* Lora Croffard's POV *

"Good morning, sunshine." I struggled to open  my eyes against the sharp light coming from outside the window.

In front of my bed there was a man with a tray in his hands. "Breakfast is served."

I sat up straight against the headboard. "What's this?"

"Breakfast. Eggs, bacon, a smoothy, milk and some toast to the side. Scoot over." I shifted to the side of the bed and Liam took his place next to me. He balanced the tray in front of us.

"It smells really good. Thank you." I turned to kiss him on the cheek, but he somehow turned his face and my lips landed to his. I didn't turn away, though. Neither did he.

When we pulled away, he was the first one to speak. "We better finish up. I have a whole day planned out. Let's get a move on."

**********

Liam pulled open a big and heavy door. He stood to the side motioning with his head for me to walk in first. Inside I was shocked by what I saw.

"Horses?"

"Yes, in my family we have a chain of professional riders."

"Who takes care of them while nobody's here?"

"I do." The voice came from behind me and I turned around. The voice belonged to a old man. For his age he was pretty attractive, if I must say.

"Papa Freddy!" Liam exclaimed, walking over to the man, pulling him into a hug.

"Liam, my boy. Look at you! All grown up, and that smile! I haven't seen that smile on your face in a long time and I have an idea that has to do with the young  lady over there.," the old man said, turning to me.

Lian pulled the man over to me. "Paps, this is Lora. And this is my grandfather."

"Nice to meet you, sir."

"Oh please, call me Freddy. If you want to, you can call me Paps like everyone else. Liam, you haven't told me that you have a nice lady friend."

"Yeah, well haven't been around a lot lately." An awkward silence followed. The two of them extended glares with eachother. "We're going for a ride."

"Wait, what?!" Shock went through me when I've realized what he said. "I can't ride a horse."

"I'll teach you. See you later, Grandfather."

Liam pulled me away from the old man. "Goodbye Paps."

*********

"Hop on, Cinderella."

"You mean on my own? Can't this be like a real Cinderella story? You're the prince, which means you're the one who's driving. I'll sit on the back, holding on to you."

"Nice try, now get your lovely ass up there."

"Liam-"

"Don't. Please don't argue with me. Hurry up, we're falling behind schedule."

"Schedule?"

"Don't change the subject. Here, let me help you get up." Unexpectedly he pushed me up. How was that unexpected you ask? Well his hands were on my butt, pushing me up.

"Liam!"

"How's the weather up there?"

"Up whe-" Oh. My. Gosh. I'm on a horse. I'm. On. A. Freaken. Horse. "I think I'm going to puke." I grabbed onto the saddle like it was my last minute on earth.

"See that's not so bad."

"Easy for you to say. You're on the ground." He only laughed and shook his head.

"Oh before I forget. Stay here, I'll be right back."

"What?! No! Are you crazy?!" It was no use. He was already back into the stables. I sat there, not moving a inch.

"Here you go." I jumped a bit. I didn't see him coming back. He stood on his  toes to put a cowboy hat on my head. "Howdy cowgirl?"

"What happened to Cinderella?"

"She's still there. She just likes to go undercover sometimes."

"Makes sense. She doesn't want people to recognize her if she dies by falling off a horse, right?"

His eyebrow lifts up and he stared at me. "No."

"Yes."

"Concentrate. Take the reins in your fists. Hook you pinky around it. Your thumbs should be parallel with sky facing upwards."

I did as he said. "Like this?"

"Yes, that's it. Now, to turn right you only pull it to the right. And left to the left. To stop you pull it towards you." I nodded. "Stand up."

"You mean I can get of? Yay."

"No!" He stopped me before I could jump off with relief. "I meant stand up with you feet still on the leathers."

"You mean just like this? Poor animal! I'll break it's back!"

"Lora, you are almost the smallest person that has ever ride on Coco over here. His used to being ridden by big farmers. You're a feather to him. No, just stand up. Hold onto the pommel."

"The what?" Liam rolled his eyes. "What? Be patient with me, this was your idea."

"You don't say! The pommel is the bumpy thing in-between your... Legs." Ah, he was blushing again. That's adorable.

I stood up and he watched from the front of the horse to see if my leathers were even, I guess. He walked over to my left leg. "You can sit down now." When I had taken my seat again, he started to reset the length of my leathers. His fingers were lightly touching the inneside of my thigh and it send shivers up my spine.

"There you go. If you you want to move just give him a little kick of his sides. Remember if you're climbing up or down, you do it on the right side. We'll walk for now, so you don't have to worry about rhythms or anything right now. Let me just get on and the we're off."

He walked over to another brown horse, where he also set the leathers to his length. He brushed over the horse's nose and planted a kiss on his head. He looked fine in this creamy jean and white shirt, that complimented all of his muscles. With no struggle he pushed himself up the horse and completed the whole image. Who knew he would ever be a farmjack?

"Are you ready?"

"No."

"Let's go then."

"Ah jee, thanks. I feel so special now. Tell me something, are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Kick Coco, or I will."

"That's cruel."

"I'm coming."

"Okay fine, I'm coming. Let me just... Get... This...right." A second later after giving Coco a kick he started to walk.

"That's it, you see, it's not that bad."

"Oh boy. How do I stop this thing?!"

"That thing has feelings, Lora. That thing can also feel that you're nervous. Calm down. He won't do anything to hurt you."

"Okay. Where are we going?" I wasn't actually calm yet. Inside my heart felt as if  it was going to jump out of my cheat.

"Follow me." How did he make it look so easy? He almost didn't move and the horse did what he wanted it to do. "You got it. But you really only need to relax now. You look as of you're about to fall over."

"If I fall over, Liam. I swear I will sue you for... For... For..."

"For?"

"For making me fall over!"

"Yes and that makes sense. Well, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Look at you! You're doing well." Wait, what?! I turned around to see the stables  far behind us. And I was actually still on the horse!

"I guess you're right. It's actually not that bad. It's quite... Fun."

"That's the spirit."

"So what's the deal with you grandfather?"

He sighed. "Let's just say we don't get along very well."

"What happened?"

"My mother lost a baby when she was pregnant. It was only three weeks until she would've given birth. Paps was so mad. One day he stormed into the house. He started to scream at my mother and told her that is was all her fault. At that moment Amber and I was upstairs, playing video games. My father was still at work. In a second I was downstairs. My mother was still weak after the loss. My grandfather had her pinned to wall. I stormed over and pushed him to the floor. I grabbed him by his shirt and while hitting him against the floor, I shouted right in his face. It took Amber  calling the neighbors to get me off of him. I was furious. He stormed out without a word. My mother cried for days. That was about two years ago. We've chatted on the phone, but it didn't last long and we didn't see eachother again. Until now, I guess."

"Oh, Liam. I'm so sorry. I didn't know about your lost."

"It's okay now. It's the way things should be, I guess. Anyways, it was a long time ago. We're all good now, except for the Paps situation."

"It will be okay someday, I'm sure of it."

"Thanks. Well, we're here. Take a look." When I looked in front of me, I automatically pulled Coco to a stop.

What on earth? It was... Magical.

A/N

Hi guys.

Oooo cliffhanger.... 
What do you guys think so far. Some juicy things are yet to come.

Wow this is the longest chapter yet!!

Loviez
Maruné