The two men proceeded to complete their appointed tasks in record time; by the time Rick came back from Nickerie's stall, he found Horatio smiling triumphantly as he put the pitchfork back into its place. "I didn't know that you knew your way so well around stables," Rick patted Horatio on the back.
"I did some riding as a child; my Momma really wanted that for me, but I got lots of practice from the time I was in New York; I used to ride in parades or in official events there in uniform; naturally, I'd be asked to help put the horses away and such too," the redhead blushed slightly at his lover's compliment.
"You rode in New York? I'll have to learn a lot more about that, but time for us to scram," Rick gave him a boyish grin and with not another word to be said, the couple got into their vehicles and left.
@@@@@ About 35 minutes later @@@@@
"I think we got away with it." Rick exhaled a breath of relief as he was remembering how Carl had taken a cursory look around Nickerie's stall as well as the empty one for the new stallion that was arriving soon and all he did was wave goodbye to the two men as he began to lock things up for the evening.
"Yes we did and by the skin of our teeth too," Horatio replied, with a teasing tone in his voice as they entered their home.
"That was an opening for a line if I EVER heard one," Rick inspected his boots, noting that there were at least two or 3 sets of nibbles and bite marks on them. "How am I ever going to explain these to the staff at my shoe repair shop?" he sighed, but at the same time, he gave his lover a knowing glance. "...well, I did try to control myself. I mean after all, I spared the rest of your legs, from the knees on up, didn't I?" the ginger haired man used his best innocently sounding voice.
"Okay, okay I'll consider myself fortunate then....I think," the brunet laughed in response and took his beloved into his arms. "Your stomach is going to growl any minute, my angel so, what if I order something Chinese for delivery? That place you mentioned before. I see the menu right here on the table," Rick picked up the menu after reluctantly ending their embrace.
"I've an idea. Why don't you order and then we can each get showered enough just enough to get comfortable to put on our robes and eat. Then after we eat, we can take a deep, long soak in the tub," Horatio replied.
"Sounds wonderful, but why don't you go first in the shower, then I'll go. If we shower together..." Rick began but couldn't complete his sentence as his lover nodded in agreement, stopping him from speaking any further by taking the brunet's chin in his hand, pulling his jaw and lips close for a very romantic kiss.