Another shot from behind me this time closer was the last straw for Princess, she reared up, and a great whinny filled my ears then I went tumbling down her back, hitting the hard rocky ground with an unladylike curse. Pain radiated in my hip as I hit the deck and the rocks.
“Ouch!”
“Sweetheart! Shit! Fuck!” Hendrixx cursed, but I was too busy feeling pain in my hip and anger that Hendrixx interrupted my plan-making and shooting his rifle like Wyatt Earp, too busy to hear the thundering of multiple hooves coming my way.
“Blake, sweetheart, watch out!” Hendrixx’s voice came out like a roar, but it was the fear that laced it that made me look at him and not in the direction of the thundering hoofbeats. Not my best move, but what I saw coming towards me stole the breath from my lungs.
Hendrixx Hott was nothing short of the hottest man I had ever laid eyes on–especially when he was sitting astride a galloping white horse, with his black Akubra perfectly pitched on his head, a rifle raised in one hand and that perfectly handsome scowl firmly on his lips. The only difference, the scowl, had an added extra … fear.
Now, I could go on and on daydreaming about Hottie 2 and about the fit of his flannel shirt or how the muscles in his forearms bulged deliciously but …
“Blake, get the fuck up! Look behind you!”
Whipping my head back in the direction of the brumbies, I saw for the first time what had the look of horror coming from Drixx. The big grey and about twenty of his girlfriends were coming right for me, full pelt.
Thinking of Princess first, I brought two fingers to my lips and let out a screeching whistle then another one. My mare stopped whining, then turned and bolted off to the west, understanding the command I just gave her to take off.
“Arm, Blake,” Hendrixx shouted as he leaned over and shoved the rifle back in the scarab, then veered over to his right, put his arm out and hooked it.
Knowing what he was up to, I jumped to my feet just in time to hook my arm around his tightly and allowed him to swing me up behind him.
“Hold on!” Another shouted command, but he need not have bothered. My arms immediately wrapped around his narrow waist my hands found purchase on his HHH belt buckle, my thumbs made contact with the tight skin above it.
“Hot damn, this man is a god,” I breathe out quietly against his back, not able to stop my traitorous thumbs from running over the ridges of his lower abs.
“And not an ounce of fat either.” I marvelled about to make another pass when Hendrixx made a growling sound. A sound that went right to the essence of me.
“Don’t!” The warning in his tone and Hendrixx’s body tensing against me stopped my roaming like he had dumped a bucket of ice water over me.
Freezing my movements, I slowly inched my thumbs back to the metal belt buckle, then changed my mind and completely removed my arms from around Hendrixx’s waist, instead, holding them behind my back and grabbed onto the cantle at the back of the saddle.
I grew up on horses, galloping, even doubling up at full pelt wasn’t frightening for me. Thankfully this saddle didn’t have a high cantle, so at least I wasn’t sitting on Stash’s hindquarters, that would’ve been very uncomfortable, and I definitely would have had to keep a hold on Hendrixx had that been the case.
Looking over to my left, I saw Princess bolting ahead of us, the stirrups flapping and the bridle hanging precariously in front of her legs. She needed to slow down, or she was in danger of catching her front legs in the leather straps, thinning my lips, I let out a long whistle through my teeth, then smiled despite my inner turmoil at Hendrixx’s reaction to my touch, when she slowed down to a canter, then a trot.
“Drixx,” I called out, “Princess.” Taking a hand off the saddle to point at my mount.
Hendrixx gave me a curt nod then reigned Stash over to the bare mare, who had now stopped and was busy eating some grass, and didn’t seem worried at all that thirty or so annoyed wild horses were just thundering towards her.
Sidling up to her, Hendrixx pulled Stash to a stop then whipped his head around, his blue eyes were practically spewing fire at me, his face thunderous.
“What the flying fuck did you think you were doing? You bloody idiot!” he roared, his face only inches from mine, so close I could feel his heated breath while he shouted at me.
Hurt and anger coursed through me. Hearing the man I practically worshipped speak so angrily to me hurt, him calling me an idiot pissed me off.
Thankful that we were positioned close to Princess, I scrambled off the back of Stash straight onto my own saddle. My sudden and unorthodox dismount surprised Drixx just enough so I could get free from him and move Princess and me out of his reach. Not that he should have been surprised, for years I had gotten in trouble from the Hott brothers for performing tricks on my horse. I found an old trick saddle in one of the sheds and decided to teach myself how to stand up on a saddle while cantering. Fenixx found it amusing, Noxx found it typical, but Hendrixx didn’t like it at all and tried numerous times to hide the saddle from me. He never quite found the right hiding place.
“Jesus Blake, what the hell has gotten into you?” Hendrixx growled, staring me down with his perfect icy blue eyes.
“Wrong with me? What is bloody wrong with you more like it,” I stormed back at him, my hands shaking as I pulled the reigns back over Princess’s head. “I was perfectly fine until you came
