Chapter 13
Sad Girls
Cash
When I woke up this morning, I thought I had fucked everything up.
My drunken, sloppy, texts were over the invisible line I’m working hard not to cross.
Taking Daisy for a hard run this morning, when the sun had barely risen, helped reduce my stress a little.
If she writes me off or isn’t interested anymore because I said I want to taste her skin—I do—and I want to feel her mouth—I do so much—then I guess it wasn’t going anywhere anyway.
Confessing my sins and my feelings to Daisy has become a habit of mine but hearing the tiny giggle from behind me while I did it knocked me off my feet—literally and figuratively.
Seeing her standing in my barn, looking adorable in the morning air, hair in a bun, jeans so tight they look like skin, I couldn’t control my racing heart.
Inviting her into my home, and introducing my animals, is the first step in this turning into something.
Daisy’s instant approval was unexpected but not surprising.
She always knows, even before I do, if someone isn’t good people.
Watching her examine everything in the yard and inside solidified something for me.
The women I usually bring home are impressed by the big house and ranch but are generally focused on what’s upstairs and what I can offer them.
I don’t blame them, it’s natural. But Callie has a quiet confidence and even though she’s in my space, she doesn’t need to claim me or it, she is just existing.
I watch with satisfaction as my Hurricane sits at my kitchen table, eating her pastry. I can’t imagine anyone ever looking so right in this place. Other women have sat in that seat or wandered through these rooms but she is the first one to ever look like she belongs here.
I reach over and wipe a tiny bit of icing from her lip with my thumb, her eyes watching my movements as I bring it to my mouth, sucking on it. Her gaze heats and her breathing becomes a little heavier. I shift in my seat, trying to create some space behind my zipper.
“Want to discuss the middle of the night ramblings of a drunken cowboy?” she blurts out, her voice a little raspy.
The shift to the embarrassing subject catches me off guard and my cheeks heat.
“He blushes? Who knew it was possible.” She grins at me.
“Not much gets a blush from me, darlin’, but my own mortifying actions do.” I smile at her, a genuine smile, not my usual flirty smirk.
“It wasn’t so bad. Where should I start? Hurricane?”
“Oh.” I laugh. “That’s what I’ve been calling you in my head.
From the East Coast, blew in overnight, changed everything.
” Her face twists, like she’s unsure as to whether this is good or bad.
“Except, I think it might have been the best unexpected weather imaginable.” This earns a return of her smile.
She thinks, tilting her head a little, like she’s rolling it around her brain. “I like it. I shall allow it,” she declares and laughs.
Bowing slightly, I say, “Thank you, Queen Hurricane.” I give her an over exaggerated wink. “What else?”
“Your mouth…and my skin?”
Now my ears and the back of my neck heat up under her hungry and inquisitive gaze. I don’t know how to explain this one without crossing the line.
“That one seems…self-explanatory, maybe? Don’t make me say it.” I plead with my eyes.
“I want to hear it.”
Shit.
“Well, since I tasted your mouth, I have had more than a few thoughts about tasting you…” I look her up and down, lingering an exaggerated few seconds at the junction of her thighs before raising my eyes to her mouth, “…everywhere.”
She squeaks out a breath and my cock twitches excitedly in response, hoping to get in on the conversation.
Clearing her throat, she asks, “Um, my mouth?”
She gets a groan for that, and I get a cheeky smile.
“Yes, your mouth, darlin’. Before I kissed you, I definitely thought about it.
Since I kissed you,” I lace my fingers with hers on the table, rubbing circles on her thumb, “barely a minute has passed that I haven’t thought about your beautiful lips and how they wrap around… words.”
Gasping, she narrows her eyes at me. “Words, huh?”
“I swear, I can’t tell you how delighted I am that everything I say seems to scandalize you. You have been flirted with before, right?”
Her face falls at my comment and I worry I’ve said something wrong.
“Not like this and not in a long time.” She pulls her hand free of mine and I instantly feel bereft. She folds her hands in her lap and bows her head a little.
Getting up, I walk around to her side of the table, kneeling at her feet so I can catch her eyes. I find them full of tears.
“Hey, hey, baby, what’s wrong? What just happened?” I’m confused; the emotional whiplash unsettles me but I will find out why she turned inward so quickly.
“It’s just—just that—this can’t be real, can it, Cash?” The hitch in her voice nearly knocks me down, my heart breaking for this beautiful girl and her sadness.
“Of course it can.” I hold her face, keeping her eyes on mine.
“This is the most real thing I think has ever happened to me. I know we just met and it’s new, but this,” I gesture between us, “is real, Hurricane. I want to know what happens next. Don’t shut me out.
Let me in.” I lay a hand on her heart, begging her with my eyes.
“No man has ever made me feel the way I have felt in the last week. This town feels right.” She puts her own hand against my heart. “This feels right. But,” her face crumbles and tears run down her cheeks, “I’m not good enough for you, Cash. Look at me.”
“I am looking at you, Callie. And I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life.” I wipe her tears away.
“I don’t know who did this to you, but whoever it was, he didn’t deserve you.
Hell, I don’t think I deserve you, gorgeous gorgeous girl.
” Planting a small, chaste kiss to her wet lips, I pull her to me until she’s pressed against my chest, and I can feel her heart beating a rapid rhythm.
At exactly the wrong, or maybe right, moment, Tank pads into the kitchen and sees us hugging, deciding he is not going to miss out on the action. Nosing between us, he presses against our legs. Callie reaches down and strokes his head, a teary, wet laugh escaping.
“Where is the bathroom?” she asks me, pulling away. I point her to the door off the kitchen that leads to the laundry room with the downstairs bathroom inside.
As she disappears, I look down at Tank, rubbing between his ears, and ask him “Should we keep her, boy?” Looking up at me, he just thumps his tail on the floor.
I take it as a yes anyway.