22. Haven
Chapter Twenty-Two
Haven
When I get back to the library, my cheeks are so rosy, it feels like I’m wearing a placard that says, I just lost my virginity to a tattooed mechanic.
But every other part of me is carefully back in place. Cash even steamed the wrinkles out of my dress while I was fixing my hair.
I float through the rest of the day on a nothing-can-pop-this-happiness-bubble cloud.
And that night, we do it again.
Quietly. Slowly. In a bed, this time.
It’s beautiful.
I love sex.
I wish I’d known earlier how great it feels to take someone into my body, but I’m glad that I’ve only known this pleasure with Cash.
He’s incredible.
And for thirty-six hours, I think I’m the only person who knows this secret.
The next day is a day off for me, but Cash has to work, so he goes into town, and I spend the day with his mother and Hope.
They’re both giddy with excitement about the wedding. Luna has been making garlands to hang between trees for the wedding service. Mercy comes by in the late afternoon with a bag of thrifted satin and silk and lace that Luna might like to use.
For someone who was so grumpy when Ridge showed up to tell her about the wedding, Mercy seems all in now.
And as Hope and Luna carry the bag of things she brought ahead of us into the kitchen, Mercy glances sideways at me and must read some variation of that thought right on my face.
“What?” she asks.
“Nothing,” I stammer. “Sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. You look concerned.”
“I’m not.”
“You sure?”
No, I’m not sure of anything. I spent twenty-nine years thinking that premarital sex was a mistake, for example. I take a deep breath. “I don’t want to gossip.”
Mercy looks amused. “About me?”
“About anyone! But definitely not about you, specifically. Or anyone nice. Hope, Zane. Ridge.”
I stammer over Cash’s older brother’s name.
Mercy sighs. “Let me guess. You want to know about what you saw at the diner.”
“It’s none of my business.”
“It happened right in front of you. You’re a good friend to not ask, but… You can ask.”
I lower my voice. “It just sounded like you didn’t want to come?”
“And here I am?” Mercy gives me a soft smile. “I love Ridge. More than he will ever be able to love himself. And I adore his family. Separately from that, I care about Hope, and I would want to attend her wedding, no matter what. I just don’t want to give Ridge an inch when he refuses to give me—”
“Haven, you need to try this on.” Hope comes running back into the hallway, waving a green satin dress.
Mercy smoothly pivots to agree with her, the rest of her thought about Ridge abandoned. “Oh yeah, that one maybe shouldn’t be cut up into bunting triangles. It’s perfect for you.”
Hope pushes it into my hands. “Try it on. I think you might want to wear it for the wedding.”
“I was going to wear a sundress—”
“Just try it on.”
“Okay.”
“Now.”
Oh.
Since they won’t take no for an answer, I go downstairs.
The room we’re using in the basement is so lovely. There’s a plant in the window that someone else takes good care of, and the bed is solid enough that when Cash moved inside me, the frame barely squeaked.
It did squeak a little.
My cheeks flame as I sit on the edge of that very sturdy bed and look down at the dress they want me to try on.
It’s sexy. I can tell already, from the ruching and the satin and the skinny little straps that probably won’t hold up my breasts.
And I love wearing dresses, but I’ve always leaned toward a retro style that can be coded conservatively. Sure, there’s some cleavage sometimes, and yes, I like the feel of the breeze on my legs.
But this dress is sinful.
I can’t believe Hope would want me to wear it to her wedding.
Swallowing hard, I lay it out on the blanket and quickly strip off my clothes. I have to take my bra off, too, because there’s no room for that in this kind of dress.
The satin flows over my head, weighing nothing. I have to wiggle my hips to get it down, then adjust the bodice, but it’s surprisingly comfortable.
And once it’s on, it’s…on. It fits me perfectly.
It doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination, so there’s no chance I’m wearing this to the Jamboree. Or Hope’s sweet wedding under the willow trees.
But I like what I see when I twirl in front of the mirror.
“Haven?”
I jump at Cash’s voice. He knocks on the door, a perfunctory heads up that he’s coming in, and I can’t stop him before he pushes it open.
“What are you doing here?” I ask in a rush as he stares at me.
“I finished an oil change and Riley said she’d close up.”
It looks like he showered and changed at the garage, and his hair is still a little damp. My fingers itch to touch the strands curling onto his forehead.
He rakes his gaze down my body. To my bare feet. “I didn’t know I’d be interrupting a fashion show.”
“Mercy found this and Hope guessed it would fit me.” I feel faint. “It’s too flashy for the wedding.”
“It’s perfect for tonight, though.” He gives me a hooded look. “I owe you dancing lessons.”
“We can’t go dancing.”
“You should trust me.”
“I do.”
He curves his arms around me, groaning as he fills his hands with my satin-covered bum. “Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“Then go upstairs, show your friends this hot little dress, and I’ll be right up to steal you away from them.”
I don’t think I breathe again until he’s quietly set me out in the hallway and closed the door.
What is happening?
My pulse leaps happily.
I don’t know, but Cash has a plan, and I’m in.
I take my time climbing the stairs. Holding this blessed feeling in my chest. Delighted at Cash’s secret plan, and truly touched that both Hope and Mercy looked at this dress and thought of me.
They’re all chatting about fabric and scissors, but when I appear in the open archway to the kitchen, they go silent.
“Yes,” Luna finally says. “That’s perfect.”
Hope pumps her fist, and Mercy waggles her eyebrows at me.
“I’m not wearing it to the wedding,” I say primly.
Hope blows a raspberry. “Why not?”
“It’s just…not for that.” I’m blushing. I’m so blushing. Goodness. “But Cash is going to take me out tonight.”
“Heck yeah he is.” Mercy whistles as footsteps jog up the stairs. Different sounding than Cash’s usual heavy work boots.
I turn around just in time to see him striding toward me in black jeans, a black t-shirt that clings to all of his thick muscles, well-loved black cowboy boots, and a black cowboy hat on top of his head.
He looks like an outlaw.
An incredibly handsome outlaw.
He gives his mom and the others a wicked smile. “I’m not interrupting if I take her away?”
“Go!” they all say as one.
My hand flutters to my mouth, because all I have here are sneakers and work pumps. “What am I supposed to wear on my feet?”
“I’ve got boots you can wear,” Luna says, pulling me to the front hall. “I think we’re the same size feet.”
That’s an understatement. She has a whole closet of boots, and some of them look like they won’t fit my curvier calves, but she has a pair of black ankle boots that match Cash’s aesthetic exactly.
And when I slide my feet into them, they fit me just right.
A cowgirl version of a Cinderalla moment.
Cash disappears for a minute, then returns with an armful of blankets. He lifts his hat at his mom before he whisks me out the door without another word.
“It’s going to be a nice sunset tonight,” he says as he helps me into the passenger side of his truck. “You want to take a drive up the mountain?”
“I’d love that.”
The blankets get tucked behind me, then he jogs around to his side. He grins at me. “God, you’re pretty.”
“Thanks.”
Because what else is a girl supposed to say when overwhelmed by all the emotions?