Fucking hell.

I’m burning. I want to crawl out of my skin.

That’s how kissing her feels.

I press her petite body against mine even harder. She melts into me with a moan I capture in my mouth. My hands travel down her body until I reach her ass and I hoist her up and groan when I feel her legs wrap around me.

Our kiss gets even harder, hotter. Our lips chase something blissful. Every move is frantic, every breath is rapid, and every lick is a fire on our skin.

God. I need to be inside her.

“Rhett!” I hardly hear Ben’s voice while she’s in my arms. Her body pressed against mine tightly, it’s the hardest thing to stop kissing her. Her lips taste like the best dessert I’ve ever tasted.

Loud coughing gets Aubrey’s attention, and she pulls back, hiding her face behind her red hair.

“What?” I snap at Ben.

“Lily. She’s in labor,” Ben pants. He’s a seventeen-year-old boy who helps around the barn

“What? James said there’s almost a month?” I ask as I head for the barn.

“We’ll have a premature foal, but Lily is in distress. She’s panicking,” he says.

“Where’s James?”

“He was heading for town. For some medicine, he needs to prepare or something.”

“Fuck,” I curse, increasing my pace.

“We let him know but he was halfway to town. He’s coming back now.”

I nod. That’s good. Looking over my shoulder, I see Aubrey is right behind me.

When we enter the barn, I hear Lily. She's clearly scared, and her fear stresses out the rest of the horses too.

“We should move her to the next barn,” I say.

Ben shakes his head. “She's so scared. She doesn’t want to move or trust any of us.”

I nod. We all wait and watch her, trying to see if she'll be able to manage this without our assistance.

Aubrey holds my hand as she watches Lily. With every painful noise she makes, Aubrey holds my hand tighter.

“She won't be able to do this,” I say and go inside her stall, trying to touch her in the hope of calming her, but she backs away from me in her panicked state.

“Lily, hey girl. It's me. You're okay. You'll be okay,” I say, but she doesn't give me any attention.

“Fuck, I can't calm her,” I call out. I’m as stressed as her.

“Lily? Lily, I’m Aubrey,” she says in her angelic voice, surprisingly her voice sounds calm, and somehow the unfamiliar voice of her reaches out to Lily.

She turns her head and doesn’t give any protest as Aubrey takes another step closer to her. She outstretches her hand slowly but confidently.

“I know you're in pain. I know it hurts, but you'll be okay, Lily. I promise you'll be okay,” Aubrey says.

She's almost close enough to touch Lily now.

“Be careful,” I whisper-shout at Aubrey.

“My mom keeps telling me how hard giving birth to me was. Her water broke so early, and she had to push me out dry. It was too late for C-section,” she tells Lily a story.

Even though the image it paints in my mind is horrible, her story or more likely her voice calms the mare. Aubrey is now caressing her coat and mane.

“But my mom made it. And she had a very healthy baby. I know you will, too.”

Lily's breathing gets slower as Aubrey touches and talks to her.

That’s when I see James enter the barn. He assesses the situation for a second. Nodding his head in approval at Aubrey.

“Aubrey, keep touching and talking to her. I'll help her,” James says, getting behind the mare.

“I’ve never been in a ranch before, Lily,” Aubrey starts. “Well, I’ve never even been in Central Park in New York City. I’m from there. New York City. It’s so big and crowded. It’s always loud. The buildings reach to the sky, sometimes it’s hard to see the blue sky without craning your neck all the way back. It’s not like here. I can see the sky without even lifting my head like everything is under my hand,” she keeps talking.

I smile. I like that she sees the great difference between here and city.

“But that’s where I live. I was born and raised there. I haven’t even traveled. All my life was in that big city, studying and working to be successful. I’m here for work, too, but it feels like a vacation,” she says.

My jaw clenches with these words. I don’t know why. Maybe because it’s a reminder of the reason she’s here. Maybe it’s because I knew I’d never see her if this wasn’t for work.

Hours pass with Aubrey talking, telling stories over stories to Lily while I wait. Finally, with one last push, the foal falls to the ground.

“Aubrey, you should get out of the stall now,” James says.

I can see Aubrey’s reluctance and hesitation, but she nods and comes next to me.

We watch as James remove the birth sack over the foal’s head. And then, he joins us to wait to see the foal find his feet. When the umbilical cord falls, James applies antibiotics on it.

“Everything seems good. We have a healthy newborn and healthy mare,” James announces.

“Rhett?” someone calls out behind me. It’s Jack.

“Coming,” I say and place my hand on Aubrey’s back for a second.

She looks up at me with bright eyes and a smile, and I know she’s okay. She watches Lily licks the foal. I grin how cute she looks when she leans in closer with concern as Lily helps the foal get on his feet. With a sigh, I finally leave the stables when foal gets closer to the mare to feed himself.