Page 29 of Tall, Royal and Grumpy

I repeated the chant in my head as I approached Bucky. The horse went completely still as he glared me before shifting backwards, rustling the hay under his hooves. Well, that was a great start.

Trying not to feel deterred, I lifted the apple up and out to him. “Hey, Bucky,” I cooed. “I have a little something for you.” He huffed through his nose roughly.

Damn. Being judged by a horse was tough.

I waved the apple at him in case he’d missed it. “You won’t take it?”

Nothing. Bucky didn’t move, he just ruffled his head.

Too scared to look at Kai, I glanced over at Jorge. “Has he ever taken an apple from anyone before?”

Jorge tilted his head awkwardly. “Other than Prince Kai himself, uh…no. But that doesn’t mean—” The man let out a choked breath instead of the rest of his sentence, his eyes bulging wide.

That’s when I felt it. The puff of warm air that prickled over my palm and fingers. The sound of a sniff and a snort. And finally, a brush of wet, wide lips as the weight of the apple vanished from my hand.

I came face to face with Bucky, his night sky eyes consuming my soul, as he made quite the statement with his loud crushing and crunching and munching.

He took it…

“Hi,” I whispered in awe, delight slowly tugging the corners of my mouth up.

“He took it,” Jorge’s voice came out as a whisper, then loudened. “My oh my, he actually took it.”

A chuckle of relief shook my shoulders as I glanced at the man. “Does this mean I can ride him?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Jorge said, grinning widely. “I’ll grab a saddle. Aladdin, give Prince Kai and Her Highness their boots.”

“It’s okay, Aladdin, you can leave them there.”

My heart hiccupped when Kai spoke, like for a moment I’d forgotten he was there. The thought was instantly inconceivable as he approached me.

His steps were near silent, but they thudded loudly through me. Anticipation entwined around hope to create a tightrope strung up high in my chest. Because he was looking at me.

Not looking at me but looking at me. Right into me. Pawing at my body, searching me, demanding I lay myself bare to him. I was breathless and high on the feeling of being a captive in his gaze.

He stopped right in front of me, and I tipped my head back to stare right up at him, waiting.

He bent into me. “What did you do to my horse, Esmeralda?”

For the life of me, I couldn’t breathe. The flame that combusted into a wildfire in my chest cut off the path of air from my mouth to my lungs. Molten heat rippled over my skin in every flipping direction, so fast and so hard my body shook, but my thighs clenched too.

Why had he sounded like that?

There was no grumpy grumble in that question.

It was gruff. Rough. A little breathless and maybe a tiny bit hoarse as he said my name.

Like there was an undercurrent in his question. In the way he stood so close to me. And it didn’t make sense, because why? What? How? When? Excuse me, why?

Despite the heady buzz whirling through me, I smiled. At least I hoped it was a smile on my mouth and not a fuck-me-Daddy wobble, because my face was burning so hot it felt numb.

I wanted to say something cool and mysterious or funny that would leave a lasting effect on him, but all I could pathetically muster was a quiet, breathy, “Nothing.”

My hands were still shaking as I swapped my trainers for a pair of brown riding boots. But with Bucky saddled and Kai in a shorter but equally thick coat, Jorge brought me a stepladder to climb onto Bucky. Then Kai took the reins of both horses and led them out of the paddock.

But before he climbed onto the brown horse’s saddle, he turned to Bucky and patted him on the neck with a heavy hand.

“Be good to her,” he whispered to the horse.

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