Chapter 5 #3
But that was the story of her life. Divided into a clear before and after. Before, when she hadn’t been taken care of. After, when she was completely protected and loved by the very best men on the planet.
Romance was a key part of her brothers’ lives now, and she knew it could be good. But she saw a big difference between sex and romance and just … sex.
Being near West made her feel slightly sick in her stomach. Made her feel a little bit wary. Because it reminded her that she was her mother’s daughter. And her father’s. Even though she’d never met him.
She didn’t want to be reminded of her past. She liked her life now, yet there was something exciting about the … spark.
That’s all it was. The spark of something. Of her baser self. The part of herself she kept buried. Deep deep deep.
Wanting Dalton was one thing. She loved him. She knew him. She trusted him.
West?
She had no idea who that man was, not really.
He was an enigma. A very tall one.
But she hadn’t liked to see him sitting there by himself. Not even when he’d been kind of mean to her about the coddling.
He’d said no one had ever taken care of him.
That hit her in the loneliest place inside her. So she’d wanted to do something. Care for him. For a little bit it was as if they were the only two people here.
“How ya doing, Cass?”
She turned to look at Perry, who had sidled up to her unseen. “I’m good?” It came out like a question because she was surprised by the query.
“Working with West is okay?”
“Yeah, it’s … Oh, this is because you had a thing with him, isn’t it?”
Perry’s cheeks turned pink. “I did not have a thing with him. I went out with him on half a date, and he kissed me and Carson had an almighty meltdown and we ended up screaming at each other in the street. West was not the main character in that story.”
“Oh, right. Your lifetime of unresolved sexual tension was.”
Perry narrowed her eyes. “Watch it, squirt.” Extra funny since Perry was a half a head shorter than Cassidy.
But Perry had been an older-sister figure to Cassidy ever since she’d moved to Rustler Mountain, so she understood it was a metaphorical term.
“Just an observation.”
“Well. Don’t observe my sex life.”
Cassidy looked at Perry. “Aren’t you … observing me?”
Perry squinted one eye at her. “You know, I was questioning myself until you said that.”
Cassidy felt panicky because she didn’t want Perry to say something and make it … real.
“You and Dalton are going away together?” Perry asked.
If Cassidy were an owl, her head would have swiveled the full 360 degrees right then. “Um. What?”
“He mentioned it casually by the fire and—”
“I’m going to help him buy a horse.”
“He did say that. But I just … wondered.”
“What?” Cassidy looked intently at Perry. What was she wondering? What was the concern?
“If you … would be hurt if nothing happened. Or if something did.”
Cassidy blinked. She didn’t quite know what to make of Perry’s question … Well, it might be a good sign that Perry thought something could happen.
“I’m not that fragile, Perry,” Cassidy said, taking a swig of her beer and thinking of what West had said about coddling.
“I know you aren’t. But these kinds of things can be damaging no matter how tough you are.”
“I don’t aim to get damaged, Perry.”
“No one ever does.”
Cassidy looked up quickly, her gaze going behind Perry, and Perry turned. West was standing there looking at her expectantly.
“I’m going to head out,” he said.
“Oh.” He’d come to say goodbye to her?
She looked at Perry, who was no longer standing near Cassidy, but had hurried off. Maybe she and West hadn’t had a thing, but Perry wasn’t cool with him either.
“You’d better give me your number,” West said, holding his hand out.
“Why?” She felt stupid for asking, but the question had surprised her, and his outstretched hand was even more confusing.
“Because I’m going to need to send you schedule information. And we may need extra practices, or I might move a practice. Plus, you’re going to need to text me the dates that you’re going out of town.”
“Okay,” she said. He was still holding out his hand. “What?”
“Hand me your phone. I’ll text myself.”
She shook her head. “Oh. Of course.”
She had never really given a man her number before so …
Not that this was giving a man her number. West was her boss. And this was totally different. It wasn’t … that. It was just an exchange of information.
He took the phone and their fingers brushed. She pulled her hand back, a sharp shock making her gasp.
“Static electricity,” she said while he typed out a text and then handed the phone back to her.
“Sure,” he said.
She looked down at her screen and saw the text he’d sent from her to him: You’re the boss.
“Hardly,” she said, shutting the screen off and stuffing the phone in her pocket, but fumbling a little bit as she did.
She didn’t realize they hadn’t set a time for their next practice until he was driving away. But she had his number now so she could just … text him.
That knowledge sat as heavily in her chest as the phone in her pocket.