She didn’t realize they were moving until her back hit the wall of the stable, until she felt his weight against her. Everything accelerated, a pace of desperation. Her pulse, her breathing. The way her jacket was just suddenly gone before she even felt him pull at the zipper. The way his hoodie was a puddle on the concrete floor, before her hands recognized the bare muscles of his arms. His kisses were wild, crazy, addictive.

Layne reached up to find his face, her thumbs tracing the stubble along his jaw. She took a chance and bit at his lip, feeling raw and animalistic and shy, all at once. But he made a small sound, a good sound, and she did it again, more sure.

Then he did it back, and her body lit like a live wire. She wished he didn’t have a T-shirt. She wished she didn’t have a turtleneck. When his hands slid along her waist and found an inch of bare skin, she didn’t flinch. And her indrawn breath meant nothing bad.

Until she heard the roar of a diesel engine, the crunch of truck tires on the gravel road leading to the barn.

Gabriel snapped back. He looked almost panicked.

“The barn manager,” Layne said. “She checks the lower barn first. We have a minute.”

“Hmm.” He looked rueful. “And she probably shouldn’t know I’m here.”

Her cheeks flamed. “No. She’d tell—”

“I get it.” But he smiled and gave her another quick kiss, before dropping to fish his sweatshirt off the ground. “I’ll see you in school.”

Her entire body felt flushed. Her lips felt raw, swollen. Anyone would know she’d been making out.

Right?

She didn’t want him to leave, but her body felt like gelatin.

Gabriel kissed her again, and she caught his face in her hands, holding him there.

He laughed, softly, gently, a sound just for her. “I don’t want you to get banned from the farm,” he whispered.

Layne nodded. He drew back.

But then he stopped. “I forgot. I actually came to thank you.”

“You mean there’s more?”

Now he laughed for real, and she loved how it stole the tension from his eyes. “Later. No, seriously. For this.” He dug a piece of folded notebook paper from his sweatshirt pocket, and she took it.

Then he was sprinting out of the barn, yanking his hoodie over his head as he went.

Layne touched a finger to her lips. She unfolded the notebook paper, wondering what he’d written. Her heart fluttered again. A note?

No, better. His math homework. He’d done the last two questions. Struggled, clearly, based on the eraser marks.

But he’d done them.

And he’d gotten them both right.

Gabriel shoveled cafeteria macaroni and cheese into his mouth, but he didn’t really taste it.