with her own elevated temperature. So close he could probably sense her trembling.
His lips only a whisper away from hers.
She felt herself sway, and his hands grasped her hips. Squeezing. Pulling her gently closer until their noses brushed.
His head tilted, and she closed her eyes.
Pleasure rolled through her as his lips met hers in the sweetest of kisses. Soft as a whisper. Barely any pressure at all, and yet enough to send a shock of arousal through her nervous system. Like touching a live wire.
She whimpered, craving more of that raw electricity. At the sound, he seemed to hesitate, but she slid a hand around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. Her mouth pressed against his, and he responded the way she’d hoped he would.
Cupping her face in both his hands, he teased her lips apart with the tip of his tongue. His mouth tasted sweet and salty, rich and dark. Mia melted against him, losing herself in the sensation as Josh’s thumbs swept over her cheekbones, his thick calluses dragging across her skin with the best sort of friction.
Desire pulsed through her veins like a drumbeat. Her fingers curled into his hair, pulling him closer. Their bodies pressed together as he claimed her with his mouth, every demanding sweep of his tongue increasing the pressure building between her thighs.
A loud crack of thunder rattled the windows, startling them apart.
The sky had clouded over outside while they’d been lost in each other. The steady patter Mia had blamed on her heartbeat was actually rain. Heavy rain.
Josh regarded her with slightly glassy eyes. His face looked flushed, and she realized he was trembling almost as much as she was. He shut his eyes for a moment like he was pulling himself together. No longer did he seem confident and unfazed. He looked more like a man on the verge of losing control. A man who could make an absolute mess of her if she let him.
But then he opened his eyes and seemed more like himself. Contained. Whatever lay hidden beneath his serene surface had been safely put back in the bottle.
Pity.
Lightning streaked across the sky, and he strode to the door and pulled it open. Rain pelted the ground outside, rattling on the metal roof of the walkway. A gust of moist air blew into the room as another crash of thunder boomed.
Moving behind him, Mia peered out the door at the rain-drenched farmyard. “Will the animals be okay? Do you need to do anything for them?”
“They’ve all got shelter. They’re fine.”
The wind blew a spray of rain at them, and he closed the door again, turning toward her. Their eyes caught and held, both of them conscious of what they had been doing moments before. Involuntarily, her gaze dropped to his mouth.
“We can try to wait out the storm here,” he said. “Or we can make a run for the house.”
“How long do you think it will last?”
He pulled out his phone and thumbed through his apps. His brows drew together. “Looks like a few hours at least.”
Mia glanced around the cheese kitchen with all its cold, hard surfaces. Ample supply of cheese notwithstanding, it wasn’t the most comfortable place to hang out for a few hours. “Make a run for it?” she suggested.
He nodded. “All right, then. Get ready to get soaked.”
Chapter Thirteen
Josh held Mia’s hand as they splashed across the yard—until one of her flip-flops got stuck in the mud. Then he surprised her by picking her up, throwing her over his shoulder, and carrying her and her errant flip-flops the rest of the way to the house.
Mia was still laughing and protesting when he deposited her on the back porch, and she clutched at his arms—his strong, capable arms—for balance while she caught her breath.
A smile tilted his lips as his gaze settled on her rain-streaked face, and he reached up to push a lock of damp hair off her forehead. His eyes had gone soft and liquid in a way that made her knees feel weak. She lowered her gaze and quickly got distracted by his wet shirt pulling tight across his broad chest.
“Stay here,” he said—unnecessarily, since her legs were incapable of taking her anywhere just then. “I’ll go get us some towels.”
He took off his muddy boots before he went into the house. While he was gone, Mia sat on the porch steps and let the rain wash the mud off her feet and legs. A minute later, Josh came back