An Unyielding Desire (After The End Book 2) Read Free Page A

found herself starting to sing as the excitement of having new people fizzed in her veins. As she belted out a song, feeling cheerful for the first time in a while, she ignored her brother’s gagging sounds.
    “For pete’s sake, Mina, it’s bad enough we have to be out here in the sun, but your caterwauling is making it that much worse,” said Finn.
    She paused briefly to stick out her tongue and fling a clod of dirt at her little brother. “You wish you had my talents, baby bro.”
    “Sure do. I could lure all the bullfrogs from the pond, and we could have a delicious supper.”
    She rolled her eyes at her brother, but still laughed. It had been a good comeback. To please him—and because the arrival of the soldiers to help out inhibited her off-key singing—she let the melody lapse and focused on weeding the garden. All the while, she was conscious of Coop working two rows ahead of her. When he paused to strip off his T-shirt, using it to wipe his sweating face and brow, her mouth fell open, and she almost forgot how to breathe. Only Kelly laughing beside her snapped her attention back to the plants and away from his seriously toned body.
    “Do you have a little crush?” teased Kelly.
    Mina ignored her sister, making a conscious effort not to look at him again. Her sister couldn’t stifle the mental image still in her head, and she savored it as she worked. The droplet of sweat that had streaked down his abdomen insisted on repeating over and over in her mind, and she couldn’t resist imagining what it would be like to run her tongue down the same path. That led to imagining his stunned reaction, which quickly aborted the fantasy, though she was sure she’d break it out again later and replay the moment in her mind when she had some privacy.
    *****
    She was mildly surprised to see Coop in the coop again the next morning. He leaned against the wall, watching her work, and she found herself surprisingly at ease. “So, you mentioned your gran?” she asked as she gently scooted Lionel with her foot so she could move past him.
    “Yeah. She had a farm in Iowa, and I used to spend most summers with her.”
    She nodded. “She had chickens?”
    “A bunch, though I don’t think she felt at all maternal toward them.”
    Mina blushed slightly. “I still think friendly is the best approach.”
    “Your girls certainly seem fat and sassy.” He bent down to pick up Trudie, who had been pecking around his feet. She clucked at him, but settled against him like a froufrou dog.
    “That’s Trudie. She likes you to stroke her wings.” She pushed back her short bangs with her forearm, already hating the morning heat. “I miss air conditioning.”
    “And computers.”
    “And hot running water.” Mina sighed. “I know we’re luckier than many, with having the farm and the artesian well, but I sure miss how easy life was before The End.”
    Coop returned Trudie to the floor before coming closer. He moved to the nesting box beside her, reaching in like he’d done egg collecting a thousand times before. “It’s bad out there. Several times, I was sure we wouldn’t make it here. Wyoming seemed a million miles away when we were in Germany.”
    “I’m glad I’m not out there. We’re pretty isolated here, but we’ve still had some scary times. A few people have tried stealing from us. One rough-looking group of men offered to trade my father a generator and a working tractor for one of us girls.”
    He drew his breath in raggedly. “How’d Mr. Marsden handle that?”
    “We all showed them our guns and told them to leave —then spent the next couple weeks worrying about if they’d come back to try to take one of us.” She shrugged. “Thankfully, they must have moved on. I just hope they didn’t come across any women traveling alone or who were vulnerable.”
    Coop looked haunted. “Yeah. We saw some…things that are burned in my head. Lots of violence out there. People are desperate and starving. Of course,