be scared. They’re the most hardheaded animals on the planet.”
“Well, I’m surprised you all don’t get along better.”
“Never said we didn’t get along. Just said I didn’t want the pain in the ass.”
She cast me an amused, sidelong look. “If only we all could run away from things that were pains in the asses.” Her brows quirked. “Pain in the asses? Pains in the ass?”
“I get your meaning.” Jolene squeaked from Olivia’s arms. “They’re little. I think we’re gonna have to bottle feed them.”
She whirled toward me with her face all lit up. “Oh my God—please tell me you’ll feed it in a rocking chair with no shirt on for my calendar.”
“What calendar?”
“The one I just thought of. Twelve Months of Mantitty, Featuring Jake Milovic,” she said, motioning like she was reading a marquee.
“Not on your life.”
“Oh, come on. Be a good sport.”
“Whenever have I been a good sport?”
“What would I have to do?” I opened my mouth to say give me the farm, but she stopped me with the point of a finger. “Not that. What else would I have to give you?”
“You can’t afford me, Olivia.”
She laughed and used that pointing finger to poke me in the chest. I hadn’t realized how close we were until she touched me.
“That’s what you think, buster. Come on, I know you can think of something humiliating for me to do.”
“Oh, I can think of plenty, but there’s no chance in hell I’m posing for a calendar.”
With a shrewd look, she said, “Fine. Then I’ll have to take some when you’re not looking. So if you could please shirtlessly feed Bowie tomorrow night at six thirty in the rocking chair out front, I will absolutely, positively not be hiding in the bushes to take pictures of you for illegal distribution to raise money for the farm.”
An unbidden laugh slipped out of me, and she softened at the sound. Her eyes traced the lines of my face with an unfamiliar emotion behind them. It was a sort of fondness, an admiration.
“I love it when you laugh. You never laugh. Or smile. Has anyone ever told you you have nice teeth?”
“Wouldn’t you know—that’s the first thing anyone says about me,” I teased.
With a laugh of her own, she tried to bump me with her hip, but because she was drunk, she just sort of fell right into me. For the second time in ten minutes, Olivia’s body was flush against mine.
But this time, it wasn’t just the sweet scent of her that I noticed. It was the length of her dark lashes, the endless depth of her eyes. It was that smart little nose and the valley that connected it to her lips. Those lips were full and wide with a bow so deep and sharp, it looked like it’d been carved there by a sculptor. I could have counted the smattering of freckles on her cheeks or the creases in those plump, rosy lips, which parted just a little. Just enough for me to capture one if I tried.
Except she busted out laughing.
Confused, I blinked down at her.
Her eyes pinched shut, her chin kicked up, a riot of giggling rolling through the air. “Jake, oh my God. Were you about to kiss me?” A snort ripped out of her, and a peal of laughter spilled out behind it.
“That’s it,” I said, trying to tamp down a smile, unable to be sour with her laughing so prettily. I turned for the barn door and snagged her arm. “You’re going to bed.”
“Why? Wanna come with me?” Another snort, followed by a halt as she hinged over, laughing. A gasp of air, and she stood again, waving her hand like a windshield wiper. “I’m sorry, it’s just so funny. You. Kissing me.”
“What’s so funny about that?” I asked with a teasing tone to cover the rejection as I guided her out of the barn, closing the door behind me.
“Only that you’d want to kiss me. You hate me.”
“I dunno if I’d call it hate.”
“Just the general pains in the asses. Pains in the ass? I can’t figure out which one is right.”
“I mean, you did get me a puppy.”
“Aww, I did! I mean, I saved the puppy from rabid raccoons or a mob of angry squirrels or—God forbid—a bear. I didn’t exactly get him for you.”
“Well, it still counts,” I said as we approached the steps of the big house. “And … well, thank you.”
We came to a stop, and she took two steps up, turning