I broke down the safe room door, then slammed it shut behind me, just as the roar of a tornado barreled through the field outside. The furious wind didn’t die down for at least ten minutes.
Then, utter silence.
Even the rain stopped.
My eyes caught Celia’s. She pushed the wet hair out of her face, breathing heavily. She took one step toward me. I took a step toward her.
Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I grabbed her, pulling her as close to my body as I could. She wrapped her legs around my waist, her arms around my neck, and grabbed fistfuls of my hair. My mouth came down on hers in a punishing fury. I needed to get as close as possible to this woman. I needed her like I needed air. I sucked, and bit, and thrust my tongue into her mouth. She responded with a passion previously unseen when we were together.
I could not get enough of her. I wanted to thrust inside her and never leave.
A clearing of a throat brought me back to reality.
I reluctantly pulled away from the kiss and looked in the direction of the brave man who dared interrupt me.
The ranch hand looked like he was in middle school. And he was beet red. “Um, Mr. Mendota. Perhaps you’d like to….”
An older ranch hand slapped the back of his hand into the first one’s gut. “What he means to say is - get a room!”
They all chuckled and left us in the shelter.
Celia still clung to me like a monkey. I brushed her muddy hair back from her face with one hand. “You okay?”
She nodded, then let go, forcing me to set her back on her feet. She took a deep breath, then walloped me in the stomach. I was not expecting this maneuver, and she nearly knocked the breath out of me.
“You scared the bee-jeezus out of me, Flint!”
“Sorry,lalelei! I didn’t mean toalmostget struck by lighting,” I joked. My laughter died when I saw the tears in her eyes. I pulled her into a hug, stroking her hair and back. “I am sorry, Ceel. I didn’t mean to make you worry. I honestly thought I could get the calf back to the barn before the weather got worse. But you saved me. You saved us both. If you hadn’t knocked some sense into me after the lightning strike, I probably woulda’ been sucked up into the tornado.”
“Blown.”
I quirked an eyebrow. I know what I said. I was just seeing if she paid attention. Plus, there’s the added benefit of hearing the word “blown” come out of her mouth.
She slapped me on the arm again. “Dang it, Flint. Now is not the time.”
I grabbed her hips and pulled her closer. “I couldn’t think of a better time to appreciate being alive with a beautiful woman.”
She scoffed as she took in our appearance. “Adirtywoman and man - covered in muck and mud.”
Oh, she’s got Mr. Pecker’s attention now. “Well, there’s only one thing to do about that.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Lalelei, if we’redirty, we need to get clean,” I winked and tugged her out of the barn. “I think it’s high time we christened that walk-in shower in our guest room.”
Celia shook her head at me but allowed me to hold her hand on our walk up to the main house. She refused to get into a vehicle, saying it would only get dirtier with us in there.
She had no idea how true her words were.
