Page 23 of Undone

She walked over and reached out tentatively. Agatha stayed still but flicked her tail, causing Zoe to freeze.

“It’s okay. She’s happy to meet you, that’s all,” I said.

Zoe finally got close enough to touch Agatha and the moment her hand connected, a smile lit up her face.

“She’sperfect.”

“Yeah, she is,” I replied, trying not to stare at Zoe’s pretty face while she petted the foal. “Why don’t we walk around a bit?”

We started off together, side by side, with Agatha a few steps behind us. The movement got the foal excited, and she kicked up her heels a few times. I threw a nervous glance at Zoe but she laughed.

“This is just the first step,” I explained. “Once you feel okay about being close to Agatha, we’ll move one size up, to a slightly bigger horse, and then keep going until we get to Indigo. You okay with that?”

Zoe nodded. “If we take it slowly, sure. As long as I can get the photos before I have to submit my portfolio for school, I should be fine.”

“If you do as well with the rest of my team as you’re doing with Agatha here, I think it’s gonna go fast. I’m going to let her off the lead now so she can run, if that’s okay with you.”

Zoe nodded and we watched the foal work to keep her legs ahead of her spirit. After a few minutes of silence, she spun to face me.

“Why are you doing all of this?” she asked in a sharp voice, her forehead furrowed. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

The change in her demeanor made me jerk back. “Whywouldn’tI be nice to you?”

“You have to stop,” she fumed, suddenly angry in a way I didn’t understand. “It’s making me confused.”

“Um…I’mconfused. I have no idea what’s going on, Zoe.”

“Josh, you’re giving me mixed messages! Helping me with this horse stuff, rescuing me on the trail…kissingme! I’m starting to have feelings for you again, and we both know you think of me like a sister and nothing more.”

A little spark of hope lit up inside at her confession despite my confusion. “Sister? What are you talking about?”

“I heard what you said to that hand the day after I first got here, about considering me your sister,” she shot back.

I remembered the brief conversation with Dustin in my office. “That? I don’t want Dustin knowing my business. He’s nosy as hell and he likes to gossip, so I keep my private life to myself.” I paused and leveled my gaze on her flashing eyes. “Believe me, my feelings for you are definitely not brotherly. I kept trying to fight it off. Obviously, it wasn’t working because I couldn’t resist kissing you after the ride. And the other night about killed me. Dancing with you, Zo…it felt so good having you in my arms. It took everything in my power not to have my way with you right there on the dance floor.”

Zoe finally smiled as her cheeks went pink at my words.

“And it’s happening again,” I said in a low voice. “I’m standing here having a normal conversation with you, but in my head, I’m kissing you. Over and over again.”

She took a step closer to me. “Is that a fact?”

I nodded and swallowed hard. Everything came down to what happened next.

“So it’s okay if I do…this?” Zoe asked as she raised onto her tiptoes and stared into my eyes. She moved closer to me one agonizing inch at a time, then pressed her lips to mine. She pulled away before I could lean into the kiss.

“No, that’s not okay,” I said in a whisper. “Because when you kiss me, you need to do it likethis.”

I moved to her quickly, sliding one hand around her waist and using the other to cradle the back of her head, turning her face up to mine. Zoe let out a surprised gasp before I dropped my mouth to hers and kissed her the way I used to.

The memories came flooding back to me. The softness of her hair, the way her body molded against mine as we kissed like we were magnetized, her delicious blackberry scent…it was as if no time had passed and we were two teens in love with nothing holding us back.

She grasped the sides of my face gently, like she didn’t want me to slip away. But there was no way that was going to happen again. I let my tongue graze her lips, and she parted her mouth to meet it.

God, I wanted her. Every inch of her. I let my hands race along her back, then down to her ass, cupping it and pulling her closer so that she was pressed up against me. I felt the urgent tension of my cock straining against my jeans and suspected I’d have a seam mark on my shaft later. She had that effect on me, with just a simple kiss turning me into a horny teenager again.

Her tongue was doing things to me. Primal, lose-all-self-control things. I was seconds away from picking her up and walking her to the barn where I could strip her down and do all of the things I’d been imagining when Agatha raced by and let out an accusatory whinny. We jumped apart, and I breathed a slow sigh.

“What are we doing?” Zoe asked, looking around the field in a panic. “Anyone could walk up and catch us. That wouldn’t look good if you’re trying to avoid anyone knowing your personal business.”

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