Cody (5 page)

“Right.”

“That’s fair.” He reached
over and took her hand in his as he drove. “I’m enjoying the riding
lessons.”

She looked at him. “I’m
glad. At first I wasn’t sure if you’d keep doing it.”

“Why?”

“I thought maybe you’d get
embarrassed that a woman had to teach you the basics.” She watched
his face to see any reaction.

He shrugged. “Honestly? I
was really embarrassed that first day when I couldn’t get up on the
horse right away. I’ve been okay since then.” He squeezed the hand
he held in his. “You’re an amazing rider. I know you said you rode
when you were a kid. Did you do a lot of showing
horses?”

“Yeah. I did showing and
barrel racing.”

“Barrel racing? Really?
Were you any good?”

“Yeah, I was one of the
best. My boarding school was big into the equestrian sports and I
was the best at my school. I wanted to go on to do some racing at
area rodeos, but my father was against it. He thought I should find
a husband instead.”

“Someone he
chose?”

“
How’d you guess?” Amber
laughed as she pushed her long hair out of her eyes. “My father was
a good man. He really was. He just didn’t think women were capable
of thinking for themselves. He wanted me to marry a man he approved
of so I could have a nice stable life.” She paused for a moment. “I
guess I ended up with a stable life.” She watched him out of the
corner of her eye to see if he understood her joke.

He groaned. “Bad pun!” He
couldn’t help but laugh. “I want you to know that I do think women
are capable of thinking for themselves. My mom raised my brother
and me after my dad died when I was twelve. She did an amazing
job.”

She thought about that for
a moment. Maybe he did have a different perspective than her father
if he’d been raised by a woman alone. “It was just you and your
brother?”

“Yeah.”

“Is he older or
younger?”

“Three years younger. He’s
my assistant.”

She shook her head. “Why
do you need an assistant?”

“He actually does a lot.
He does personal stuff for me like schedules appointments, but he
also takes care of my part of the business. Jonathan schedules
times for me to meet up with different coaches. Buys my tickets for
all the games I need to attend to sit with the owners and talk to
them. He arranges for the plane to be ready and a pilot to be there
when I need to fly. I tend to be really busy for about a month as
each season starts and can’t keep track of when I’ve even eaten. He
takes care of everything.”

“How long has he worked
for you?”

“He started working for me
as soon as I graduated from college and started traveling so much.
He wanted to drop out, but Mom was freaking out that he’d ‘never
amount to anything’, so I offered him a job. I wouldn’t have kept
him on so long if he hadn’t done such a great job.”

“Does Steven have an
assistant? That’s the other partner’s name, right?” She knew she’d
heard it at dinner, but couldn’t remember for certain.

“Not really, but Steven
doesn’t really go anywhere. He stays home and works all the time.
He makes an appearance at the office when Justin threatens him, but
otherwise he really prefers his home office.” He grinned for a
minute. “He does have a housekeeper, though. She’s
amazing.”

“Blond and twenty with a
perfect figure?” She could just see the three men drooling over the
housekeeper.

Cody laughed. “She was his
mother’s best friend and half-raised him. We all think of her as a
mother, and she calls us her ‘boys’.”

“What about your mom? What
does she do now? You haven’t sucked her into the
business?”

He shook his head. “She
died of breast cancer a year ago.”

“I’m so sorry.” It sounded
like he’d been really close to his mom, and she hated it that he’d
lost her.

“Thanks. I miss her every
day.” He pulled into her driveway and put the truck in park. “Will
you let me know when I come for my riding lesson if you can come
with us?”

She nodded. “What time
will we leave if I can?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll have
to check. It’ll be in the evening so we can sleep on the plane,
though.”

She wrinkled her nose. She
hated sleeping on planes. “Doesn’t sound very
comfortable.”

“We’ll take our private
jet, and each chair reclines into a bed. It’s very comfortable, and
I’m super picky.”

“Private jet? Spoiled are
we?”

He nodded. “I’d be more
spoiled if you’d let me kiss you goodnight.” He took the hand he
still held and pulled her toward him, but realized she was still
buckled. He reached over to unbuckle her. “Well?”

“What would you do if I
said no?”

“Cry.”

Amber laughed. “I might
say no just so I can see that.” She scooted toward him on the seat
and leaned against him raising her lips to his. She meant to just
brush her lips with his, but his hand slipped under her hair at the
nape of her neck and he deepened the kiss, tracing her lips with
his tongue.

She immediately opened her
mouth for his invading tongue moving hers to tangle with his. Amber
hadn’t dated at all in the years since her parents had died despite
the invitations. She’d chosen to instead concentrate on the ranch
and her riding school.

She was swamped with
feelings, a tingling feeling spreading through her body. Wrapping
her arms around his neck, she kissed him back for all she was
worth. After a moment, he drew his head back, looking deep into her
eyes. “I’d ask you to invite me in, but I’m showing you how
respectful I can be and saying goodnight here.”

She sighed. “What if I
tell you I don’t care if you’re respectful?”

“Are you telling me
that?”

She thought about it for a
moment before shaking her head. She’d love to ask him in, but she
wasn’t sure she was prepared for what that would invite. It had
been so long since she’d let a man touch her with more than a
handshake she was worried she would be vulnerable to any
man.

He took a deep breath and
straightened up, letting her go. “I’ll see you in the morning for
my riding lesson then. Thanks for agreeing to go to dinner with
me.”

“Thanks for inviting me. I
had a really good time.” She slid out the passenger door and walked
quickly up to the house before she changed her mind. Amber had
never been more tempted to go against her nature. She wasn’t sure
what it was about Cody, but he was going to hold her heart in the
palm of his hand in no time. She only hoped she could stay
strong.

Chapter Four

Amber spent the morning on
the phone. First she called Tanya and arranged for her to take her
classes. As she’d expected the girl jumped at the chance to do the
lessons for the week. “And you don’t have to pay me for it. Just
give me four free lessons and I’ll be happy.”

Amber smiled. “That sounds
good to me!” The girl’s classes were all in the mornings so she
could be there by four when her first students started to arrive
with no problem. She agreed to stay in the house and feed the
horses before school as well, relieving Amber of the stress of
finding someone to do take over that chore.

After she settled
everything with Tanya and the girl agreed to come and get the key
that afternoon, she started calling the local car dealerships
trying to find a truck that would suit her for a price she could
pay. She was talking to the third dealership when she noticed two
vehicles drive up to the house.

“I’ll call you back.” She
stepped out onto the porch and watched as one man, driving a new
pick-up truck, walked to her and handed her the keys. “What’s
this?”

The man shrugged and
turned to get into the car with his co-worker and the two drove
away. She walked out and looked at the truck, furious Cody had
bought her a truck without her consent. Sure, she needed to have a
vehicle. She was almost out of groceries and had to arrange to
leave grocery money behind for Tanya, but she wasn’t going to owe
him anything.

When he drove up ten
minutes later, Amber was seething. “What were you thinking? I told
you I didn’t want you to buy me a truck!”

He shrugged. “Think of it
as the jewelry I’d have bought any other girl on the first
date.”

“You buy women jewelry on
the first date?”

“Sure. Women expect me to
buy them things, because I’m rich. I don’t care. I usually have my
brother do it.” He took her hand and led her out to the truck.
“Have you looked at it? This thing is loaded. I got you seat
warmers, a GPS, everything you could possibly want is there.” He
looked at her with his warm eyes. “I didn’t have my brother do it
either. I went to the dealership myself and picked out something I
thought you would like that’s serviceable and would work well for
ranching. Please say you’ll keep it.”

“Are you going to
constantly try to buy me gifts like this?”

He shook his head. “I
promise I won’t. If your dishwasher goes out, you’re on your own. I
just feel like the accident was my fault, and I want to make up for
it.”

She stared at him in
disbelief. “How could the accident have possibly been your
fault?”

“I wasn’t paying attention
to the light.”

“It couldn’t have had
anything to do with my brakes being shot?”

He shrugged. “I have no
idea.” He stroked her cheek. “Keep it please?”

She nodded. “Okay, I’ll
keep it. You don’t need two brand new trucks.” She looked at the
shiny blue truck, loving the color. “You have to promise me you
won’t buy me any more extravagant gifts, though. I will not become
dependent on you!”

He swallowed hard. “I’m
not trying to make you dependent on me. I like you just the way you
are. I just want to help you.”

She sighed. “Let’s go ride
a horse.” She led him toward the stable and he immediately went to
Midnight, the horse he always rode, and saddled him. “You’re doing
a lot better with that.”

He grinned. “Thanks.” He
worked in silence for a moment while she saddled her own horse.
“Are you going with me?”

“Yeah, I found a
substitute.”

“You won’t regret
it!”

She shrugged, convinced
that she probably would, but she needed the time away. She swung up
into the saddle in one fluid motion and turned to watch him mount
his horse. “I thought we’d ride outside the corral today. Maybe a
slow ride around the ranch.”

“Do you think I’m ready
for that?”

“I wouldn’t suggest it if
I didn’t. I don’t let my students get hurt by pushing them too far
too fast.” She waited until he was beside her before she walked her
horse toward the path she liked to take around the perimeter of the
ranch. I would take right at two hours to ride it all.

She pointed out different
things as they went past. He noticed a lot of things that weren’t
in perfect repair as they rode. He hated she’d had to let so many
things go so she could get everything back to what it once
was.

“Are you going to tell
your brother everything you’ve done to get the ranch back up to
where it used to be?”

She shook her head. “I’m
not planning on it. He already hates that I had to raise him. He
won’t like it at all that I put my whole life on hold even after he
was in college to make everything work.”

“Surely he knows some of
the sacrifices you made?”

She shrugged. “Some maybe.
He doesn’t know most of them though, and if I have my way, he
won’t. I don’t want him to think he owes me anything.”

“I can understand that. I
hope he doesn’t figure it out.”

They rode on in silence
with her pointing out different things. They ran into Adam, her
foreman, and she introduced the two men. Amber looked at Cody.
“Adam put me on my first horse. He’s been part of my family for as
long as I can remember.”

The men shook hands, and
she could tell Adam was sizing Cody up. “I mentioned this morning I
was going on vacation for a week. Cody and I are going
together.”

“Where are you taking
her?” Adam’s voice was gruff and he was built like a mountain. Cody
wasn’t a lightweight, but there was something in the man’s eyes
that scared him.

“A private island in
Tahiti. We’re going with my business partners and their
dates.”

“You the one paying a
ridiculous amount of money for riding lessons?”

Amber’s eyes widened
wishing he hadn’t asked that.

Cody just laughed. “Sure
am. I’d pay even more if I had to. I wanted to learn from the
best.”

Adam nodded. “She’s the
best all right.” He looked at Amber. “You be careful. I’ll hold
everything down here while you’re gone.”

They continued their ride
and he pointed toward the bunkhouse. “Was that full at one
point?”

She nodded. “My first
crush lived in that bunkhouse. I was only fourteen at the time, and
he wouldn’t give me the time of day, because my father and Adam
would have killed him.” She pulled back on the reins to look at the
building for a moment. “It was full right up until my parents died.
Only Adam lives there now. Hopefully it’ll be full again in another
year or so.”