Page 35 of Charming the Cowboy
He didn’t say a thing, he just finished unhitching the horses, loading them into the trailer, and shutting the door, locking it.
They were alone, in the back of The Water Witch, no observers, no streetlights, even. It was dim, and yet, thanks to the full moon, she could see him.
The angles of his face, the glitter in his eyes as he assessed her.
She swallowed hard.
And then, he took a step toward her. She forgot to breathe.
And then she took a step back, her shoulders hitting the horse trailer. She looked up at him, and her heart was pounding so hard she thought she might faint.
It was destabilizing, and beautiful, and wonderful. She wanted to kiss him.
She wanted to touch him. For just a moment, she forgot why it was a bad idea. For just a moment, she didn’t feel cursed. Didn’t feel tethered to something heavy that belongs to her bloodline and not to her. Didn’t feel like a girl who had had about five intensely traumatizing experiences trying to lose her virginity.
She just felt like Eliana. Not a Sanderson, not someone existing in a broader context, but someone who only existed in this moment.
Would it be undignified to beg? She wasn’t actually sure if she cared. She wanted to get down on her knees and… Well, that would be different than begging for a kiss, she supposed, but she would do that too.
Then he reached out, and put his hand on her cheek, and she thought she was going to melt. The feel of his rough thumb against her skin. Oh…
She began to lean forward, eyes fluttering closed, and suddenly, there was a loud scream, and a loud crashing noise.
“What the hell?” He jerked his head back.
And then, four goats came running around the back of the store, bleating and moving in a panic formation, their cloven hooves making loud noises against the pavement as they galloped past Eliana and Cooper.
“They must be from the petting zoo,” Eliana said.
And then, two more goats followed behind them, along with a donkey who had a witch hat that had fallen down around its chin, flopping in an undignified manner as it trotted back through the parking lot.
Cooper let out a long sigh. “I guess we’d better chase the animals.”
“Well, we should be able to use a bridle and lead rope that you have, and retrofit it, and then we can load them into the back of the truck?”
He sighed heavily. “I guess we’ll have to.”
She didn’t want to say anything, but she knew why this had happened. It was the curse. She wasn’t allowed to kiss him. And this was a minor expression of the curse. Really, as the curse went, this was fine. It wasn’t even that big of a deal. He hadn’t been struck by lightning, after all.
It was just… Roaming farm animals.
But it was yet another sign that she wasn’t going to get… Anything. From anyone. Ever.
“I’ll unhook the truck from the horse trailer. Get in.”
They loaded up in his truck, and then they went on a scavenger hunt for farm animals. They weren’t the only ones. Half the town was driving slowly down the street in pickup trucks, looking for errant donkeys, pigs, and goats. There was also a mini horse, but he was standing in the corral still,contentedly chewing on a carrot, and completely unbothered by the mass exodus the other animals had made.
Lara, who ran the museum up by the lighthouse, was standing on the sidewalk holding what looked like a leash. “What happened?” Eliana called across Cooper as he pulled up next to her.
“There was a kid who opened up the corral. And all the animals thought they were living Shawshank Redemption.”
Eliana had a feeling she knew exactly which child had done that. “Great. How many animals escaped?”
Lara frowned. “A lot.”
“Well. We’ll try to help.”
And help they did. They managed to collect four goats and get them back to the corral. And by the time all of the animals had been collected, everyone in town was sweaty, exhausted, and mad.
