Chapter 7
Cash
She’s on her hands and knees in front of me, her back arched in that sexy, perfect curve that drives me absolutely insane, and I’m driving into her from behind, filling her completely.
And it’s absolute, fucking paradise.
My girl is so responsive. So eager. And always, so greedy for more, taking everything I give her while begging for more.
“That’s it, city girl,” I growl, gripping her hips as I set a steady rhythm. “Take it just like that.”
Her moans fill the small cabin, mixing with the sounds of our bodies coming together, and I can feel her clenching around me already. It was all I could do to wait until after we’d eaten the frozen pizzas, with my brother and Anna, before getting her alone.
But as soon as I did, I had her clothes off, hungry for something very different than dinner.
I can feel how close she is now. I can read her body like a book I’ve memorized every page of.
It’s only been a little more than a week with my girl, but it might as well have been forever the way I feel about her.
I’m completely undone by her. In every way.
I slide one hand up her spine, feeling the slight tremor that runs through her body as I press deeper. This isn’t just sex anymore, I’m not sure it ever was.
I’ve never been good at communicating. Especially not about feelings. But every time I’m inside her, I feel like I’m trying to tell her something that words can’t quite capture.
That this thing between us…I don’t want it to end. That she matters to me. Maybe more than she should after only a few days, but regardless…it’s true.
And it terrifies me.
“You’re so fucking perfect,” I murmur, leaning over her back so I can kiss between her shoulders. “Like you were made just for me.” I punctuate every word with a thrust.
“Cash…”
I’ve never felt a connection like this. I’ve never wanted anyone like this before. And it’s more than just physical, although God knows the sex is fucking incredible.
It’s the way she makes me laugh. The way she gets me to open up, and the way I want to know everything about her, too. The way she looks at me, like she believes in me.
I increase my pace, both of us so close to the edge. She pushes back against me, matching my rhythm. Her hands grip the sheets as she desperately tries to hold herself in place.
“You’re mine, Kali.” The words slip out before I can stop them. It’s too much, too possessive, and too fucking vulnerable. But I can’t help it. “Say it. Tell me you’re mine.”
“I’m yours,” she gasps as her release presses ever closer. “God, Cash. I’m yours.”
I pull her up so her back is flush against my chest. I wrap one arm around her waist while the other finds her perfect tits. She’s so beautiful like this. Flushed and desperate, and completely fucking mine.
I bring my hand down between her legs, finding her clit and pinch it just hard enough to cause her to cry out as she falls apart. Her tight pussy walls clench tighter around me, pulling me closer to my own release.
“That’s it,” I growl, continuing to move inside her, chasing my climax. “Come for me, city girl. Show me how much you need me.”
She’s trembling and gasping my name as I lose myself inside her with a groan that comes from deep inside my chest.
Afterwards, we stay that way for a moment. Connected and breathing hard with her pressed up against my chest. I’m not ready to let her go.
I’m no longer sure I’ll ever be ready.
“Don’t go,” I murmur against her hair. “Stay. Just like this.”
She giggles and slips out of my arm. “I need to clean up,” she says with a smile. “I still need to write, remember?”
I remember. After all, that’s why she’s here.
Reluctantly, I let her go. I watch as she pads naked across the floor to the small attached bathroom.
When she disappears inside, I drop back on the bed and run a hand through my hair.
I’m so fucked.
I’m completely, utterly, undeniably in love with my city girl. And I have no fucking idea what I’m going to do about it.
I stay there a second longer, smiling to myself like a fool before getting up and pulling my jeans on.
We have an evening routine that’s become second nature to me in our short time together. She writes, I rub her feet as we sit by the fire in some kind of domestic comfort I never knew I wanted.
While she gets herself together, I gather up her notebook, the blanket, and her phone from her nightstand. It lights up in my hand just as I’m turning toward the couch.
My eyes drop to the display by instinct.
The air leaves my lungs in one sharp exhale, and I stop short, frozen in place.
Kali
My skin is flushed. My lips are swollen. My body aches in the best possible way, and I can’t stop smiling.
I brace my hands on the sink and gaze at my reflection.
I look different.
But how could I not?
He’d said it. You’re mine, Kali.
If I close my eyes, I can still hear him saying it. His voice rough, barely controlled. His dick inside me. Stuffing me like I’ve never been stuffed before.
And I said it back.
Of course I did.
Because I felt it. Hell, I’ve felt it from the very first time his lips touched mine. I am totally, one hundred percent his.
Every word, every touch, every breath between us feels real in a way I didn’t even know was possible.
No one has ever made me feel this way before.
I take a deep breath and blow it out. “Tell him,” I whisper to my reflection. “He feels it too.”
I was pretty sure he did. But now I know it, and I’m done dancing around it.
I take a breath, pull on his oversized flannel that I’ve claimed as my own to wear around the cabin, pull my long hair up in a messy knot, and step back into the main room.
He’s standing by the couch, half dressed, his back to me, his shoulders tense.
I feel the shift in the air immediately. The easy warmth that always fills the space between us is gone. It feels heavy now. Thick with tension.
“Hey,” I say softly, not to be deterred. “I was thinking—”
He turns, and the look in his blue eyes stops me cold.
“Cash?”
“Do you have something you need to say?”
I nod, but the certainty of what I was going to tell him has vanished. “I don’t know…what are you—”
He holds up my cell phone. “Do you care to explain this?”
It takes me a second to register what I’m seeing. The faint glow of the screen. A text message.
I take a step forward in an attempt to see what he was looking at.
“Brooke.”
Instantly, I know what he’s seen. I don’t even have to read the text to understand what’s happened.
“What…what do you—”
“Don’t play dumb, Kali.”
My stomach drops. “I’m—”
“I knew better,” he stops me, his voice tight. “I knew I shouldn’t trust you. Reporters. You’re all the same.”
The words hit like a slap. “That’s not fair, Cash. You don’t know—”
“I know enough,” he snaps. “You came here for a story, and you got it, didn’t you?” He looks down at the phone and reads Brooke’s text aloud.
“See? I told you! Give him what he wants, and he’ll give you what you want.” He looks up at me. “Winky face.” His lips twist into a sneer, and he keeps reading. “It works every time. Can’t wait to read the dirt.”
I want to melt into the floorboards. Earlier, I’d responded to Brooke’s incessant texts, but I didn’t tell her anything about Cash and me. I certainly didn’t tell her that we’d slept together. All I’d said was that I was getting the story.
“That’s not what it—”
“Looks like?” He tosses the phone onto the bed behind him, and when his eyes meet mine, all the affection and desire that had just been there have vanished.
“I don’t know, Kali. Because it looks to me like you’re fucking the cowboy to get the dirt.
” He uses air quotes. “Screwing the source sure makes for one hell of a headline, doesn’t it? ”
I flinch at his harsh words. His voice is breaking something deep inside me. “Stop, Cash,” I plead. “Please. That’s not what this is.”
He laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “I think that’s exactly what it is. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to fall for it.”
Tears sting my eyes. “It was real. You. You’re real, Cash. I—”
“Don’t.” He steps back, shaking his head, and grabs his shirt off the back of the couch. “Don’t stand there and lie to me.”
“I’m not lying!” My voice cracks. I hate the sound of it. “It’s not what it looks like. You have to believe me.”
“I don’t.”
The silence that follows is louder than any shout could be.
He slides his arms into his shirt. “Pack your things. I want you gone by morning.”
“Cash. Please,” I whisper. “I just—”
“Don’t make this harder than it already is, Kali. You got your story. Leave.”
My throat burns, but I nod because it’s the only thing I can do. He opens the door, pauses just long enough to look back at me, and for a flash, I think I see the man I know. The one I’m falling madly in love with.
But then he’s gone.
The door slams shut. I’m alone.
I sink onto the couch and let the tears fall.