I laughed. “Very biker.”
He shrugged. “I painted.”
“Fair point,” I conceded, tucking his mini pumpkin in the pocket on the front of my hoodie before leading him over to the bean bag toss. I handed him three pumpkin-shaped bags. “Bet you can’t get all of these in the hole.”
He smirked. “Watch me.”
Quickly proving me wrong, he didn’t miss once.
I narrowed my eyes and taunted. “Luck. Let’s see if you can do it again?”
He snagged the bags, and my jaw dropped with each bag that fell through one of the holes. After a baker’s dozen, I sighed. “Okay, you proved your point.”
He winked and tossed the last two pumpkins. When the final bag sailed in, a couple of teenage boys nearby whooped. One of them yelled, “Dude, you’re a beast!”
Ronan just shrugged and walked over to retrieve the bags. Handing them to me, he murmured, “Your turn.”
I held the record for the bag toss in my family, but with Ronan’s gray eyes on me, I only managed to sink two of the three bags.
“Nice job.”
I waved off his compliment, sorely tempted to try again and show him exactly how good I was, but I decided to take him over to the corn maze instead. We slipped in just as a big group was coming out, so the paths were mostly empty.
I started toward the first turn, but Ronan caught my wrist. “Blindfolded.”
I laughed. “What?”
“You know this place like the back of your hand. Gotta make it fair.” Before I could argue, he stepped behind me, covered my eyes with one big hand, and wrapped the other arm around my waist to guide me forward. “Walk.”
I could feel his chest against my back, his breath stirring my hair. Every step felt intimate, his body steering mine around corners I couldn’t see as he paused at each one to ask me which direction to go.
“You’re enjoying this way too much,” I teased.
“Best part of my day so far.”
The corn rustled around us, and for a few minutes, it was just us in our own little world until we emerged at the exit. Ronan dropped his hand but kept his arm around my waist.
A guy I grew up with from a neighboring farm walked over. “Hey, Clara! The festival looks great this year. You guys killed it.”
“Thanks.” I smiled politely. “How’s your patch doing?”
“Solid. We’ve got the biggest pumpkins in three counties.” He glanced at Ronan, sizing him up. “Hey, I’m Tyler.”
“Rebel.” Ronan’s arm tightened around me, just enough to make his claim clear. “I’m her man.”
Tyler blinked, then laughed. “Got it. See you guys around.”
He walked off, and I turned in Ronan’s arms. “Caveman much?”
“Just making sure he knows who you belong to.”
The possessiveness should’ve annoyed me. Instead, it lit me up from the inside. I tipped my head back, my voice soft but challenging. “And who do I belong to, Ronan?”
His eyes darkened to tarnished silver. “Me.”
I only had the heat simmering between us all week to blame for goading him into acting on the attraction between us beyond a kiss. “Prove it.”
He didn’t need more of an invitation than that.
