17. Cassidy #2
Sighing, I poured myself a glass of water and waited patiently for him to finish. My imagination was getting the best of me. That had to be it. There was no other reason to be so scared of a man I’d basically known all my life.
The door slid open and he stepped through, checking the lock, then unlocking it and sliding it open once again. “Looks good. I brought this over,” he said, holding up a long block. After shoving it in the door, he looked me square in the eyes, putting me at ease for the moment.
“That should keep you safe.”
I stared at him, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
He cocked his head at me, waiting for whatever else flew off my tongue, but I wisely kept my mouth shut.
“Look, we broke the door. I just wanted to make things right.”
God, I felt like such an idiot. He was trying to be nice, and I was overreacting based on the rumors around town. If he had wanted to hurt me, he could have done it at any point, but instead, he just installed the door and secured it.
I was so stupid.
“Thank you. Really. It was very nice of you to take the time out of your day to do this.”
“Well, we did break it,” he said, packing away his tools. “Have you heard from Austin?”
“No. Should I have?”
He shrugged, continuing with his work, but refusing to look at me. “It’s just that Austin tends to get fixated on things.”
“Fixated,” I repeated, not liking where this was going.
“He seemed to—” The words died on his lips as he cleared his throat and shut his bag. “Anyway, let me know if you have any problems with the door. Or anything else.”
Anything else.
His words stuck in my mind as he headed for the front door and let himself out. “Lock it behind me.”
I did as he asked, shaken by his words. Austin got fixated on things. Was he trying to imply that Austin would fixate on me? Why? I had nothing to do with his family. If anything, we were only trying to be nice to him.
But then I thought back to the way he leered at me over dinner and the words he let slip that caused the fight.
“Bet you open that wide all the time,” he hissed. “How much more can you stuff in that mouth?”
A shiver ran down my spine as his words rolled around in my head. The whole night had been horrible, but those words, along with the way he kept staring at me, left me feeling uneasy for days.
But I had pushed it away, thinking the worst of it was over. My mother had even agreed that they would never invite the Callahans over for another dinner, no matter how badly they felt for them.
Glancing at the clock, I saw it was close to ten. I hadn’t even eaten dinner yet, but I was so stressed the whole night that food was the last thing on my mind.
As I walked around shutting off the lights, I swore I heard a sound at the back door. Fear skittered down my spine as I crept closer in the dark. Was Austin out there? Was that why Wyatt came over? Was he worried that Austin was already fixating on me?
As I hugged the wall, hoping whoever was out there wouldn’t see me, I flipped on the outside light and nearly jumped out of my skin. Sam was standing outside the door, fiddling with the screen.
Removing the block of wood, I unlocked the slider and flung it open. “What are you doing?”
“Waiting for the asshole to leave,” he snapped, charging into my house as if he had every right to be there. “Do you want to tell me what the hell Wyatt Callahan was doing here?”
“He came to replace the door,” I snapped, feeling a little pissy that he was here at all, challenging me about something so simple.
“Yeah? Did you ask him to do it?”
“No, but since he broke the door, he wanted to do the right thing. Do you have a problem with that?”
It was strange to defend Wyatt when just half an hour ago I was afraid he was going to murder me, but Sam had a tendency to piss me off by assuming the worst. And the worst was usually in me.
He stepped into my space, caging me against the table. “I have a problem with any man coming over here and touching what’s mine,” he growled.
I scoffed at the ridiculousness of the statement. “Last time I checked, I am most definitely not yours. I’m only here for you to use.”
“That’s right,” he hissed. “For my pleasure.” His fingers slid up my thigh and under my skirt, skimming my underwear. “For my taking.”
I tried to shove him back, but the attempt was futile. He had me right where he wanted me, just like he always did.
“You don’t get to tell me who’s allowed in my house.”
“But I do have a say in who can touch this,” he said, gripping my pussy harshly. “This is all mine.”
The growl in his voice made it clear that this wasn’t an argument I would win. Not that I really wanted to. There was no one else I wanted. I hadn’t even thought of another man since Sam walked into my life.
But if we were going to play this game, I was gonna make damn sure he knew where I stood. My hand slid over his pants and I gripped his cock, tugging just a tad too harshly on his thick length.
“If that’s the way you want to play it, then no one else goes near you. I don’t even want to see you talking to another woman.”
He jerked his hips against my palm, stepping even closer. “Like any other woman could ever satisfy me the way you do.”
I spread my legs wider, inviting him in. Taunting him. Begging him. Making sure he knew damn well that I wouldn’t allow any other woman near him.
“If I catch you even looking at another woman, I’ll walk away.”
“Same goes for me,” he said before slamming his lips down on mine.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and tugged him closer as he pushed me back on the table, devouring me as he hiked up my skirt and tore my panties from my body.
I heard the clank of his belt hitting the table, and felt him jostling his pants down. Then he was there, right at my entrance, shoving hard inside me before I was even fully wet.
But I didn’t care. My eyes slipped closed as he filled me so completely, reminding me why, even in my most irritated state, I still wanted him. Craved him. Needed him more than I could have ever imagined.
There wasn’t another man on this planet who had ever made me feel even close to what Sam could, and despite how much that scared me, I couldn’t find the nerve to walk away.
Not when this was all I dreamed about every night.
“Are you thinking about him?” he growled, nipping at my ear.
I huffed out a laugh just before he thrust deep inside me, sending sparks down my spine, tingling all the way to my toes. “I’m thinking about how I should walk away.”
“Yeah?” he breathed harshly as his hips slapped against mine. “And why’s that?”
“Because you’re no good for me.”
“I warned you,” he growled. “I fucking warned you I would take everything and give you nothing but orgasms.”
The pressure built deep inside me, unfurling so rapidly that I could hardly breathe. This was what he did to me. He drove me higher and higher until I crashed into tiny pieces on the ground.
And I enjoyed every second of it.
Until the morning came and I was all alone again. Then the doubt and heartache snuck in, telling me to walk away before it was too late. But in the moment, there was nothing more tempting or alluring than the man currently between my thighs.
“Tell me to walk away, and I will,” he said, tugging me close as his hips slammed against mine with an unsteady rhythm. “Tell me you don’t want me anymore. Tell me I’m no good for you.”
“You’re no good for me!” I shouted as he pinched my clit, and I spiraled out of control, falling so hard that I knew this time would be worse than the others.
“Do you want me to stay away?”
His hips slowed, his cock pulsing in and out of me, reminding me of just how well he filled me. Teasing me, urging me to tempt him.
“No,” I collapsed on the table, finally releasing him.
Soft lips skimmed across my cheek, down my throat, and over my breasts before he pulled away and zipped up.
And just like that, I was cold once again, left alone, spread out on the table while he slipped out the door. I curled in on myself, repeating that I chose this, but as I laid there and tears leaked from my eyes, I knew I wouldn’t be able to break the cycle on my own.
It was just too damn hard to walk away.