Chapter 6
Hall
I’d never brought a woman home before.
Not to this cabin. Not ever.
And now Cassidy sat across from me on my back deck, wearing my flannel shirt and my socks, her hair a wild tangle of chestnut waves, and something in my chest felt like it was cracking open.
She looked right here. Like she belonged in that chair eating the breakfast I’d made with my own hands.
Which was crazy. Absolutely crazy.
I barely knew this woman. I’d watched her from a distance for months, sure, but that wasn’t knowing someone. That was just… observing. Like watching wildlife. Harmless.
Except it didn’t feel harmless anymore. Not with her sitting three feet away from me, her soft curves barely hidden by the flimsy nightgown.
I tried to keep my eyes averted, but it was difficult with her nipples hard and poking delicately against the thin fabric. I wanted to close the distance between us and tug that cloth down to inspect them more closely.
My cock stirred at the thought, and I shifted in my chair, grateful for the table between us.
“I should call work,” she said, reaching for her phone. “And let them know what happened.”
I nodded, watching her as she dialed.
Had I done that so I could watch her all day? Study the way she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. The way she bit her lower lip while she waited for someone to answer. The way her breasts pressed against the flannel when she took a deep breath, making her nipples poke harder at the fabric?
I was a damn fool.
“Hi, this is Cassidy Mitchell. I’m calling because there was a fire at my house last night. I won’t be able to come in today.”
As I listened to her phone call, I learned she worked as a receptionist in Fernwood, the big town about an hour north of Red Oak Mountain.
That made sense. She had that warm, approachable quality that would make people feel comfortable. She was the kind of woman who would remember your name and ask about your kids. Cassidy had all the social graces I’d missed out on in life.
She talked for a few more minutes, explaining the situation, and I let my mind wander to last night.
The way she’d looked at me on the couch and leaned in, her lips parted, her eyes half-closed. For one insane moment, I’d thought she wanted me to kiss her.
But that couldn’t be right. Women like her didn’t want men like me. She’d been traumatized, clinging to the nearest source of comfort. It hadn’t meant anything.
But then later, after her nightmare, when I’d held her on the edge of my bed.
Both of us had been barely dressed, her soft body pressed against mine, her tears falling on my chest. And I’d felt the heat between us.
I’d been comforting her, but she’d also been comforting me, soothing the ache buried deep inside my heart.
By the time she’d calmed down, I’d been rock hard in my underwear, ready to make her forget all about her troubles. Then I’d had to get out of there before I did something stupid.
But I’d been on the verge of it, only one frayed strand of morality holding me in place.
It wouldn’t have been right to take advantage of a woman who had just experienced the shock of watching her kitchen burn down. Right? Right?
My cock thickened now just thinking about it. What if I had made a different decision and given in to the animalistic instincts inside me? I grabbed my coffee cup, taking a long swallow to distract myself.
“Okay, thank you. I’ll keep you updated.”
Cassidy ended the call and set her phone down. “They were really understanding. I’m new there. I’ve only been here in the Ozarks for just under a year, but they still gave me a paid week off and said to take as much time as I need. Isn’t that amazing? The people around here are so nice.”
“Yup.” I cleared my throat while I shifted my cock under the table, trying to find a more comfortable position for it. I’d already called off my logging shift this morning while she was asleep. I couldn’t leave the woman to wake up in my cabin by herself. Not after the shock she’d been through.
Plus, we had business to take care of.
“We should go down to your place when you’re ready and see what we’re dealing with.
Call your insurance company. Maybe salvage some clothes for you.
” My eyes darted down to her cleavage unwittingly, lingering over the creamy curve of her breasts that peeked out of the top of the nightgown, just begging me to uncover them.
I preferred her like this. Half-naked in my shirt, smelling like my sheets. But this wasn’t reality. This was what you call a fluke.
“That would be great.” She stood, and the nightgown rode up on her thick thighs. They were the kind of thighs that begged for a man’s hands on them. Maybe even my hands. I looked away.
The drive down the mountain took about twenty minutes on the winding dirt road. Cassidy sat in the passenger seat, giving me directions. I’d only seen her house from my perch on the mountain. I didn’t know how to get there by road, only through the woods.
When we got there, and she saw the place again, she let out a defeated sigh.
The farmhouse looked worse in daylight.
The kitchen side of the house was blackened and gutted, the window frames empty, and the siding charred and peeling. Smoke damage crawled up the exterior wall.
Cassidy made a small, sad sound beside me. I reached over and squeezed her hand before I could think better of it.
“Let’s go inside,” I said. “See what’s salvageable.”
The smell hit us first. It was acrid and chemical, the kind of smoke that got into everything and never came out. Cassidy coughed, and I pulled my shirt up over my nose, gesturing for her to do the same.
The kitchen was destroyed. Appliances melted, cabinets collapsed, and the ceiling caved in. Water damage from where I’d hosed it down made everything slick and treacherous.
But the rest of the house…
I moved through the rooms carefully, assessing. The living room had smoke damage but was structurally sound and the bedroom where I’d found her was intact, though everything reeked of smoke.
She hadn’t been here long, but I could see she’d been building a cozy home for herself. Colorful pillows adorned her couch, and cute artwork hung on the walls.
Nothing matched, but somehow it all worked perfectly. It made me want some of those bright colors in my place. I wasn’t much for decorating. It wasn’t a skill I possessed, kind of like talking to people. Some things were out of my wheelhouse.
“You should wait outside,” I grunted, guiding her back to the front door.
After she went to wait in the yard, I poked around to try to see what had started the fire.
I found the source in the kitchen. The fire had started from some old wiring behind where the stove used to be.
“Bad wiring,” I said when I came back to where Cassidy stood in the front yard, hugging herself, “by the stove outlet.”
She blew out a shaky breath. “I knew the wiring needed to be replaced. The whole house needed it. But I couldn’t afford it.” Her voice cracked. “Now I’ve lost everything because I was too broke to fix it.”
I crossed the distance between us and gripped her arm to steady her. “Hey. Look at me.”
She did, her brown eyes swimming with tears.
“It’s not your fault. It’s probably been a fire hazard for years. Long before you moved in.”
My words seemed to give Cassidy some comfort, and I noticed her leaning in towards me as though I could make it all better.
I wanted to, but I wasn’t sure how. Even if I could help with the work, I wasn’t a money guy.
I couldn’t pay for most of the supplies she’d need.
And I couldn’t do the work without the materials.
“The house isn’t a total loss,” I said firmly, even though I suspected that was a lie.
“Fire was contained to the kitchen. There’s smoke damage, yeah, and everything you own is going to need to be tossed.
But structurally? The bones are good. Everything can be fixed if you throw enough money at it. ”
“That’s the problem.” She laughed bitterly. “I don’t have money to throw at anything. I could barely afford groceries this month.”
Well, weren’t we a pair?
“Insurance,” I said. “You have insurance, right?”
“Yes, but…” she trailed off, and I knew what she was thinking. Insurance took time. Adjusters, paperwork, approvals. Weeks, maybe months. Plus, there were deductibles, and everything cost more than expected.
And in the meantime, she had nowhere to go.
I should let her figure it out. Should offer to drive her to a motel in Fernwood, wish her well, and go back to my solitary life on the mountain. That would be the safe thing to do.
Instead, I heard myself say, “Let’s call your insurance company and get the ball rolling.” I couldn’t look at her and I stared at a water stain on the wall instead. “In the meantime, stay with me. Till it’s fixed.”
Silence. My heart pounded in my chest while I waited for her to turn down my offer.
I braced myself for the rejection. I was used to it after all. Women didn’t choose men like me.
But instead Cassidy said, “You would do that for me?” Her voice was muffled against my chest. “Oh my God, Hall. Thank you. Thank you so much. I’ll figure out how to repay you, I swear.”
Then she flung herself into my arms.
I stood frozen for a moment, shocked. Then my arms came up around her, pulling her close, and I let myself breathe her in.
She said yes. She actually said yes.
Even though we both knew the chances of this old farmhouse getting fixed were low, it seemed we were both willing to live with that lie.
The fire had been contained to the kitchen, but the condition of the whole place was so poor that the insurance company would probably consider it a total loss. The foundation was cracked, and the roof was sagging. Those were just the issues I could see.
This house wasn’t getting repaired. It was getting condemned.
Which meant Cassidy was going to need somewhere to stay for a lot longer than either of us was admitting.
“It will just be temporary,” she said, pulling back to look at me. “Until I figure things out.”
“Yup,” I agreed as relief flooded through me. I got to keep her for a little while longer.
I pulled out my phone and dialed my buddy, Forest. “Let me make a call while you get in touch with the insurance company. I’ve got a friend whose wife might have some clothes you can borrow. So you don’t have to keep wearing mine.”
She and Karina were about the same size.