Page 20 of Hot For You

Cody handed her the reins. “I’ll tell you what to do once we take off.”

She nodded and tried holding on to the excitement and to remain loose and not uptight. She watched as he mounted his own horse then moved Holly close to Molly.

He instructed her on how to hold the reins and how to get the horse to go in the direction she wanted it to.

“Molly will follow Holly, so you don’t need to worry too much about it,” Cody said when he finished.

Carilyn fiddled with the end of her braid. “Okay.”

When they started out of the barn, her belly swooped again as she felt the horse move beneath her. She gripped the reins tightly but tried to relax at the same time like Cody had instructed her.

They reached the pasture and Cody dismounted and opened the gate. He led both horses through then closed the gate behind them before mounting Holly again.

Carilyn breathed in the fresh air and felt the breeze against her cheeks as they started into the pasture. She felt a sudden high from the cool spring morning and being astride such a majestic animal.

“This is fun.” She flashed a smile at Cody. “Thanks for inviting me.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” He returned her smile. “It’s a beautiful day for a ride.”

“It is.” She tipped her face up to the sun for a moment before looking back to him. “I’ll worry about setting up my laptop tomorrow. I was going to do that today, but this is much more fun.”

“I imagine it’s going to take you a little time to load your new laptop with everything you need,” he said.

“It’s going to be a pain in the butt.” She sighed. “I lost a perfectly good laptop that was less than a year old. Thursday I called to have software overnighted to me that is specialized for the work I do, and it arrived yesterday morning.”

“Do you work on weekends?” he asked.

She shrugged as her body rocked in the saddle. “If it’s crunch time for a big project, I’ll work a lot of overtime. Otherwise I try to keep regular office hours on weekdays. All work and no play is a good combination for a case of burnout, and I do my best to avoid it. Been there, done that.”

“Do you enjoy what you do?” he asked.

“Yes.” She smiled. “Most of the time.”

“I think it’s that way with most jobs.” He grinned. “I love ranch life, and I enjoy being a firefighter, but it’s nice to have a break from each of them at times. Maybe that’s why I like both jobs—one gives me a break from the other.”

She cocked her head. “But does that mean you’re always working with something?”

“I take time off as needed,” he said. “Like you said, burnout is a danger if you don’t give yourself a break.”

“So you enjoy being a firefighter?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yep.”

“I imagine it can be hard at times.” She thought about the challenges he probably faced. “Not to mention you’re constantly putting your life on the line.”

“The rewards of the job outweigh the negative.” He looked thoughtful. “Saving a life makes up for times when the job can get rough.”

Her stomach had settled and she rocked in the saddle in time with Molly’s movements as the horses made their way through the grassy pasture. The grass was green, the soil soft enough that the horse’s hooves made prints. The air smelled clean and wonderful.

“Have you been getting rain in this area?” she asked.

“We had good rains earlier this week, before you arrived. We were in a drought, but we’ve now had more rain than normal for this time of year.” He adjusted his western hat. “It won’t be long until it’s summer and the grass turns yellow and the dirt is dry. The rain won’t keep up like this.”

She let her gaze drift over the land. “It’s beautiful out here.”

“You can understand why this land would be hard to leave,” he said.

As she continued to take in the view, she said, “Yes, I can understand it.” She turned to him. “I saw McBrides listed on mailboxes on the way here. So there are a lot of ranchers in the family?”

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