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I shake my head. “No.”
“Wow.” When she laughs around a gulp of wine as I hiss, “Candace!”
“Sorry, girl. Sorry.” She eyes me up and down, then mutters again, “Wow.”
“Argh.”
“You’re with Cash and shit’s getting pretty serious from what I’m seeing, so I guess that figures you’re going to give it to him then, right?”
“I—” I pause.Was I going to give it to him?I want to…I think. “I don’t know.” Dropping my face into my hands, I moan. “This is going to sound stupid and hellishly antiquated, but it means something to me.”
“I can get behind that,” her tone is gentle, so I lift my head.
“You can?”
“Sure. Wish I would have given it to someone who meant something to me.”
“You didn’t?”
“Girl, no. It was awful. I was too young, and I hardly remember his name. Or the names of the men who came after.” She considers for a moment. “If I could go back, I’d have saved it for Ian.”
“Hardly anyone feels this way anymore,” I admit. “It’s all girl power and feminine right, which I get…” I raise my hands. “But for me, sex means something.”
“You do you and fuck everyone else. If it means something, hold onto it until you’ve got that special you’re waiting for. There’s not a damn thing wrong with that.” She gives me wiggly brows. “Just know that Cash is Cash, and when he wants something, the man goes for it with everything he has. I’m talking whole hog. And babe, he wants you. All of you, from what I’m seeing.”
“I want him too.” I take a big swallow of wine that burns on the way down. “That’s the problem.”
Candace hoots a laugh. “Well, you’re fucked then, babe. I’ll enjoy the show as it plays out, though.”
“What show?” The deep voice is one I’d know anywhere. It follows me into my dreams, both waking and unconscious. It’s everywhere. He’s everywhere.
My skin heats and Candace snickers. I want to throw an elbow at her, but instead shoot a smile at Cash. “No show.”
He tips his head back in that way he does as he appraises me. The man is already impossibly tall, but when he stands like this, dominating the space, he feels even bigger.
A small smirk pulls at the corner of his mouth. “Ian’s wondering when the pie’s will be ready.”
Candace slides off the stool to strut to the oven, calling, “Babe!”
“Woman!” Ian shouts back, but I can hear he’s already on his way to the kitchen.
Over her shoulder, Candace tosses me a cheeky wink. “Go sit with your man, babe. We’ll bring out the grub, eat our fill and get ready for a long ass night watching our men get hit on by a crowd of women on stage.”
Swiping my wine from the counter, I scurry from the room with Cash hot on my heels to do as I’m told.
twenty-six
Wrenlee
Cash’s voice is like sin. It’s stealth in its invasion into the deepest parts of me, feeling so damn good as it hits the spot.
Every time I watch Cash on stage, letting the rough tenor of his voice move over me, I hate to admit that I’m more moved than I want to be.
Watching him is like candy. One minute isn’t enough just as one candy is never enough. I need more minutes. I need all the minutes. Just like when I crack open that bag of cinnamon hearts on Valentine’s Day, I need themall—even though in the end, my tongue is painfully raw. I already know it’s going to be the same way with Cash. No self-control. In the end, my heart isgoing to be bleeding and raw and I’m going to have only myself to blame.
Still, as the rough sound of his voice moves over me now, I’m able to block out the sounds of screaming girls devoting their hearts and souls to him as the beat of a familiar song ends and a new, unheard melody begins.
“New music,” Candace muses next to me. “Cash must be writing.”
