Page 58 of Whispered Promises

My head tips to the side automatically, providing more access for…for him.

I exhale heavily. “Yes,” I whisper, unsure if I’m trying to encourage him to place his lips on me or agreeing to being flustered.

“Good.” The word skates down my spine, and I shiver at the phantom touch. But to my disappointment, Max takes a step back, then grabs the full wheelbarrow and pushes it out of the stable.

What was that?

My body is still stuck immobile, staring at where he just disappeared. Exhaling loudly, I try to shake off the current of need running through me and get myself together.

“It’s just a bit of harmless flirting. He doesn’t mean anything by it,” I grumble, then shuffle to the next stable to pick up the empty bucket in there.

I take it back.

Having Max help me isn’t helpful. At all. In fact, it should be illegal. It’s pure torture. I’ve no idea what’s got into him, but somehow, he’s ramped up the flirting and it has me perspiring. I didn’t even imagine he could get any flirtier, but he has. I shouldn’t like it, but I do.

I’m dating Nate.

Not Max.

Nate.

Glancing up again, I watch the muscles in his back contract under his T-shirt as he loads up the shovel and flings the contents into the barrow beside us. It’s embarrassing how slow I’m being at this, but he’s so distracting. All those well-defined muscles… I want him to smother me with them.

“I can feel you ogling me, you know,” he quips suddenly, startling me from my thoughts.

I rip my gaze from his torso, and my cheeks burn. He’s looking over his shoulder at me, laughter creasing his face.

“What? I was not. I was just watching to make sure you’re doing it properly,” I grumble, feeling itchy from being caught doing something I shouldn’t. Shoving the fork back into the ground, I scoop up another pile—badly—and throw it into the barrow. My offerings are meagre compared to his.

“You’re checking to make sure I can shovel up horse shit and put it into a barrow?” He sounds incredulous.

I sputter because he’s right. I’m being ridiculous, and we both know it. Still, I’m unable to admit what I was really doing.

“Yes. And you’re doing great, so we can both move on and keep working,” I huff as I internally roll my eyes at myself.

His snigger is loud, but I refuse to acknowledge it as I move on to another pile.

“You’re cute when flustered.”

“Yes, well, you’re not when you’re frustrating.” I pout, feeling the heat from my cheeks travel down my neck.

His lips roll in, and his eyes twinkle, but he turns back and scoops another forkful of manure.

We finish the rest of the field with me silent and Max humming away to different songs I can’t quite figure out the names of. But it’s nice, not quite a silence that I feel the need to fill, but similar to having relaxing music playing in the background.

As we walk back up the field together, Max pushing the full barrow, he breaks the silence between us. “If you could have one whole day with no one else on the planet and the opportunity to do whatever you want, what would you do?

I frown in thought. “Are we talking about humans or all life forms?”

“Humans.”

“Okay, and am I capable of instant teleportation, or do I have to take into consideration getting from point A to B?” I enquire, my brain jumping through all the different options and ideas.

“Um. Instant?”

Why is he unsure? How can he expect me to make a decision without all the facts? It’s such an open-ended question that I need to know what the limits are to be able to decide. Only one day is a lot of pressure to make a decision on.

“Well, if there are no humans, that removes the option of being able to eat at restaurants, as there wouldn't be anyone to cook the food…” I think out loud, mentally striking out some of the options.