She pushed me out of the way and started screaming, “Lulu! I know it was you! You were so jealous of it.”

“What? Courtney, stop and tell me why you are so pissed.”

She spun around and looked at me. “I’m pissed because those animals…those beasts…those stinky, nasty, shit-eating dogs…ate my Kindle!”

Oh hell. Those poor dogs.

“I’m. Going. To. Kill. Them.” She turned and started screaming each dog’s name as she headed out of the room.

I was pretty sure they were hiding—or at least, I was hoping they were hiding.

“There you are!” she shouted.

I put the gun down and ran out after her. Lulu was sitting in the den, wagging her tail, as Courtney walked over and picked up a bat that Layton had leaning against the wall, and then she headed over to Lulu. I ran up, grabbed the bat, and spun her around. She began pushing me away while arguing that she needed her payback. I started laughing, and that just made her all the more mad.

I pushed her up against the wall and tried to get her to settle down. “For Christ’s sake, Court, I will buy you a new Kindle. Just calm down.”

Her eyes lit up for a brief second. “Are you admitting that you forgot to put them in their kennels?”

“What? No.”

She began trying to get out of my grip, so I pushed my body into her.

“Fine! I admit it. Now, will you please stop trying to kill my best friend’s beloved labs?”

“I want a Kindle Fire HD,” she said with a smirk.

I looked at her, confused. “I don’t even know what that is.”

“Just say you will buy me a new Kindle Fire HD, and I will stop trying to kill the mutts.”

I rolled my eyes and nodded my head. “Fine, Kindle Fire HD. Can we all play nice again?”

She smiled, but then something in her eyes changed, and she began breathing heavily as her eyes moved down to my lips. She licked her lips, and I tried like hell to back away from her, but I was frozen. I dropped the bat that I’d been holding in my hand, and I placed my hand on the side of her face.

“If I haven’t told you yet, you look beautiful tonight,” I said softly.

Her eyes were darting back and forth between my eyes and my lips.

I bent down and brushed my lips against hers as I whispered, “May I kiss you, Courtney?”

“Yes,” she whispered back.

I teased her lips with mine for a few seconds before I deepened the kiss, and she opened her mouth to let my tongue explore hers for the first time. The moan she let out flowed through my body like nothing I’d ever experienced before. I put my other hand on her face and poured as much feeling into the kiss as I could. When I pulled back slightly, she still had her eyes closed. The feelings moving through my body confused me.

She opened her eyes and looked into mine. I stepped away from her and smiled as she smiled back at me.

“Good night, Court,” I said.

She smiled bigger. “Good night, Reed.”

I reached down and picked up the bat. “I’ll just hang on to this for now.”

She let out a giggle. “Probably a good idea.”

I turned around and made my way over to the stairs. With each step, my heart was beating harder in my chest. When I got to my room, I sat down on my bed and threw my body back.

Holy shit. That was the most incredible kiss I’ve ever experienced. I wasn’t sure how long I lay there, thinking about the kiss.

Oh yeah, everything has changed now. I was no longer going to sit and wait for her. I’m going to fight for her love even if I have to fight for it for the rest of my life.

When I got back to my room, I shut the door and leaned against it, trying to calm my beating heart. I put my fingertips up to my lips that still felt like they were on fire.

“Oh my…” I whispered as I dropped my head against the door.

I’d never in my life experienced such a kiss. It felt like my whole body was still tingling. I closed my eyes and replayed the whole scene in my head.

May I kiss you, Courtney?

Swoon the hell out of me, why don’t you, Reed Moore?

I slowly pushed myself away from the door and made my way into the bathroom. I stripped out of my dress and washed my face. I looked in the mirror, and I couldn’t wipe the damn grin off my face.

I slipped into my comfy Victoria’s Secret pajamas and crawled into bed. I heard something scratching at the door, and I realized that the dogs were still roaming the house. I got up and let them outside to go to the bathroom really quickly, and then I brought them back into the bedroom with me.

After I reached into my bag and took out my emergency Kindle, I looked at them both and pointed at them. “You both lie right there. Don’t even think about moving.”

I crawled into the giant king-sized bed and pulled the covers up. I tried to read, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss.

May I kiss you, Courtney?

Oh, dear God. How I want you to do more than kiss me, Reed.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Courtney, stop this right now!

Again, I tried to read, but clearly, I was consumed by the kiss, and every time I read something, all I could think about was Reed asking if he could kiss me. After staring at the same passage for thirty minutes, I finally gave up. I reached over and turned off the light. It didn’t take long before I felt the bed move twice, and then I felt something flop down next to me…twice.

I smiled as I reached out and called Lulu to come closer to me. As I snuggled her, I whispered, “You tell anyone, and I will kill you.”

I drifted off to sleep and dreamed of a certain cabin, shower, and Reed making love to me on his kitchen island.

“Yes, Whitley. Lulu and Midnight are fine, and the cows and horses are all still living, too. It’s really amazing to see that Reed knows what he is doing. I’ve actually learned a few new things about plants, too.”

Whitley laughed and said, “So, the last two weeks have been pretty good?”

I smiled as I thought about how much fun I’d been having with Reed. “Yeah, they’ve been okay,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant about it all.

“Just okay?” Whitley asked with a giggle.

“Yep, just okay. Reed did buy me a new Kindle though.”

“Why?”

Oh shit. Open mouth, insert foot, Courtney. “Oh…well, um…he kind of broke my other one.”

“Oh damn, that sucks, but at least you got a new Kindle out of it! Hey, listen, I’ve got to run. I miss you so much, and I can’t wait to see you and tell you how incredible this honeymoon has been!”