Page 12 of Spring Forward

I roll my eyes and shoot the man a glare. “You’re the one who contacted me, and you’ll be heading up the program here. Hence, boss.”

“Sounds like semantics to me,” he muses. He’s not wrong, but that doesn’t mean I’m not right. “I know you’re about to make some excuse to get up and head out to the barn.” When I open my mouth to tell him he’s wrong, or maybe he’s right, he shoots me a look that has me biting my lip and trying not to smile. “You’ve been putting in a lot of work and while I know I won’t be able to talk you into taking the whole day off, can I take you to lunch?”

My tone is suspicious, “Lunch?”

“Yeah,” he shrugs, the motion so casual it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, “just lunch. You gotta eat.”

“Lunch with you?”

He chuckles, the sound a low rumble that sends a shiver up my spine. “Yes, Freckles, with me. I’ll make some lunch and then I’ll show you my favorite spot on the ranch. We’ll eat.” I narrow my eyes, and he holds his hands up. “Just lunch. I promise.”

Even though my head is screaming at me to say no, the rest of me is louder. I swear my libido takes over before I can stop it. “Okay, lunch.”

The smile Noel shoots me is victorious. And then he’s gone so fast it’s almost like he’s afraid I’ll take it back. I would probably try, honestly.

As I get to work assessing Buttercup, I find it difficult to concentrate. It’s a damn good thing she is such a good horse and is willing to go along with me and not challenge me and what I’m asking her to do. How I get through the morning, I’m not sure, but I do.

When Noel walks up as I’m putting Buttercup back in her stall, I’m relieved to see him. I shouldn’t be. Avoiding him isbetter for me in the long run, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about having the chance to hang out with him since he asked me to lunch.

“Ready to go?”

His dark eyes are so earnest, I almost can’t look at him directly. I bite my lip as uncertainty settles around me.

“Maybe this is a bad idea,” I hedge. “What about August?”

“He’s covered, Freckles. If you haven’t noticed,” he smirks at me and my knees go weak, “he has uncles and an aunt here who love him. They will take care of him, no questions asked.”

When he entangles his fingers with mine, I should pull away. But I don’t. He pulls me out of the barn and to an ATV with a large cooler strapped to the rack. The way he leads me over makes me think he’s afraid I’m going to run away.

But I won’t. I agreed to this. I’ll see it through.

Even if resisting this man will be the hardest thing I’ll ever do.

CHAPTER 6

NOEL

I can’t take my eyes off my woman. Out here, with the sun shining down on us, as we sit on the edge of a small lake on the property, she looks like she belongs. The way she soaks up the world around her makes me look at it all through new eyes.

Even though I missed home, especially special places like this on our land, while I was deployed, I’ve been wrapped up in my own head for a while and haven’t fully appreciated being back. Not the way she’s looking around and appreciating it now.

As she puts the lid on the container that had her sandwich in it, a sexy as fuck groan comes out of her and she leans back on her hands. “That was so good,” her words are full of appreciation and make me feel damn good.

I’ve always enjoyed cooking and loved learning next to my mom while growing up. Cooking for my family has always been satisfying, but this is something else entirely. I had no ideamaking food for my woman was going to make me feel the kind of warmth I feel right now.

“You’re beautiful,” I blurt without meaning to let the words escape.

The blush that rises up Delaney’s neck and to her cheeks is so fucking sweet. It’s not like I haven’t been listening to her about why nothing can happen between us. I heard her, but I just can’t stand by and allow her to push this thing between us away.

We’ll both regret it if I let it happen.

“Noel,” she sighs, “you can’t say things like that to me.”

“Does it make you uncomfortable?”

“Yes,” her blush deepens.

“Does it make you uncomfortable in a ‘wow, this guy is creepy kind of way’ or is it in a ‘I don’t think I can keep my hands off him any longer’ kind of way?”

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