Chapter 27
Today was easy. Well, easier. With the team being on the road, it made it easier to breathe. But I know they got back this afternoon. I was able to sneak away early and get home before the emotions started to take over under the ruse of working on my final project.
Shouldering my way into my apartment, I’m met with a sight I never expected.
Cash standing in my living room.
“What in the world are you doing here?”
Under his eyes, it looks like he has purple thumbprints. The team was only on a three-game road trip on the west coast before coming back. He shouldn’t look this tired.
I hate that he is this way.
Cash flashes the spare key my brother has in case of emergency. “You and I need to have a conversation.”
“Cash, I don’t think we do.” I shut my door and drop my purse onto the entry table. So much for trying to keep everything in check tonight.
“Sorry, Princess, you don’t get a say in this.”
“I don’t?” I turn to face him. He’s moved into the kitchen.
He’s still in his away-game attire, sans tie. The tattoos on his chest peek out from where his shirt is unbuttoned.
Cash shakes his head, holding a hand out to me. “See, I couldn’t figure out why you would break things off between us.”
I take his hand and he pulls me into him. He’s a solid wall of mass that I’ve missed way too much in the last two weeks.
“I did?—”
“I know why you did it.” Cash drops a finger over my lips.
“You do?” I mumble against his finger.
He nods. “Ava.”
I suck in a breath. “But how?”
Cash backs us up into the living room, sitting me on the couch. He drops between my knees, pulling me to the edge in his arms.
“Duncan.”
“What?” Now I’m really confused.
“He was being a douche and bragging about dumping Ava because she was too crazy and blackmailing him. He kept bragging about it to Rio and I was able to put the pieces together.”
I pick at a loose thread on my pants. Embarrassment creeps up my cheeks.
Cash tips my chin up, forcing me to look him dead in the eyes. “Why didn’t you come to me when Ava found out?”
“Because what could anyone do? I couldn’t let Ava destroy your reputation!” I explode, bursting up from the couch in a fit of rage. “It was my fault! I was reading our texts and she saw them and put two and two together. You’ve worked so hard to let people see the real you, and any hint of a scandal would blow that wide open. I couldn’t let her do that to you!”
Cash is smiling. A full-blown, irritatingly handsome smile that I love. Damn him for being so sexy when I’m angry.
“So what?”
That stops me in my tracks. “I had to protect you!”
Cash stands, approaching me like a wounded animal. “Piper. I’m a grown-ass man and capable of taking care of myself.”
“You shouldn’t have to. I want to be able to take care of you. And I never want anyone to see you for less than you are.”
“Is that how you see me, Piper?”
I bite my lip, trying to keep my emotions in check. “Yes.”
Cash lifts me into his arms and pushes me against the wall. “I don’t need you to protect me. I should be the one protecting you from those two idiots.”
Cash’s nose brushes against mine. Too many emotions are flitting through his eyes. “I want everyone to see you like I do. The kind, caring, loving man you are. I never want people to think badly of you because you were only dating me to make them see that.”
He shakes his head. “You think I was only dating you for that reason?”
“Yes?” There’s uncertainty in my voice.
“Do I need to teach you a lesson, Princess? I never do anything I don’t want to do. And being with you is the one thing in the world I want more than anything.”
“But how?” My heart is battering against my ribs. “Ava will?—”
“Ava is no longer in the picture.”
“What happened?”
The smile Cash gives me is one that I will savor for the rest of my life. “Duncan sent her packing.”
“But she could still spill our secret.”
“We’ll talk to Cassie. It’ll be okay.”
“She hates me though. What if she tells the media?”
Cash shakes his head. “Then let her. I’m not going to let her stop me from being with the woman I love.”
“Even after everything I did?”
“Even after everything you did. We’re in this together, Princess. If someone comes at me, we deal with it together. I only wish I had gotten a hit in on Duncan.”
“Did he do this?” I brush my fingers against the faint mark on his jaw.
“You’d be so proud of me, not going after him like he deserved.”
“You still could,” I tell him.
“I’d rather spend my time with you. If you’ll still have me.”
I cup Cash’s cheeks in my hands. Stubble lines his cheeks, heavier than normal. That emotion in his eyes? It’s easy to pinpoint. It’s love. Love for me. Even after everything I put the two of us through.
“Cash Williams, I’ll have you any way I can. I love you more than I ever thought possible.”
“Yeah?” he asks, smile playing on his lips.
“Yes.”
“Good. Then let me show you how much I love you.”
Cash takes my lips in the sweetest kiss of my life. His tongue glides along the seam of my lips and I open for him. I downright whimper at how good his tongue feels against mine.
I thought I lost this. Lost him. I don’t know how I could have ever given him up. Two weeks in hell of my own personal making.
Each pass of his tongue on mine is like the two of us relearning each other. Of wiping out the memories of everyone else.
Only us. Forever.
All too soon, he’s pulling away.
“Cash…” I groan.
“Easy, Princess. I have something for you.”
Cash walks us backward toward the bed and places me gently on top of the soft duvet. “What could you possibly get me that I don’t already have?”
He presses another quick kiss to me, but I grab onto his shirt and hold him there.
“I realized that no one has ever shown up for you. So this is me showing up for you.”
“What?”
Cash pulls out a bag that I didn’t notice before. Sitting next to it is a vase of my favorite flowers with a tin of cookies from my favorite bakery.
“No one has ever put you first. They’ve treated you less than the Princess you are, and I realize I haven’t been showing you just how much you mean to me.”
A bottle of my favorite bourbon is in the bag. A picture of the two of us with Puck at Christmas in what looks to be a homemade frame with ‘Cash lt;3s Piper’ scrawled across the top.
It’s all of my favorite things.
Everything I love including the man for me.
“Cash.” Emotion laces my voice. For the first time in two weeks, it’s not tinged with sadness, but happiness. A happiness so bright, it’s blooming and threatening to burst out.
“I love you, Princess. Every day I will show you just how much I do. You deserve it.”
“Oh, Cash. I don’t need this. All I need is you.”
I pull him toward me in a bruising kiss. A kiss that seals the love the two of us have together. A promise for the future.
Cash and I make quick work of our clothes before he’s sinking in to me. Before long, he’s exploding inside of me. Making me come on a quiet gasp that has my entire body yearning to be as close as possible to him.
A tear slides out of my eye.
“Princess.” He drops his forehead to mine.
“I love you, Cash. I love you so much, it’s hard to breathe.”
Cash kisses my tears away. “I’ll never get tired of hearing you say that, Piper. I love you.”
Cash pulls the duvet over us, and it’s a moment I’ll commit to my memory for the rest of time.
Nothing about this relationship is fake. It’s as real as they come.
Because Cash Williams is my knight in shining armor. My Prince Charming.
The love of my life.
And I can’t wait to spend every minute with him.