Page 39 of Harvest Moon

I didn’t really think about it much, unless Alexis’s dad was going on one of his rants, his voice thicker with his accent when he was mad, or at times like this, when I could imagine Alexis Mena some place real old, with bright, unfiltered sunlight and blue oceans all around.

If things had been perfect, I could’ve taken him some place like that—Greece, or at least down to the coast of Florida. Maybe we could’ve even gone on a cruise.

But I couldn’t take him anywhere. Hell, I could barely even take him out to dinner, and only that because the Hills paid well for my work and I was hard set on paying the minimum on my student loans because I was pissed about them.

I’d always imagined that was why Alexis’s ma settled for his pa—he was a man from another country, with an accent that didn’t fit at all in rural Virginia. That alone made him an adventure, but when she found out he was just like all the other simple folk she’d grown up with, it’d broken her heart.

In me, she saw him, but I didn’t even have an exotic accent—only the same old way of speaking she’d always hated. At least Alexis never seemed to mind.

For a while, we picked apples in silence, breathing in the sweet honeyed scent of apples that’d fallen to the ground, their skins split to let their juices sink into the dirt. We filled up the basket between us. I wasn’t sure what to say. It’d never been a problem before, that I didn’t like talking much. Alexis told me plenty, or if he wanted me to say something, he’d ask and I’d know how to answer.

Before, it’d always been easy. I was starting to realize that was because I’d let Alexis do all the work. He’d been there, had smiled at me, and now that he wasn’t in the mood to talk, I felt lost.

“So the place I went to school, they had this big veterinary program. First year, my roommate tried to convince me that, you know, since I’m basically a wolf, I should’ve signed up for trials. Brought in a little cash, or...” Or really, the guy just thought it was funny. We hadn’t gotten along perfectly. He stayed up too late, loudly munching potato chips, and by the second semester, that’d driven me up the wall way more than it should’ve.

I looked down, and Alexis had his lips pursed like he wanted to go back and yell at the guy.

“He thought it was funny.”

“It isn’t,” Alexis said coldly.

“Well, no. But I was talking about the vet school. Right off the highway, they had this big field of horses. I really liked them. It’s nice the Hills have a couple, you know? And the goats are cute.”

Alexis paused in his picking and stared at me. “Yeah. They’re cute.”

“And Banjo. He’s settling in okay. He likes to stick to the barn, but I think he might be on the hunt. Like maybe there’s a raccoon up in the hay back where they keep that?”

“That’s nice.”

He turned back to the branches, so I did too. “Well, yeah. I just hope he doesn’t get himself hurt.”

Alexis’s lips turned up and he looked at me from the corners of his eyes. “I’m pretty sure Banjo can take care of himself.”

“Doesn’t stop a man from worrying.”

He rolled his eyes. “Sure, worry about the cat.” He tipped his head back, pointed a finger up to higher branches. “Those up there look good.”

There was only one way to get at them too. “Well, I suppose you’ll need a boost.”

A minute later, I was on my knees in the grass, crouching so Alexis could climb onto my shoulders. It was awkward, but we managed, and with hardly a kick to my ribs on the way up.

With him sitting on my shoulders, I held his shins so his calves pressed firmly into my chest. His legs were warm through his jeans, firm with muscle. The way his ankles pressed against me, he seemed confident in his seat, almost like he trusted me again.

Then, I staggered to my feet. Alexis hissed, clinging to my head, but we were soon steady. With me holding fast to his legs, he strained to reach apples in higher branches, collecting them in the bowl of his shirt since neither one of us had the forethought to pick up the heavy basket of apples before he climbed up there.

Grabbing it now would’ve landed one or both of us in the hospital.

Pressed against the back of my neck, the insides of his thighs were warm. He smelled good, like home and fresh-turned soil and all the sweet spices in carrot cake and—

Mine. He smells like mine, the wolf in my head provided when I couldn’t come up with the words. That beast inside reared up, possessive and hungry, as I thought about the warmth between Alexis’s legs.

I couldn’t help but turn my cheek, pressing against the inside of his knee for a closer sniff. But with any luck, he was too distracted with the apples to pay much mind to me.

“I think I’ve got enough,” Alexis said after he picked a few more.

Getting him down was rough. I ended up on my hands and knees so he could shuffle over my head without dropping all the apples.

He dropped them carefully into the basket while I got off the ground and wiped my hands off on my jeans. Even after I’d stood up again, he was staring down into the basket.

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