Which was a bit disconcerting, since she normally wore plain, functional cotton underwear. The little bits of lace that she’d found waiting for her barely constituted underwear in her mind. But since it had been all she had, she was wearing it. She couldn’t complain about the comfort. The bits of lace were surprisingly comfortable. But she was painfully conscious of how sexy – and small - the pieces were. And how they felt against her skin – soft and sensual, making her feel…decadent.
She didn’t want to spin around, but his hands twisted ever so gently and she was once again turning for him, ending up plastered against his hard muscles. “Again, did I really have a choice since you took away all my other clothes while I showered?” she asked, irritated that he was getting his way once again.
His eyes brightened as his hands slipped down against her bottom. Despite trying to grab his wrist, she couldn’t stop him but she knew the exact moment that he’d discovered what kind of underwear she was now wearing. Or barely wearing, she thought with a shiver. She couldn’t suppress that shiver when his large, warm hand covered her basically bare bottom.
His smile told her that he was fully aware of what she was, or wasn’t, wearing. And he fully approved. “Your clothes were simply taken away to be laundered. They will be returned to you later. But for now, let us ride,” he commanded.
Nikki had initially been too overwhelmed by his approach to appreciate his attire, but seeing him now, she realized that he was in riding breeches as well and they hugged his long, muscular legs perfectly. She had to pull her eyes away for fear that she’d be caught looking at the….well, the wrong parts of his anatomy.
A few minutes later, they moved from the bright sunshine to the darker interior of the stables. As they moved through the center of the stable area, the horses poked their heads out of the stalls for a moment before moving back to eating their hay. The stables smelled musty, earthy, but they didn’t smell like manure as she’d always assumed. It was a nice smell, she thought. Almost as nice as… She stopped herself quickly before Nazar’s scent came to mind and she forced herself to think of chocolate instead.
“This is Midas,” he explained when a large, black horse poked his head out of one of the stalls. The horse instantly started nuzzling Nazar’s hand.
“What’s he doing?” she asked, taking a step backwards.
“Looking for affection,” Nazar explained, rubbing the horse’s nose and face. “Come,” he commanded and extended his hand for Nikki.
Instantly she shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. “No thanks. I’ll just appreciate the largeness of the animal from a distance.”
Nazar was having none of that. “Come,” he commanded again and pulled her closer. Taking one of her hands, he guided her over to the horse’s nose. “Feel his nose. He won’t bite if you put your hand up here.”
She took that to mean he would bite her if she put her hand anywhere else! Nikki could barely breathe as she watched the horse’s extremely large nostrils flare. “Why is he doing that?” she asked.
“He’s smelling you,” Nazar explained, moving behind her. “Just like I enjoy doing,” he said and bent his head to run his nose against her hair. “You smell delicious,” he teased. “Midas and I both like your smell.”
“You’re not going to make me ride this horse, are you?” she asked nervously, but her fingers floated higher, feeling the soft nose and bristly whiskers of the horse.
He chuckled at the thought of a beginner on a stallion. “No. Midas is too strong for you. Maybe when you’re a more experienced rider, I’ll let you try Midas. But you’ll need to start off on a more gentle horse.”
Nikki looked at the enormous horse and pulled her hand away. “I think he’s very kind,” she replied politely, trying to pretend that she wasn’t afraid.
She spun around, putting several feet between her and both the man as well as the horse. “You know, I’m also afraid of cooking. Why don’t I just learn to bake you a cake or cookies?” She looked up at him hopefully, praying he’d take her up on it. “How about a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and,” she tried to remember the birthday cake Rachel had baked her on her last birthday, “and that chocolate ganache stuff in the middle?” She actually had no idea how to cook, preferred buying anything she needed and popping a meal into the microwave if she didn’t feel like cutting up the ingredients for a salad. But it wasn’t as if she were genuinely afraid of cooking. Not like she was of horses. Or this man.
He chuckled. “That’s fascinating and perhaps we’ll have that for dessert tonight, now that you mention it. But no. I love riding and so that means you’re going to have to learn to ride.”
She sighed and leaned against the wall on the opposite side from Midas, watching with an odd sense of jealousy while Nazar stroked the horse’s neck and nose. “That doesn’t make a lot of sense. It isn’t like you need me to ride.”
Nazar looked at her and Nikki actually caught her breath at the secret message she saw there. “What?” she asked, not liking the way he was looking at her.
He shook his head and gave Midas one more pat, then moved farther down the stable midway. “Where are we going now?” she asked, her heart pounding simply because he was holding her hand.
“I’m going to introduce you to your horse,” he explained.
Nikki watched with both horror and an odd sort of fascination as a brown horse seemed to dance around the corner, led by one of the stable hands.
“This is Nella,” he explained when the horse stopped right in front of the two of them. He took the lead rein from the stable hand but didn’t release her hand. “She’s very sweet and very gentle. She’ll be the horse you learn to ride on.”
The brown nose and pretty brown eyes looked right back at Nikki. She wasn’t even aware of pressing her body against Nazar’s side for protection but he knew exactly what she was doing and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Go ahead and pet her, just like you did with Midas.”
Nikki shook her head and kept her hands right where they were, on his forearms as if she needed him to keep his arms right where they were, like a shield protecting her from the world. “No. I’m fine just looking at her.”