Desire’s clawing at me from the inside like a beast that’s been caged too long.And if I’m being honest, I’m not sure I want to fight it anymore.
When I see her start toward me—hair tossing in the wind, those big, brown eyes locked on me like I’m something she’s decided on—I lose it.
I don’t think.
I move.
By the time the truck door slams behind me, I’m already halfway to her.
My boots hit gravel, heart pounding like thunder in my ears.
She calls out, “Sawyer!You’re back,” and her voice hits me somewhere deep.
But delight flickers into confusion when I reach her—when my hand finds her arm and I pull her close, guiding her away from the truck, away from curious eyes, away from Benji, Micah, Rooster and all the other guys who don’t need to see this.
“What are you doing?”she gasps, stumbling a little as I lead her toward the shed.
But she doesn’t pull away.
God help me, she doesn’t pull away.
I yank open the feed shed door and step inside, pulling her with me.The door slams shut, the sound echoing through the small space like a shot.
The air smells of hay and cedar oil, warm and earthy.Dust motes swirl in the thin beams of sunlight slicing through the slats.
It’s quiet—too quiet—and it feels like the walls are closing in, trapping every ounce of want between us.
I spin to face her.My pulse is pounding, breath uneven, every muscle strung tight like I’m back on a mission where one wrong move could blow everything apart.
“Tell me I’m not crazy,” I rasp, voice rough enough to scrape.“Tell me you feel this too.”
She stares up at me, wide-eyed, chest rising fast.For a heartbeat, I think she’s going to bolt.
Then I see it—something flickering in her eyes.Relief.Want.
She steps closer, slow and sure, like she’s approaching a wild thing she doesn’t want to spook.
“I don’t know if you’re crazy,” she whispers, voice trembling just enough to ruin me, “but if you are, then so am I.”
My breath catches.“What?”
She swallows hard.“I feel it too, Sawyer,” she says, every word a soft tremor that sinks right into my bones.“I feel it, and I want it.”
And that’s all it takes.
Every ounce of restraint I’ve been hanging onto snaps like overstretched wire.
She moves, I move—like magnets drawn together—and before I can think better of it, I’ve got her caged between my hands and the wall, my mouth hovering just inches from hers, breathing her in.
Strawberries.Wildflowers.Trouble.
My Lil Bit.
And when she finally closes that last inch, when her lips touch mine, it’s not gentle.It’s fire and surrender and a promise I’ve been holding back since the second she stepped onto my land.
I’m gone.Completely gone.
I groan, the sound ripped from somewhere low and primal, and finally—finally—our mouths meet.
