Page 6 of The CEO and the Mountain Man

I was tempted to bring over the mounting block anyway, but River might not have appreciated an immediate show of no-confidence.

“Okay, then. Let’s give Miss Betty a try.”

“Fine,” he said, shoving his walking stick at Clark before walking up to Betty.

“Excellent. Now, to mount a horse, what you need to do is?—”

Before I could get all the words out, he’d slipped one foot into the stirrup and jerked his leg over. He nearly fell off the other side, but somehow managed to stay upright on top of Betty. She let out a snorty huff, pawing out a warning that she wasn’t impressed with his technique.

He winced but kept his seat.

“Well, I guess you already know everything, dontcha?”

River sent me a death-to-all-cowboys scowl while muffled laughter filtered in from behind my shoulder. I turned to find Clark standing there, closer than I realized, amusement firing up his eyes. I’m guessing he hadn’t laughed in a while.

“I’ve seen enough movies,” River said in that know-it-all tone that teenagers specialize in. “I know how to get on a horse.”

“If you wanna do it a little more smoothly next time, let me know. I’ll tell you what you did wrong.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong.” He smirked. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

I rubbed my hand over my scruff and then let go of the reins. “Okay, fine. Do one lap around the pen and meet me back here.”

I would normally walk alongside an obviously unskilled rider, but something told me that River needed the space more than he needed an overcautious youth activities coordinator.

“Fine,” he said, reaching for the reins. Before nearly falling off again.

Betty looked back at me, unimpressed, but then River squeezed her sides with his feet, and she moved forward. Slowly. He nudged her again, and she picked up the pace a little. After about ten feet of that business, he began to cant off to the side.

Shit. I should’ve warned him that the saddle might be loose.That’ll learn ’im.

“Fuuuck,” he muttered as he was being dumped onto the dirt.

I chuckled and turned to Clark to make a joke about whether his son learned all his lessons the hard way, but Clark wasn’t laughing. He dropped the stick and raced to River’s side, his face as white as chalk.

I got there as quickly as I could, and Clark was definitely plotting my murder. He closed the distance between us in a second, poking at my chest hard enough to bruise. “He has a broken hip,” he said through gritted teeth.

Shit, shit,shit. We werejusttalking about River’s injuries.

“It’s fully healed, Dad.” River rolled his eyes, pushing himself off the ground with a grunt. “Or at least as healed as it’s gonna get.”

“Do you want your walking stick? How’s your hip?”

“Dad. I’m fine,” he said, dusting himself off. “Stophovering.”

Clark pressed his lips together, then reached out as River winced through a few practice steps, retracting his fingers at the last second. Trying desperately to look as if he wasn’t hovering.

Boy, do I suck.

I held up my hands. “I royally fucked that up,” I admitted. “It’s usually pretty safe to let teenagers figure things out on their own, but given River’s injuries, I shoulda insisted that he dismount and explained that the first thing you do before getting on a horse is to check the saddle to make sure it’s nice and tight.”

Clark stared at my forehead like he was trying to burn a hole through it. Meanwhile, Betty had circled around and nudged River’s butt, knocking him off balance. Thankfully, he managed to grab a post and remain upright. While looking bored.

Meanwhile, Clark’s face had turned a remarkable shade of red.

What a fucking mess.

“We can cancel the session, if you’d like,” I offered, feeling like a real shithead.