Bo started with the cow, talking to her in low, soothing tones as he unlatched the stall and guided her out toward the back door that opened into a paddock. The horses were more difficult. They were terrified, rearing and kicking, but Bo had handled spooked horses before. He approached each one carefully, voice steady despite the chaos around him, and led them one by one to safety.
He was releasing the last horse when Kelly appeared in the barn entrance, soaked through and breathing hard. "Bo, what are—" "Roof's damaged!" Bo shouted over the storm. "Had to get the animals out. We need to secure that section before the whole thing collapses."
Kelly nodded and ran back toward the house, returning moments later with rope and a hammer. Together they worked in the driving rain, securing the loose boards as best they could. Bo on the roof hammering nails while Kelly held the rope to pull the damaged section back into place. It was dangerous work.
The roof was slick with rain, the wind threatened to tear them off with every gust, and lightning struck close enough that Bo felt the hair on his arms stand on end. But they kept working, kept fighting the storm, until finally they'd secured the worst of the damage well enough to last until morning. Bo climbed down from the roof, his hands bleeding through the bandages, his body aching from exertion and cold. Kelly looked up at him, rain streaming down her face, and suddenly she was laughing.
Wild, almost hysterical laughter that was part relief and part sheer exhaustion. "What?" Bo asked, bewildered. "You're on my roof in the middle of a thunderstorm, bleeding all over yourself, covered in mud and rain, and you look absolutely miserable." Kelly gasped between bursts of laughter.
"This is your idea of protecting your investment?" Despite everything, the pain, the exhaustion, the fear, Bo found himself laughing, too. "I've made some questionable business decisions in my time, but this might be the worst." They stood there in the storm, laughing like lunatics, until Kelly suddenly wasn't laughing anymore.
She was staring at Bo with an expression he couldn't read, and then she was moving toward him, and then Kelly kissed him. It wasn't tentative or questioning. It was fierce and desperate and full of all the things they'd been too afraid to say. Her hands fisted in his wet shirt, pulling him closer, and Bo's arms came around her automatically, holding her tight against him as the storm raged around them.
When they finally pulled apart, both breathing hard, Kelly whispered, "Don't leave. Please, Bo. Don't leave." "Kelly—"
"I know all the reasons why you should. I know it's complicated and people will talk and we barely know each other and you have your life and I have mine. I know all of that, but I'm asking anyway. Don't leave." Bo cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs brushing rainwater from her cheeks.
"If I stay, everything changes. My life, your life, everything." "I know." "People will talk." "Let them talk."
"Your children already love you. Sarah told me tonight. She said she's never seen me smile the way I smile when you're around." Kelly's voice broke. "And God help me, I love you, too."
"I know it's too soon and too fast, and I'm probably making the biggest mistake of my life, but I love you, Bo Callahan. I love your kindness disguised as gruffness and your strength that you use to protect instead of dominate, and the way you transplanted roses because you knew I liked flowers but couldn't tell me directly. I love that you're terrified of being hurt again, but you're here anyway. I love—"
Bo kissed her again, cutting off her words because if he let her keep talking, his heart was going to burst right out of his chest. This kiss was different, slower, deeper, full of promise instead of desperation. When they finally made it back to the house, soaked and muddy and grinning like fools, they found all five children crowded at the window, watching. Thomas was pumping his fist in victory.