A stray thought sprang up.If girl chickens are hens, what are girl ducks?
I would have to ask Shelby. She would call me an idiot and I would want to kiss her again. I smiled, even though I was getting pelted in the face with rain.
I got to the big chicken house, which was what Shelby referred to it as. The wide door swung like a drunk picking fights at a bar, wildly and unpredictably. I got my hands on it and then it dragged me along with it, almost taking me out of my boots.
With a heave, I got the rebellious door under control and wrestled it closed. The latch fell into place with a solidclunkthat made me think it was good to go. I gave it a few tugs in different directions, and it didn’t budge at all.
Perfect. And Shelby doubted me.
A flying branch hit me in the face, reminding me to get back inside instead of standing out here gloating over shutting a door successfully. I could pat myself on the back once I was back in the safety of the house.
I trudged through the mud, which slurped at my boots greedily, trying to suck them off my feet. Every step took effort and more leaves and branches were zooming around me. I was no expert, but it felt like the storm was getting worse.
When I got back inside, I shut the front door behind me and slumped against it, taking a deep breath. “It is rough out there.”
Shelby stood up from the couch, hands clasped around her flashlight, which was pointing down instead of right in my face. “Are you okay?”
I appreciated she had asked about me first and not the birds. “All good, and the chickens and ducks are all locked up tight.”
Shelby came over and squeezed my hand. “Thank you for doing that.”
When she touched me, the control I’d been hanging onto earlier finally shattered. Not thinking about the consequences, I leaned down and kissed her.
Her lips were like heaven. Shelby tensed up at first, not sure what to do. Then she met my lips just as fiercely. I cupped her face with my hands, parting her lips with my tongue. She moaned into my mouth and I thought I might explode.
With great effort, I pulled back and ended the kiss. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
CHAPTER 15
SHELBY
My lips still tingled from the kiss. I glared up at Carter, not angry at him but angry at myself. “No,Ishouldn’t have done that.”
He nodded at me, eyes examining my face like he wasn’t sure how I would react. “Then we’re both in agreement,” he told me. “It was a great kiss but we can’t do it again.”
“Hey, I never said it was great,” I said, bristling.
Carter looked at me with a cocky smile. “You didn’t need to say it. We both felt it.”
I rolled my eyes and backed away from him. “All I felt was you dripping on me again.”
“Your credenza?”
“That too.” Now that the moment had passed, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. Running seemed like a good option, but I didn’t want him to see how rattled I was. It would feel like he’d won somehow, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.
“I should probably go,” Carter said, zipping up the front of his raincoat again.
“Probably, but you’re not leaving in this weather,” I said with a sigh. “Tyler’s truck won’t make it back to the main road. And I’m not going out to save you again.”
“Gee, thanks.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Hey, I’m offering you a place to stay for the night. If that’s not good enough, by all means, good luck out there.”
He held his palms up in surrender. “No, thank you for offering me a place to stay. I appreciate the hospitality. Your couch looks a heck of a lot more comfortable than sleeping on the side of the road in Tyler’s truck.” He smiled. “Probably smells better, too.”
“You don’t have to sleep on the couch,” I said, immediately realizing how that sounded. “I mean I have an extra bedroom upstairs.”
Carter shook his head and began taking off his raincoat. “Again, that’s kind of you, but it’s probably best if I stay down here.”
