The horse wasn’t having any of that. She moved slightly closer and sniffed, nostrils flaring, whiskers tickling and Nikki held her breath, bracing herself to feel the horrible bite of those enormous teeth or the crush of those hooves on her bones. When nothing happened but the tickling, she opened her eyes again and looked up. The brown eyes simply stared right back at her. Nikki swore if the horse could, it would be smirking back at her. But since the horse couldn’t, she looked up at Nazar and, sure enough, he was doing the smirking for the animal.
“Fine!” she groused and slowly lifted her hand again, feeling the warm, soft nose, almost laughing when the horse sniffed her fingers, causing warm air to blow onto her skin. “She’s very nice.”
“So you’ll ride Nella,” he said with satisfaction, nodding to the stable hand.
Nikki swung around, about to argue but before she could get the words out of her mouth, Nella put her nose right next to her face and Nikki froze. Nazar chuckled and shook his head. “It looks like Nella really likes you,” he explained.
“Why do you say that?” Nikki asked, barely able to turn her head to see the animal for fear of those teeth that were now even closer to her skin.
“Well, first of all, Nella likes everyone. But the fact that she didn’t back up and snort or try to pull away is her way of showing you that she’s now your friend.”
Nikki doubted that the animal was smart enough to tell anyone all that, especially by only putting her head close, but she didn’t argue with Nazar.
He moved in behind her once again and took her hand, lifting it up to Nella’s neck. “Here, pet her along her neck and coat like this,” he explained and rubbed her hand against the brown fur. “Horses like to be petted,” he told her. “Just like humans like being touched.” He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her back against his chest as he continued to rub her hand against the horse. “When you pet the horse like this, it reminds the animal of how her mother would lick her, which is the mother’s way of cleaning and soothing her offspring.”
Nikki resisted for a moment, but when the horse didn’t do anything startling, she petted the animal herself. “How did you learn to ride?” she asked, almost smiling when Nazar released her hand but didn’t move his arm from around her waist. She should object, but it simply felt too nice.
“I learned on a pony when I was about three or four years old. Unless I’m traveling, there isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t ride.”
That was startling. “Really? I would think you have too many other issues on your priority list to take the time to ride.”
He smiled slightly. “I do some of my best thinking while riding Midas. Sometimes we race through the desert and other times, we trot through the field but riding helps me think, clears my mind and gets me to work through problems better. So yes, there are many pressures on my mind, but they would be even worse if I didn’t take the time to mentally work through those problems in my own way.”
She was actually fascinated by that idea. “How long do you ride each day?” she asked, curious about this side of him. She would have pictured him as a hard core workaholic. Not someone who tried to balance his life. “And how many hours do you work each day?”
He handed her the reins, “Keep your hand under his chin and gently tug her this way. She’ll follow wherever you want her to go, but remember that she’s bigger than you and needs space to turn around.” He waited until she had the reins before he answered her question. “I don’t know how many hours I work each week and I’m sure it’s just like any other employee. It depends on what’s going on. If I have meetings or a crisis, there have been times when I haven’t gone to sleep several nights in a row. If things are running smoothly, I take the occasional afternoon off and go for a longer ride or a swim.”
She continued to ask him questions. All the while, he showed her how to brush and groom Nella. With the distraction of his voice and his male body so close to hers, she actually forgot to be nervous of the animal.
“Ready to get on her?” he asked, waving to someone behind her.
Nikki turned around to see what was going on and was horrified to see that there were three grooms coming towards Nella. One had a saddle, the other a bridle and the other was leading Midas out, already saddled up. “What’s going on?” she asked warily, pulling back but Nazar wouldn’t let her go too far, keeping hold of her hand gently but firmly.
“Nikki, you’ve been working around the animal for the past forty minutes. You know by now that Nella is not going to hurt you.”
“Yes, she’s fine while I’m here on the ground next to her. There’s no way I’m getting on top of her. That wasn’t in the plan for the day.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “It was always in the plan for the day.”
“No, you said to just come down and see the horses. You didn’t say anything about riding any horse. I’ve seen the horse. I’ve groomed the horse. I’m ready to let the horse do whatever horses do while I do what humans do.”
He took her hand and led her closer. The grooms pulled back, having saddled the horse and Nazar tested the bit and the girth, the strap underneath the horse’s stomach that held the saddle firmly in place. “Humans have been riding horses since the beginning of time, Nikki.”
“That doesn’t make it right,” she countered belligerently.
“Horses enjoy riding with their owners,” he argued. “And if you’ll get on Nella, I’ll show you.”
She shook her head and started to back away. But Nazar realized that this was one of those “prove it” moments. She’d never believe that the horse was gentle until she tried to rider her. So instead of arguing, he simply lifted her up and placed her on the saddle.
He let the shock of being on top of the horse settle in before he moved Nella forward. “Are you okay?” he asked.
Nikki wasn’t sure if she was okay or just frozen. She was so high up, it was hard to believe. “Can’t I have a shorter horse?” she whispered, her lips white from fear.
Nazar looked at her, seeing the terror in her eyes. He walked beside her, placing his hand on her thigh, distracting her. It worked instantly. “You’re going to be okay, Nicole. Just look into my eyes.”