Chapter 14

As soon as it clicks to midnight, I do what I do every year: text my brother.

Remi

Happy Birthday! I love you! I am happy to share this day with you.

Colt

Happy Birthday, Sis! You’re my favorite. I love you! I hope all your dreams come true!

Remi

You too, bubba.

I smile, wondering what my brother is doing. I hear the front door open and expect to see Weston and Brody since they left a few hours ago. When I look up, Cash walks toward me carrying a bouquet of pink flowers.

I stand up to greet him, shocked by his public display of affection. “What?—?”

His mouth crashes against mine, and his hand twists through my hair. We’re needy and breathless, a force that can’t be reckoned with. Moans escape me as his fingertips massage into my scalp. I’m dreaming.

I must’ve fallen asleep at work, and I’m imagining it all.

“Happy birthday, Valentine,” he says with his forehead pressed against mine, and I laugh.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” I say as he hands me the flowers.

“Fuck the rules,” he says as I search his eyes. Tonight, they look blue-green, and I want to swim in them.

His palm presses against my cheek, gently capturing my lips one last time.

“I couldn’t wait to see you any longer,” he whispers. “I couldn’t sleep. Your letter kept repeating in my mind.”

“Ahem,” I hear from behind me. It’s Easton. He walks over to us with his hand in his pocket. He’s dressed in a T-shirt and plaid pajama pants. It’s much different from his suits or Polo shirts.

“Nice to see you again, doctor,” he says. Cash takes his hand, and they exchange a firm shake. They met yesterday and hung out with Lexi’s brothers last night.

“Please explain why you aren’t together,” Easton says.

It’s a blunt question, but I stick to routine and dodge it.

“Excuse me?” I ask him, narrowing my eyes.

“I see two adults sneaking around like teenagers.”

“Pfft,” I say, carrying the pink daisies to the counter. I fill a vase with water—considering Summer loves flowers and plants, there are plenty here—and then I set them on the counter for everyone to enjoy.

“This has been going on for seven years,” Cash confirms.

The first time we kissed was on my twenty-first birthday. The first time we hooked up was on the Fourth of July.

Disdain spreads across Easton’s face. “Why? Were you seeing other people?”

“No, it’s my brothers,” I confirm. If I were a teenager when we started hooking up, I’d understand why Beckett and Harrison are so against it. When we first got together, we were consenting adults.

“Sometimes you have to ask yourself what you want and not concern yourself with others,” he says.

I scoff and brush him off, but he hit the nail on the head. “I didn’t need your unsolicited opinion.”

“It’s the truth,” Easton states. “I took you for someone who could handle it.”

“I can,” I tell him, even if I run from it often.

“Hmm.” Easton isn’t convinced.

Weston and Brody stumble through the front door. They’re laughing and shouting about something. I narrow my eyes at Weston, but I shoot him a smile. He pops his brows at me, his eyes trailing from head to toe, and he smirks before glancing at Cash. The man isn’t intimidated by the tiger standing next to me, ready to rip out his jugular for looking at me like that.

Since the moment Weston arrived, he’s been flirty as fuck, but I’m used to his type.

I grab Cash’s hand and rub my thumb against his. He immediately relaxes.

“I didn’t realize you had a twin.” Cash brings his attention back to Easton.

“Yeah, and looks are the only thing we have in common,” Easton tells him.

Weston and Brody continue to the back porch, and I notice a bottle of whiskey in their hand. They’re tipsy.

The screen door slams, but I still hear them going on about something.

“Anyway, don’t fuck this up,” Easton states, and it’s a demand. “Love is always on time, and when you’re ready for it, it finds you. I searched 20 years for what you’ve ignored for nearly a decade. What the fuck?”

Cash’s expression softens, and a dozen unspoken conversations stream between us. Easton’s right, and the three of us know it.

“Why don’t you two take a key to a room? There are seven extra to choose from. No one will bother you the rest of the night. I’ll text Summer and tell her I sent you home for your birthday.”

A smile touches my lips. “You’re serious?”

“Yes. Choose an adventure and cherish the tiny moments. It was the best decision I ever made.” Easton grins before snagging a chocolate chip cookie off the tray and heads back upstairs. “Happy birthday, Remi.”

“Thank you,” I say as his footsteps echo from above. A few moments later, the door to his room clicks closed. I glance around the BB, and everything is in place. Easton and Lexi are upstairs. The drunk ones are on the back porch, howling with laughter. No one needs anything.

Cash studies me, and I say, “He’s right.”

“I know,” Cash says.

“We’ll stick to the plan. It’s going to work flawlessly,” I say. “I’m having lunch with my daddy next week, and I will be a tattletale.”

Cash bursts into laughter. “You make me cherish being an only child.”

I take a step forward, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I’m so happy you’re here. It was a pleasant surprise.”

“Me too,” he whispers.

When I pull away, I grab his hand and snatch the key for the executive suite at the end of the hallway, then lead him up the stairs.

I look at him over my shoulder as we climb the wooden stairs. They creak with each step, and I smile. His gaze locks on me; I’m the bullseye of his target.

I’ve always wanted to be, and right now I am. The intensity of his eyes on me causes goosebumps to flood my body. I don’t know how this is my life or how, after all this time, we’ve only gotten better together. If this man told me to get down on my knees and beg for him, I fucking would, and I beg no one.

As soon as we’re in the room, I lock the door, and he pushes me against it. I grab his shirt in my fist, inhaling his skin. He smells like citrus and fresh mountain air. My hands dive under his shirt, sliding up his carved abs and down to the button and zipper on his jeans. When I glance down, he’s so damn hard his cock looks like it will burst the seams of his dark-washed jeans.

He gently grabs my wrists and then places them above my head as he kisses my neck and nibbles my ear. “There’s no taking it back if we keep going. This isn’t a game to me, Remi,” he mutters, then snags my skin between his teeth.

“I want this—you. I won’t let you go again.” Moans escape me as he lifts my jaw. I give him more access to me as he holds my wrists with one hand, and the other slides down my body. “Please.”

He lets go of my wrists, and his hands rest on my hips.

Cash flicks off the overhead lights. We’re in the bed-and-breakfast executive suite. It’s called the executive suite because a wooden desk overlooks the prairies.

We move to the bed, and his hands are in my hair, and our lips crash together.

“This is what you want? I’m what you want?” I ask, wanting to make sure we’re on the same page.

“Fuck yes,” he tells me. “Never been more sure about anything in my whole damn life.”

It’s music to my ears. We’ve reached this point over the past few months but never went all the way. It’s been a perpetual state of teasing and blue balls. Something has always stopped us. Fear or other people nearly catching us.

His movements are slow.

“You asked for my confession,” he says; the moonlight beams through the window, and the room glows a pale white.

My breaths come out ragged. “Yes.”

With his hands on my shoulders, he grins, and I notice his dimple showing. “When I told you I was falling in love with you all those years ago, the truth was I’d already fallen.”

He searches my face, kissing me and smiling.

“I didn’t hook up with anyone after us.”

My lips part. “At all?”

“Since you, it’s only been you, and it will only ever be you,” he whispers.

Butterflies flutter in my stomach, and his admission leaves me speechless.

“I’m sorry for breaking you, Rem.”

“I’m not,” I admit, tugging his lip into mine. “You just made sure I’d always be yours.”

His finger traces my jaw. “I tried to move on, but I couldn’t.”

I search his face. “What if I’d have gotten married?”

The question fills the silence, but I know the answer, and the thought breaks my heart.

“I’d have married my career and stayed single for the rest of my life.”

“Cash.” I grab his cheeks with my hands. I’d decided the same: either I had him or I wasn’t dating anymore. That’s why I’ve relentlessly stayed in my single-girl era. My heart belongs to him; if I dated anyone else, I’d hurt them. The realization weighs on me. “We’re in too deep.”

“I’ll go to the bottom for you.”

Tears threaten to spill over. He leans forward and kisses my forehead. “No crying on your birthday, Valentine.”

“I tried to erase you, Cash.”

He holds me tight against him. “Tried,” he mutters. “And fucking failed.”

I capture his lips as he pushes me back on the bed, and I kick off my sandals. He kisses up my stomach and pushes up my shirt, removing it along with my bra. His scruff tickles my skin as he carefully unbuttons and unzips my jeans, and I wiggle out of them.

Cash takes a step back and admires my naked body in the moonlight. He removes his shirt, kicks off his shoes, and then drops to his knees. He slides his firm hands under my ass and scoots me to the edge of the bed. The anticipation of having his mouth on me again is almost too much for me to handle. I open my thighs, giving him full access to me.

He drops kisses inside my inner thigh, teasing my bare pussy with the scruff of his face as he moves to the opposite leg. When he does it again, I rock my hips upward, and I feel him smile against me as he gives my needy clit one suck.

“Fuck,” I hiss, growing greedy. “I need this.”

Cash’s hand glides up my body, and he tweaks my nipple, then he splits me open, and his mouth is on me, then he impales me with his tongue. I think I see stars when he moves to my clit, gently sucking and massaging my hard nub. My body instantly responds to him, and the orgasm builds.

“Mm. Should I make you wait?” he growls against my pussy, grabbing my ass.

“No,” I whisper, wanting more of this. “Please, I’ve waited so long.”

He laps me up at an agonizingly slow pace, and I melt under him as every one of my muscles tense as he dips and curls his giant finger inside me. A cry releases from my throat as my body releases. “Make love to me,” I say.

He stands. “I didn’t bring a condom.”

“I want to feel you, just you.”

“Are you on birth control?” he asks.

“Yes,” I whisper. “I need you so bad.”

“You’ve got me,” he says. Cash removes his boxers as we move up the bed. His thick cock waits at my entrance, and the anticipation of feeling him again almost becomes too much.

“I’ll go slow,” he whispers at the nape of my neck. He has always been caring, and he puts my needs first.

I open my thighs wide, and I adjust to how large he is and how he fills me full. I enjoy how my body molds around him. When our ends meet, I sigh in relief and enjoy his pressure. Cash’s mouth is on mine, and I’m so fucking greedy for him. “You feel so fucking good,” he moans, sliding out.

My pleasure is on his tongue, and I taste myself. “I don’t want you to be gentle,” I admit.

With slow movements, he thrusts in and out, my body rocking to the rhythm of him. He pumps into me, and his soft pants are in my ear. “Rem.”

“I want you to break me, for real. I want to feel you all day tomorrow.”

His thick cock slides deep inside my slick walls, and then he slams into me. I lift my arms above my head, arching my back, needing more of him, knowing I can barely handle him as is.

Cash is the only man who has ever had his mouth on me, and he’s also the only man who’s ever been able to bring me to the edge. My body belongs to him and has since the moment I secretly gave him my virginity.

“Cash,” I whisper. It comes out as a strained moan between pants.

He nibbles on my ear and slams into me. “I fucking love it when you say my name.”

“You own me.” I gasp, nearly ragged, as he slams into me, slow and arduous, filling me so goddamn full I might split in half.

He places his hand on my neck and barely squeezes. My pussy clenches around him, and I growl out his name.

“You’re a bad fucking girl,” he says in a low rasp.

“Yes, yes,” I whisper. I want this, need this, and he delivers, tightening his grip, slamming harder but keeping the same pace.

Even after all these years, he remembered what I love and desperately crave. I want to be choked and bitten, my hair tugged, and my ass slapped.

Guttural groans release from my throat, and I’m unable to form words. I scratch my nails down Cash’s back. He hits my G-spot over and over. My pussy pulses with anticipation, and the orgasm builds deep inside. Every muscle tightens as he slides in and out, giving the extra push.

“I’m so...” I come so hard I leave my body. His name falls from my mouth like a whispered prayer as I come.

I needed this. I needed him.

As Cash wages war on my pussy, gripping my ass, giving me all of him, I’m catapulted into outer space.

“Rem,” he whispers as he releases, and warmth pools inside me. We stay connected, gasping for air, trying to return to reality.

I don’t know what planet I’m on, but I might have transcended to another dimension as I wrap my arms around his neck and capture his mouth. Cash meets my eyes, pushing my hair away from my face.

“You’re the best present I’ve ever had,” I whisper, smiling, wanting to remember this moment and him just like this.

He chuckles as he runs his fingers through my hair. “Babe, I’m the gift that keeps on giving.”

After he kisses me and pulls away, Cash meets my eyes. “I’m in love with you, Valentine.”

“I’m in love with you, too.”