One Unforgettable Kiss. A.C. Arthur

      That’s how Garrek ended up walking about fifteen feet from the main house and around the side of a huge barn. It was already getting dark, but he moved about, ignoring the sound of whichever animals were kept on this farm. He found her when he rounded the last corner that would have taken him into a complete circle. She was loading the back of a pickup truck with heavy-looking boxes, bending over so that he once again had an unfettered view of her shapely bottom.

      “Here, let me do that,” he said, coming up behind her and attempting to take the box she’d just lifted.

      “What? Oh, no. I have it.” She held on to the box.

      He pulled on his end. “I said I’ll do it for you. These are heavy.”

      She huffed and gave another tug. “I can handle it. It’s my job, and I don’t need any help.”

      Garrek did not move, but held her irritated gaze. “There’s no need for us to argue. I’m just trying to be nice.”

      “I don’t need you to be nice to me. I’m perfectly capable of moving out of the way when a truck speeds toward me. And I’ve been lifting heavy boxes on construction sites since I was ten years old,” she said and tugged on the box once more. “And furthermore, I’m also perfectly capable of getting my own date! Thank you very much!”

      At those last words, Garrek let go of the box. Apparently she wasn’t holding on as tightly as he’d thought, because his actions forced her back a step until she hit the edge of the open truck bed. The box slipped from her hands and fell to the ground with a thump.

      “What did you just say?” he asked.

      She was slightly winded, her chest moving up and down quickly, strands of hair that had been pulled back when he approached now touching the sides of her face.

      “I...I, um, I said I don’t need your help with the boxes,” she told him.

      Garrek took a step closer to her. He should have been moving in the other direction. In fact, he shouldn’t have come out here in the first place. It was apparent that she was just fine. She’d looked more than fine when she’d walked away from him earlier today. She’d looked stubborn, independent and beautiful.

      “No, the other thing you said,” he stated, his voice going lower.

      She licked her lips, and Garrek bit back a moan.

      “I already thanked you for saving my life,” she said. “You didn’t have to come all the way out here. Isn’t that like stalking?”

      He was closer now, so close that she tried to back up but ended up sitting on the edge of the truck bed. He moved quickly then, because if he gave himself one moment to think about what he was doing, he would turn and run as far as he could get from this farm. This was crazy and ridiculous. It was reckless and stupid in light of all he’d been through in the past few months. At the same time, Garrek knew that nothing short of lightning striking at that truck was going to stop what was about to happen.

      “You said something else,” he whispered. “About getting a date for yourself.”

      “I can,” she insisted and tried to scoot back farther onto the truck.

      Boxes already stacked in the truck bed hindered her progress, and Garrek pushed her knees apart to stand between them. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled so that she slid snugly up against him. Her hands slapped against his chest and she pushed at him. It was a light, unconvincing push; otherwise he would have been forced to back away.

      “I didn’t need you to pay to go out with me,” she said.

      “I didn’t,” he replied. “At least I didn’t know that was what was going on at the time.”