Chapter 21
twenty-one
. . .
Presley
My ex-husband had a lot of money. I’d grown up in a family that had a lot of money. My parents had bought me cars and clothing and fancy trips around the world. Wes had gifted me art that I didn’t really care for and jewelry that was not even my style but had cost a fortune.
But this.
I had no words.
This was by far the most thoughtful gift I’d ever received.
I shook my head as I looked around. There was an easel with a large canvas resting there and a table beside it with every color paint imaginable.
Several brushes sat beside the paint, and there was a painter’s smock sitting on the stool in front of the easel.
There was a smaller easel beside it, with a matching table and some finger paints and watercolors on that one.
A matching smock rested on the chair there, as well.
There were a few packages of M&M’s sitting beside the paints. He’d thought of everything.
Cage moved to open the French doors that were directly in front of the setup, and a light breeze bustled in as I looked out at the cove in the distance.
There were tall trees in every color and shade of green. The sky was a perfect turquoise blue today with swirls of white clouds, and the sun was a gorgeous mix of yellow and orange.
“I can’t believe you did this. It’s stunning.”
“Yeah? I thought maybe you could spend your last few weeks here. You can come and paint whenever you want to. Hell, you can be here when I’m at work and Gracie’s at school. Maybe this will help you get inspired to paint that mural for Lola.”
A lump so thick formed in my throat, making it difficult to breathe.
“And I can teach Gracie to paint.”
“I sure as fuck hope so, because you’ve got that girl dreaming of horses and talking about becoming a jumper. Let’s push the paints, all right?”
This man. He was all tough on the exterior and soft beneath that hard shell.
“You know why I think I like M&M’s so much?” I moved to the little table and grabbed a package before tearing off the top.
“Because they’re better than Hot Tamales?”
“Because they remind me of you.” I held one up, and he let his mouth fall open so I could set the candy on his tongue.
“Do M&M’s have big dicks and do romantic gestures?”
“They’re hard on the outside and soft on the inside.” I smiled up at him as I popped a few pieces into my mouth before offering him some more. This time, he held my wrist and pulled my fingers into his mouth.
“I’m definitely hard on the outside.”
“That you are,” I said, as my free hand reached between us and stroked his erection through his jeans.
He groaned. “I want to let you paint, but I also want to fuck you really badly.”
My head fell back in laughter at his words and his honesty. I loved that he just said what he thought. Always had.
“How about I slip into that painter’s smock with nothing beneath, and you can have your way with me? I’ve never painted in the nude.”
“Jesus. It’s like I gave us both a gift.
” He reached down and tugged my sweater over my head before dropping to his knees to help me out of my boots and then removing my jeans and my panties.
I stood there in nothing but a bra, and he pushed to stand, reaching behind me and unsnapping my bra, letting it drop to the floor.
“Am I the only one that’s going to stand here naked?”
“Fuck, Presley. I wish I could paint because I’d paint you.
You’re fucking perfect. So goddamn pretty I can’t see straight when I’m with you.
” His large hand covered one side of my neck as his thumb grazed my jaw.
His words were overwhelming me because he wasn’t big on sharing a lot.
So, when Cage Reynolds paid you a compliment, you knew he meant it.
“Damn, Cowboy. You know I’m already a sure thing. But you just sealed the deal.”
He smiled and stepped back, reaching for the smock and pulling the top strap over my head. The front barely covered my boobs, and he moved around to my backside and tied it at the waist.
My entire ass was bare to him, and he kissed my neck as I walked forward a few steps and rested my hands on the stool. I glanced over my shoulder, and my teeth sank into my bottom lip.
“You want me to fuck you from back here, my wild raven?”
I nodded. “It would be a shame to waste the view, wouldn’t it?”
“I have the best view in the house,” he said, as his fingers ran down my back and over my ass.
He surprised me when he dropped to his knees and gripped my hips as his tongue swiped across my pussy. I gasped at the feel of him, his tongue and his lips on me.
I pushed back against him just as he moved to his feet, and I heard the zipper of his pants moving down.
“I love that you’re already soaked and ready for me.”
“Always,” I whispered. It was the truth.
He teased my entrance with the tip of his dick before pushing inside me, and I fell forward on a gasp. The sensation was so overwhelming I felt tears prick my eyes. I was overcome with emotion.
Feeling connected to this man.
Like I belonged here.
Like I belonged to him.
I pushed back, wanting more. Wanting all of him.
For as long as I could have him.
He gripped my hip with one hand before his other hand slipped in the front of the painter’s smock, and his hand covered my breast as he pulled me up, my back against his front. And he thrust into me, over and over.
Faster.
Harder.
My head fell back against his chest, and his fingers moved around my hip to find my clit.
Exactly where I needed him.
My eyes closed as my body started to shake. My breaths were coming hard and fast, and I gasped as the strongest orgasm of my life tore through me.
“Cage,” I cried out, as he continued to drive into me one more time before his grip tightened and he buried his face in my neck, a guttural sound escaping his lips.
He continued rocking into me as we both rode out every last bit of sensation.
“You okay?” he whispered as his fingers moved beneath my chin to turn my face in his direction. I could taste the salty tears on my lips. “Did I hurt you?”
I chuckled. “No. You gave me the best orgasm of my life, and it actually brought me to tears.”
“You sure?” he asked, and I didn’t miss the concern.
I wasn’t about to admit that it was a mix of feeling overwhelmingly good and overwhelmingly sad that this was all coming to an end soon.
That I’d never been this happy, and I feared I never would be again.
But maybe that was the fun of it… that we knew it was ending.
Maybe it was just a fairy tale, a few short weeks of magic. It wouldn’t stay like this if this were our real lives. I’d be working. He’d be working. This was just a fantasy.
Like being on a romantic vacation that came to an end.
He pulled out slowly and moved across the room to get some tissue before dropping down to his knees to clean me up. My fingers found his hair, and I tipped his head back so he was looking up at me.
“Why don’t you let the rest of the world know how sweet you are?”
“Because I don’t like the rest of the world.” He pushed to his feet, tossed the tissue into the trash can, tucked himself into his briefs, and zipped up his pants.
I turned toward the canvas as he pulled up a stool that was in the corner of the room.
“Am I really going to stand here painting in the nude?”
“I sure as fuck hope so.” He smirked and asked me to toss him the open pack of M&M’s. He sat there eating chocolate and watching me as I dipped the brush into the paint and swirled it on the paper.
I forgot how much I loved this.
Letting my imagination run wild as I created something beautiful. I glanced over my shoulder a few times, and my gaze locked with Cage’s sapphire blues.
He just smiled, as if he were enjoying this as much as I was.
“You two couldn’t come up with a more creative name than The Cove Spa?
” my mother chirped as she walked through the space.
Walls were already down, and we were moving full steam ahead.
I was bummed I wouldn’t be here to see the daily progress, but Lola promised that she would FaceTime me every day to show me what was happening.
A.R.C. Network had signed the contracts, and Phillip was suddenly anxious for me to get back and have our first in-person meeting. I knew once I returned home, life would get really busy again. So, I was going to enjoy this time here. I went for a ride as often as possible.
On both my horse and the man who was consuming my every thought.
“It’s not set in stone. Do you have a better name?” Lola asked as she raised her brow at my mother.
“Well, maybe something a bit more creative,” she said.
I laughed and shook my head. “You hate creativity. You like research and numbers and facts.”
“Not for a day spa,” she snipped. “Let me think about it. I can be creative when I want to be. I gave birth to you, after all, and you’re quite the free spirit.”
Lola and I both laughed harder now as we continued the tour. My mother made a few snide comments about our ideas, but for the most part, she was fairly supportive.
Shocker.
Lola’s phone rang, and she said it was the contractor, so she stepped away. My mom and I stood in one of the only spaces that wasn’t currently occupied by workers, which would be the yoga room.
“So, you’re going to paint a mural in here, is that right?”
I studied her, waiting for her to tell me all the reasons it was a bad idea. For starters, I didn’t live here.
“Yeah. I’ll fly back the week before the opening, and I can paint the mural then. I just have to decide what I want it to be.”
She brushed some nonexistent dust from her powder-blue blazer, and her dark gaze met mine. “Haven’t you been painting lately? I noticed it on your hands the other night at dinner.”
“Yes. I’ve been coming up with some ideas.”
“Well, I’m a fan of the arts. Why don’t you run them by me?”
My eyes widened, and instead of insisting she would hate them, I reached into my back pocket for my phone.
I’d painted a few things at Cage’s over the last few days.
Gracie and I had painted for a bit after her riding lesson yesterday.
All she ever wanted to paint was Sally, so Cage would need to get on board.
His daughter was definitely a horse girl, as she liked to call herself.
I showed my mother the painting of the trees and the water in the distance. It was earthy and soothing, which might be a nice fit.
“That’s… lovely. Did you paint that?”
“Thank you. I did.” I scrolled to the next photo and held it up for her to see, and she took the phone from my hand.
It was a layered sunset, with a large raven soaring through the sky and a second raven in the distance.
There were mountains in the background, and the wingspan of the bird was open and wide.
It needed more work, but it was just an idea to give Lola a few choices.
Even if she said she wanted me to decide, I thought it should be a group decision.
“It’s a raven, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“That’s beautiful. It’s tranquil. That’s what you should name the spa. Tranquility. It’s what we’re all searching for,” she said.
“Well, thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment. And I’ll run the name by Lola, but it’s ultimately her decision.”
“Fair enough. Didn’t Casey call you Raven back in the day?”
I rolled my eyes. “Mom. We dated for years. His name is Cage, and you know that.”
She didn’t deny it. She just smirked like she was having fun. I didn’t know my mother knew how to have fun or how to be funny. I could count on one hand how many times I’d heard her laugh in my entire life.
“Fine. Isn’t that the name that Cage called you?”
“Yes. He said it was because they don’t really fly the way other birds do. Ravens soar and glide through the sky, and that’s how he thought I looked when I was at my horse jumping competitions.”
She pursed her lips. “Oh, I always figured it was because they are wild and do acrobatics in the air. They don’t follow the rules or do what’s expected of them, you know?”
What the hell was she talking about?
“Did you research the raven?”
“Of course I did. He was the first boy you ever dated, and you stayed together so long. He always called you Raven, and I figured there was a reason. And then you put that tattoo on your wrist, so I’ve read pretty much everything there is to read about the damn bird.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “You pretend that you can’t even remember his name, yet you’re researching the nickname he called me in private all of these years?”
“We all have our own way of doing things, Presley.”
“That’s true. Well, what else did you learn about the raven, since you’re such an expert?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Well, I hate to tell you, but they usually mate for life. I assume that’s why you put a second bird in the background of your painting. They prefer one partner, and they stay together for the span of their lives. So, I’m guessing that other bird is not Wes.”
I sighed. Of course, this was a dig about me getting divorced.
“Luckily, I’m not an actual raven. I’m a human being. With real feelings. And I wasn’t happy in my marriage, so I made a change.”
She narrowed her gaze and shocked the shit out of me when she reached for my hand.
“I think you are a raven in spirit. I think you just settled for the wrong partner, so maybe that means your soulmate is out there waiting for you. You’re still young, Presley.
There’s still time for you to be happy.”
My jaw dropped as I gaped at her.
Who the hell is this woman and what has she done with my mother?
Lola came walking back into the room and gave us a curious look. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing. And close your mouth, Presley. It’s very unbecoming to gape at people,” my mother quipped.
There she is.
But it didn’t even matter because she’d shown me a bit of compassion at a time in my life when I needed it desperately.
I leaned forward and hugged her.
She was completely stiff, but then her body relaxed, and her hand came up to pat me on the shoulder.
It wasn’t the most natural hug, and we might not be perfect, but this was a start.