The Bodyguards Sweetheart

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

🔞Matured Themes Ahead 🔞

     THEY KEPT AN easy pace for about an hour and then crested a beautiful rolling hill when Rian pointed at the gate. "There's the south gate. Watch as you come down the hill."

"I could handle this terrain at five years old." To emphasize her point, she spurred Amelia into a run, laughing with abandon as the wind whipped her hair and she left Rian in the dust. Amelia had good legs and within seconds they were galloping down the gentle slope and into a grassy meadow. Her heart light, she came skidding to a stop as they reached the gate. She reached down and patted Amelia's damp neck, crooning with approval. "You're a good girl. I bet you could handle even more than that, can't you?" She straightened and Rian sidled up to her, his eyes flashing with good humor, and she sent him a saucy grin. "I win."

"No fair. I didn't know we were racing until you shot off like a bat out of hell. Nice riding, by the way. You weren't kidding when you said you were comfortable on a horse."

"Did you think I was lying?"

"Well, maybe not lying but perhaps stretching the truth a bit. I mean, city girls aren't usually ones for riding in the country."

"Well, I'm only part city girl."

"I see that." He slid from his horse and grabbed his tools from the saddlebag to check the gate. She watched as he lifted the gate and started hammering the hinge. His biceps bulged with each clanging hit on the metal and she found herself shifting in the saddle, very aware of her body. "This shouldn't take too long. If you want to pick a spot for lunch, that'd be good," he said.

She nodded and slid from Amelia, giving the pretty horse a playful rub on the nose before unpacking the picnic cooler and the blanket strapped to the horse's flank. She spread the gingham woolen blanket and began to unpack the cooler, humming to herself as she went. Birds flitted from the trees and bees buzzed. The metal clanging sounded out of place with the beautiful landscape, but CoCo was delirious with the simple joy of the moment. Nothing was perfect but this moment came pretty damn close.

Once she had all the fixings laid out, roast beef sandwiches, chips, drinks and even a few oatmeal raisin cookies, she waited for Rian, who followed a few minutes later. He took a nice, long swig from his water bottle and then plopped down beside her. "So I hope you like roast beef because that's what's on the menu," she said, suddenly a little nervous, though why she didn't know.

"Sounds great," he said, grabbing his sandwich and taking a hearty bite. There was something that tickled her insides-something so feminine-about making a meal for Rian, though she'd never been one to appreciate domestic stereotypes before. However, now that she thought about it, her father hadn't exactly been a feminist-he'd always preferred female cooks in the kitchen because he said they just knew more about making good food than men. So yeah, maybe her dad was a male chauvinist and she'd never noticed! She giggled at the uncomfortable thought and caught Rian's puzzled stare as he chewed. "Something funny about roast beef that I'm unaware of?" he asked.

"No, I was just-randomly-thinking of my father and how he might be a male chauvinist, but in the nicest way possible. He doesn't believe in putting women down or anything like that but he does play into the gender stereotype a bit."

"How so?"

"Well, all our cooks were always female. He said that women inherently knew what to do in the kitchen because it was in their blood."

"All the executive male chefs in the world might have something to say about that."

She shrugged. "I know. That's why I giggled. I just never realized that about my father."