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How was I supposed to stay annoyed with him when he said things like that?
“You weren’t answering his texts? Why?” Bella asked nosily. I’d almost forgotten she was in the room. Her tone said she couldn’t fathom a world where any woman would ignore Cash. Granted, it probably rarely happened. In fact, this might have been the very first time.
“Yeah. Why, Aria?” Cash asked, his voice full of teasing. He knew I hated it when they ganged up on me like this. And that was part of the reason I didn’t feel the need to kick him out. Cash wasn’t going to baby me. The other reason was the foil-wrapped plates he held in his hands. I could already smell the garlic steak.
“Bella. Out of my room,” I ordered, waving her out. I might have to deal with Cash and his teasing, but I wasn’t about to get double-teamed.
“But . . . ” Bella began, but paused when she realized she had no good reason for staying. Other than that she wanted to be near Cash. As obvious as her crush on the man was, she’d still never voiced it aloud, at least in front of Cash.
I got up from the bed and gently pushed her until she was out of the room. Then I closed my bedroom door and faced Cash, crossing my arms.
“So, this was your plan all along? You knew if you ignored my texts I’d come over. You’d get me alone in your bedroom,” Cash said, his eyes alight. He was on a roll tonight.
Well, two could play that game.
I stalked toward him with a seductive smirk.
His eyes went wide for a split second before he schooled his features.
“You’re right. I wanted to have my way . . . ” I stopped just in front of him, hunger in my eyes.
“With this steak,” I finished, swiping one of the plates from his hands. I backed away to sit on my bed, laughing at the expression on his face.
“Oh, I am so going to get you back for that one,” Cash said as he dropped into my desk chair, trying to pretend like my act hadn’t gotten to him. But I knew him too well. He’d been . . . worried wasn’t the right word. But something foreign had crossed his features and I tried not to revel too much that I’d sent Cash into unknown territory. It served him right for teasing me.
He leaned back easily in the chair as he set his plate on my desk and began unwrapping the foil.
I started to do the same when I heard something whizzing toward me. My hand shot up at the same time as my eyes and I was able to grab the napkin-wrapped fork before it stabbed me.
“Seriously? You’re going to try to impale me like that after I got kidnapped last night?” I was attempting a joke, to broach my experience in a non-serious way, but Cash’s face went slack.
“It’s plastic. We’ll be lucky if we can even get it to impale this steak,” he responded, jovialness long gone.
His focus went to his own fork and his plate. He studied the food but didn’t taste it.
“You can ask me about it,” I said gently, realizing I wasn’t being fair. Sure, I’d been the one to go through the horrific experience, but I didn’t know what it was like to be my family or Cash: people who loved me but could do nothing except worry for hours on end.
I set the plate and fork on the bed next to me, crossing my legs and grabbing a pillow. I wanted that comfort, that shield in front of me, if we were going to do this.
“I tried not to be scared,” Cash said after a moment’s silence. “I don’t know anyone as capable as you. I knew if anyone could break free, it would be you.” He turned in the swivel chair to look at me.
“I tried not to be scared, too,” I said truthfully.
“I was angry,” Cash added.
“I was angry too.”
“I’d never felt so helpless in my life.”
I nodded. It was exactly what I’d felt. How strange that even though only one of us had lived through the capture, it was almost like we’d both experienced it.
Cash went quiet, as if he was waiting for something. I realized that something was me. He was giving me a chance to tell him what I wanted, but he wasn’t pushing or pressing. He was respecting me even though he had to be dying to know.
“I went in the bathroom of that bar,” I said. Even though recalling the evening before was rough, it was also kind of empowering.
“After you called me?” he asked.
I nodded.
