Page 32 of Unyielding
“Whoops!” She laughed, balancing on my knees.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that,” I said, still holding onto her arm. “That was extra rude, because I didn’t say thank you for the massage and now I just manhandled you.”
“It’s fine,” Shannon said, looking into my eyes. “I haven’t sat down in hours, and you make a great chair.”
I blinked at her, afraid to move and break the spell. Shannon’s wrist was still captured in my hand, and I let my thumb glide along the smooth skin.
She shivered, her eyes locked on mine.
I knew that if I didn’t make a move now, in the early morning stillness while the rest of the ranch was still asleep, I might never get another chance. And even though the cautious part of me warned that this could lead to danger, the desire I felt was too powerful to ignore. The fact that she was still perched on my lap, her lips slightly parted, made me feel like she was waiting for me to do something.
Anything.
This.
I pulled her closer while I leaned into her, pausing at the very last second before our lips met. Shannon was almost panting, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her free hand reached up and snaked behind my neck, and she leaned an inch closer to me like she was unwilling to bridge the gap but desperately wanted to.
It was all the invitation I needed.
I pressed my lips to hers hungrily, still half expecting her to jump away from me. But she kissed me back with an intensity that shocked me.
Shannon’s tongue dragged against my lips for an instant, and I adjusted her in my lap so that she was straddling me, pulling her even closer so that she was seated directly on top of my hardness. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. After so many years of imagining this moment, the chance to kiss her again forrealseemed almost too good to be true. It dawned on me that my fantasies hadn’t even come close to the reality of having Shannon Cafferty in my arms.
I grabbed onto her thighs and squeezed, wishing I could touch and explore every inch of her. I didn’t want the kiss to end, but we were in a busy barn shortly before sunup. We were going to get caught making out like high schoolers if I didn’t stop.
I pulled away slowly and Shannon’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“I swear I can hear truck doors slamming,” I whispered, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. “We can’t take this any further right now. But I’m hoping we can try again some time.”
She smiled shyly at me. “I’d like that.”
I asked the question before I had a chance to second guess myself.
“Can I take you out? On a real date?”
Surprise flashed across her face followed by a couple more emotions, but her expression quickly settled into delight.
“I’d like that, too.”
We stared at each other, smiling stupidly, until the sounds of the ranch waking up made it clear that it was time to put the fantasy on hold.
NINETEEN
DECLAN
Istood in the middle of the pasture surrounded by grumbling emus, questioning my life choices. Tory and Chad were friends of my parents and owned an emu farm just east of Beaumont. They bred them with the intent of renting or selling them to use as guard animals, and Chad had lined up a buyer for the meat and oil along with the other parts of the birds. Unfortunately, Tory had had a bit of a health scare recently and had chosen to switch to veganism, which also meant he was now against selling the birds for meat.
“Ow! Would you stop it?” I pushed at the emu who was far too interested in the stranger standing in his enclosure. “Look, I just need to get these samples so I can figure out what’s wrong with you, and then I’ll be on my way.” He tilted his head at me and lunged quickly and I snapped my hand up taking the brunt of his peck on the palm of my glove instead of my head this time. “Seriously, little dude. One sample, and I’m out of here.”
“There you are. Chad said you were here. How are my babies?” Tory shouted. His voice was shrill and the watch bird immediately took off, running to the older man while makinghappy little grunting noises as if Tory were his mama and he was a chick. I shook my head as Tory fawned over the smelly bird. “There you are, sweet boy.”
“He used to call me that, but now he saves all his pet names for those damn birds. I regret ever agreeing to buy this farm,” Chad said as he joined me. “So, what do you think?”
“Have you ever thought about counseling?” I shouldn’t have said that, but thankfully, Chad only chuckled.
“Funny, your father said the same thing while your mother sided with Tory.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t surprise me.” Another one of the curious birds pecked at me and I stuck my arm up to stop him from nicking my face. “As to what’s wrong with them… judging by the smell and color of their stools, I’d say that it’s an infection of some sort, but I want to get a few samples from the ones who are noticeably sick to be sure.” I managed to step over a particularly stinky pile instead of stepping in it this time. “And we need to get the birds separated—sick and appearing healthy—until we can get this under control.”
