28. Cassidy
Chapter 28
Cassidy
I ’d realized not soon enough that Eric’s excuse to go for a quick thirty minute “hike” and show me “around” had been code for “don’t follow us.” Shadow bounded in front of us, excited to explore a new area of the mountain. It was cold but it certainly hadn’t been as cold as the weeks when I’d first arrived in Rosefield.
Not accustomed to hiking, I’d almost tripped over a fallen branch. Eric caught me, suspending me by our intertwined hands like a doll.
“Shit,” I’d cursed. And he chuckled. My heart pounded and the thought of having scathing scars all over my face from being so clumsy came to mind.
“You know I think I curse more since hanging out with you.”
“Yea?” he drawled, pleased.
“That wasn’t a compliment,” I corrected his attitude.
“Depends on who you ask,” he purred.
I rolled my eyes. The rows of trees began to clear into an opening. My jaw dropped as I tried to gather my labored breath. We’d been walking on an incline for some time now. Yoga I was great at but hiking was not my friend. I clutched at my ribs in exhaustion, but my eyes widened at the view.
Rolling mountains and a deep blue lake stretched for miles. I realized with awe that you could see all of Rosefield from here. A small civilization a dollop in size against the lake. “Wow I didn’t realize how big the lake was.”
Pride seemed to fill his expression and I scanned the view with utter astonishment. It had literally taken my breath away. That or the walk up here.
“When I come back every year, I try to frequent this spot as much as possible. I find it peaceful,” Eric contemplated aloud.
I admired his side profile as he scanned the vastness. At that, I wasn’t surprised, he who chose to isolate himself in a cabin enjoyed to go on hikes to a solitude place such as this. And he wasn’t even the slightest bit out of breath.
“You know you’ll be carrying me back, right?” I said as I considered my already tired legs. No doubt Thomas and Lori had already packed up and left. We’d enjoyed a light lunch together before parting ways. The quiches and sandwiches Lori had made were divine.
Eric smiled. “I think I can manage that.” He guided me over to a fallen tree, dusting it off for me and directing me to sit. I laughed, like he could make a fallen log any cleaner, but I appreciated the humorous gesture.
He sat beside me, throwing a casual arm over my shoulder. We stared out into the view, content.
“I can’t remember the last time I did something like this,” I admitted out loud.
“Go for a hike?” he asked.
“Well that, I mean obviously I’ve gone on one or two in my lifetime,” I laughed. A trail hiker, I was not. “No just… sit in a spot with a beautiful view. I’ve traveled over the world so much and seen some incredible things, but it was always only to grab a photo and post on social media. Half the time I was still partying and drunk or hungover from the night before. And despite that, I’ve loved living in cities my entire life. This is… different and beautiful.” Eric was different but beautiful too.
“I appreciate it more now,” Eric confessed. “Not until I was about your age though.” Reminding me again that we were years apart. I’d momentarily forgotten and a small part of me questioned whether the years in age would ever become a problem. Would he find me too immature? Was I not enough for him? I closed those thoughts down. No, I couldn’t think like that. I wanted to barricade my heart knowing that this—whatever this fling was—could never eventuate into anything. And yet it felt so comfortable, I couldn’t imagine anything else at this point.
Eric continued, eyeing me warily as if he’d caught onto my inner thoughts. “I hated this town so much. When I left for Chicago it was like a breath of fresh air and gave me a purpose. I set my roots but still came back every year to help my mother and father, especially because it was my uncle’s and his tradition to go hunting this time of year. After everything that had happened with Katia, I owed them at least that much. At first, I almost begrudged coming back because it reminded of how badly I’d messed up here. The same pitying faces, the gossip that remained consistent and never forgotten.” Ann and Patrice came to mind. “But besides all of that, the people mean well. It’s quiet and it’s a change of pace working in the café and not crammed in the office.”
“What’s your job like?” I asked curiously, swinging one leg at a time.
“Tiring. Stressful. But enough that I can manage. In the first two years I went from only myself, to four employees to two hundred.”
My jaw dropped. “Wait, so when Lori and Thomas say you run a big IT company, they’re not shitting around?”
He chuckled. “Shitting around, huh?”
“Shut up, I told you I swear more now because of you.”
He again seemed pleased by that. My rigid and classy parents might beg to differ. The thought of them spread a painful guilt through me.
“Yes, I have an effective team. When I’m gone for the month my second in charge takes over. He only calls me in cases of an emergency but since he’s been working with me for the last fifteen years he’s able to de-escalate most issues.”
“Wow, you trust him?” That came as a surprise. Considering how much he’d made a point to not trust anyone after Katia.
“I’ve set the correct things in place with lawyers so that no one can fuck me over again.” I smiled. His own faltered. “What are you smiling at?”
“It’s just hard to picture you as some big CEO in Chicago.”
“Opposed to you being a receptionist at some fancy magazine.” I stared at him. “Actually, I can see that very clearly.”
“And ex-receptionist, remember?”
“Ah that’s right, life change,” he said thoughtfully. Another twinge of guilt ran through me. So not only was I young immature brat, I was also jobless with no direction. And part of me thought he’d already caught on to the fact that I didn’t have a dime to my name. I’d just been grateful I’d paid the rental car upfront before my parents cut my credit card.
“When do you go back to Chicago?” I asked. I’d been here for two and a half weeks, and yet it’d felt like a lifetime.
“In less than two weeks.” Silence fell over both of us. “Cassidy, I can’t offer you what you’re looking for.”
My chest twisted. “I know,” I said quietly. I’d known that every step of the way and still fell for him. Not that I’d be so desperate as to admit it to him. I’d imagined so many times what my conversation would’ve sounded like with Issobelle and Clover. Issobelle would’ve reprimanded me for trying to settle in the first place and Clover would’ve told me to follow my heart. But glumly, I realized a relationship like hers and Damon’s was one out of a fairy tale with happily ever after. And if I’d learnt anything at this point, that was not designated for me.
“Hey,” Eric said, placing his finger under my chin and raising it. “Trust me, it’s for the best. You don’t want my baggage and you’re young, Cassidy. You could have any man you want.”
I chuckled, surprised by the tears that sprang to my eyes. I’d been so sick of hearing that same statement and although I’d tried to mentally prepare myself for it, I hated how easily Eric discarded me as well. Was it because I’d finally had sex with him? Had that been all he was after? And yet the only way I knew how to properly convey my feelings was through sex. Because when I’d been open with my feelings, it always made the other person uncomfortable and me an embarrassed bubbly mess.
“Fuck,” Eric growled, picking me up and placing me in his lap as he nursed me. “Cassidy, trust me when I say this is for the better.”
“I know,” I said, realizing that my time here was coming to an end, but also that I’d soon have to face what I’d been running away from for so many years. “It’s more annoying that you don’t think I already know that.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Cassidy,” he said quietly. “I haven’t had to deal with something like this.” He pointed between us. “And I want to put a clear expectation on it.”
I laughed. He sounded like a businessman through and through. And yet, even though he said it, I didn’t believe him. That barrier and wall he kept erecting between us, as formidable as ever. But this time, I wouldn’t fight him or challenge him on it. I wouldn’t make the mistake like I had in the past to believe something else than what he was telling me.
“Two weeks, huh?” I said seductively as he wiped away my remaining tears with worry lines marring his forehead. How could something that felt so right be wrong? I battered away the mixed feelings. I truly was crazy falling for a man I barely knew, and yet I couldn’t help it. But I could enjoy it with the little time we had left. “Then we better make the most of it, huh?” I said, brushing my lips against his, inviting him to dance. I nudged his mouth open, the brush of his beard tickling mine as I pressed my tongue against his.
A rough growl crept through him as he planted a hand against my lower back, pushing me against him. I rocked my hips back and forth, quickly working his cock until I felt it press against me. He bound my wrists behind my back with one calloused hand.
His other hand clutched my throat and forfeiting to the submission was sublime. The ability to hand him over the control and use me as he pleased sent an electric thrill through me. I anticipated his filthy profanity, my toes curling in my boots at the thought already.
“You keep that shit up out here and you’ll be punished over this log.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I challenged breathlessly.
His gaze went hooded and a low guttural noise escaped him. “You’re going to be my fucking undoing, Cassidy.”
I could feel his rock-hard cock pressing against his jeans. “Please?” I begged with anticipation. I just wanted him, buried deep inside of me, making me forget all the shit I’d have to figure out soon. Right now, there was only Eric and me. “Fuck me, old man.”
I hissed when he tugged back my hair, exposing my throat. “I think you’ve become rather cheeky recently,” he growled against my neck before taking a bite. I hissed under explosive pain, my wrists still bound behind me, and yet my nipples ached and my core pounded. I was already wet for him, and I could tell as I ground my hips into him unapologetically and shamelessly he was as turned on as I was.
“You wet for me, sweetheart?” he asked, removing his hand from around my throat that’d felt more like a tight collar. He pulled a condom from his pocket. He’d taken his vow of never going without again seriously.
“I’m wet for you,” I breathed.
“Stand up,” he instructed. I did as he commanded. “And push those jeans down so I can see your bare ass.”
I did as he said, neither of us breaking eye contact as I unbuttoned my jeans, pulling them and my panties to my knees. “Bend over,” he growled. The cold chill of the day quickly soaked into my bones. “Press both your hands against the log.”
I grabbed onto the wood, entirely exposed as I looked over my shoulder, my mouth watering at his engorged cock. I bucked under the sharp painful slap on my ass. I bit down on my lip, the aching thunderous pain jolting a thrill through me. “Did you like that, sweetheart?”
“Yes,” I admitted, heat streaking across my cheeks. I’d never known or enjoyed something so filthy. Another hard slap and I bucked again, this time, my scream carried through the trees.
Eric circled his thumb over my entrance, my knees rubbing together with anticipation. I wanted his cock, and Eric loved when I begged for it. I loved when I begged for it, reassured that in time his punishment was also my pleasure.
“Fuck me, Eric.”
Another slap and this time, he pulled back my hair, jerking my neck. He rounded behind me, his thick thighs bracing me as his tongue came down on mine possessively. I groaned, the angle twisting my neck painfully, and yet I fucking loved it. Eric was all masculine and possessive. Anything could jump out of this woodland right now and I knew I was safe.
He rubbed his cock against my opening as he passionately kissed me, wanting and hot. He edged in, taking my breath as he continued kissing me. He slid into the hilt, swallowing my pain- filled murmurs. The guy was built like a fucking mountain god and my pussy had to stretch to new levels to fit all of him. And yet with that pain, tension rippled through me, easing into the most brain-numbing, potent banging I’d ever known to exist.
“You like my cock, snowflake?” he asked, shoving back into me hard. I braced my arms against the wood as I cried out, his every thrust driving deeper into my being.
“I fucking love it,” I confessed in a high sex-crazed state. “Eric, I want you to come inside of me so bad.”
A guttural growl in response. His hand drifted down to my clit and circled the bud of nerves, a tightness starting to build in my core. My eyes burst open. Surely, I couldn’t almost be there already?
He removed his hand from my hair and grabbed my hip, pounding into me, my moans and cries only challenging him to bruise me further. Momentarily, the hand on my hip was gone, followed by a hard, bruising slap on my ass. I cried out in pain, a jolt shooting straight through me and taking my building tension from a low thrum to an avalanche.
“Fuck, Eric!” I screamed. He jerked into me with a grunt and my pussy quivered around him, flooding around his pulsing cock and milking him. I hurt. I was satisfied and somehow, I only wanted more.
His forehead dropped to my shoulder, pressing a small kiss in appreciation. “Fuck me, Cassidy,” he said with a somewhat shaky breath. “You’re my fucking undoing.”
As he pulled out, I turned around to face him, jeans still at my knees as I curled my arms around his shoulders. He pushed back part of my hair, staring at me like it was the last time he might be able to memorize my face. Behind him, the mountains continued to roll as the deep blue of the lake silhouetted him.
I tipped onto my toes as I gently brushed my lips to his. He cupped my face, all libido and harshness of the man who’d just impaled me against a tree trunk gone as he kissed me gently and endearingly. Every time we’d fucked, he’d made up for it in the same way. Tender and sweet. Like having to go through the storm to get to the peace and quiet within. And yet I liked both of these sides of Eric.
“Thank you,” I whispered. For showing me all of you. Even if he’d never admit or was even aware. He might’ve claimed I’d been the transparent one. But as he brushed his nose against mine, pressing a small kiss to the corner of my lips, I hadn’t seen any truer form of Eric. He was complicated and grumpy. But he was also sweet. And temporary.