Chapter 32

thirty-two

Cash

Dumbstruck. That’s how I feel when I look at her. She’s amazing. Of course, I knew she was amazing back when I watched her working the floor while I stood on stage. She’d had a way about her then, something that called to me. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, watched her in secret. Fuck, my interest in her bordered on obsession, something that made me uncomfortable because I knew the sick feeling being someone’s obsession left clinging to my skin, like dirty water that dries there. An itch you can’t scratch away no matter how many times you try.

She’d been my clean water. The thing that washed me of the obsessed and made me feel clean again. The crazies didn’t stop throwing their panties on stage or writing the letters. But Alyssa stopped, and that counted for something. The fact she’d moved to another city altogether was a reprieve in itself. I didn’t know I wasn’t really breathing until she wasn’t breathing down my neck.

“All right,” Tav leans back in the chair, beer in hand, gaze fixed on the direction of the kitchen. “I need to find me one of those.”

“Wrenlee’s one of a kind, man.” Kane takes a pull. “Been through more girls than I can count and never found one who blushed like a virgin and kissed her man like a pornstar. You see that kiss she gave that asshole earlier?” He shakes his head. “Fuck me.”

I don’t bother to hold back when the desire to smack him upside the head strikes. Kane leans forward, chuckling because he knows he deserves it.

Wrenlee laughs at something Candace says, and three sets of eyes shift to her. She really is beautiful, especially when she laughs. Her long warm honey gold hair is pulled up in a high, straight ponytail. I like it up, because it makes me want to wrap it around my fist and tug.

Desire stirs like it always stirs when I look at her. When I think about the fact she’s really mine.

Shit, I’m hooked on his woman.

The front door opens, and Ian walks in with an armload of Candace’s cabbage rolls. She’s made them for us every holiday since she and Ian got together. Every year, she gets emotional as she cuts into her own, thinking of her Memaw who passed and taught her to make them. They’re unique, with bacon and hamburger. They’re also delicious.

Ian likes to brag about the fact he found a woman who knows how to cook. It appears I’ve found the same in Wrenlee, because my condo smells out of this world.

“Hey, Wrenlee, you invite some chick for dinner?”

Wrenlee’s eyes widen in shock. “Oh my God, she came?” Her wide eyes blink fast as they swing in my direction. “I forgot to mention I invited Alice. She has no one and it slipped out. I forgot I extended the invite.” Her hands move to her face, worry flaring in her eyes as she cringes. “I’m sorry.”

“Babe, it’s cool.” Kane stands, arms flying to the side like he might hug her even though they’re a room apart. “More the merrier, right?”

She drops her hands just a little, wince still in place. “Really?”

I move close, tugging her against me. “It’s fine. You can have friends, too.”

Her nose scrunches a little. “She a bit of an odd duck.”

Candace snorts. “Then she’ll fit right in.”

Kane asks, “But is she a hot odd duck?”

“Dude.” Tav reaches out to give Kane another smack, but he’s prepared this time and ducks.

“What?” He’s grinning wide. “Hot odd ducks fuck like demons.”

Candace makes a noise. “You probably have an STI, Kane.”

“Nope. Clean as a whistle.” He waggles his brows. “Wanna ride and see?”

“Eww.” Candace cringes.

Ian rolls his eyes. “No one here is stupid enough to fall on your dick.”

“Heyyyy,” Kane whines, but the asshat is still grinning.

I tip my head an inch closer to Wrenlee’s. “I’ll walk down with you.”

She shakes her head. “I can go.”

“Seriously, is your friend hot?” Kane pokes, still laughing, only half joking. The guy has problems.

Wrenlee peers around me at Kane. “She’s actually just out of what I gather was a pretty serious relationship. I don’t know how she’d respond to—advances—but you can always try.”

“He always does,” Tav sighs, playing aggrieved even though we all know Tav loves watching the Kane show.

Wrenlee refocuses her attention on me. “I’m gonna run down.” She pulls her phone from the counter, tucking it into the band of her leggings. “I’ll just be a minute if you could grab the chair from the office and add another plate to the table.” She makes an adorable face. “I don’t want it to look like an afterthought.”

“Consider it done.” I can’t help myself as I lean forward and press a kiss to the tip of her scrunched nose. She’s just too cute.

“Thanks.” Because she’s Wrenlee, she stands on her tiptoes and presses a kiss to my jaw. “See you soon.”