His brows twitched upward. “We have shifts?”

“I mean…” She blinked up at him. What? What? What the hell did she say?

She rubbed the bruise on her left butt cheek, making a show of wincing. “My fall. Earlier. I’m a little stiff and sore.”

“Too stiff to sit on a horse?” He clearly found the excuse preposterous.

“I’m also a little rusty.” She attempted to look contrite and embarrassed. “I haven’t ridden for a while.”

He cocked his head, studying her all over again. “It’s like riding a bike.”

She was sure it was.

“Tack’s on the third stand. Don’t let him hold his breath when you cinch the saddle.”

As far as she was concerned, Tango could do any old thing he pleased. She wasn’t going to stop him from holding his breath. Quite frankly she’d rather chase lions around Lincoln Park.

“I really can’t-”

“We fire people who can’t get the job done,” Jared flatly warned her.

The threat stopped Melissa cold. If she got fired, she’d be thrown off the property. She could kiss the article and her promotion goodbye. And if Seth found out she’d been here, she could probably kiss her job at the Bizz goodbye, too.

“I hope you won’t,” she said in all sincerity.

Jared searched her expression for a long moment. His voice went low, and the space between them grew smaller. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.”

“I’ve been working really hard,” she told him without hesitation.

“Not at the moment,” he pointed out.

“It’s six o’clock.”

“We’re not nine to five on Ryder Ranch.”

“I’m prepared for that.”

He edged almost imperceptibly closer, revealing tiny laugh lines beside his eyes and a slight growth of beard along his tanned square jaw. “Are you?”

She ignored the tug of attraction to his rugged masculinity. “Yes.”

“You’ll pull your own weight?”

“I will.”