Chapter 32
THIRTY-TWO
DAISY
Shivers rocked through my body as I tried to process what had happened. As I tried to process what he said and the way he touched me.
Power rippled from him as he reached over and turned off the showerhead, though he kept his other hand on my waist to keep me steady.
He had to know I was about three seconds from falling right back to my knees.
“Hold on.” He reached out of the shower and grabbed a towel from the rack. I thought he was going to wrap it around himself, but instead, he wrapped it around me.
He remained completely naked.
A bare brute of rippling muscle. Beads of water still dribbling down his flesh.
If this was a dream, I kind of hoped it went on forever.
“Come here,” he rumbled, and he guided me into the middle of his bathroom. My feet pressed into the plush rug beneath me.
He leaned down, hazel eyes peering up at me as he pushed his hands under the towel and gathered the wet fabric of my underwear.
I trembled as he dragged them down and tossed them to the floor, then he stood again. The man obliterating reason and sight as he came to tower over me.
He shifted the towel out so he could get hold of my tank, my actions awkward as I tried to hold onto the towel and help him get the tank over my head.
I almost rolled my eyes at my self-consciousness. As if he didn’t just have his fingers inside me.
He quirked a rare smirk in my direction. God, it was pretty. My belly tumbled on top of itself at the sight.
Then it tipped over again at the sound of his guttural voice. “You gonna get shy now, fiancée?”
There was a tease to it, Cash’s mood shockingly light.
Maybe he’d really needed an orgasm, too. God knew I felt a whole lot better.
I chewed at the inside of my cheek. “I honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to do right now.”
He tossed my tank aside, then hooked my chin with his index finger.
His expression flashed with that severity. “You rest in me.”
He stared at me that way for the longest time before he let go of a sigh and turned away so he could grab a towel from under the sink.
My gaze roved, taking in every imposing inch of him.
His back carved, bulging muscle and his ass…
I gulped.
He was so beautiful, it was unfair.
Then I winced a bit when he shifted a fraction and I caught sight of the wound on his side. His injuries had all but been forgotten.
“Are you hurting?” I managed around the thickness in my throat.
He grunted a low sound as he wrapped the towel around his waist.
There was something different in his demeanor. Something that hadn’t been there before. This air of cockiness that had been missing. “You think I could be in pain after that?”
Redness streaked, and I dipped my attention away from his obscenely handsome face. “Did you…like it?”
The sound he emitted was almost angry, though his touch was gentle as he reached for my chin again, nudging it up so I was looking at him. “You think there’s a chance that I didn’t? Meant it, what I said when I told you it was the best thing I’ve ever felt.”
His expression dimmed. “I’m not supposed to feel that good. I’m nothing but a bastard for taking that pleasure from you.”
My head barely shook. “I wanted to make you feel good, too.”
His thumb traced over my jaw. “Won’t ever forget it.” His eyes were wistful and full of grief. “Warned you about who I am, Daisy. About who I’ve become. And I’m worried that now that I’ve touched you, I won’t know how to stop.”
I wanted to tell him that I didn’t want him to. How reckless was that? I must have been a masochist with the way I set myself up to get my heart trampled whenever it came to him.
“I liked it, too,” I admitted. “So much.”
The grin he wore was almost cruel, and he leaned in closer. His masculine scent invaded my senses. “Think that much was apparent. Could taste your pleasure on my tongue and could feel it throbbing around my fingers.”
My stomach fisted. “It was different for me,” I quietly admitted. “I’ve never…”
“You’ve never what?” he pressed in that low voice.
“Felt like that with a man. I’ve never…”
God.
Was I twelve? I couldn’t even get the words out. But after the blaze of passion had melted away, those insecurities were rearing their ugly heads.
Surprise hardened his features. “You telling me you’ve never had an orgasm before that you didn’t give yourself?”
Slowly, I shook my head, though I lifted my chin and met his eye. “It was incredible, Cash. Perfect. An experience I’m going to keep with me forever as one of the best of my life.”
Hate and affection burned in his gaze. “Makes me sick to think about someone not treating you right. I thought if I left…”
“I never could be better off without you.”
“How fucked up is it that I can’t stomach the idea of you with another man? Nothing but a selfish prick who wants to keep what never was supposed to be mine.”
His attention dipped to the ring on my finger.
I thought maybe he knew right then that he was wrong.
That it was always supposed to be this way.
A tragedy just got in the way. Diverted our paths. But maybe I knew all along that something would draw me back to him.
“It was an accident, Cash. It wasn’t your fault. You don’t have to blame yourself.”
Agony clawed its way through his features, and he dipped in closer. “That’s where you’re wrong, Daisy.”
“What happened that night?” The question trembled off my tongue.
Memories assailed me. How disoriented I’d been.
The pain.
The confusion.
How one minute I was in his arms, and the next he was gone.
I watched the veil come down to cloak his eyes. Every inch of him went hard.
He edged back. “I failed.”
My brow pinched. “Cash—”
He settled his palm on the outside of my neck. His touch was firm and seeped with severity. As severe as the lash of his voice. “We can’t do this again. Need to keep my head on straight when it comes to you. When it comes to your kids. And you have me failing again.”
I attempted to change the subject, not that it was any safer. “Do you think someone was really out there?”
In an instant, rage rose to the surface and crawled over him like a living, palpable thing.
“Not sure. I’m going to check the surveillance cameras and see if they picked up on anything.
” His strong brow pinched in emphasis. “Even if someone was out there, there is no chance they could have gotten to you.”
I let go of a heavy sigh. “I know. And I do. I do feel safe. I feel safe here with you.”
I reached out and gently brushed my fingertips near the injury on his side. “I can’t stand the idea that you might have gotten hurt for us. Maybe I should—”
He cut me off by suddenly looping an arm around my waist and tugging me toward him.
Flames licked across my body.
My head was tilted back to find the absolute fury that lined his face.
“I’ve messed up in so many ways, Daisy, but this is one thing that I won’t fail you at.
I’m exactly who you should have come to.
No one will protect you the way that I will.
I will go to any length, any place. I will face down the fucking devil himself if that’s what it takes to protect you from that bastard.
It will be my pleasure to destroy him, Daisy. It’s what I do.”
Disquiet churned in my spirit.
“Now I’m going to walk out of here before I haul you to my bed.”
My insides flitted in a shock of glee.
I liked the sound of that far too much.
He must have felt what was coming off me because a low growl rumbled in his chest. “Mean it, Daisy. Stop looking at me that way before it’s too late for you.”
Desire pulsed through me at the tone of his voice, and I trembled in both fear and want. This man who had the power to distort everything.
Because I knew better than to give myself over to this fantasy. I didn’t think I could withstand another broken heart delivered by Cash Cunningham.
“I already told you I’m sleeping on the couch tonight. You need to get your rest.”
“It’s not necessary. I need to go into my office to check some things, anyway.”
I shifted on my feet, then whispered, “I’ll let you get dressed.”
I peeled myself from the gravity he emitted, and I fumbled for the door, my head between my shoulders.
I grabbed clean underwear and pajamas before I stepped out into the lapping darkness of the great room. The forest was tucked so close to the cabin it felt like we were completely isolated from the rest of the world.
Hidden in the deepest recesses of existence.
But there was something cold about the blanket of darkness that pressed in at the windows.
I stalled out in the middle of it, my attention pinned on the glass that separated me from the outside.
A gust of wind blew through, and a chill skated down my spine.
I swore that I discerned something different in the air.
Something vile and wicked.
That thing that had been chasing me for months.
I shook off the shiver and forced myself to move. My bare feet padded quietly against the wood floor as I rushed into the spare bathroom. I shut the door, my hand on the handle, my spirit tugging me back in the direction of the man I could feel in the middle of the turmoil.
Coming closer and closer.
The energy he emitted.
A tether that keened and pulled.
It swelled and amplified, and my breaths turned shallow when I heard the faint thud of footsteps coming down the hall.
They stopped in front of the bathroom door.
His presence overwhelming.
He remained there for the longest time. The moment stretching on forever.
Hesitation billowed before I felt him pull away and he continued down the hall to the room that was off-limits at the end.
Soft beeps echoed from the keypad outside it, and I listened as it was opened then latched shut behind him.
I slumped forward when it closed.
The connection broken.
I forced myself to finish drying off and redressed, then I carefully opened the door and tiptoed to the children’s room.
I peered in at their sleeping forms.
Stood in the goodness they emitted.