“As much as I’d like to take credit for an earth-shattering kiss,” I told him, “there was ambiance. We were outside under the stars. There was a bonfire and a proposal. It was orchestrated for romance. You were reacting to physical and mental stimuli. That’s all. It’s biology with some fun chemistry thrown in.”
He studied me. “So if we kissed—say right now—it wouldn’t be the same ‘stimuli’ and therefore not the same outcome?”
“We’re sweating half to death chasing a pig—which, by the way, only in Bootleg, am I right? I think it’s safe to say that, no, it would not be the same chemical reaction. But we could test the theory. We’re only changing one variable, the environment,” I mused, intrigued with the idea. Also always up for a kiss that would melt my bones.
“Are you suggesting I kiss you right now?” he asked.
“Do it for science, Jonah,” I teased.
He laughed softly, stepping in close. My body was already humming at his proximity.
“Hang on,” he said, putting the container of pellets on the ground. “Let’s do this right.”
Instead of threading his hands into my hair, this time Jonah slid them around my waist pulling me in until we were pressed up against each other. My back was sweaty. I hadn’t bothered with deodorant this morning. My bangs were everywhere. But his serious eyes demanded my full attention.
He was moving in soft and slow again. “Wait.” I put my hand up and held him where he was. “I’ll kiss you this time.” On the off chance that him slow-motion kissing me was the trigger for earth-shifting-under-our-feet, it would be safer to change up the process.
“Okay,” he said, his voice husky.
I slipped my arms around his neck and rose on my tiptoes. “Are you ready for this?”
He nodded, his fingers disrupting the trickle of sweat running down my back.
I skipped the slow motion and went in hot.
It was supposed to be fun and light. Reassuring. Friendly even.
But our mouths met, and everything went sideways. It wasn’t the sounds of summer in Bootleg that I heard now. It was his breath, ragged and harsh. The sun disappeared from my skin, and instead I felt the heat and pressure of his hands. The erection stirring in his shorts. The hammer-like thud of my heart in my chest.
I was the aggressor here, opening my mouth and sinking my teeth into that perfect lower lip of his.
“Shelby,” he growled.
And then our tongues were tangling, hands roaming, teeth biting. He slipped his hands under my t-shirt, thumbs resting under the band of my sports bra. His broad palms spanning my rib cage.
I went for the gold. I removed my arms from around his neck and shoved my hands into the back of his shorts, squeezing the world’s most perfect ass.
His erection was at full attention now, throbbing against my stomach.
Biology was so damn sexy.
The kiss was wildly unpredictable, both of us fighting to deepen it. Both of us fighting to hold back. And I realized too late that this would do nothing to relieve his concerns. I decided to worry about that later.
At least until what sounded like an ear-splitting shriek cracked the cone of sexy that surrounded us.
We pulled back and stared at each other. “I’m very stimulated,” I whispered. My lips felt swollen. Jonah’s eyes had gone to green glass. His grip on me was deliciously possessive.
“What the hell was that?” he asked, finally breaking through the sexual haze.
One hell of a kiss.
The shriek sounded again. High-pitched and frantic.
“That’s a pig! Come on!”
23
Jonah
“That is not a baby pig,” I said, eyeing the hefty black form that trotted down the path to us.
“Potbellied pigs can weigh up to 120 pounds,” Shelby recited. “I’m not sure how I know that.”
No Name had to be at least fifty pounds and had black bristly hair and a curly tail that was wagging like a delighted dog. “There’s a halter but no leash,” I said, the realization sinking in. “How are we going to get her back to the house?”
Shelby gnawed on the lower lip that I’d just kissed. I was still fully hard, the aftereffects of a second world-tilting kiss still occupying most of my brain power and blood supply. I was definitely going to worry about the outcome of our experiment later. For now, I had to figure out how to get a pig home.
“Maybe she’ll just follow us?” she said hopefully.