“Have at it, mate. He knows it all.”
Toby opened his eyes and shot Joe an evil grin that stopped that line of conversation pretty quick. Then he turned his gaze to me and I forgot about Joe and Harry. My world narrowed to just us and the way he was looking at me. It was the simple things. In that, Toby and Ella were the same. I didn’t need as much from them as perhaps I’d once feared. And they took nothing from me that I didn’t want to give.
I cupped Toby’s cheek and rubbed the sleepiness from beneath his eyes with the pad of my thumb. “Why are you so tired? We went to bed early.”
My favourite flush pinked his cheeks, and he flashed a glance at the front seat, but Joe and Harry were as wrapped up in each other as we were. “You didn’t let me sleep till late.”
“All my doing, was it?”
“Not literally.”
There was that word again, but in this instance, he was right. Toby was still doing all the, uh, doing in our physical relationship, and I was okay with that.
More than okay. I’d never had anyone fuck me the way he did. He had a light touch that turned brutal in the blink of an eye, and he knew it too. Knew how to turn me into a gasping, sweaty mess that couldn’t think straight until he let me come.
We arrived at Perranporth beach. I kept out of the way as Toby and Joe unloaded the horses because, despite my first year on the farm fast coming to a conclusion, I still knew nothing about the giant beasts Toby’s days revolved around. I didn’t know the difference between a pony and horse, a gelding or a filly, and I didn’t much care. As long as they didn’t kick me, I was happy. And these two were new enough that I didn’t have to pretend I hadn’t forgotten their names.
Toby brought the lighter coloured one around the horsebox. He’d already slung a saddle on it and strapped his helmet on. I watched nervously as he swung himself onto its back. I hadn’t seen anyone—let alone him—ride a horse since Shadow had thrown Joe, and it wasn’t by accident. And I’d never seen Toby ride at all.
Until now.
Harry nudged me. “Don’t freak out. These girls are chill enough. We’re just testing how they do around vehicles and crowds before Joe sells them.”
I kept my gaze on Toby as he and Joe ambled away on their horses, leaving me and Harry to follow them onto the sand on foot. “How do younotfreak out? They’re huge.”
“Not really. That grey one is nowhere near as big as Shadow.”
“Joe doesn’t ride Shadow anymore. Toby told me you won’t let him.”
“I’ve never stopped Joe doing anything.”
“Liar.”
“Not so. He decided for himself they’re too similar in temperament to work together. It’s got to be someone else.”
As long as Joe wasn’t in a puddle of blood at my feet, I wasn’t too concerned with which horse he chose to gallop around his kingdom. But the possibility of Toby riding Shadow instead made my blood run cold, even though I knew it would never happen.
Harry nudged me again. “You’re still freaking out.”
“Am not.”
“Liar.”Harry turned my words on me. “But you seriously don’t need to. Toby’s an amazing rider. Joe says he’s better than him. Watch. You’ll see.”
I didn’t know enough about the technicalities of horseback riding to judge if Harry’s recycled opinion was accurate, but as we trailed Toby and Joe onto the beach, I took his advice—as if I needed it—to glue my gaze to Toby, transfixed, as ever, by his every move.
He rode the big horse out onto the wide expanse of sand and down to the sea. His body moved fluidly with the horse, rocking back and forth, his powerful thighs keeping him perfectly balanced. It was poetry in motion, and with the wind blowing his hair back from his glorious face, he was more beautiful to me than ever.
I sat in damp sand and watched and watched and watched. Harry sat beside me, equally entranced by Joe. For long, long minutes, we didn’t speak. Then a happy sigh escaped me, and I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. “I get it now.”
“Get what?”
“The horse thing. It’s so fucking hot.”
Harry smirked as much as his earnest face would allow. “I know, right? These days, Joe wears a helmet to stop me having a heart attack, but when I first met him, he’d be out there in nothing but his jeans and boots, giving me a different kind of coronary.”
I tried to imagine adding Toby’s bare chest to an equation that was already giving me wood, and I shook my head. “These boys are just mean.”
“Yup.”