“Let me take a look,” I say.
“I’m fine,” she snaps as she hobbles on.
“Clearly not. Now sit your ass down and let me take a look.”
She rolls her eyes and I shake my head at her stubbornness, but she sits on the floor and I crouch down and take hold of her calf. I pull off her sneaker and she winces.
“It’s just a sprain,” she insists as she tries to jerk her foot away but I hold her in place.
I run my hand over her ankle. “Hmm. It doesn’t feel broken, but we’ll get you checked out anyway. We should head back to the house.” I stand up and wipe the dust from my jeans. “You fancy a ride on a horse, little guy?” I wink at Matthias and ruffle his hair.
“Yeah.” He grins at me. This kid is fearless—just like his mother.
I hold my hand out to Lucia but she ignores it, fixing her shoe back on before she pushes herself up off the ground.
“You fancy a ride, Lucia?” Cody says with a grin as his eyes roam over her perfect body.
“Sure.” She smiles back as she goes to limp toward him, but I put my arm out and stop her.
“Not a fucking chance,” I whisper, my eyes narrowed as I glare at her. There is no way I’m having her pressed up against him for the ride home. She glares back at me but she doesn’t disagree.
I turn to Cody. “Your horse isn’t as jumpy. You take the little guy.”
“Sure. Come on, sport,” Cody laughs as he lifts Matthias up by his waist and plonks him on top of his horse.
I offer my hand to Lucia but she ignores it. “You ever climbed on a horse before?”
“No!”
“Then let me help you.”
“I’m sure I can figure it out, Jackson,” she snaps. Damn! I hate it when she calls me that. I pick her up by her waist, hoist her over my shoulder and plonk her on my saddle.
“There,” I snarl at her and she glares at me. It should make me pissed but all it does it make me want to put her over my knee and spank her ass until she begs me to fuck her.
I climb on behind her. She bristles at my touch, but there isn’t much place for her to go. I take hold of Bastian’s reins, my arms encasing her and we start to head back to the house.
She keeps fidgeting in the saddle and it’s driving me fucking crazy.
“Will you sit still?” I whisper in her ear.
I know she’s doing it because she can’t stand me touching her, but her ass keeps rubbing over my groin and my cock is becoming painfully hard.
“Fine,” she sighs but she stops squirming.
Beside us, Matthias asks Cody question after question about riding horses and Cody answers them all good-naturedly. Cody is a good kid, but if I catch him looking at Lucia like he just did again, he’ll be looking for a new job.
“How is your ankle?” I ask her.
“Fine.”
“Is that the only word in your vocabulary today?”
“Fuck you! How’s that?” she hisses.
“I’ll take it for now,” I growl in her ear. “But you ever speak to me like that again and I’ll put you over my knee and spank your ass.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she growls but I hear the breath catch in her throat and see the heat flushing over her neck.