Chapter 13
Sad Girls
Cash
When I woke up this morning, I thought I had fucked everything up. My drunken, sloppy, texts were over the invisible line I’m working hard not to cross. Taking Daisy for a hard run this morning, when the sun had barely risen, helped reduce my stress a little. If she writes me off or isn’t interested anymore because I said I want to taste her skin—I do—and I want to feel her mouth—I do so much—then I guess it wasn’t going anywhere anyway.
Confessing my sins and my feelings to Daisy has become a habit of mine but hearing the tiny giggle from behind me while I did it knocked me off my feet—literally and figuratively. Seeing her standing in my barn, looking adorable in the morning air, hair in a bun, jeans so tight they look like skin, I couldn’t control my racing heart.
Inviting her into my home, and introducing my animals, is the first step in this turning into something. Daisy’s instant approval was unexpected but not surprising. She alwaysknows, even before I do, if someone isn’t good people. Watching her examine everything in the yard and inside solidified something for me. The women I usually bring home are impressed by the big house and ranch but are generally focused on what’s upstairs and what I can offer them. I don’t blame them, it’s natural. But Callie has a quiet confidence and even though she’s in my space, she doesn’t need to claim me or it, she is just existing.
I watch with satisfaction as my Hurricane sits at my kitchen table, eating her pastry. I can’t imagine anyone ever looking so right in this place. Other women have sat in that seat or wandered through these rooms but she is the first one to ever look like she belongs here.
I reach over and wipe a tiny bit of icing from her lip with my thumb, her eyes watching my movements as I bring it to my mouth, sucking on it. Her gaze heats and her breathing becomes a little heavier. I shift in my seat, trying to create some space behind my zipper.
“Want to discuss the middle of the night ramblings of a drunken cowboy?” she blurts out, her voice a little raspy.
The shift to the embarrassing subject catches me off guard and my cheeks heat.
“He blushes? Who knew it was possible.” She grins at me.
“Not much gets a blush from me, darlin’, but my own mortifying actions do.” I smile at her, a genuine smile, not my usual flirty smirk.
“It wasn’t so bad. Where should I start? Hurricane?”
“Oh.” I laugh. “That’s what I’ve been calling you in my head. From the East Coast, blew in overnight, changed everything.” Her face twists, like she’s unsure as to whether this is good or bad. “Except, I think it might have been the best unexpected weather imaginable.” This earns a return of her smile.
She thinks, tilting her head a little, like she’s rolling itaround her brain. “I like it. I shall allow it,” she declares and laughs.
Bowing slightly, I say, “Thank you, Queen Hurricane.” I give her an over exaggerated wink. “What else?”
“Your mouth…and my skin?”
Now my ears and the back of my neck heat up under her hungry and inquisitive gaze. I don’t know how to explain this one without crossing the line.
“That one seems…self-explanatory, maybe? Don’t make me say it.” I plead with my eyes.
“I want to hear it.”
Shit.
“Well, since I tasted your mouth, I have had more than a few thoughts about tasting you…” I look her up and down, lingering an exaggerated few seconds at the junction of her thighs before raising my eyes to her mouth, “…everywhere.”
She squeaks out a breath and my cock twitches excitedly in response, hoping to get in on the conversation.
Clearing her throat, she asks, “Um, my mouth?”
She gets a groan for that, and I get a cheeky smile. “Yes, your mouth, darlin’. Before I kissed you, I definitely thought about it. Since I kissed you,” I lace my fingers with hers on the table, rubbing circles on her thumb, “barely a minute has passed that I haven’t thought about your beautiful lips and how they wrap around…words.”
Gasping, she narrows her eyes at me. “Words, huh?”
“I swear, I can’t tell you how delighted I am that everything I say seems to scandalize you. You have been flirted with before, right?”
Her face falls at my comment and I worry I’ve said something wrong.
“Not like this and not in a long time.” She pulls her handfree of mine and I instantly feel bereft. She folds her hands in her lap and bows her head a little.
Getting up, I walk around to her side of the table, kneeling at her feet so I can catch her eyes. I find them full of tears.
