Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 60978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“You know, I went to prison because one of my band mates started a brawl and what Southern boy doesn’t love a good brawl? I knocked a guy off my buddy and the guy stumbled, tripped, and hit his head on a table. The blow to the head wasn’t so bad, but on the way down, the back of his neck hit the edge of a chair and it snapped his spine. He died a few hours later at the hospital.” He spoke softly, his voice almost hypnotic. “I thought my life was over.” When I didn’t say anything, he moved slightly closer to me. “I was wrong. Instead, I found new, strong friendships and a makeshift family I can’t imagine not having in my life. And maybe… maybe I’m supposed to be here, maybe everything happened the way it did to bring me here. To you and Lily.”
“I can’t lose her,” I whispered, the words tearing from somewhere deep and primal inside me. “She’s everything I have.”
Cash reached out, pulling me against his chest without hesitation. His arms encircled me completely, creating a fortress of muscle and warmth as my body finally surrendered to the breakdown I’d been fighting for weeks. Sobs wracked my frame, violent and raw, each one tearing from my throat with painful force. His hand cradled the back of my head, fingers threading through my hair as he held me steady through the storm.
“You won’t lose her,” he murmured against the top of my head, his voice a low rumble I felt more than heard. “I won’t let anyone take her from you.”
I clutched his shirt, fingers digging into the fabric as if I could anchor myself to his certainty. Time lost meaning as I cried, emptying myself of fears too heavy to carry alone. Gradually, the violent sobs subsided to quieter tears, my breathing ragged but slowing. Still, Cash held me, his body solid and real when everything else in my life felt like shifting sand.
As my awareness expanded beyond grief, I became conscious of other sensations. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath my ear, the gentle pressure of his hand stroking my back. The warmth radiating from his body in the already humid air soothed me and gave me a sense of safety and protection. His scent surrounded me, mingling with the chlorine from the pool and the earthy smell of tropical plants and damp soil.
I pulled back slightly, needing to see his face. Cash loosened his hold but didn’t release me, his hands moving to rest at my waist. His eyes searched mine, concern evident in their depths. But I also saw hunger matching the sudden, desperate need building inside me.
“Cash,” I whispered, my voice breaking on his name.
He brushed his thumb across my cheekbone, wiping away the wetness there. The tender gesture undid me completely. I reached up, my fingers tracing the line of his jaw, rough with stubble beneath my touch.
Neither of us moved for a heartbeat, suspended in the moment of decision. Then Cash tilted my face upward as I rose to meet him halfway, our mouths colliding with an urgency that stole my breath. The kiss was not gentle or questioning. It was desperate, hungry, a physical manifestation of the emotional storm we’d been circling for weeks.
His hand tangled in my hair, angling my head to deepen the kiss as I wound my arms around his neck, eliminating any remaining space between us. The heat of his body pressed against mine, solid and insistent, and his heartbeat thundered against my chest. The sound of our ragged breathing echoed in the cavernous space.
My clothes clung to my skin from a combination of sweat and the humid air, the sensation heightened by the friction of Cash’s body against mine. His beard scratched deliciously against my face and neck as his mouth moved from my lips to my jaw, then lower to the sensitive spot where my neck met my shoulder. I gasped, my head falling back to give him better access to my throat, rational thought dissolving under the onslaught of sweet sensation.
In this tropical bubble separate from reality, I surrendered to the hunger building between us since the night in the parking garage, when he had promised to help me protect the most precious thing in my world. Now, in his arms, I allowed myself to forget everything but the feel of his hands on my body and the promise of release from my fears, if only for a few stolen moments in the night.
“I’m not takin’ you on a pool lounger,” Cash growled against my throat. “You don’t want this, tell me. Otherwise, we’re going to my room and I’m going to fuck you in my bed.”
His straightforward and crude declaration shouldn’t have thrilled me as much as it did, but a shot of lust hit me so hard I cried out, nearly sobbing with need.