Curvy Girls Can't Date Cowboys - Kelsie Stelting Page 0,56
shoulder and groaned.
His hand gripped my back, taking a hold of my curls. He held me for a moment and said, “You can always come back.”
But could I? The only reason, I’d been able to drive all the way to his farm was because my aunt Rosie agreed to it. What happened when Mom and Dad were back? What about in a few months when I graduated? Went to UCLA?
He went and turned off the heater, then easily crawled down the ladder. Without him and the heater, the cold quickly reached my heart. I walked to the hole where the ladder led to the ground floor.
Ray took my hips and helped me down, just as comfortable as if we’d been doing it for years. He gripped a lip of wood on the barn door and shoved it open.
The darkening sky hit my eyes, but still I blinked against the brightness compared to the hayloft. I looked down, trying to get my light eyes to adjust. His mom had a trench coat wrapped around her and was running toward the barn. Toward us.
“What’s your mom doing?” I asked, shielding my eyes.
He followed my gaze and hurried to the fence so he could meet her. My heart dropped at his worry and the quick way he leapt to action. I walked quickly after them, my heart racing. When I reached them, I asked, “What’s going on?”
She pushed whipping strands of hair out of her face. “The storm’s supposed to be here any minute. You need to get on the road, honey.”
My chest constricted. I still had an hour and a half to drive.
“We’ll get her home,” Ray said, already moving toward the pickup. “Get in.”
His mom came to my side, and I scooted over so she could sit beside me. But that just put me closer to Ray, leaving my shoulder to bump against his as we crossed the uneven ground to his house.
His mom got out and said to Ray, “See you inside,” before closing the door.
For a moment, Ray and I sat in the pickup, watching small white flakes begin to fall, softly at first but steadily harder.
“You need to go,” he said.
I couldn’t bring myself to speak, so I only nodded. I turned to open the door, but he said, “Ginger, wait.”
I turned to him, and he lifted my chin with the crook of his index finger, then narrowed the distance between us. Excitement, warmth, fear, all of it rushed through me until he silenced it with the crush of his lips on mine.
He pulled away, and I took a deep breath. Part of me liked knowing I was breathing the same air as Ray, that each breath I took gave me more of him. I did need to go, or I’d never be able to leave.
I got out of the pickup on my own, walked to my car, and drove away. As I started down the dirt road away from his house, I watched him standing by the fence, both arms resting on the gate. In a fraction of a second, I’d seen a relationship flash before my eyes. One with fire and strength and conflict and passion. The kind I’d only dreamed of but knew I’d never have.
And now it was in my rearview mirror—and staying there.
My ringtone sounded from the side pocket of my camera bag, and I reached over to get it. I must have just gotten into service. Rosie’s name lit the screen.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Where are you?”
“Leaving Ray’s now. Should be home in an hour and a half.”
“You won’t make it,” she said fearfully. “It’s a complete whiteout here.”
Terror ripped through me. “What do you mean? I can just drive slow, right?”
Her voice was small. “No, Ging. I think you need to stay where you are.”
My fingers slipped, and I fumbled with the phone before gripping it tighter. “Stay at Ray’s?”
“Stay safe,” she asserted. “Even if it has to be at Ray’s.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I slowed to a stop on the dirt road. This had been a stupid idea. My parents would find out I was here, that I’d disobeyed them, kept secrets from them, and they’d have my head for it. My freedom.
But now my only choice was to make a three-point turn in the middle of the road. The mile back to Ray’s house was the longest of my life, but not as torturous as the walk to the front door and seeing the confusion in his eyes.