After the Fall

fine.”
    He held my gaze for a moment, and I gave him a reassuring smile. Without a word, he continued brushing Tsarina.
    After he’d finished grooming her, I said, “My saddle’s in the tack room.” I gestured at the door on the other side of the aisle. “Rack number fourteen. Black dressage saddle. Bridle’s hanging on the third hook from the door.”
    He disappeared into the tack room. Buckles rattled and leather squeaked, and a moment later, he came out with my saddle over his arm and my bridle on his shoulder. I cringed at the scuffs and dirt still visible on the saddle’s black leather but reminded myself that a vigorous cleaning would render most of it invisible. Once I had use of both hands again, it would be almost as good as new.
    I took the bridle from him and held it while he gently set the saddle and pad on Tsarina’s back. I was going to put on the bridle, but then I remembered the cast on my other hand, and muttered a few curses. “Damn it. Putting on a bridle is a two-handed operation.”
    “And I have two hands.” He held one of them out and smiled. “I got this.”
    I hesitated. “How long has it been since you’ve put one on?”
    “A while, but it’s not exactly rocket science.” With a smirk, he added, “The bit goes between her ears, right?”
    “Cute.” It wasn’t like I had much choice, though, so I handed over the bridle and stayed out of the way. The paranoid control freak in me had visions of the bit clanging painfully against Tsarina’s teeth, or a buckle going in her eye, or the cavesson being cranked way too tight under her jaw. I gritted my teeth, biting back every instinctive “no, that’s not how you do it” that bubbled to the surface before he’d done a thing.
    Ryan unclipped one of the cross ties, then unbuckled her halter, slipped it off her face, and buckled it again around her neck. Exactly the way I would have done it, so she was still tied, but her face was bare so the bridle would fit properly. For a moment, he paused, eyeing the bridle as if he couldn’t quite remember what to do with it. Before I could step in or say anything, though, he rested his wrist between her ears, and he kept it there as she obediently lowered her head. With his other hand, he guided the bit to her mouth, and when she didn’t immediately open for it, he pressed his thumb into the corner of her lip, which was also exactly what I would have done. She relented, and the bit didn’t bump her teeth at all as she accepted it and he put the bridle over her head.
    She chomped happily on the bit while he adjusted the buckles.
    “See?” He glanced over his shoulder at me. “Just like riding a bike.”
    “Don’t get too cocky. You still have to get on and stay on.”
    “Challenge accepted.” He undid the halter around her neck, letting it and the cross tie fall against the wall, and turned to me again. “Ready when you are.”
    I picked up my crutch.
    “You need a hand?”
    “Nope.” I groaned and pushed myself up. “If I can’t at least get up and down on my own, I’m fucked.”
    “Just don’t hurt yourself.”
    “No promises.” I tucked the crutch under my arm. “Arena entrance is up there on the left.” I nodded down the aisle. “There’s a mounting block in the middle if you need it.”
    “A mounting block?” He rolled his eyes. “Pfft. I can get on from the ground, thank you.”
    “Just making sure.”
    I followed them down the aisle. As he led her into the arena, I hobbled to the small set of dusty bleachers in the corner. With a little effort and cursing, I got my cast onto the bench beside me, and I leaned against the wall on one end. Wasn’t the most comfortable seat in the house, but it would do.
    Ryan brought Tsarina to a halt a few feet away from the bleachers. He tightened the girth, and then asked over his shoulder, “Nathan, how tall are you?”
    “About five seven.”
    He nodded and adjusted the stirrup leathers like a pro, letting each one out a notch to make up for our height difference.
    He turned around and smirked at me. “So, Master. What’s my first lesson?”
    I laughed. “Get on. Let’s see how much you already know, and how many bad habits I need to break.”
    “Sounds like a plan.” Ryan gathered the reins in one hand, rested that hand on her neck. Foot in the stirrup, other hand on the saddle, and he hoisted himself up onto her back. Holy fuck, wasn’t that an amazing view of a gorgeous ass?
    Concentrate, Nathan.