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“Oh God,” she sighed and pressed her body against mine.
I shoved her farther back and pinned her tighter against the wall, my arms on either side of her head. She threaded her fingers through my hair and my eyes rolled into the back of my head. She brought my face into her neck and I inhaled her scent, my knees nearly buckling underneath me. I wanted her legs to climb up mine, but she sat there frozen, breathless, frustrating me to no end.
My nails dug into the wood a bit, furious at me for not touching her. I took the pain. It was a good pain, a pain I needed.
“Tell me,” I ordered her.
She shook her head even as she panted with the same hunger I had.
I raised my head and looked at her face. She opened her eyes and I was almost completely lost at how beautiful they were. “Cricket, say it.”
She bit her bottom lip, sending me into a near panic. “Oh, Cricket Hunt.” I shook my head to clear the delirium. I pressed my lids tightly. “Now, Cricket, say it now.”
Instead, her hands slid out of my hair and onto my shoulders. She immediately went distracted as her fingers felt the muscles in my shoulders and back up my neck, then back down my shoulders, all the way down my arms. She picked up my right hand and held it in hers while exploring it with the other. Her slender fingers repeatedly stroked the palm. I stayed completely still, though she was driving me crazy. I was afraid to scare her off. She was thinking, contemplating me.
“Callused,” she uttered, then met my eyes. She brought the hand to her lips and delicately kissed the palm before running her fingers back over it.
As if I couldn’t help myself, I gripped the back of her neck with that same palm, making her gasp. My other hand instinctively went to the small of her back and pressed her deeper into me.
“Cricket Hunt, I want you so badly.”
Something in what I said woke her up. Her previously dreamy stare cleared and she shook her head slowly. Just as languidly, she stumbled away from me, staggering toward the gate.
I turned toward her. “Cricket,” I called gently.
“I-I have to go to bed,” she stuttered, pretending nothing had happened and leaving the stall.
I stood, immovable, listening to her retreating steps. I felt something nudge my leg and looked down. She’d left Eugie and he’d stood, looking up at me. I slid down the wall and sat in the hay with him. He laid back down, his head on my leg and fell to sleep quickly. My hand went to his neck and rubbed there. I loved him as much as he loved me.
“So why can’t she get that same concept, huh, boy?” I asked a sleeping Eugie.
I fell asleep right there in the stall with Eugie, still waiting for the one word from her I was never gonna get.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Very early the next morning, I woke startled in the horse stall with Eugie still in my lap. I stood and stretched, the muscles in my back screaming at me.
“Come on, boy,” I told him. He followed me out the barn and into the lane. It was bitterly cold and I wanted to sprint down to the trailer but poor Eugie was too stiff from old age to go any faster than a soft trot.
“Okay, old man,” I told him and picked him up. I wrapped him in my coat and we headed for the trailer. Inside, he immediately curled up on the banquette and I let him, even throwing a blanket over him before patting his head.
Too cold to just lay down, I showered and warmed up as best I could. My bed felt uncomfortably small for some reason and I tossed and turned for two hours, obsessing over what had gone down with Cricket, wondering what the hell was going to happen with my dad, if he was even going to do anything. I thought about the possibility of going to jail for a very long time for the “errands” I ran for him. I contemplated all of it and came to one conclusion.
No matter what the hell happened, the idea of Cricket marrying anyone else other than me made me sicker to my stomach than every awful scenario I could think of.
My eyes were wide open when my alarm went off, but I let it beep over and over, a welcome distraction from my thoughts.
“Dang, dude,” I heard a groggy Bridge complain.
My palm, the same palm Cricket had kissed, slammed down on the off button.
“Sorry,” I said, bringing that palm to my chest, desperate to rub out the ache she’d put there.
“Where were you last night?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
“Oh,” I cleared my throat, “I fell asleep in the horse barn.”
She giggled a little and sat up. “Oh really?” she teased. “Did you, perhaps, fall asleep with anyone else?”
