Sadie seemed to roll with it and once they were outside she pointed to the golf carts. “Do you want to walk or drive?”
“Can I drive?”
“No.” Brock’s deep voice came from directly behind her and she jumped.
“How did you catch up so fast?” she all but whined.
“Long legs make for an easy time of it.” He leaned in close to her ear. “And if you try to pull another stunt like that today, then I will be forced to respond in a way you will not like, I promise you that.”
Had he just threatened to punish her? That was new. Brock grumbled about her behavior and sass all the time, but he had never out-and-out threatened her. A swarm of butterflies danced in her tummy. Some of the butterflies were made of nerves, but some of the others were just… butterflies.
“Do you understand me, little girl?” he continued.
Words escaped her, so she nodded her head in response.
“Good, now both of you get in the cart. I’m driving,” he bossed.
“Yes, Sir, Mr. Brock Sir!”
Sadie saluted with all the sass Kyra had ever seen someone display. It broke the tension and made her giggle as Brock pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
“What the hell have I gotten myself into?” he groaned.
“You’re the one who wanted to come with us.” Kyra shrugged, happily taking Sadie’s offered hand and skipping over to the golf carts. If he was so stuck on doing his job, then she was about to make him earn it.
“Buckle up,” he said as he passed by them to take the driver's seat.
“Is that really necessary? How fast can these things actually go?” Kyra sassed, not moving to do what he’d commanded.
Without a word he got back out of the cart and stood in front of her. His glare turned her insides to mush and her girly bits were all tingly, but she didn’t show any of that, just met his glare with the sweetest smile she could muster.
“So, you changed your mind and I can drive?”
Growling, he reached for the seat belt and buckled her himself, tightening it way too much for it to be comfortable. When she reached to take it off, he stilled her hand.
“Don’t.”
It was one word. Only one and his earlier threat replayed in her head. Would he really punish her? Did she really want to find out? The answer to that last one was a resounding yes, but when he turned his glare on Sadie, Kyra was reminded that they were, in fact, not alone, and she really didn’t want to make herself look bad in front of her new friend.
“Do you need help too?” he asked Sadie, but she was already reaching for the buckle.
“Nope, not me. That is one punishment I never want to experience again.”
“Good, maybe you can share some of that obedience with this one.”
Sadie almost fell off the back of the cart laughing while Brock stood there looking confused.
“Please don’t get me wrong, Mr. Brock. I fully and completely keep my Daddy and a lotta the Tops here on the Ranch on their toes. It makes life more interesting.”
Brock’s jaw fell open in surprise and Kyra laughed and linked her arm with Sadie’s.
“Yes, please teach me your ways, oh, wise one. I want to be just like you!”
Brock looked up to the sky like he was hoping for a tornado to magically come from the clouds and remove him from this whole situation, but no tornado came and after a beat, he seemed to give up and retake his position as the driver.
The day got marginally better once Brock got the girls to the horses. Kyra was so enthralled with listening to Travis’s Little, Wren, and Sadie tell stories about each horse that she didn’t have time to sass him or piss him off in any other way. Travis seemed to know exactly how to handle an excited Little and once he got them all lined up, with each rider in front of their horses, he laid out the rules.
“All right, girls, I will lead at all times. We do not need to stay in a straight line as the trail is nice and wide, but no one is to try to ride ahead of me no matter how well she knows the trails.” He gave Sadie a pointed look before continuing. “We’ll move slowly until everyone is comfortable and I’ve had a chance to assess their riding skills.”