My sky scene is quickly interrupted when Lake appears on his horse, looking down at me, his body shaking with laughter.
“I swear to everything holy, if you don’t get me out of this mud in two seconds I am going to scream this place down and scare those cows so bad they’ll never come into this paddock again.”
Still laughing, Lake unties a rope from the back of saddle and throws it down at me, holding the other end in his hands.
“Seriously?” I shriek. “You’re going to throw a rope at me instead of doing the gentlemanly thing and jumping off your horse to save me?”
In between chuckles, he informs me, “Nothin’ gentlemanly about me, sweetheart. Take the rope.”
Being left with no other choice, I take the stupid rope.
Lake pulls it, and I use it to get up to my feet.
The front half of my body is only splotched with mud but the back half, oh, the back half is dripping with chunks of it.
I want to scream as I stand there, arms out to my side.
I look at Porky, who huffs, unbothered by what he just did to me.
“You’re a horrible horse. Horrible.”
He snorts and looks bored.
“Get on him, I’ll take you to get cleaned up.” Lake grins.
“Eat a dick, River.”
He laughs, everyone is laughing, even Fallon.
“You be quiet,” I point to her.
“Oh, babe, I’m sorry but that was hilarious.”
I stomp my way over to Porky and make even more of a fool out of myself when I can’t get on his back. The laughter rings out around me as Lake rides over and reaches down, helping me up. I don’t look at him as I lead the horse to the gate and walk out. Lake follows me, his laughter slowly dying down as he tells me we’re not going back to the barn, and to follow him.
I do so, but only because I want this mud off me as soon as possible.
We ride down a long path and end up at a little stream. It’s deep in parts, and shallow in others, but the water is crystal clear.
I don’t hesitate.
I jump off that horse and run, fully clothed, to the deepest part of the stream I can find.
I throw my body into the water and the second it hits my skin, I realize this is no average stream, this stream comes from high in the mountains and it’s nearly winter. Which means it’s freezing, so fucking cold I come up gasping, because I’m unable to scream. Lake stares at me from the shore, eyes wide.
“I was going to warn you ...”
“Why would you bring me here? I shriek.
He presses his lips together in an attempt not to laugh again. “It was close.”
“It’s freezing!”
“Then you better hurry up and wash. I’ve got some spare clothes in my pack.”
Cursing him, I duck under the water and wash myself as best I can before I freeze to death. Then I climb out, teeth chattering, and walk over to Lake who is holding some sort of towel-looking piece of material. It’s tattered and old, but it’s clean.
He wraps it around me, and I’m thankful for it, I don’t care how yucky it looks.
“What else is in that pack of yours? A winter jacket? Snow boots?”
He grins and puts his arms around me, rubbing to warm me up.
“I always keep a towel and spare clothes; I come down here a lot after working.”
“This isn’t a towel,” I point out.
“It is a towel.”
“It looks like it was a towel, and now it’s a dirty old rag.”
“Don’t hear you complaining.”
I huff, and he pulls me even closer, turning me so my face is pressed to his chest and his big arms are around me. It feels nice, so nice and safe.
“Now we’re alone, are you goin’ to tell me why you really wanted to come today?”
I freeze, not expecting the question.
I pull back and look at him. “What do you mean? I wanted to come to experience what you do.”
“Don’t lie to me, Willa. I can see right through you.”
I glance down. “I hate massages.”
Oh my gosh, the worst lie I’ve ever told just came out of my mouth.
“Bullshit, nobody hates massages.”
“I do,” I squeak.
He puts his hands on my shoulders and pushes me. “I will not fuck you again until you tell me the truth, and know this, I can tell when you’re lying.”
I gape at him. “Seriously?”
“Yep.”
I purse my lips.
He keeps a firm stare.
Dammit.
He’s not letting me get away with this one.
What do I do now?
12
“The thing is,” I tell Lake as we sit beside the water, my body slowly warming back up again, “I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because, I just can’t.”
“That ain’t good enough, Willa. You think I don’t know whatever I walked in on last night wasn’t suspicious as fuck?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”