting me with concern for the dangerous men at The Gin Mill, I forgot to worry about you. I jumped right into your trap. Oh,” she paused to sigh dramatically, pressing her fingers to her forehead. “I’m going to become a Lifetime movie.”

His chest rumbled from the laughter that escaped him. “You caught me. But one question.”

“What’s that?”

“If I’m a dangerous man, how did you make it out of Texas unaffected?”

The playfulness in her gaze shifted as she dropped her handfrom her forehead, weaving it together with the other. “Who said I made it out unaffected?”

Silence stretched on behind her words. He had no response; he certainly wasn’t going to admit that he spent the last year completely affected himself. Completely heartbroken over getting just a taste of something that could have become his new favorite indulgence.

Sinking down in the seat and propping her feet up on the dash, she didn’t seem to mind his lack of response. She drummed her fingers along with the song that was turned down so slow it was nearly indiscernible. Was she that oblivious to the heat that he felt crackling between them? It was always demanding Riley’s attention when she was around.

“Okay, but if we aren’t going back to the ridge, where are we going?”

“The ridge?” he chuckled.

“Are you telling me people don’t call it that?Please, it’s right there for the taking.”

“Maybe people should. But instead of going back tothe ridge, we are going to the sanctuary. You wanted to go, and I would like to be the one to show it to you.”

The drumming stopped. Sitting up in surprise, she said, “I can’t ask you to completely throw away your day on me, coming to get me was already more than enough.”

“Why would time with you be a thrown away day?” He turned towards her, noticing the way she pursed her lips in thought.

“Well…”

“I like horses, Jules. Don’t overthink this.” It was a true enough statement, even if the mustangs weren’t his only motivator. She had her hopes set on this today, and if he could still make it happen, why wouldn’t he? It was a matter of being a nice guy.

“If you insist… then thank you,” she agreed, giving a hesitant shrug of her shoulder.

With their plans settled, Riley turned the radio up, a subtle static mingling with the sounds of Zach Bryan. She had made it pretty far on her own, and in no time, he was pulling into the drive of Blue Sky Wild Horse Sanctuary.

Split rail fences lined the dirt drive, the only fence line as far as the eye could see. The horses here truly got to be wild, giving them protected land without constraints. It was still one of his favorite places.

The truck wasn’t even turned off before Jules bounded from her seat, excitement radiating from her. With her camera bag in hand, she was halfway to the welcome center door as he climbed out of the driver’s seat.

She disappeared inside with only a cursory glance over her shoulder to be certain he was following. An amused snort escaped him, as if he wouldn’t follow this woman anywhere.

“There you are,” she whirled around at the welcome desk as he stepped inside. “We can do a tour or?—”

“It can’t be! Riley Walker, is that you, son?” the chipper man he knew as Red called from behind the desk.

“Good to see you, Red,” he replied, strolling through the swinging gate that led to the staff area. Crossing the brick floor, he reached out to greet his old mentor.

They clasped hands as Red asked, “What brings you back to your old stomping grounds?”

“Juliette does.” He motioned to where she watched them with curiosity. “Can I take her out there? Show her around? She’s a pretty famous equine photographer.”

The old man let out a whistle of approval. “You don’t say. Pleased to have you on our corner of land, ma’am.” He jabbed his thumb towards Riley. “You’ll have no better guide than the kid. He could probably guide you in his sleep.”

“You’re giving me too much credit.”

She was leaning forward on the counter between them, engrossed in the conversation. Her eyes swam with questions, all pointed Riley’s way. “Well, I sure am happy to hear that I called the right guy,” she drawled.

“You called the best guy.”

Red’s compliment caused heat to color his ears. “Alright.” Riley cleared his throat. “Can we take an ATV?”

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