Page 50 of As It Was (Strawberry Springs #1)

MOLLIE

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Mollie Wilson

TWO WEEKS UNTIL STRAWBERRY SEASON!

Comments:

Kerry Winsor : GIMME!

Mollie Wilson : They’re SO close.

Tammy Jane : You better save some for me ...

Henrietta Brown : Finally! Something new to do that I don’t have to drive an hour for!

“Jesus Christ, princess. Gimme that.” Cain took the saw out of my hand. “You’re gonna cut a finger off.”

“Technically, that would require moving the saw.” I’d been trying to cut a piece of wood, but with no luck. All I’d managed to do was make a scratch on the side of it.

“You’re putting too much pressure on it at first.” His arm moved back, cutting a perfect line, and I got an incredible view of his arms bulging as he moved. “See how I’m doing it?”

“No. Can I see it again?”

“Fine. You move like this.” His arm went back and forth. “You wanna try?”

“I’m good.”

“But you wanted to build the payment stand yourself.”

“I did, but I like what I’m looking at more.” I didn’t even look in his eyes, only at his arms.

Cain smiled in my direction, and I thought he was about to flirt back.

Instead, I got a face full of feathers.

“Ack! Hennifer!” I wrestled with her before I held her away from me. “Come on. We let you out to get cicadas and you repay me with this? It was my idea!”

“I told you she would do this,” he replied.

“All of the other chickens are having a feast!”

“She’s not like other chickens.”

I glared at her, and I could have sworn she glared back.

But then one of the massive bugs flew by and distracted her.

She wriggled to get out of my grip and chased it around the yard.

It was one of those years when the cicadas were everywhere, and no matter how much time I spent outside, I still didn’t like the way they flew at me every few seconds.

The chickens wouldn’t do much, but it was fun to watch the few we’d brought out chase and try to eat them.

“I should have brought Moosley out here. She would have eaten some.”

“She would have chased me around until I went inside,” Cain said.

I walked over and grabbed the saw. “Okay, let me try again.”

Following what Cain had demonstrated, it was much easier to get a cut through the tough wood .

“Did you know you look hot as hell doing that?”

“Not as much as you. I don’t have your muscle.”

He laughed. “You’ve gotten a lot stronger since you arrived. And it’s hot as hell.”

I wanted to disagree, but he was right. In more ways than one. I was a completely different person—one I wanted to be.

“Your compliments have gotten better too. I’d keep it up, but we can’t open in time if I don’t finish this.”

“I need to give the cows some hay anyway.” He kissed me on the cheek before walking away, but he didn’t leave my mind, even as I put together my rough stand.

The second I wasn’t in crunch time, I would reward myself with jumping my hot farmer’s bones.

But unfortunately, I had to be responsible for now.

I got a good thirty minutes of work in before my phone rang. I let out a groan and hoped it wasn’t someone else from town asking when I’d be open.

Instead, it was Mom.

My annoyance turned into anxiety as I answered immediately.

“Hey,” I said. “Is everything okay?”

“I was just about to ask you the same question,” she said. “Your dad is here too.”

Both of them? Oh no. I was in trouble. “Hi, Dad.”

“Hey, Mollie-bear. Feeling okay?”

“At this very moment my arms feel like noodles, but overall, I’m great.”

“Even after you-know-who ?”

“You mean Trevor? You can say his name.”

“Speak for yourself,” Dad muttered.

“Last time we talked, you were going back to deal with the drama,” Mom said. “And I didn’t hear from you after that.”

“I thought you didn’t wanna watch me make this choice. ”

She let out a sigh. “Well, yes, but I still want to know.”

“That’s not what you said.”

“I told you we could have called her at any time,” Dad said.

Mom shushed him. “So, what happened?”

“I yelled at everyone and they saw sense,” I replied.

“What really happened?”

“That is what really happened. I told Kerry she was wrong. She tried to argue about Cain. And then me and a few other people told her she was out of line and needed to respect people’s boundaries.”

“And that worked ?”

“In the end, everyone here wants to be there for others. That’s sometimes enough.”

“Wow,” Dad said. “I didn’t know people still cared about each other these days.”

“I wish it had happened like that for me,” Mom added.

“About that . . . the people involved feel bad, if that helps.”

“It’s fine. I’m over it,” Mom said. She didn’t sound over it at all. “So, what have you been doing?”

“Finishing up a custody battle, driving to Nashville because a child was in danger?—”

“ What? ”

“What kind of town is that?” Dad asked.

“This happened in Nashville,” I reminded him. “And trust me, everyone was mad about it.”

“Is the kid okay?”

“You mean Eric? He’s great. Better than that, even. And since all of that got fixed, I’ve been getting ready to open.”

“To open the farm? Already?” Mom asked.

“When did you have the time?” Dad added.

“I planted the strawberries last fall. That’s what I was so busy with. I have three fields made. Next year, I’ll have more. Right now, I’m making a new payment stand.”

“And it’s going well?” Dad asked. “You like it?”

“I do.”

“Then I’m happy for you,” he said.

“I know this might be a stretch, but I’d love if you guys could come on my opening weekend.”

“Me? Come to Strawberry Springs?” Mom laughed. “I don’t think I could.”

“I wasn’t kidding when I said that people feel bad. Things are different now. You might be surprised.”

“Still, honey. I don’t think it’s for me.”

My stomach sank in disappointment. “Okay,” I said. “But all the information will be on Facebook if you change your mind.”

“Thank you, Mollie-bear,” Dad said. “I bet it’ll do great.”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

I told them I loved them before saying goodbye. I wished Mom had been open to at least seeing the farm, but I wouldn’t push. I could show her pictures the next time I visited.

I worked late into the afternoon as I painted the new stand and sign. Cain had told me I needed to be done by dinner so we could all eat together, and I was determined to make it happen.

The sunset was a mix of gorgeous colors as I walked to the road to hang the new sign for the farm. It was brightly colored, just as it used to be.

I found Cain in the main barn. He’d been slowly reorganizing it for more farming use since I kept having a lot of ideas about things to do when I had the time.

I didn’t want to stop at just more fields of strawberries.

I wanted blueberries, raspberries, and fields of flowers for people to visit.

All of my marketing experience would finally get put to good use.

“It’s done!” I announced. “We’re ready to open next week. As long as the berries cooperate, of course.”

“You’re not as covered in paint as I expected you to be. ”

“I’m great with a paintbrush,” I said with an eyeroll. “And I’ll be even better once we add more stuff.”

Cain sighed. “You’ll never stop, will you?”

“What, making the farm better?”

“Challenging me,” he replied as he put down the pile of tools he was holding and walked over to place his hands on my hips. “Driving me up a wall.”

“What did I do now? I was on my best behavior today. I couldn’t have made you mad.”

His lips came close to my ear. “Not that kind of driving me up the wall.”

My skin heated. We slept next to each other every night, and most of Cain’s clothes were in my room. Some of those nights, we were intimate. Unless I had exhausted myself and I’d passed out the second my head hit the pillow.

That had been the norm lately.

But I never stopped wanting Cain. And at this point, I wasn’t sure I ever would.

“Tonight, I’ll make sure I drive you up the wall in the way you want then,” I whispered. “We only have a few hours.”

“Fuck waiting. We could do it right here.”

“But Eric could?—”

“Kerry picked Eric up to let him play with Tommy. I don’t have to go pick him up for an hour.”

His hand went to my jaw as he pulled me in for a kiss. In the back of my mind, I was so proud of him for how far he’d come. How he’d not only let Eric have time with his friend, but also trusted Kerry to watch his child.

But then his tongue slid across my bottom lip, and I didn’t have any more thoughts.

I wasn’t sure how it happened, but suddenly, I was on one of the tables. It had once been filled with tools, but space had been made, and Cain was in between my legs. I hooked my ankles around his back, trapping him against my body.

The sun sank in the sky and the light coming in from the open barn door barely illuminated us. Cain’s hand deftly unbuttoned the top of my flannel and slid behind the fabric of my bra to palm my breast.

“Look at you,” he hummed as his mouth moved from my cheek to my jaw, every word punctuated with a brush of his lips. “You’re beautiful like this.”

“L-like what?”

“Getting touched in a barn.”

My eyes closed. I didn’t give a shit where we were, but maybe I should have. I didn’t know how he was able to do it, but whenever he was this close with his mouth on me, I was able to forget about everything that worried me.

“We can go back to the house.”

“Absolutely fucking not.” His teeth nipped at the delicate skin of my neck. “We’re doing this right here. Right now.”

“Fuck yes.” The words tumbled out of me as I opened my legs wider for him.

The sun disappeared behind the horizon as he peeled off every layer of my clothes. My flannel was first, tossed somewhere in the barn. My paint-splattered jeans followed, and then my underwear.

His fingers went to my clit, slowly circling it. The feeling was incredible, but I knew I had to have more.

“I need you,” I gasped. “Like right this second.”

My core begged for him. Just the feeling of him being inside of me, stretching me open as he pressed in, would be enough to tip me over the edge.