Say You'll Marry Me

She shook her head in exasperation. “No. I asked you first. If you can’t even answer that, then…maybe it’s best if we end this whole thing now. As soon as the farm is sold, you should go wherever it is you want to go.”

Saying the words made her eyes burn. She pushed away from the hay, desperate for some distance when he agreed that they were done.

Two steps later, he caught her arm and swung her back. Momentum propelled her up against his body; his arms held her there. A fierce, angry frown drew his dark eyebrows together—but then she noticed his eyes. Confusion and fear swirled in the sunlit golden-brown depths.

“This is me looking forward to seeing you each day. Wanting to call you first thing in the morning so I can hear your voice, your laugh. Searching for any moment I can steal alone with you because thoughts of your kisses tempt me all day long.” His frown deepened. “This is you under my skin, and it scares me to death.”

Her heart swelled in her chest, pounding hard from the gravelly emotion in his voice. She could see it had taken a lot for him to say those words. To bare his soul.

The reply forming in her head was wiped away when his mouth covered hers. Possessive. Demanding. As if he’d given himself, and now expected no less from her.

She readily gave everything she had in the kiss, reassured her feelings weren’t one sided. Her hands gripped his broad shoulders, but she soon traded the warmth of his flannel shirt against her palms for the soft texture of his hair between her fingers. He trailed kisses along the underside of her chin, the stubble on his jaw an erotic scrape against her sensitive skin.

“Let’s go inside,” she whispered when he opened the top snaps on her vest to get to her neck.

“The blanket is still up in the loft.”

“Even better.”

He spun them around and stutter-stepped her backward. At the ladder, he let loose a low groan and stepped back with a pained look of resignation. “I can’t be late for work. I have to load up the horses and leave for Milwaukee right after I’m done with chores.”

That’s right—he and Grandpa had talked last night about the delivery of a couple rehabbed rescue horses to their new home. Still…

Joy fisted her hand in his shirt and yanked him back to her. “We’ve got at least a half an hour. Plenty of time.” She felt for the bottom rung with her heel, hooked it, and pushed herself up a step. The added height put her an inch or so taller than him.

A smile curved his lips as he surveyed her new position. “Okay, I can make that work.”

She walked her fingers up his chest. “Play your cards right, and I’ll come with you.”

His gaze rose to hers, hot and sexy as he reached for her waist. “You’ll come with me all right.”

Heat flashed through her. “I meant to deliver the horses.”

/> “I didn’t.”

Her breath caught at the memory of how amazing he felt inside her. “How about both?”

“Deal.”

She popped the rest of the snaps on her vest and stripped it off. When she tossed it aside, Logan slid his hands up beneath her long-sleeved T-shirt, reached behind to unhook her bra, then lifted cotton and lace out of his way. Joy gripped the sides of the ladder as his mouth closed over the tip of one breast while his hand kneaded the other.

A pinch and nip at the same time sent molten hot sensation searing straight to her core. She gasped at the pleasure, and he did it again, and again, until she panted each breath, wild with need. Her inner muscles clenched hard, craving his possession.

She fumbled for the button of his jeans and slid the zipper down. His groan vibrated against her breast when she reached inside to wrap her fingers around his hot, hard flesh.

“Do you have anything with you?”

“Yes, but let’s go up—”

“No.” She stroked the length of him, up and down. “Right here. Right now.”

Her words elicited another guttural groan. Then he satisfied her demand, and kept his part of the deal.

As his body trapped hers against the ladder afterward while they caught their breath, Joy pressed her lips to his ear. “This is exactly what I want this to be.”

*

Joy finished her call and set the phone on the old oak kitchen table as she watched Logan pull a store-bought pizza from the olive green enamel oven that looked like it was from the seventies. “Grandpa was glad to know we’re back. He also watched the documentary today and is all for getting the music put on a player for Gram.”