Page 33 of The Boyfriend List
“This time?” I ask under my breath. “You’ve been here before?”
“Like I said, I’ve been horseback riding once or twice.” He clears his throat. I feel like he’s hiding something. But I don’t know why he would lie about riding horses. “Thunder is fine.”
That leaves me with Honey.
“Have you ever ridden before, Gloria?” Eli asks me as he leads the horses out of the stables and gets everyone’s gear on.
“Nope.”
“Well, London’s only done it one time,” Eli says. “So don’t feel bad.”
London looks strangely irritated by Eli’s comment. I mentally run through my boyfriend checklist out of habit—knows how to ride a horse. Of course, it’s not like London would go out and take horseback riding lessons just for me.
He couldn’t possibly know or care about the contents of my list.
He just did it for his nieces last time, because family is everything to him.
After I get the hang of being on a horse, we all take a short trail ride. Another employee joins us on horseback, to make sure Queenie and Hattie are properly supervised, while London and I ride behind them and Eli.
“This is really peaceful,” I say, adjusting the strap of my helmet under my chin. I’ve gotten comfortable enough on Honey—who is a sweetheart, like her name suggests—that I can at least take one hand off the horn of the saddle to do so. “Thanks for inviting me, London.”
“Of course.” He grins, his irritation from earlier seeming to have vanished. It’s hard to be in a bad mood out here, with the blue sky stretching far above us, no trace of L.A. smog, and the gorgeous acacia trees lending us respite from the heat. “I’m always glad to spend more time with you, Ria.”
I study him from the corner of my eye as we keep riding. London’s movements are easy, relaxed, less tense than I am. Since it is hissecondtime on a horse, if Eli is to be believed.
“I didn’t think you liked being in nature. Or riding horses,” I confess. London has always struck me as more of a library-loving introvert.
“How can I be a lumberjack with a Christmas tree farm if I can’t ride a horse?” he deadpans.
“You learned to ride a horse so you could move to a small town and take up farming, chopping wood, and wearing plaid shirts?” I tease.
“I did it for Queenie and Hattie,” he says, confirming my earlier suspicions. “Speaking of which, let’s catch up with them.”
He gently taps his heels against Thunder’s sides, and the horse picks up speed. Honey follows suit, going at a slightly faster trot. Or is it a canter? I really need to watchHeartland.
When we’ve caught up with his nieces and the workers at the ranch, we ride back to the stables and finish up for the day.
“Gloria! Do you wanna see the picture we took of Uncle London last time we were here?” Queenie asks me, tugging on the sleeve of my peasant top.
“Sure,” I say, seeing the look on London’s face that already tells me it’s going to be something embarrassing.
Queenie shows me a picture on London’s phone of him with his hair braided to match Honey’s mane and I burst out laughing. He doesn’t have very long hair, and it’s usually stick-straight, so little tufts stick out everywhere. I reach for the phone. “I found my new lock screen.”
London shakes his head. “I knew I shouldn’t have let them braid my hair.”
“Or take your phone,” I say with a laugh as I text the photo to myself. “I’m so using that to blackmail you later.”
He holds his hand up to me, helping me off Thunder. “Blackmail me into doing what?”
I place my hand in his. Our eyes lock, and something about that makes me feel stripped bare, like he’s asking questions I can’t answer—or am scared to.
“Um…” I take a deep breath and jump down from the horse. “Doing my paperwork for me.”
“You love paperwork,” he teases. “You’re a lawyer.”
London’s tone is casual, nonchalant. So I don’t know why every nerve in my body feels like he’s peeled back layers of me and is examining my insides as I drop his hand.
“What’s blackmail?” Hattie asks innocently.
