Read Online Jaci Burton by Nauti, wild (Riding The Edge) - Free Book Online Page A

had.
    “Let’s saddle up.”
    “Are you serious?”
    “Sure. You want to ride, don’t you?”
    “Uh, I guess so. But real y, you didn’t have to do that.”
    “Sure I did. Come on.”
    She fol owed him toward the barn. “Are you sure it’s okay?”
    “Joey said the horses need to be ridden. He said we’d be
    doing him a favor by taking a couple out.”
    There were already a couple horses near the barn, and they
    were very tame, came over wil ingly when Rick cal ed them.
    Ava couldn’t resist drawing closer to one, a chestnut mare
    with a white star-shaped mark above her eyes. She was
    simply gorgeous. Ava lifted her hand to the mare’s muzzle and
    let her get a whiff of her scent so she’d get used to her.
    “She likes you,” Rick said as he came over with a saddle.
    “You want to ride that one?”
    “Yes.” She went to take the saddle from Rick. “Here, let me
    do it.”
    “Do you know how?”
    She rol ed her eyes. “Some things you never forget. Do you
    know how?”
    He grinned. “Of course.”

    “And how is that? I thought you grew up in Las Vegas. And
    then spent time in Chicago. Sounds citified to me.”
    “You grew up here. How do you know how to saddle and
    ride?”
    “Good point.” And yet again he’d avoided revealing
    anything about himself. He sure liked being a man of mystery.
    After they’d saddled their horses, Ava mounted hers,
    realizing it had been a very long time since she’d ridden. But
    oh, it felt great to be seated again, to feel the strength of a
    horse underneath her. She was so ready to ride.
    They took a slow walk out of the barn and down the road,
    taking it easy while the horses got used to them. Ava slanted
    an occasional glance over to Rick, who seated his horse like
    he’d been born on one.
    “Where did you ride before?” she asked.
    “I had a friend with horses when I was a kid,” he said. “I
    helped him out as much as I could, mucking out stal s,
    brushing the horses. His folks liked me so they taught me to
    ride.”
    “That’s nice. But you didn’t have any of your own.”
    He snorted. “Uh, no. Barely had a roof over my head.”
    “No wonder you enjoyed spending time with your friend who
    had horses.”
    “Anything was better than being at home.”
    “That bad, huh?”
    “That bad.”
    “Do you want to talk about it?”
    He looked at her. “What do you think?”
    “I think sometimes it’s good to exorcise the pain of the past

    by getting it out in the open. Do you ever talk about it?”
    “Nope.”
    “Then it stil festers inside you.”
    He laughed. “Yeah, you can tel I hold a ton of anger.”
    Okay, so he did look relaxed, and he was almost always
    calm and in control. She’d never seen him angry, but then
    again she hadn’t known him al that long. But he didn’t project
    that kind of chip on his shoulder like some men did. The man
    was a mix of complexities and incongruity. She couldn’t figure
    him out.
    “I’m not a textbook case, Ava. Don’t look for problems that
    don’t exist.”
    “Everyone has problems, Rick. Some just bury them better
    than others.”
    He pul ed up on the reins and slowed. She did, too.
    “And some of us might be playing at being a social worker.”
    She lifted her chin. “I am not.”
    “Good.” He clicked the reins and started his horse on a trot.
    Ava kept up with him, giving her horse some leg, which she
    seemed to enjoy. It was exhilarating to bounce in the saddle,
    reminding her of what it was like when she was a kid. When
    Rick passed her, she urged her horse on, and soon they were
    gal oping into the pasture. The horses seemed to love going
    at ful tilt. Ava certainly did.
    They final y pul ed up under a group of trees near one of the
    smal ponds. They climbed off and tied the horses up to give
    them some time to breathe and get a drink. Rick sat under
    one of the trees and Ava joined him.
    “I’m not making you an experiment, you know.”

    He uncapped a bottle of water and handed it to