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Between her sweet, floral perfume and the sugar honey taste of her lip balm, Scarlett tasted like summer rain and freshly made scones.
Stars swam behind his eyes. His body betrayed him, and she slipped from his arms. Her feet landed in the grass. She didn’t immediately pull away from him, but she didn’t lean into him either. It was more like she lingered.
They lingered with each other.
A squirrel skittered up the bark of a different tree and Scarlett flinched. Her eyes flew open and she tore away from him—not just out of his arms but halfway across the pasture before he’d realized what had just happened.
Scarlett’s retreating silhouette leaped over the fence and took off toward the barn. He wasn’t certain, but it even looked like she didn’t give him a second glance.
Had she seriously just kissed him to get out of being dumped into the creek he stood beside?
Elijah couldn’t decide whether he was impressed or irate that he’d allowed her to distract him so easily. She couldn’t have known that he’d had a small crush on her. Not even Annabel knew that about him.
No one did.
He dragged a hand down his face and let out a breath, allowing himself to return to that moment when she’d given herself to him.
Heart frozen.
Breath stolen.
He’d lost everything about himself in those few seconds, and a small part of him wanted to believe that she felt even a small degree of it, too.
His focus shifted in the direction that she’d escaped, though she wasn’t visible any longer, and all at once the reality crashed down on him. It wouldn’t matter if she felt even a smidge of what he’d just experienced. She was off-limits for several reasons. The least of which was that she was Annabel’s best friend.
He didn’t even want to think about the fact that her father was selling the farm out from under her.
There was only one thing he knew for certain.
He’d need to keep his distance if he wanted to survive the harvest season.
12
Scarlett
Scarlett made it to the back of the house and threw her body against it. Her heart pounded like she’d run a marathon.
Okay, perhaps she had.
But what else was she supposed to do after kissing Elijah?
She shut her eyes, the embarrassment washing over her in a downpour. Why had she done that? There was no reason to. She had no interest in him. She’d thought she liked Lucas. At least he seemed to like her more than Elijah did.
Scarlett’s head thudded against the side of the house. That kiss had been a terrible mistake. He’d hated her before, and now she’d handed over more reasons for him to continue his resentment. Something told her that Elijah wasn’t the kind of guy who would tolerate a person throwing themselves at someone, no matter the reason.
She blew out a frustrated breath, willing her heart to slow down so she could regroup and figure out how to tell him she was sorry. When she’d splashed him with the water, she hadn’t expected him to chase her all the way to the pasture. Nor did she expect that he’d been willing to wait for her to get down.
Then there was the matter of that kiss.
Pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes, she groaned. It had all happened too fast.
The worst part was how much she’d enjoyed being in his arms. From the way he’d scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder all the way until… that kiss.
Heat spread from her midsection out to her extremities despite the chill from the still-wet mud that clung to her clothes. She lifted her fingertips to her lips, and beneath them a smile formed. Their kiss had been… unexpected. It had awoken something within her—similar to what she’d felt when she knew she needed to come back home.
Scarlett tore her hand from her lips and shook her head, but it did nothing to clear it. Their kiss did nothing to change the fact that Elijah still hated her. This would simply be one experience they’d both look back on with regret.
She pulled away from the house and hurried toward the back door. If she was quick, she might be able to pass by her father unnoticed on her way to the stairs so she could shower. There was still a lot of work to get done today. All of the animals needed to be fed, and she wanted to check on a few things in the barn and corrals—a lot of the smaller things could have been completed by now if she hadn’t had her run-in with Elijah.
