Chapter 24
Aspen
Over the courseof the next week, Cade and I had found some sort of balance with our jobs and extracurriculars. It hadn’t been all that hard considering he’d been called away on a search for a few missing campers, Renegade joining him, within a few days of my moving in.
He’d been gone for a little over forty-eight hours, but it hadn’t stopped either Molly or me from feeling lonely in this large house we’d suddenly found ourselves living in.
The last two days Cade and Renegade had been around, and as the man had promised, he’d made sure I had the space I needed and time to work on my latest book. More often than not, with fall being around the corner and hurricane season on the horizon, I took advantage of the warm summer days and wrote outside. Sometimes Cade would join me, reading one of his numerous books. It was quickly becoming one of my favorite things. And on the days he was around, because he knew I was prone to forgetting to feed myself, he’d usually make me lunch and looked after dinner for both of us.
In the evening, we’d normally curl up together on his couch and watch a bit of TV before finding ourselves in bed, entwined in each other with a bout of robust sex. Tonight had been no different in that part of our routine, but there was an edge to the man currently crumpled overtop of me, our bodies plastered with sweat, his labored breathing puffing against my collarbone. It was an edge our first round hadn’t really taken off on his side. Me, I was mellowed out and sated, but rile me up again, and I would take him and everything he would have to give me.
A minute passed, and when Cade didn’t say anything, my mind began to wander.
Had I done something wrong? Did I not pick up on a cue of some sort? Did I forget to do something for him today, tonight…some time?
I’d taken care of the laundry earlier today. Was there something else I’d said I’d do and the thought of it simply escaped me?
Fuck, why do I suck at this part of a relationship so much?
I knew it wasn’t about the sex. That had been something mind-blowing; tonight, better than the last time we’d been together. It was always better. Honestly, things had been insanely hot in that respect and had only gotten hotter every time we were together. I chalked it up to our budding connection on an emotional level. Never in my life had I thought about ways a man could complete me—complement my daily life—make me a better person, make my life that much brighter instead of it being shaded in undertones of gray and muted colors.
“Sweetheart?” Cade’s voice knocked me out of my musings.
“I love you,” came flying out of my mouth before I could think better of it.
His body jackknifed upward. Cade’s jaw ticked as he bore his weight on his elbows, his lower half beginning to harden once more inside me. His eyes deepened with emotional intensity, to the point of looking entirely black instead of their regular turned-on midnight blue. “What did you just say to me?”
I was sure my eyes had gone wide. “Holy shit, Cade.” Then my mouth did that thing it had just done and ran away from me some more. “I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said it.” I shook my head from side to side. This couldn’t be it. I just had to be this inept at a relationship that I caved to the sexed-up woman trope that gave those three words to a man after he’d rocked her world. “It’s so fast. It’s?—”
A hand covered my mouth, causing my wandering eyes to fuse to his, and that’s when my panic ebbed, my body going limp.
“I’ll be fucking dammed,” he whispered, his irises going liquid. “She beat me to it.”
“Hmph?” was all I could manage behind his large palm.
With his eyes searching mine, he shook his head. “It’s right there. It’s been there this whole fucking time, and I didn’t see it until just now.”
“Mmmph.”
“Motherfucker!” Pulling his hand away, his mouth replaced it in a soul-shattering kiss. His body shook as if it were at the point of breaking, and I found myself wrapping my arms around him, cradling Cade as if he were the most precious thing in my life, and I was the one responsible for holding him together.
Cade
I don’t think I’ve ever been this fucking hard in my life. A week. A single week of us living together was all it had taken for Aspen to tell me she loved me. I’d suspected it with the look I’d occasionally spotted in her eyes over the last few days. It had been the same one I’d seen my mother give my father over the years, before things had gone south. I had simply never seen it directed toward me until this past week.
Love.
Aspen loved me.
And I loved her.
To be honest, I’d been wracking my brain on how to let Aspen in on my feelings since the night I asked her to move in. I knew she didn’t have much experience with serious relationships, and her independent streak was a mile wide compared to the other women I’d dated. Then, there was the fact that aside from family, I’d never given those words to another soul. Considering her past hurts, I knew Aspen Ridge was an enigma who had only let a handful of people see the real her, and I was one of the lucky bastards to witness those guards of hers come down. And boy had they crumbled tonight.
Tearing my mouth from hers, I finally let her see all of me.
“You wreck me, Pen,” I said, my breath coming out in hard pants. “You undo me at every turn, and this moment, this one right here,” I paused to swallow the surge of emotions threatening to clog my airway, “is what I’ve been living for my entire life. I fucking love you, Aspen Ridge. Without a doubt. No reservations. It’s what I know in my heart of hearts, and if you let me, I’ll make sure to guard yours. You’ll never regret giving me those words, sweetheart. They’re mine and you can’t have them back.” I punctuated the last of my words with another deep kiss, this one unhurried…gentle—one meant to cherish.
She was mine.
I was hers.
Nothing or no one would take this from me—from us.
Encased in the cocoon that was Aspen’s arms and legs, I proceeded to show her the depth of my devotion with my body, the tension that had been there during our first round having fully dissipated, because I’d been true to my feelings and had finally let the final wall crumble.