Page 33 of Cabins Cows Critics
“Eccentricities?” he asks with a raised brow.
“Yeah, I mean, you kind of saw how much I like to be…handled in the bedroom,” I say, pulling him to me, his body fitting perfectly against mine.
“I did notice that. In case you didn’t notice, I liked handling you, too.”
“This is nice,” I say, and he smiles up at me, big eyes gleaming in the moonlight.
“The moon is so big out here. You hardly see it past the smog in the city,” he says, tilting his head back to look up at it.
“Not the moon. This. Talking to you, sharing…things we like.”
“Oh,” he says, smirking with a devilish grin. I cup his face with my hand, the pad of my thumb brushing lightly over his bottom lip.
“Can I kiss you?”
“Anytime you like.”
I close the gap between us, his warm, soft lips pressing against mine, and all the stress and worry and fear weighing me down lifts, and there is just him and me under a moonlit sky.
Chapter fourteen
Hayden
WHEN IT JUST FEELS RIGHT
Icouldtellthemoment I saw him slowly trudging toward his cabin, kicking the gravel with the toe of his cowboy boots, that something was wrong. His normally enthusiastic grin was missing, replaced by a frown and downturned mouth. For a split second, I thought about leaving before he spotted me, but the thought didn’t sit right in my gut. I just couldn’t walk away with him looking so lost.
I didn’t press for details, just walked quietly with him around the property, holding his arm as the sounds of the ranch echoed around us. Solar lights hung from the trees that line the crushed quartz walkways, illuminating them in a warm glow.
“Do you want to come in?” Connor asks, taking a step toward his cabin door. I really want to. I’m hard just from the feel of his mouth on mine, but a few minutes ago, he was talking about being alone, and while I can relate, I have this nagging feelingthat whatever would happen in there tonight would be more about that feeling and not about us.
“How about we talk for a bit,” I say instead, and he takes a measured breath, smiles, and leads me over to the tree opposite his cabin. It’s about twice the size of the ones that line the path and has giant roots that weave around its base like interlaced fingers. He sits in the well of two roots and gently guides me to sit between his legs.
I lean back against his warm chest, heartbeats coming slow and steady, and as his large arms wrap around me, I let my head loll back and look up through the naked branches into the night sky.
“Do you want to tell me about your day?” I ask, and he sighs.
“I’d rather hear about your book. Did you get any more writing done today?”
“Actually, yes. I managed three more chapters. I swear this ranch must have magic powers.”
He chuckles, and the way it vibrates through me sends a swirl in my gut.
“I’d say this place is about as magical as any place in the world could be.”
“Oh, I also saw the fainting horse today.”
“Loki?”
“Yeah, weird name for a horse. But the way he just goes stiff like that. I thought only goats did that.”
“He’s gotten a lot better, if you can believe that.”
“Seriously?” I ask, thinking back to when Atlas took the Christmas Experience guests through the horse stables. Loki was one of the last horses in the stalls, and the second Atlas opened the door for him to come out, and he caught sight of us, his eyes went wide, and he went stiff, slowly falling to the side like he’d been shot.
Atlas assured us that he would be fine, just spooked easily since he’s deaf and doesn’t hear us coming.
“Yeah, I caught him the other week in the far paddock on his back with his legs up in the air, pumping them like he was running on air.”
