Read Online Letters of Love (Green Division Series Book #3) by Ashley Monahan - Free Book Online

“Well, thank you for the lesson.  We’ll see you next week.”

“Sorry!”   

“It’s alright.”

“Bye Aubrey!  Thank you!”  Tiffy yelled from the driveway.

“Bye!”  Toad yelled back.
     
    *****
     
    Aubrey felt bad after Asshole left.  She didn’t mean it.  Well, okay, she meant it, but she didn’t mean to say it out loud.

“Oh, calm down Gunny, I know you’re excited.”  Gunny was ready to ride.  He hadn’t been exercised outside the ring for nearly a week.  Aubrey got ready to mount him when Asshole’s pickup truck pulled into her drive, again.

What the hell does he want now?

Asshole parked his truck in front of the barn and walked over to the ring.  

“I forgot my sunglasses.”  He knelt down and picked them up from the ground.

“You drove all the way out here for a pair of sunglasses?”

“They aren’t dollar store sunglasses.”  Asshole rested them atop of his head.  

“I’m sorry I called you an asshole.”  Aubrey went back to saddling Gunny to hide her reddened face.

“Don’t worry, I have my own nickname for you.”  

“It must be bitch.”  

“No.”  Gunny nuzzled his nose against Mike’s hand.  

“Well, out with it.”  Aubrey was curious now.  If it wasn’t bitch, it’d better not be the other name she was thinking.

“Why don’t I call you Aubrey, you call me Ben, and we drop the pet names.”

“Not until you tell me what my nickname is.  You know my pet name for you.”

“Let bygones be bygones.”

“When you tell me, it will be a bygone.”

“It was angel.”  He smiled.

“What a line of bullshit.”  She mounted Gunny.  “Even Gunny couldn’t drop a pile of shit that deep.”

“Very eloquent.”

“I never said I was a lady.  If you’ll excuse me, BEN , I’m going to exercise my very impatient horse.”

“What about Trixie?”

“I’ll take her out later.  I only have one ass, so one horse at a time.”

“You do have a second ass at your disposal.”  Ben froze.  “That came out wrong.”  

He’s offering me his ass?

“I will leave that alone and thank you for the offer...I think.”

“I know where the saddles are, I’ll go grab one and save you some time.”

“You know how to ride?”

“I guess you’ll see.”  He smiled at her and walked toward the barn.  It was an honest smile, sincere.  And she didn’t trust it.

“Ben, no, you don’t have to.”  She tried to stop him, but he was on a mission.

What is he doing?
     
    *****
    What are you doing?   Ben thought to himself.  He’d returned to her house to pick up his $200 Oakley’s.  That was a legitimate reason.  Then he’d volunteered his “ass” to help exercise her horses.   Ben wouldn’t dissect his feelings for her.  He wasn’t a woman.  Men don’t do that.  

“I could have exercised Gunny in the amount of time it’s taken you to saddle her.”  

“It’s been five minutes.”  Ben continued his task.  “You’re welcome.”

“Um, thanks?”  

Ben mounted Trixie and sat confidently.

“So you know how to ride?”

“A little.”

“How?”

“My uncle had working horses when I was a kid.  I learned to ride through trial and error.”

“Does your uncle still have horses?”

“No, he passed away many years ago.”  

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

Toad nudged Gunny toward the open fence.  

“Why are you being nice to me all of a sudden?”

“I didn’t ever intend on being mean.”  But Ben had been.  So had she.  

“Come on.”  She cocked her head back to look at him.  “Neither of us like one another, so why all of a sudden are you being somewhat pleasant?”

“Just somewhat?  I thought I’ve been pretty damn pleasant.”

“Whatever level of pleasantness you want to call it, why?”

“Can’t we just be friends?”  Ben said in an overdramatized tone.  

“You, BEN, are an ass.”  Gunny took off