Page 85 of That One Night
And yes it was. Very, very good.
It was almost seven by the time he’d gotten all his work done. It had been a scorching hot day, too, the sun so strong that despite the fact he’d worn a cap and sunscreen, his skin had still turned a deeper gold.
Hendrix showered, ate some dinner, and went out to the yard to check on Frank. The goat was laying underneath a tree on the dusty grass, his legs folded beneath him. When he spotted Hendrix walking over to fill his trough, he slowly rose to his hooves, then walked over, nuzzling Hendrix in the stomach.
“Hey buddy.” He tickled the goat beneath his jaw. “You have the right idea. When it’s this hot, the only thing to do is lay in the shade on the grass.”
The goat let out a little bray, then ambled over to his food trough, sniffing at it before he dipped his head to scoop some pellets into his mouth. None of the farm animals had been active today. Unlike humans, they knew to rest when the sun started to beat down in the middle of summer.
He spent the next hour sitting on his deck, on the porch swing. His legs gently rocked it back and forth as he drank a bottle of beer and stared out into the distance, thinking about last night and this morning. The way it had felt so damn good to wake up with Emery in his arms.
And the way his mom’s face looked when she’d discovered them made him feel like he was that bad kid, again. Making her cry.
You’re pretty beautiful, too.
The memory of Emery’s voice on his phone made his chest ache. It wasn’t a lie. Nobody had called him beautiful before. He wasn’t an idiot. Physically, he knew he was doing okay. Mostly thanks to his genes and the hard, unrelenting, physical work of being a farmer that sculpted his body more than any gym could.
And yeah, he’d never had any problems attracting women. If anything, they liked the way he didn’t give a damn about life. The way he was casual. Hard to keep.
Women liked the chase as much as men. More sometimes.
Not Emery, though. She was like the firefly etched on her ankle. Breathtaking to look at. Impossible to capture.
Twenty minutes later, like his mind had tried to conjure her up, he noticed her walking onto the porch to get something. Her head was inclined and her lips were moving, like she was talking to her mom inside the house.
And then she saw him on his own porch, watching her. And stopped, her hand in mid air.
He swallowed hard, unable to tear his eyes away from this woman. Her hair had taken on a curl from the heat, tumbling around her shoulders in waves.
She’d changed into a dress. Was that for him? For later? Styled her hair, too. Stupid how much he liked that thought, but he did. His heart slammed against his chest, all thoughts of their moms pushed away.
He didn’t care what anybody else thought. He wanted her like he’d never wanted anything else. But more than that, he wanted to be good for her. Not the man everybody else thought he was.
Hendrix Hartson. Town bad boy. Keep your daughters locked up.
Emery’s mom said something to her, and she nodded, but he could see her gaze was still on him. He grinned at her, because fuck, he was the luckiest man around.
His breath caught as she smiled back. A small, half-curl, secretive kind of smile.
The kind of smile that held a promise of more.
Then her mom said something else, and Emery pulled her gaze from his, lifting her hand as though to wave goodbye, as she turned her back to him.
And that’s when he knew. He’d do anything for her. Including tell her the truth of who he was. Because if she was going to make sacrifices for him, she deserved for him to do the same.
He felt like he was falling. And he had no idea if he could stop.
Or if he wanted to.
“I think I’m going to head up to bed,” Emery’s mom told her an hour later. They were only half way through the movie they’d been watching, but her mom’s eyes were half-closed. “Can we watch the rest of this tomorrow?”
“Good idea,” Emery said. “Hopefully, you’ll feel better in the morning.”
“Fingers crossed. All I know is that I’m never going to drink Mary-Ellen’s special punch ever again. That thing is bad for my health.” Her mom let out a sigh. “Will you be okay to check on the chickens and lock everything up tonight?”
“Of course.” Emery looked at her watch. “I might go out for a nice long walk now that it’s cooling down.”
Her mom nodded. “Don’t stay out too late.”
