Chapter 14
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
Cash had never felt as naked as he did standing there with Wade and Jet, the blue fluffy towel around his waist. He’d dried off with the weight of his buddies’ eyes on him as he scrubbed through his hair and wiped every drop from his shoulders.
“I saved dinner for you,” he said, deliberately keeping the noun singular. “You guys got here faster than I thought you would.”
The scraping of a barstool along the hardwood floor filled the kitchen, and then Jet sighed as he sat down. “The pilot made up time in the air,” he said.
“And you obviously didn’t have a problem getting your rental car.
” Cash opened the fridge and pulled out the individual containers of meatballs and potatoes that he and Lark had proportioned for her brothers.
He popped the venting spout on the first one and tapped the button to open the microwave.
With that rotating around and getting hot, he finally faced the McClellan brothers.
A smile filled his face, though he still had no idea how to tell them about his feelings for Lark. She wouldn’t be able to stay out in the hot tub forever, and she didn’t have her phone, so he couldn’t text her when the coast was clear.
“Yeah, it was real easy,” Wade said, joining Cash in the kitchen. He opened the fridge and peered inside.
“Have anything you want,” Cash said.
“I emailed them my driver’s license.” Wade bent and pulled out a can of Diet Coke. “And they sent me back a locker number with a PIN.”
“Finding the bank of lockers was the hardest part,” Jet said.
“Yeah, but once we got it open, I had everything we needed, and getting to the car was real easy too.”
“Good,” Cash said. “I know that’s a new system, so I’m glad it worked.”
“It’ll be nice to have a car,” Wade said.
Jet scoffed. “Yeah, because you want to go see Theresa.”
Wade popped open his soda, the snap-hiss of it filling the space between the three of them.
“Theresa, huh?” Cash asked, turning his attention to Wade. Anything to keep the spotlight off him.
“They’ve been texting,” Jet said. “But I don’t get it. She teaches elementary school here, bro, and we have a ranch in Texas.”
“They need teachers in Texas too,” Wade drawled.
“So you think you’re gonna start something with her in the next three days?” Jet asked, and Cash felt like he was watching a tennis match, with the conversation simply flying back and forth between the brothers.
“We’re going to be here for five days,” Wade said. He took a long drink of his cola and focused on Cash. “When did Lark get here?”
“Yesterday,” Cash said, his voice suddenly a touch cooler—at least to him. He had no idea what Jet and Wade heard.
“Did you know she broke up with her boyfriend?” Jet said.
Cash praised the heavens above that the microwave beeped at that moment, and he moved down the island to the silverware drawer to get out a fork.
He turned his back on Jet and Wade even as he asked, “Oh, yeah?” and then pulled open the microwave.
He cut the meatballs in half, stirred the mashed potatoes, and put the container back in. “This is almost done.”
Wade’s boots thunked against the floor as he rounded the island and sat next to Jet. “Yeah, she broke up with Danny…when?” He looked over to Jet, the microwave clearly not a distraction for either of them.
“Two or three months ago, something like that,” Jet said.
Pieces fell together in Cash’s mind. “Oh, that’s probably why she came back in October and spent the weekend in her room.” He raised his eyebrows and looked from Jet to Wade, hoping one of them would confirm. When they didn’t, he added, “It was the first weekend of October.”
“Funny how the man has that date memorized,” Wade said.
Cash’s heartbeat knocked against his breastbone.
Without thinking, he looked to the back door.
Lark still hadn’t come in, and the faint pulsing of light moved from green to teal.
The microwave beeped again, continuing to run as it sounded five chimes to let him know that the time had ended.
He once again turned his back on his buddies and picked up the fork.
“Yeah, I knew she’d broken up with her boyfriend,” he said. “I asked her about it when she got here yesterday.”
The potatoes and meatballs steamed now, so he turned to face Jet and Wade. “Who’s getting this?”
“I am,” Jet said. “Wait. You better give it to Wade, because I think he’s going to be more upset about what you’re about to say than I am.” He grinned and pulled the salt and pepper shakers closer.
Wade looked like a statue, his face set in a perpetual frown. “Why’d you ask her about her boyfriend?”
“Because I want to be her boyfriend,” Cash said, the words suddenly there and oh-so-true.
Jet started to laugh, and Cash slid the plastic container of food toward Wade.
His frown deepened, but Cash got him a fresh fork, and he picked it up and looked at the food.
By then, Jet had stopped laughing, though he sure seemed entertained by the idea of Cash and Lark dating.
Cash had had a lot of experience with saying something and then letting the other person react to it, and he knew how to not dig himself any deeper than he’d already done.
Wade took a bite of a meatball swiped through a pile of mashed potatoes, a groan coming out of his mouth. “This is great,” he said. “You made this?”
Cash nodded and busied himself with putting the second container in the microwave for Jet.
“I think it’s great,” Jet said. “Lark needs someone to loosen her up.”
“And you think Black Stallion over there is the one to do it?” Wade scoffed, and Cash grinned, though he would never, ever tell Lark that she needed “loosening up.”
“Hey, she doesn’t know about the Black Stallion,” Cash said.
“You haven’t told her that story?” Jet asked.
“She got here yesterday.” Cash cocked his head at Jet. “How fast do you think I move?”
“Fast enough to be half-naked in the hot tub with her,” Wade said dryly.
“I get in the hot tub every night, and I’m wearing appropriate attire for the activity.” Cash turned his back on his buddies. “I’ve texted you about that at least a thousand times.”
“Yeah, but Lark doesn’t,” Wade said.
“She’d never tried it,” he said. “And I told her how awesome it was, and she liked it last night.”
“Yeah, I bet she did,” Jet said.
“It’s not like that, all right?” Cash said, his frustration getting the better of him. “I like her, and I respect her, and I love you guys like brothers. So if it’s gonna be a problem, just say so.”
Jet looked at Wade, and Wade looked at Jet. He took another bite of meatballs and mashed potatoes and then focused on Cash. “I guess it’s all right with me.”
“I’m all for it,” Jet said. “Cash is a great guy, and he’d be lucky to have someone like Lark.”
The back door slid open then, and Cash’s gaze flew to the woman who’d starred in his thoughts for several months now. Lark entered, her towel already wrapped around her and tucked up under her arms.
“I don’t feel so good,” she said.
Cash immediately abandoned his post in the kitchen and hurried toward her. “You stayed in too long,” he said. “Come sit down.” He arrived in front of her, noting how red her face was. “Do you feel hot or cold?”
“Too hot,” she said. “And I wasn’t out that long. Two cycles.”
“Yeah, but we only did one last night.” He managed to keep sweetheart off the end of his sentence, remembering that he and Lark were not alone in the house anymore.
He managed to get her to the couch, and she sank onto it. “I’m all wet,” she said.
“It’s fine,” Cash said. “It’ll dry. Stay here, and I’ll get you something cold to drink.” He returned to the kitchen, where he got her a glass of ice water at the same time the microwave beeped for Jet’s meal.
“I got it, Brother,” he said.
Cash nodded at him gratefully before he hurried back into the living room with the drink for Lark. “Small sips,” he said, handing it to her. “When you start to feel hot, you have to come in.”
“I didn’t realize until right at the end.” She glared at him but took the glass and then took a drink.
“Did you cut these meatballs in half?” Jet called.
Cash twisted and looked at him over his shoulder. “Yeah,” he said. “And then thirty more seconds.”
Lark leaned back against the cushion and closed her eyes. “I don’t feel lightheaded anymore.”
“Another drink,” Cash said, and he crouched down in front of Lark.
He’d been out of the hot tub long enough that his swim trunks wouldn’t be dripping, and he could probably take off his towel.
He did that, laying it over his knees. As he leaned a little closer, he whispered, “I told them I wanted to be your boyfriend.”
Lark’s eyes flew open, and she searched his face. Cash couldn’t help grinning at the alarm he found there. “What now?”
“Jet seems all for it,” he said. “And Wade said he guessed he thought it would be okay.”
Lark rolled her eyes. “As if Wade has any say in who I date.”
Cash grinned at her. “He’s just playing the protective older brother.”
Everything about Lark softened, and she lifted the glass to her lips and took another drink.
“Just so you know,” Wade said, his voice rising in volume as he spoke. “We’re still here, and I don’t want any public displays of affection this week. I am not in the mood for that.”
“You will be if you can get Theresa to agree to go out with you,” Jet said.
“Theresa Fletcher?” Lark asked. “You still like her?”
“He lo-oves her,” Jet teased as he took his container of now-hot food around the island to sit next to his brother.
“Once again, you have no room to talk,” Wade said. “You haven’t been out with anyone in five years.”
“Oh, boy,” Cash said, and he got to his feet. “This is going to be a fun week.”
“Hey, now. I let you brood for months after Jamie broke up with you,” Jet said, looking at Wade with hurt eyes.