Page 47 of From Rivals to I Do

When I thought I couldn’t fall for her any more, her words touch my heart. What a woman, I think to myself as I smile, and she continues to play with the piglets.

Eventually, I crawl in too, but unlike her, the pigs want nothing to do with me, which cracks her up. And by the time we climb out of the pig pen, we are both covered in hay and mud, her jeans especially dirty.

“I guess we will have to name you pigpen now, instead of pie girl,” I tease, and her giggle sends giggles up my spine as I help her up.

“You’re dirty too!”

“Yeah, but I like picking on you,” I say with a grin as she climbs through the bars and lets out a gasp when she loses her footing on the other side.

I dash forward and catch her, helping her back up when her eyes peer up at mine with such intensity I can feel myself catching on fire. She then slides her hand behind my neck, gently rubbing the nape of it as I pull her in closer, and our lips finally meet.

The kiss is nothing short of electrifying, and I can’t help but lean into it, deepening the kiss as we stand there in the barn all alone. I feel like a man possessed as I linger even longer, until we both pull back breathlessly.

“I’m sorry if that was too forward,” I say to her. But all she does is smile as she gets on her tip toes, kissing me again. I feel like my head is in the clouds, and if this is what I might feel for the rest of my life, this intense joy, then I don’t want to come down.

However, the moment is spoiled when something clammers behind us. I let go to look, only to see that Mitch is standing there picking up the feed buckets he’d dropped and eyeing the two of us, bandana still across his mouth.

I wonder if he’s getting sick, I think to myself. Or maybe the stalls just smelled worse today. . .

“I’m sorry if I’ve embarrassed you in front of your friend,” Darla says, and my eyes flicker back to her, a worried look on her face.

“No, of course not,” I say with a shake of my head. “How could I ever be embarrassed about someone seeing a pretty young thing like you on my arm?”

“I’m not that much younger than you!” Darla says with a snort, and we head out of the pig pens and back outside, where we spend the rest of the morning together.

We check out the cow barn, feed the chickens, and do some more riding until my watch goes off, and I feel the corners of my mouth tug into a frown. She’s got to go get some sleep to cover an overnight shift, and I’ve got chirping to get done. But I truly don’t want her to go.

We bring the horses back to the barn, and with every step toward the house, it feels like my legs are dragging. Anticipating her departure, and wanting to ask her to stay. But I know I can’t.I go into the house and glumly retrieve her candy and flowers and bring them back out to her, trying my best to keep up the happy smile I’ve had on my face all day.

“I believe these were yours,” I say as I hand them off to her.

“Thank you,” she says, and I realize that she looks a little sad too.

“The pleasure is all mine,” I say as I quickly grab her hand and kiss the top of it. “It’s been a lovely day.”

“It really has,” she says. “I can’t remember ever having a day so beautiful.”

“Me either,” I reply, and she gets up on her toes and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

“Sorry I couldn’t take you out for dinner,” I say.

“It’s alright, I’m glad we could at least do all of this,” she says. “Now I get to go home, shower, and nap before my overnight shift.”

“That doesn’t sound fun,” I say.

“Eh, it’s pretty quiet,” she replies with a shrug. “Though, I will miss my texting buddy.”

“Oh, your boyfriend’s not going to be awake?” I tease.

“Is that what he is?” Darla asks, and the question hits me hard.

Is that what we are now? Girlfriend and boyfriend?

Am I even ready for this?

“Yeah,” I say, pushing all my doubts away. I know how I feel about her, and I’m not going to let Mitch, or my past, get in the way of it. I haven’t been this happy in a long, long time. And I’m going to lean into it. “That is, if she’ll have him.”

“She will,” she says, a bit low and sultry, her fingers gently grasping at mine as she looks up at me with a big grin on her face.

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