“And that made you want to be a pastor?” Cash’s voice held no mockery, just genuine curiosity.
I nodded, though he probably couldn’t see it clearly in the dim light. “I saw how one person could change someone’s life just by giving a damn. I wanted to be that for someone else. I’vealwayswanted to be that for someone else. I like to help people.”
His hand moved from my shoulder to the back of my neck, fingers threading through my hair. The touch was gentle, almost tender.
“You tryin’ to fix me, Mike?” he asked, his voice rough.
I leaned into his touch. “No. I don’t think you need fixing. You’re perfect just the way you are. I think you just need someone to give a damn.”
Cash was quiet for a long moment, his breathing the only sound between us. Then I felt the bed shift as he moved closer.
“Can I stay here tonight?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
My heart hammered in my chest. This wasn’t about sex. That was easy enough to tell from his tone. This was about something far more intimate.
“Yeah,” I said, lying back down and lifting the covers. “Of course you can stay.”
He slid under the sheets beside me, his body radiating heat. For a moment, we both lay there, not touching, the space between us electric with possibility. Then, to my surprise, Cash turned on his side and draped an arm over my waist, pulling me against his chest.
“This okay?” he murmured against my hair.
“More than okay,” I whispered back, relaxing into his embrace.
His chest rose and fell steadily against my back, his breath warming my neck. It felt strange. Not the position, but the tenderness of it. This wasn’t the Cash who’d fucked me against the wall hours earlier. This was someone else entirely, someone vulnerable and seeking comfort.
“Your dad,” I said carefully, “leaving you the ranch... do you think it was his way of apologizing?”
Cash’s arm tightened around me briefly. “Don’t know. Maybe. Too little, too late if it was.”
“But you’re here.”
“Nowhere else to go,” he said, but there was less bite in his words than usual.
I covered his hand with mine where it rested on my stomach. “We’ve all got somewhere to go, Cash. You chose to come here.”
He was quiet again, his thumb making small circles on my skin. “Maybe I did,” he finally admitted. “Maybe I wanted... closure or somethin’. I don’t know.”
“And have you found it?”
Cash buried his face against the back of my neck. “Found somethin’,” he muttered. “Not sure what yet.”
The honesty in his voice made my chest ache. I squeezed his hand, unable to find the right words. We lay like that for what felt like hours, neither of us speaking, just existing together in the darkness.
I was drifting toward sleep when Cash’s voice pulled me back.
“Mike?”
“Hmm?”
“Thanks for the cookies.”
I smiled into the darkness, feeling something warm unfurl in my chest. It wasn’t just about the cookies. We both knew that. But it was a start. A crack in the wall he’d built around himself.
“Anytime,” I whispered back.
His breathing eventually deepened, his body relaxing against mine as he fell asleep. I lay awake a little longer, savoring the weight of his arm around me, the steady beat of his heart against my back. This wasn’t what I’d expected when I’d come to Sagebrush. It wasn’t what I’d planned when I’d offered Cash a place to stay.
But as I finally drifted off to sleep, wrapped in the warmth of his embrace, I couldn’t help but think that sometimes the best things in life were the ones you never saw coming. And sometimes, they wore a cowboy hat and a grumpy expression.
