Page 28 of So That Happened
‘So you keep telling me.’
‘I call it like I see it.’
‘I’ve noticed.’ She let out a loud sigh, as if she’d run out of steam, her shoulders slumping.
He frowned, feeling her change in mood. Her fire had gone out. ‘You sure you’re okay?’
She gave him a pained smile. ‘I suspect I’ve not been entirely impressive since we met.’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Your tits are quite something.’
She crossed her arms and gave him a stern look. ‘You know, you’ve only been able to get away with saying things like that because you’re so big.’
He gave her a flattered smirk.
‘I’m talking about your immense height and build, not… you know…’ She nodded vaguely towards his crotch. The pink flush that appeared high on her cheeks made him grin.
‘You know, for someone with such an extensive vocabulary you’re woefully lacking in the dirty word department.’
She pulled her arms tighter across her body. ‘I can swear with the best of them.’
‘Sure you can.’
‘Are you challenging me?’ Tipping her chin up, she gave him that sexy rebellious stare that always made him hard.
Okay, that did it.
‘Come with me,’ he said, getting up and heading straight for the patio doors that led into the garden.
After a moment’s stunned silence, where he wondered whether he’d gone too far and blown it, he was relieved to hear the slap of her flip-flops on the path behind him as he strode – now with a bounce in his step – past the terrace towards the boundary of his land.
7
‘Where are we going?’ Josie panted behind him as she tried to keep up.
‘To the edge of nowhere.’
They reached the fence that bordered the farmhouse’s land a minute later. The sun was setting in the distance, bathing the landscape in a soft crimson glow. The lavender fields glowed cerise in the dissolving light.
Stopping to lean on the fence, Connor gazed around him, luxuriating in the last flush of heat that rose from the land.
‘What are we doing here?’ Josie asked beside him, sounding a little nervous.
He turned to look her dead in the eyes. ‘We’re emoting. It’s a trick I learned a while ago to help relieve stress.’
‘Seriously?’ She looked at him as if he was crazy.
‘Come on, Josie, show me what you’ve got.’
She raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘We are still talking about the same challenge, right?’
He smiled. ‘I want you to shout out as many swear words as you can think of. Loud as you like.’ He wanted to see that fire back in her eyes and he knew that the only way to do that was to get her to let go of the anxiety she was lugging about with her.
She gave him a perplexed frown. ‘Here?’
‘Yup.’
She side-eyed him, folding her arms across her chest. ‘I’d look like an idiot.’
