Moonlight Kiss

in the hayloft?” She fell quiet and turned away.

The word kiss coming out of her mouth was all it took for Reid to close the gap between them. “Hey . . .” He put gentle hands on her shoulders and eased her around to face him. Her appreciation of the beauty of the land, the wildflowers, and the old barn seemed to go way beyond making money. He was seeing Addison in a different light and was drawn to her more than just physically. When she tilted her head Reid realized he’d forgotten to complete his sentence. “Let’s give those walls something to talk about,” he said before pulling her into his arms. Her eyes widened but she didn’t protest. Reid only meant to give her a playful kiss, but as soon as his lips met hers he pulled her closer, kissed her deeper. She’d looked so prim and preppy in her pleated shorts and boat shoes, but those tanned legs and full breasts reminded him of her sensual side—the part he saw when she’d kissed him at the condo. And oh, how he longed to have those legs wrapped around his waist. He wanted that sexy, throaty voice calling out his name while he made sweet love to her all afternoon long.

Reid knew he should step back, break the kiss, but instead he cradled her head in his palms and kept on kissing her. Maybe it was human nature that the more he knew he should stay away the more he wanted her. Maybe it was because he thought she needed a real man instead of those idiots she was engaged to . . . Reid didn’t know why he couldn’t keep his distance; he knew only that since he’d met Addison she was never far from his thoughts.

Reid was giving the hayloft some serious consideration when he heard a rustling sound. The noise could be one of several things, but Reid knew for sure that they weren’t alone. He reluctantly pulled his mouth from hers. Looking around, he spotted the culprit. Several of them. “Addison?”

“Hmmm?” she asked in a soft, dreamy tone that had him wanting to kiss her again.

“I think we should go.”

“Why?” She tilted her head. “Are you sorry you kissed me?”

Reid rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “I’m surprised that you let me, but no, I’m not sorry I kissed you, Addison.” He decided to leave it at that . . . for now. “There are . . . ah, some critters in here.” He thought that critters sounded less frightening than rodents and reptiles, and he’d just spotted both.

“Critters?” Addison’s eyes widened. “What kind of critters? A bug or something?”

“The kind you might not like.”

“Are you messing with me? Yeah, you are.” She gave his arm a playful punch. “Oh . . . you’re not?” She lowered her voice to a whisper.

“Sorry.” Reid shook his head. “Now, before you get scared, let me tell you that it’s a black snake and it’s harmless.”

“S-snake?”

“Harmless. It wants the mouse, not us.”

“Mouse!”

“Mice, actually.”

She swallowed hard. “So, what do we do? Run for it?” Her eyes were big in her pretty face.

“Well, it’s over near the door. Most likely came in when I opened it, knowing there would be lunch in here.”

With her hands clutching Reid’s shoulders she slowly turned her head to look. “Oh, dear Lord. It’s really long. Oh, and it just moved,” she whispered. “Do you think it sees us?”

“Addison, I’m actually starting to get hungry and we should check on Mom’s pot roast. It will most likely slither away when we approach it.”

“There are two things I don’t like about what you just said: most likely and slither. Seriously, how can you think about eating at a time like this?”

When Reid laughed the snake moved, raising its head.

“Shhh!” she whispered. “Did you forget that I’m a big scaredy-cat? Spiders, snakes, and mice are on the top of the list.”

Reid held his chuckle but his shoulders moved up and down.

“You’re having fun with this, aren’t you?”

“No!” he said in such a fake tone that Addison narrowed her eyes at him. “Okay, maybe a little bit.”

“So, what are we going to do?”

“I’m going to kneel down and I want you to climb on my back. You’re about to get a piggyback ride.”

“No, that’s silly,” Addison whispered, but then the snake slithered farther into the barn and there was a scurrying sound over in the corner. “Okay, you convinced me.”

Reid knelt down and tilted his body forward, thinking he probably should have been more specific with his wish: He wanted her legs wrapped around him, just not quite like this. Still, when she climbed onto his back he liked it.

“Hold on tight.”

“That’s the second time you’ve said that to me,” she whispered in his ear, and then wrapped her arms around his neck. “Is this going to be another wild ride?”

“To quote Jason Aldean, ‘It’s the only way I know,’” Reid answered, and then bolted toward the door. Just as he expected, when the snake felt the vibration of his running, it slithered farther into the barn, away from them. He tried not to bounce her around too much, but when he realized that she was laughing he played it up a little bit and ran around in the grass in front of the barn until he was laughing too hard to keep going. After coming to a stop he stood there for a moment, holding on to her legs and enjoying having her clinging to him. One of her shoes hung halfway off her foot, and for some reason he thought it was funny and started laughing harder.

It was a moment before he caught his breath enough to speak. “I think it’s safe to put you down now,” he said, and reluctantly loosened his grip. She slid down his back until her feet touched the ground.

“Thanks. I feel like such a weenie.”

Reid turned around to face her. “But a very cute weenie.” With her flushed face and tousled hair she looked fresh-out-of-bed sexy. Reid wanted to kiss her again but took a step back to put distance between them, and followed it with an awkward pause.

“Um, thanks for coming to my rescue.”

Reid looked at her and, knowing he shouldn’t, said, “Would you like to come over to my place for dinner? The pot roast is probably about ready.”

“I . . . I should get back to the shop.”

“But you said you needed a breather.”

She hesitated. “I want to but shouldn’t.”

Reid inhaled a deep breath and blew it out. “Well, I would say that you’re safe with me but that would be a lie. I’ll be honest with you, Addison. I haven’t felt this kind of attraction in a long time. The more I fight it, the more I want to be with you.”

“And that’s why I should stay away.”

“Really? Maybe not. Maybe you shouldn’t let those jackasses from your past rule your future. They don’t deserve the power.” He lifted one shoulder. “Forget about what you should or shouldn’t do and do what you want to do.”

She gave him a low chuckle. “That’s what I was doing when I grabbed you and kissed you.” She took a step closer. “Look, you deserve better. You shouldn’t be an experiment . . . a fling or my rebound guy. Using you to get over Garret would be wrong.”

“Not if I’m a willing participant,” he joked, because he really didn’t think he was any of those things to her, but she shook her head.

“I won’t do that to you.”

“Wait.” He paused for a moment. “Addison, what did you mean by experiment?”

She blushed and looked away. “Nothing . . .”

“No, I want to know.”

“Wild horses couldn’t drag it out of me,” she said firmly.

Intriguing. “Okay, I’ll drop it. For now, anyway.”