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Tugging the hemline free from my pants, it fell open, and she inhaled sharply. Her eyes danced across my bare torso as I studied her beautiful face. Every inch of delicate, soft lines that outlined her features. Lashes wisped against her eyelids as she reached her trembling hands forward and slipped them beneath my shirt.
They brushed against my skin and then traced across each scar that ran down my body. Shivers ran down my spine as goosebumps erupted across my body. Every tender whispering of her fingers against me, dancing lightly over my bare frame, sent zaps of lightning through my core. And then her hands drifted up, pushing at the shoulders of the fabric. I sat up slightly and let it fall completely off, dropping the shirt to the side where it billowed to the ground.
Every part of my body felt warm and euphoric, peaceful and excited. Everything but the woman below me faded away as I leaned forward and kissed her. Her fingers slid along my back, pulling me against her figure, digging into my skin as I worked my way from her mouth and down her neck.
She tipped her head back and I kissed her collarbone. Gentle and firm, whispering across her bare skin. I felt breathless as her chest rose faster and faster with each passing touch of my lips.
I slid a hand down the side of her body, pressing against her hip bone gently, and she shuddered. My hand swamped her waist, wrapping around it as she arched her back. I pulled away from her neck as her fingers slid off of my back and began to fumble with my belt.
It took her a minute, and her cheeks flushed red hot before she was finally able to unbuckle it.
Gently, I inched the bottom of her shirt up and hesitated. Pausing for only a moment, I reached forward and slid my fingertips across her bare skin. Her mouth opened in a soft moan, and she smiled before I found her lips with mine.
Chapter 18
**CASSIDY**
Iwas freaking exhausted. Worn out and absolutely done. It really wasn’t that big of a deal concerning Weston keeping his relationship to himself. But Mom had gone and blown up, accusing Weston of things that weren’t even true. And ruined something that he’d waited for over eighteen years to happen.
He wasn’t being immature. He hadn’t technically lied either. Weston always kept things more to himself, especially when it came to protecting things he loved and cared about. I mean, look at me.
Even when I royally screwed up, he never got mad and simply helped me. He always watched out for me, quietly taking charge and care of whatever business was needed.
He fixed things, too. By himself, he carried that load time and time again without complaint. But this time, no one was there to come to bat for him all because they were all sitting silent while Mom boiled in her hurt. A reaction I still couldn’t quite understand.
The man was in love, and I was fed up with how everyone was acting. No one said a thing about it all day long while decorating, while they knew it was wrong. They had to know that she’d done something wrong, but they were simply pretending to ignore it. All because Weston took off to his house and wasn’t here to defend himself.
I figured Mom was in her house right now, gossiping with everyone about plans for tomorrow, ignoring the real issue that was going on. Making things worse because she was what? Overwhelmed her grandson was sneaking around with a girl and blamed it on Weston for some weird reason? Because of Christmas Eve? Because she was jealous and hurt he hadn’t shared the news of his relationship with Tenley with her but had told Tenley’s parents?
And then there was Pearl. She shouldn’t have gotten upset at him, either. Weston was not Butch’s father, Cash was.
Kicking at some snow, I stomped back down the hill. My body was sore and just as exhausted as I was mentally. With Weston ditching out and no longer helping, things had been twice as hard and taken twice as long. After our usual decorating, which included putting lights up on all of my siblings' houses, the ranch house, the barns, and the bunk house, it was now nearly one in the morning, and we were only just finishing setting up for this stupid party. A party that he was no longer attending.
A party on his own ranch that he would not be in attendance for because of Mom overreacting in her hurt and disinviting his girlfriend and her family. Luckily, Butch’s girlfriend was still not invited, but all the same, why couldn’t Tenley come? I mean, I wanted her family there. I wanted Tenley there, too. Believe it or not, she was my friend as well, even if we had a strange start to our acquaintance.
And I was just done with Mom’s pity party. Everyone gets overwhelmed once in a while. Everyone keeps secrets once in a while. Weston deserved his privacy for as long as he wanted. Everything that happened was probably one of the things he was trying to avoid causing by keeping it a secret.
I stomped off my snow covered boots and glared at the front entrance to my parents' house for a moment. The lights were on, most of the young kids already in bed while everyone else wound down beside the fire. Shaking my head, I brushed my pants off and shoved open the door, ready to cause a scene.
My parents were sitting on each of their recliners, lounging by the fire while my mom ranted to everyone else, whining about how much extra slack had been left by Weston’s absence. Just like I’d guessed she was doing.
“Seriously, I am just so tired,” she gushed. “Weston left so much for us to do, but it was his fault. He should’ve told us about her, or said something sooner. And keeping it a secret that he’d caught Butch and Charlotte alone together?” She waved a hand to Cash and Pearl. “I mean, he snuck off from the festival to do the same thing with Tenley and had the audacity to get after Butch for it instead?”
“What’s wrong with you?!” I snapped, and the room immediately silenced. Even the fireplace seemed to stop crackling. Ice blanketed the room, freezing the world into place as I blew up. “Seriously! Look at you guys! Sitting around like some happy family as if you aren’t the ones to blame?!”
My mom stared at me in shock. Every mouth was open, jaws on the floor, so I let them have it. “First off, Butch is fifteen years old, Weston is not. Butch is a kid fueled by brand new raging hormones. Yeah, he’s probably in love, but he’s not an adult with the capability of taking responsibility if adult consequences happen from adult actions. But you’re right Mom, Weston should’ve stepped up and chastised Butch as if he was his father,” I sarcastically directed at her, and yet she didn’t move a muscle.
So I continued my rant. “But wait, he’s not his dad, is he? That’s Cash’s responsibility, not Weston’s. And so Weston did what he thought was best: reminding Butch to stay safe, making it a situation where nothing could happen without stepping into the role of Dad. He cares about the kid, just like I do, as his uncle!” I threw my hands in the air.
“And then yesterday, Mom, you called him some absolutely horrible things without even knowing the entire story. You realize heletCharlotte’s dad hit him because he didn’t want to cause a scene, nor did he understand what was even happening? He only stopped the fight with a simple headlock once he figured things out so he could discuss the situation in a civil conversation with the man. Charlotte’s dad started the fight. Her dad, not Weston. He was caught off guard.” My mom’s eyes flickered to my dad, and she sighed.
“Yeah, I went and asked around because there were quite a few observers of the entire encounter,” I added, and narrowed my gaze at the entire family. “Why did not a single one of you put some effort into figuring out the actual facts? Especially you, Pearl. Butch is your son, and Weston got punched over his actions, and you still chewed out your brother instead of your son?” I snapped my eyes to Cash and shook my head. “You need to man up and be his dad for five seconds.” I was so annoyed that nobody else had put any effort into sorting out the truth.
Everyone was silent as they stared at me, my voice raised. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d yelled at anyone, or really cared about something the way this was affecting me. And it was feeling so good, so I continued to let them have it.
I glared at my mom once again. “And then today, what was that? Are you jealous that Tenley’s parents knew they were together first or something? Pissed that Weston decided he’d rather have one date with her first before sharing with you and then inevitably it would get around to the world that he was in love? I mean, our family is pretty nosy if you haven’t noticed, so can you blame the guy? Seriously, give him a break! I don’t know why you got so upset over this! He never lied, he never did anything immature, he simply wanted to spend some time with his girlfriend! The dude hasn’t had a girl touch him in eighteen years, let alone actually have feelings for him. And you are butt-hurt that he didn’t tell you first? Who cares about your precious reputation, especially when Weston hasn’t done a thing to screw it up!” I paused and breathed out.
Wow, that felt good.
