"The afternoon has barely begun. I would hate to see those hooligans--" Alex could use 'old person' words unironically too, "--ruin your day before it's even gotten underway. Perhaps we could walk together for a while. There's also a stable that my colleagues maintain, for beach patrol mainly, or when we have an event in town of some kind. Would you perhaps like to see it? It's just down the beach."
"A stable?"
Even here, Holly found herself very much in two minds. Horses were, she felt, excellent creatures in, as it were, the abstract. A mettlesome, snow-white example of the breed, ridden by a handsome prince or brave knight in fiction never failed to set her heart racing. Yet as with so many things, the reality of the species - with their dank, equine smell, the way they kicked, their sheer size and power - tended to intimidate her close up.
Had it been anyone else she might have found an excuse to cry off. Yet this was, she reminded herself, County Sheriff Corporal Alex Manley - the man who had come to her aid, who was so handsome she could barely look at him and still manage to breathe. And who had actually hugged her, to boot! Holly's parents were far from demonstrative, she did not make close friends easily, and hugs had always, therefore, been in short supply in her life. And as for hugs from men - outside of her dreams, such a thing had not happened for... well...
...ever actually, she was forced to conclude!
And the very last thing she wished right now was to let the County Sheriff know she was scared, like a pathetic little child.
She swallowed nervously, tugged her swimsuit down at the rear, and up at the neckline, desperately trying to pitch her voice low to at least take the edge off the humiliating squeak that was all that would come out when she was nervous. It made her sound as if she was suffering from asthma, but it was the very best she could do.
"I think that m-m-might be... interesting," she managed to get out, biting her lip nervously. "Yes, erm, Sherriff, I think I would very much like to see these stables, if it isn't t-t-too much trouble..."
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