Chapter 13
C ash’s eyelids opened and he frowned at the ceiling. It was lighter out than when he normally woke. A soft sigh next to him reminded him why he’d slept later than normal.
That third time. She’d been wanton. Issuing demands and making all kinds of noises that would’ve been his undoing if they hadn’t had sex twice before.
Three times in one night was pretty damn admirable, and he’d only been able to do that twice now—both times with Abbi.
Carefully disengaging from her, he got out of bed and dressed in his work clothes. If she was still asleep when he was done with chores, maybe he’d make her breakfast.
He walked out to the kitchen and frowned at a vibrating noise. He scanned the room and found it was coming from her bag. Were her parents trying to get ahold of her? Should he wake her up and let her know she’d missed a call?
He shrugged it off; he’d tell her when she woke up.
The morning was quiet compared to yesterday, when he’d had fun, sexy company for his chores.
She’d had such a good time, genuinely excited about what he did for a living.
She was here for one more week. How would she like to help move cattle?
As long as she could stay on a horse, or stand and wave her arms around to keep cattle from veering off, she’d be okay.
Yeah, he’d asked her to join them. His cousins wouldn’t mind.
They might start asking questions he wasn’t sure how to answer, ones he’d have to talk with Abbi about, eventually.
What happened after she went home? He couldn’t imagine going back to his routine of heading to the bar for a quick hookup.
But then, he wasn’t desperate and he could just hang out at home and either work on the house or Netflix and chill.
With the cat. Because that wouldn’t be lonely at all.
He shook his head as he worked the controls to unload the hay bale into the feeder.
No, he refused to be scared of his own company.
Is that what had kept Mom around so long, so afraid to be by herself that she’d rather raise her husband’s baby from another woman?
Or had she been so blindly in love with Dad that she’d been willing to tolerate the affairs?
It’d taken several years before Sissy had come along, and while Mom had never discussed fertility struggles, maybe that had had something to do with it.
Fuck, he didn’t know. All he knew was that he didn’t want to be like either parent when it came to relationships. Which was one reason why he resolved, as of now, to quit the bar scene even if Abbi left his ass in the dust.
The cattle were fed, and he idled the tractor back. The sun was coming out. He inhaled deep. Had he just decided to commit to a woman?
Yeah. He had.
But then there was her brother. Could he keep from revealing the depth of her brother’s despair?
She couldn’t find out. As a brother himself, Cash reckoned that it’s not what Daniels would’ve wanted.
Cash wouldn’t want Sissy to despair over his own personal pain.
Hell, he’d protected Sissy from almost everything, just like Daniels probably had with Abbi.
No. No way could she learn how depressed her brother had been.
He parked the tractor, tended to the horses, and fed the cats. Alfalfa was the friendliest one. A couple of the others flat-out ignored him, but he didn’t mind as long as they kept mousing.
In case Abbi was still sleeping, he quietly entered the house.
Her words drifted to him from the kitchen. “I’ll come home when my vacation’s done. But things have changed and that’s just the way it is.” She paused. “No, it’s not impulsive. People change.” Something hard slapped the counter. “No, it’s nothing like that. Geez, Mom, why is it always—”
He came around the corner. She had her back to him with her head hanging.
“I’m sorry, Mom, but— No. I’ve tried talking to him, he doesn’t understand.” Pause. “No, I do understand and I’m serious.”
Cash knocked lightly on the doorframe. Abbi spun around, her brows lifted in surprise, one hand twisting in her hair, the other clenched around the phone. She untangled her hand and waved a greeting.
“It was nice talking to you, Mom.” Abbi held his gaze and shook her head that no, it wasn’t a nice talk. “Just try to trust me. I’m doing fine. Better than fine. This was a good decision. Love you, bye.” She clicked off and muttered, “I’m a grown woman.”
“Nice visit?” He crossed to her and kissed her forehead. She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.
“How can they make me feel like I’m ten years old?”
“What are they so worried about? Have you never gone off and done something on your own?” Nuzzling her hair, it dawned on him that he didn’t know much about her personal life.
“To be fair, I don’t have the best track record of decision-making on my own. And I haven’t done anything like this, by myself or with anyone.”
He set her away from him and pinned her with a hard stare. “Be honest. Who’s judged your decisions in the past? And did they use their standards or yours?”
She scrunched her nose. It was adorable. He was toast. “Well…I tend to follow my gut, not consider the consequences.”
“Do you deal with the consequences?”
“Yes. I guess. But I haven’t caused any major upsets. Just a lot of little ones that made my parents worry.”
“News flash, honey. Parents are going to worry no matter what.”
She rewarded him with a small smile. “Brothers, too?”
“We’re a lost cause. Hungry?” He might be okay with his decision to keep the darkness of Daniels’s last days to himself, but he didn’t want to encourage any questions.
She nodded and slumped at the little dining set in the kitchen. “I didn’t get a chance to eat. They kept calling until I answered.”
Her parents were tenacious. He rummaged through the fridge and popped out with eggs and bacon.
“I suppose they’d freak if you told them about us.”
She contemplated him, her gaze solemn. “Yes, they would. It’d be more proof of how I don’t think through things.” She waited a heartbeat, twisting her hands in her lap. “What about us, though? Is this more than…”
He set everything on the counter and faced her. Good, they were having this talk. “Yes, Abbi. You’re more than. Don’t doubt it. I’d like to see where this goes.”
She tilted her head, her expression introspective. Then a smile spread across her and she glanced down at her hands. “I’d like that, too.”
Happiness shined brighter in him than the sun outside. “Good. I’d also like to see where we go right after we eat.” He winked and dug out a bowl to start cracking eggs.
“I dunno,” she said with a sly, sexy tone that went straight to his cock. “You have a lot of land. We could go a lot of places.”
He cooked in record time and they wolfed down their food. She left the table, put her plate on the counter, and sauntered backward out of the kitchen.
“I’ll do the dishes if you can catch me in ten seconds. One—” She darted out the front door.
Oh, he’d catch her no matter what, and the dishes wouldn’t matter when he did.
He tore out of the house and raced in the direction of her laughter. She jogged around the house into the backyard. When she saw him give chase, she squealed and tried to speed up.
But it was too late. He tackled her, more an impromptu dance than anything violent. He wrapped his arms around her and lowered them both to the cold ground, twisting to keep her on top of him. Even his ball cap stayed on.
“That was a smooth move,” she said breathlessly. Her hair hung between them, her arms coming around his neck. “Do it often?”
“To unruly calves that don’t want me to take a look at them.
” His grin was lopsided because damn, this was fun .
He hadn’t realized how boring his days could be.
Her bottom ground down over his hardening length and he rolled up into her.
“I don’t know what you’re planning, honey, but I don’t have any protection on me, and if you keep doing that… ”
She wiggled delightfully as she reached into her jeans’ pocket. “Just so happens, I snuck one from your stash.”
He snaked a hand around her neck. “The rest is up to you. It won’t be my ass hanging out in the wind.”
“I trust you’ll keep me warm.” She pushed off him, then rose to her knees and straddled him while undoing her pants.
Once she’d wrestled one leg out of her pants and underwear, her sex was bared to him.
All blood rushed to his groin. He couldn’t free himself quickly enough.
He tried to cup her mound, but her need must have been raging as hard as his.
She batted his hand out of the way and rolled the condom over his length, her cool hands an erotic contrast to the heat running rampant between them.
With no preamble, no more foreplay than a quick chase, she rose and settled herself over him.
He gripped her waist but didn’t move her until she was ready.
She bit her lip and moaned. His gaze shot back down to where they were connected.
In the bright light of day, she was even more sexy and gorgeous and brilliantly unhinged, and there were no shadows to hide it.
The grass crunched under him, not completely brown yet for the autumn season.
He would worry about her catching a chill, or getting grass strains on her knees, but the whimpers coming from her sounded like nothing but pleasure.
She rode him, her enjoyment of his body obvious, and he was soon swept up in sensation, raising his knees to tip her forward and thrust deeper.
She arched into him and he gathered her to him, stealing her lips for a greedy kiss.
They hadn’t even done that before he’d entered her.