But I don’t.
If anything, it makes me want her more. It makes me want to lay her down on one of these old hay bales and see if she tastes sweet everywhere else too. See if I can make her moan. Make her beg for more. See if I can undo her just as she’s undone me.
When my fingers touch the edge of her bra, she wrenches her mouth from mine, and the cold that hits me is so sharp it knocks my breath from my lungs.
Or maybe that was Odette too.
“Wait,” she says on a gasp. “Wait, wait, wait.”
I stop, not moving another inch as I rest my forehead against hers.
“I just . . .”
But she doesn’t say anything else, and I don’t say anything either.
I don’t know whattosay, even if I could talk, which I don’t think I can. I can hardly breathe, let alone string together a full sentence.
I’m not sure how long we stand like that, but it’s long enough that I realize she’s shaking.
No,trembling.
I wish I could say it’s all from the rain and the cold, but it’s not. I know it’s not. Because I’m shaking, too, and it’s with nothing but absolute need.
“Are you ...” I slide my tongue over my lips. They taste like her. “Are you okay?”
She bobs her head up and down at first, then it slowly shifts left and right.
Fuck.
I’ve pushed her too far. I’ve taken advantage of her. I shouldn’t have kissed her. Shouldn’t have touched her. And I really shouldn’t want to do it all over again.
“Listen, I’m—”
“No,” she says, pulling back and putting distance between us—too much distance.
She’s backing away. Farther and farther, still shaking her head.
I take a step toward her. “Odette?”
“I’m sorry.”
It’s all she says before turning on her heel and doing the last thing I expect.
She runs.
I didn’t sleep for shit last night. I tossed and turned, waking up every half hour or so until I finally just got out of bed.
I was up so early that I was already sitting on the porch with coffee in my hand when Tootsie waddled down the driveway, looking for food.
I have no idea how she escaped the shed I put her in last night, but of course she did. They should have named her Houdini instead.
“Ha. Beat you to it today,” I say as she comes and pecks at my boots.
Cluck.
“Yeah, I know. I’m surprised I’m up first too.”
Cluck.
