Chapter Nineteen – I Dare You To Love #2
“You’re forgetting, I didn’t offer you a damn thing.” I glared at him, hating that we both knew it was a lie.
He crossed his arms over his chest and shoved his chin in the direction of the group waiting for me. “Who from security is going with you on this little adventure?”
“I have Chuck with me.”
“The teenager?” Parker snapped in disbelief.
“I don’t need anyone else. If I drag security along with us, it will worry the guests more than they already are,” I hissed.
“Whoever this is hasn’t come at me in the daylight hours.
They’ve taken the cowardly way out and gone after my cattle and me in the middle of the night.
You want to do something for me today? Figure out how they keep getting around the cameras. ”
“You’re not going by yourself.” He stated it like it was a cold, hard fact.
“You keep forgetting you’re not my dad or my boss.”
A throat clearing had us both jerking around and hissing, “What?” in unison.
Teddy stood there, trying to fight off a grin. “Just wanted to ask if it would be okay for Theo to hang with me again today.”
The little boy danced from foot to foot behind him. “Teddy is going to teach me to ride a pony. A real live pony.”
Parker looked like he wanted to decline.
And my foolish heart softened at the torn look on his face.
He didn’t want anyone to shoulder his responsibilities—not for Theo or anyone else.
I hatedhe felt he had to carry the full burden on his own, as if trusting others to help him care for the little boy was somehow a failure.
With a five-thousand-acre ranch and hundreds of employees I’d considered mine from the time Spence had died, I understood the heavy weight of responsibility better than anyone.
Except, I’d always wanted it to be mine.
I’d even resented how Mom had worked herself to the bone for it between relapses.
But the truth was, I’d never been able to fully count on her to put the ranch and me first when the drugs had called.
I’d thought I would always put the ranch first, but I’d failed too.
I’d stepped away from it for the years I’d been at college, barely giving it a thought, and now that it was fully mine, it was crumbling around the edges, as if I wasn’t juggling all the balls at just the right pace.
I didn’t want Parker to feel that way, as if he’d drop the ball at any minute if he chose me over Theo or vice versa.
It was with a resigned recognition I realized I didn’t want to feel that way either, afraid to let someone catch a ball for me.
I wasn’t sure I could fix my own issues today, but I could help Parker with his.
I put a hand on his arm. “Go talk to the security team. Figure out if Wylee and Cranky have found out anything. That’s how you can help me best today.”
He shook his head. “I can do that after we get back.” He turned to Teddy. “I need a horse.”
I snorted. “When was the last time you even rode, Kermit?”
He ignored me, heading for the barn.
Teddy waited, looking from me to the barn and then back.
I let out a frustrated sigh before saying, “Fine. Give him Dandy. He’s easygoing and won’t spook if Parker is too hard on the reins.
” Teddy nodded, still fighting his smile.
I swung myself into the saddle and then looked down at him.
“I’m starting out. Tell Parker if he wants to come so damn bad, he’ll have to catch up. ”
Maybe he’d fall off and realize he couldn’t actually do everything, that even SEALs had their limits.
I clicked my tongue at Daisy, and she followed the command like she had for years.
Here in the saddle, I always felt strong and confident.
Daisy and I moved like one, reading each other, knowing from every quiver of muscle exactly what the other needed.
The quarter horse and I had grown up together, learning Western riding and trick riding with thousands of hours of practice.
The competitions I’d entered in college had been sedate, nothing like the wild tricks I’d done to entertain our first resort guests back as a teen.
Those twice-weekly shows had been placed on hold while I’d been at college, only revived on special occasions, like the Fourth of July.
Maybe, now that I was back for good, I’d reinstate them on a more permanent basis.
Daisy and I would both need an outlet for our energy.
Maybe I could even rope Maisey into picking her routine back up when she wasn’t working at the hospital.
I pressed my knees into Daisy’s sides, and she picked up her pace, cantering across the yard to join the group of eight, plus Chuck, who were waiting for me.
“Sorry about that, folks. It seems like we have a late joiner.” I looked back to the barn, but there was still no sign of Parker. “Anyone have any questions before we start?”
Everyone shook their heads, and I took the lead, directing Daisy off the paved road onto a worn path that led to the river.
We’d wind our way along it up into the mountains until we ended at the picnic area near the caves.
We wouldn’t go inside them. They were deep and narrow, and you could easily get lost if you didn’t know your way around, but the guests ate up the rumors about bandits using them in the eighteen hundreds.
I’d played around with creating an excursion that took them through it, but the insurance waivers had been too much at the time. Maybe someday.
The fast-paced pounding of hooves warned me of Parker’s approach, but I didn’t turn to acknowledge him. I was still annoyed—at myself and at him.
The trail was wide enough here to travel two by two, and a man with glasses sidled up next to me on one of our most easygoing mares. “Hey. Is it really true your family won the ranch in a poker match? And that pirates left the diamonds you found?”
I smiled. “Yes, my great-great-grandpa Harrington won the ranch with a royal flush. But I’m a descendant of both men who played that game, so I guess you can say the land found its way home again.
And no, pirates didn’t leave the diamonds.
That was all volcanic activity. We were just lucky enough to have kimberlite pipes bring the diamonds to the surface. ”
His eyes turned greedy. “Any diamonds still around?”
Since turning the ranch into a resort, we’d had dozens of guests sneak out and try to dig up diamonds. For the most part, it was harmless, but sometimes they took it too far, destroying the land and getting hurt in the process.
“No. Believe me, my ancestors wouldn’t have stopped mining if they’d thought there was even one shiny gem left.”
He was going to ask more, but I cut him off, pulling Daisy to a stop to talk to the entire group about the plants and trees native to this part of California.
I shared some of the medicinal qualities found in yarrow and the leaves of sequoia trees before moving us forward again and telling them they’d get to see one of the oldest sequoias in the area on this trip.
I stopped frequently so guests could take pictures of the various views, and by the time we arrived at the picnic area by the caves, they were all pink-cheeked and smiling.
As they pulled the lunches packed for them by the hotel staff from their saddle bags, Chuck directed them to the picnic tables and told them a story about the bandits who’d used the caves for hideouts and how he’d spent time inside, searching for buried loot.
Pleased to realize he really did know all the old stories, even if I didn’t want him encouraging the guests to go searching for treasure on their own, I left him to it and made my way to check the horses.
Running my hands down them, I made sure none of the novice riders had accidentally injured them.
Each horse nosed into the bag I had slung across me, searching for the treats they’d find there.
Parker fell into step with me, nodded toward the guests, and said, “You’re really good with them.”
I raised a brow. “Are you being nice because you got your way?”
His eyes twinkled, crinkling at the corners as he fought off a smile.
“I’m usually nice. Believe it or not, my team thinks I’m the calmest, most easygoing of the entire group. You’re the only one who makes me growly.”
The way his voice deepened at the end of his admission had that longing inside me flaring to life again. And because I didn’t want him to see it, I looked away first.
“Okay, Baywatch,” I taunted.
He huffed out a half laugh. “I should never have told you they called me that.”
“You do remember the time you acted exactly like Parker Stevenson and his pals at the beach, right? You rescued that woman flailing around in the water as if she was being chased by a shark when it was only a fish.” I tried to say it with a straight face but ended up hiding my mouth behind my hand.
“She clung to me like a koala cub.”
“I overheard her friends saying she’d found out you were a SEAL and decided the whole damsel-in-distress routine was the way to your heart.”
He flushed, a delightful blush I rarely saw, and it sent curls of pleasure through me.
I shoved his shoulder with mine and said, “You took her home.”
His eyes grew serious. “Not the way you’re implying.
I caught on soon enough to what she really wanted.
She wanted the movie ending, the prestige of having a Navy SEAL’s ring on her finger, but she didn’t really want me, and I certainly didn’t want forever after with her.
The women I take to bed know exactly what I’m offering. One night. That’s it.”
“Big bad SEAL showing his lack of courage again,” I said.
“Excuse me?” His eyes widened in surprised confusion.
“Love takes courage, Parker. Risking yourself in a relationship takes bravery. You have to give part of yourself to the other person and hope they’ll keep it safe.
You say you don’t want anyone waiting for you, that you don’t want anyone to be hurt if something happens to you on a mission, but really, your one-night-only rule ensures you’ll never get hurt either. ”
He didn’t like I’d called him out on the truth, and so when he snapped back at me, I didn’t take it personally, even though the words stung. “And how’d the risk work out for you with JJ?”
I just gave him a small shrug. Then, I moved away to retrieve the bagged lunch from my saddlebag. “You didn’t get a meal from the kitchen. You can share mine.”
“Fallon.” I heard the apology in his voice, but he didn’t say more.
I was glad he didn’t. I needed the Parker who pissed me off or the friend I could tease with me today. Not the one I wanted in my bed. It was the only way I’d get through him being on the ranch without continuing to humiliate myself more.