I angled my head back, his lips only an inch away from mine. “You want me to take it?!”
“You wanted to be reckless, right?”
I looked into those navy eyes and found myself falling a little further. I clenched my teeth and turned my head, distracting myself with stealing the cute little bunny flag for some kid I didn’t know.
I tiptoed one foot onto the bottom stair and reached my arm up, feeling all the muscles in my body protest with the strain.
“Shorty,” Emmett whispered just loud enough for me to hear.
I shot him a glare, and he silently laughed, causing a small smile to slip onto my face.
My foot went up another step, and I was able to get my hands on the silky material. I pulled the flag upright, and then my eyes opened wide as my foot caved inside the porch step. I yelped due to the pain I’d felt in my leg.
“Oh shit,” Emmett groaned.
Before I could even say anything, he was right there beside me, pulling me up by my biceps. My head snapped up to the small house when a light flipped on.
I gasped. “Oh my God. We gotta go!”
Emmett pulled me up the rest of the way and moved me to the ground.
“Who’s out there?” A loud, gruffy voice boomed.
I wanted to scream with fear, but Emmett interrupted me.
“Fallon, run.”
My breath caught in my chest as I turned to run, but I froze. The bunny flag!
I spun around quickly, slipping slightly in the mud—again—and ran up to the gaping hole in the porch step. The flag was lying right beside it. I hurriedly snatched it up and then took off. I saw a proud look appearing on Emmett’s face as I passed him.
“I’ve got a gun, you hooligans!”
“A gun?!” I cried, glancing over at Emmett.
“Keep running,” he said, pulling on my free hand.
I was barely keeping up with his pace. He was fast, and I would have been too, but my damn boots kept causing me to fall like I was on a freaking slip-and-slide. This is the last time I wear a pair of boots because they’re cute! There’s no traction!
“Ouch!” I yelled, tripping over something sharp. Whatever the sharp thing was that caught on my jeans sliced right through the fabric and sliced my skin. “Emmett!”
“What’s wrong? Where does it hurt?” Emmett bent down beside me, crouching on the ground.
“My leg,” I hissed. I tried to pull at it, but it ended up poking my fingers, too.
“Stop. Let me do it.” Emmett’s voice came out in a soft whisper. I slowly lifted my butt up and pulled out my phone, turning on the flashlight. My throat closed when I pointed the bright beam down and saw a silver-colored strand of barbed wire caught on my jeans. Blood was trickling from my leg. “Angle the light right here, babe,” he said quietly. It took him no time at all to unhook the barbed wire from my jeans and pull my leg free. It didn’t even hurt.
I glanced up at him, the flashlight still in my hand and shining light on my injured leg. “Thanks.”
He smiled lovingly, and even though we were in the middle of some desolate hayfield—my leg bleeding, critters making all kinds of chatter around us, and a stupid bunny flag clutched in my hand—it was the perfect moment to be in. Emmett leaned his angular face in, his beanie half off his head, and wrapped his arm around my torso, pulling me closer to him. Heat emitted from our bodies, blocking out the cool night air, and he leaned in and kissed me softly. Intimately. His tongue wheedled its way into my mouth and stroked me so slowly that I felt like I was lost. Butterflies fluttered their wings gently in my stomach, and my heart felt as if it were blooming inside my chest.
Nothing mattered, in that moment, other than being with him.
It didn’t matter where we were.
It didn’t matter that some crazy guy who loved bunnies was currently yelling at us in the distance.
All that mattered was the way my heart was beating for him.