Page 39 of Butter You Up
The counter gives me a few more inches, but I’m still not level with him. I wrap my calves around his thighs and pull him closer. One of his hands drops to my bare thigh, and he squeezes the muscle under his palm and increases our pace, more urgent and less careful now.
I like this Alex, the one that doesn’t have to be a gentle giant. He’s careful in everything he does, from petting baby goats to measuring his words, but right now, I feel all that control slipping. It comes for me in a tightening grip and teeth and?—
There’s a knock on the window, and we rip apart, turning our heads to see who’s caught us.
Kit stands in the window, one hand shading his eyes as he peers in and his gaped mouth morphing into a knowing smirk.
He pulls back, pointing at us with both hands and mouthing something.
“What’d he say?” I ask.
Alex sighs. “I told you so. And now he’s going to dance.”
Kit pumps his hands and swivels his hips, repeating those words over and over again.
Then he shifts, and I cock my head. “Is that the Fresh Prince ‘Jump on It’ dance?”
“Yup. A favorite. Wait for it…”
Kit only gets two rounds of hip thrusting and cowboying done before he starts something definitely not suitable for young audiences.
I feel Alex’s laugh all over—in my knees still pressed to his side and my palms on his chest. I want more and bury my face in the soft cotton of his shirt.
This causes Alex to shout, “Kit! You’re embarrassing her.”
A moment later, the door opens, and Kit says, “Awe, I was just teasing.”
I turn my head toward him so he can see that I’m laughing. His concern vanishes from his face.
“Is there a reason you came down?” Alex asks.
“One of the goats got loose again. Can we steal Trixie? And maybe you too?”
“Yeah.”
Kit winks at me before turning around and walking out the door, giving Alex and me a moment alone. Trixie follows him out.
Before he moves, Alex plants a kiss on my forehead. It’s tender and sweet, and he reaches up to smooth my hair back, too. I could melt right here and be happy.
“Get some good sleep,” he says. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”
I nod, sure that every chance I get to see him, we’ll be doing some more kissing.
CHAPTER23
ALEX
I findMolly at least once a day, and I think she does the same. Jesús walks in on us kissing in my office before the farm shop opens on Friday morning. I go to Bedd Fellows Farms an hour early on Saturday to help them set up the strawberry picking, and with my help, Molly has time to sneak away for a few more kisses behind Baabara’s shed before I go.
Sunday, I walk her home after dinner with my family, and we make out against the side of Vaniel until I’m so hard it hurts, and Kit yells for me to drive him home.
Then Molly gets her Monday off, and I don’t see her all day. Tuesday morning is a comedy of errors, with chickens getting loose, Perry accidentally dropping a crate of milk bottles—empty, thank god—and one of the robots malfunctioning for half an hour while I have hundreds of milkers getting impatient. Finally, Kitallowsme to bring lunch down to Molly, but only because I think he feels sorry for me.
“I had an idea,” Molly says after demolishing a plate of Anna’s tamales.
Hm. It sounds like that’s a distraction from kissing. I must make a disgruntled noise because Molly grins and leans over the counter to give me a quick kiss. Then she pulls out her phone. “I’ve been following some other farms on Instagram, and I was thinking about all the stuff that’s happening at the strawberry picking. Look what I found.”
She turns her phone, and I watch a video of a young calf toddling along a green, expansive lawn. It’s got a halter on, and what looks like university students keep coming up to hug and pet it.
