Chapter 16

Blood and dirt are on his shirt, his hair is disheveled, and his lip is busted. “Did you say Harrison?”

“Rem, please don’t,” he says, gently grabbing my wrist. “I took care of it.”

“Do you need to go to the hospital?” I grab his cheeks, studying him. Slight bruising blooms along his jaw.

“I’m fine. I might have a concussion, but I’ll survive. No medical attention is needed.” He shakes his head and lightly touches my elbows.

“You sure you’re okay?” I ask.

“Yes.” He moves to the couch and kicks off his shoes. “I just need to shake it off. Bastard distracted me.”

“What did he say?” I ask.

He pauses for a moment, and I see a flash of something on his face. Sadness? Hurt? I can’t place it, but I don’t like it.

“He knows about us. Confirmed.”

I swallow hard, meeting his eyes. “And he told you to stay away from me, didn’t he?”

“Valentine,” he whispers, looking at me, begging me to stop with his gaze. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.” I grab my keys off the bar top and approach the front door. I know how my brother is, and I’d bet money that Harrison threatened him. “His bullshit stops tonight.”

Cash stands and moves to me, hooking his hand around my hip. “What can I do to convince you to stay? Tell me. Anything, it’s yours.”

His voice is as smooth as whiskey.

“You almost had me.” I place my palm on his cheek, angry Harrison had the damn audacity to do this. “I’ll be back in an hour. Get some rest.”

He pulls his keys from his pocket and drops them in my palm. “Take my truck.”

“Why?” I look down at the key fob.

“Because I worry about you traveling on the roads late at night. I”d prefer you drive a tank.”

I find it endearing that he's concerned. “You know I have to do this.”

“I know,” he says, “but there are better ways. You’re going to roll up on him in the middle of the night and do what?”

“Give him what he deserves,” I admit.

“When you said you’d tell people about us, I didn’t expect you to go vigilante over me.”

I snicker. “Should’ve.”

This is a family matter, and being stubborn is a Valentine family trait; something all of my brothers and sisters deal with. Cash has been around long enough to understand.

“Hurry back to me,” he says, grabbing my shirt with his fist and kissing me. It quickly deepens, and his tongue darts into my mouth as he presses against me. A moan escapes me as he palms my ass with a firm hand.

We pull away, and I smile against his mouth. “Good try. So close.”

He huffs. “Please go easy on him. I fucked him up pretty good.”

“I’ll match his energy.”

Cash watches me with his arms crossed over his chest as I turn toward the door. I glance back at him before I leave and he shakes his head, but he’s smiling. “Defiant.”

“To my core.”

When I’m outside, I unlock his jacked-up Chevy and step onto the running board. While I love my Mustang, big trucks with diesel engines feel like home. I drove one until I purchased my dream car.

With my foot on the gas, I back out of the condo, and the engine sounds angry. The loud noise bounces off the walls of the downtown buildings as I head to my parents” ranch.

His truck has that new car smell that’s mixed with leather and hay. A lead rope and a pair of boots are on the passenger floorboard. A saddle is in the back, and I wonder if he's been taking the horses out at his parents” place. Cash has been riding longer than I”ve been alive. It’s how he and Beckett became friends. Southern isn’t a lifestyle, it’s a way of life. They live the cowboy way.

The last time I was in the saddle was during Harrison’s first wedding, the one where he almost married the wrong woman.

Watching Cash ride horses with my brothers did things to teenage me. There’s nothing sexier than a man in a saddle.

I take the curves with fervor, hugging them as I drive to my parents. The game warden sits on the side of the road and I glance down at the speedometer, making sure I’m not speeding. That’s when I notice a picture tucked inside. It’s dark, but the glow of the dashboard gives enough light to see he’s holding a woman in his arms.

Her back is facing the view, and her long brown hair is down. My jealousy flares. Who the fuck is that?

I grip the steering wheel tightly, traveling faster to Harrison’s house. When I arrive, I park beside his truck and press the horn. It’s loud and angry, and the blaring noise echoes across the property. I’m sure my parents will ask questions, but my brother can answer for that. He’s the one who started this.

Moments later, the front door swings open, and Harrison stands shirtless with his hands on his hips. His eyes narrow, and I turn on the brights. He covers his face, blocking the light as anger floods him. With a tight fist, he steps off the porch, approaching the vehicle.

“Didn’t get enough?” he yells.

I clutch my courage and then step out of the truck, moving toward him, kneeing him as hard as I can in his dick.

Harrison groans and hunches over, looking up at me. “What the hell, Remi?”

“Leave me alone. Leave Cash alone. Stay out of my life,” I yell.

“You’re too young for him, and you were too fucking young for him back then, too. You’re keeping your relationship a secret. Why?” He screams back at me as he grabs himself with furrowed brows.

“That’s none of your damn business, Harrison. Stay out of it!”

Moments later, Grace steps onto the porch with her housecoat on. Her brows furrow when she hears me screaming at Harrison, but it’s directed at him.

“What have you done?” Grace asks him as she approaches.

She's livid.

“Gracie.” Harrison keeps his voice calm as he straightens his stance.

“What have you done?” she asks through gritted teeth.

When he doesn’t answer, I speak up for him.

“He fought and threatened Cash,” I explain. “He started shit, and now I’m finishing it.”

My brother found the trouble he was searching for tonight.

“If you mess up my chance at love, so help you God...”

He swallows my truth like poison. I’m so frustrated with Harrison that I don’t have to lie.

Grace's hands find her hips. “Cash is a good man. Any woman is lucky to be with him, especially your sister. What’s wrong with you? Don’t you want the best for her?”

“It’s not like that,” Harrison says.

“Yes, it is,” Grace says, and I’m so thankful she has my back. She’s the only person he’ll listen to when he gets like this. She's the only one who can get reality through his thick skull.

Harrison glares at me. “Do you love him?”

I move toward my brother.

“Yes, I do,” I say, the truth spilling from my lips without hesitation.

His mouth parts, and he’s shocked. He didn’t expect me to say it, and I didn’t either, but it’s the damn truth.

I take another step and jab my finger into Harrison’s shoulder. “And you’re going to accept it.”

“Remi.” His voice softens, and he tries to stop me, but I pull away.

Gracie shakes her head and walks toward their house.

When the front door slams closed, I glare at him. “Stop trying to ruin my life.”

The headlights illuminate my brother in the dark as I walk away from him.

“Sis, I’m trying to help you,” Harrison says.

“You’re doing a shitty job of it.” As I stand on the running board of Cash’s truck, I speak to Harrison in a scarily calm voice. “I deserve to be with my person as much as you deserve to be with Grace. I would”ve never forced you to admit your feelings when you weren’t ready. I helped you and you’re hurting me.”

“What are you afraid of, Remi?” he barks out.

“Hurting him.” It’s the truth.

“Sis.”

I slam the door, then back out of the driveway, kicking up gravel, not looking back as I drive away.

A few tears spill down my cheeks, and before I turn onto the country road, I put the truck in park and lean against the steering wheel.

I want to be happy like Harrison and Grace or Beckett and Summer. I”d even take a second chance at love like Kinsley and Hayden. Am I capable of having love like that?

If Cash will risk it all, what do I have to lose? Him.

As I look down at the dashboard, I see that picture again. I turn on the overhead lamp and pull it out to look closer.

It’s him and who?

I flip it over, and on the back, it says: us.

Knowing he's looking at this picture with him and some other woman each day he drives around doesn’t settle well with me. He said there was no one else, and I believed him. Was all of this for nothing?

I take my time driving home as my thoughts eat away at me. I kill the engine and snag the photo from Cash’s dash before I walk in. Part of me wonders if he subconsciously told me to drive his truck so I”d find it.

When I enter the condo, the lights are off. I lock the door and then drop his keys on the bar top before walking to the end of the hallway. I slowly push open the door to his room and enter. The side lamp by his bed makes the room glow yellow.

“Finally,” he says, rolling over with a grin. “Come here.”

I crawl on the bed and fall into his arms, holding him tight. He's freshly showered and smells like mountain rain.

“Did everything go okay? What’s wrong?” he asks, noticing my shift. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. It went fine. Who”s that woman in the picture?”

The room grows quiet. “What are you talking about?”

I pull it from my back pocket and hand it to him.

He looks at it with his brows furrowed. “Oh.”

“What the hell?”

He sits up in bed, pulling me close. He wraps his arm around me and holds the picture out for me to see.

“The woman who has my heart,” he says. “I met her a long time ago.”

This confession has me dying inside, and I think I might be sick. “Before me and you?” I whisper.

“Same time.” His eyes soften as he looks at the photo. “My absolute everything. It’s funny, though. I”ve just been waiting around for her to wake the fuck up.”

“So you can go to her?” Maybe she was his other summer fling.

“If I said yes, would you be jealous?” he asks.

“You know I would,” I say, chewing on the inside of my cheek, not able to imagine him with someone else.

He tucks loose strands of hair behind my ear. “It’s me and you, when we snuck away to Florida together. We took a lot of photos that week.”

I didn’t recognize myself or remember the pictures. I look closer and laugh, but also cry. Tonight has been too much.

“Aww,” he says. “I’m sorry. It was a bad joke. When I told you there was no one else, I meant it, Valentine. It’s just you.”

I laugh, wiping away my tears. “I don’t want to imagine you with someone else. It’s too much.”

“Babe, I couldn’t be with anyone else. Just you,” he whispers. “I”ve carried that photo with me since the day I left to go to Houston. It’s always been with me wherever I go.”

Knowing he drives around with a photo of us on his dashboard has my body buzzing.

I breathe out his name. “Cash.”

“When I told you I thought about you every fucking day I was gone, I meant it.”

I shake my head. “I didn’t realize...”

“That you’re it for me? You are.”

Our lips crash together, and the need to have him consumes me.

“Rem,” he says, pushing hair from my face. “On September first, I’m not letting you go.”

“I hope you’re not making a mistake.”

“I’m not,” he confidently says with his full chest. “One day you’ll see that.”

* * *

I wakewith Cash”s body molded against mine and his muscular arm holding my bare back to his chest. My eyes flutter open, and the early morning sunlight leaks through the curtains. At first, I’m not sure where I am, but then memories of last night flood in, and I realize I’m naked.

It’s the first night I slept in Cash”s room with him. Over the past month, I crawled between his sheets just to feel close.

He nuzzles into my neck. “Morning, my beautiful girl.”

I roll over and meet his lazy grin before kissing him. “I love waking up to you like this,” I admit, used to him leaving me.

He runs his fingers through my hair. “Good, because you’re sleeping with me from here on out. How”d you sleep?”

“Incredible,” I say, admiring how gorgeous he is with diamond eyes and long lashes.

“Want to have breakfast with me?” His voice is full of promise.

“In public?” I ask.

“Yeah. Are you allowed to eat with me? Or shall we ask your brothers for permission first?”

“Don’t be an asshole.”

“I’m over it, Rem. After chatting with Easton yesterday and beating Harrison’s ass, I don’t care anymore. You can continue with your plan, but I’m going to be honest.”

“But—”

He stops me from talking by kissing me.

“Are you embarrassed of us?” His tone is feral, unfuckable with.

“What? No.” I laugh. “You’re a wet fucking dream.”

He doesn’t look convinced. “I don’t understand.”

“Sometimes I don’t feel good enough for you. Now that I’m older, it’s not quite as bad. But I’m the Wednesday Addams of my brothers and sisters, and you’re Dr. Cash Johnson, animal saver.”

Laughter falls from his lips. “I don’t think you realize what you have to offer. Is this a middle child thing?”

“Fuck, probably. Is getting what you want an only child thing?” I ask with my hand on his cheek. I trace his bottom lip with my thumb.

“You better fucking believe it,” he tells me, his hand glides down my body. “And you spoil me.”

“Can I have you for breakfast?” I run my fingers through his hair.

“I’ll never deny you,” he desperately whispers with his fingertips pressed into my skin.

I push him onto his back and kiss down his body until his eyes flutter closed. With my fingers in the band of his boxers, I tug them down, freeing him. Pre-cum pools on the tip, and I lick and suck him. He groans out as I work him so damn good.

“I want to feel you,” I whisper, and he nods as I straddle him.

His firm hands grab my ass as I ease down onto his cock, steadying myself with my hands on his stomach.

“Rem,” he sighs as I adjust the positioning of my thighs to take him in slowly. I gasp when I sink to his base and buck my hips forward. Pleasure floods through me, holding me tight as I rock against him. One of his hands reaches up to my peaked nipple, and he tweaks it between his fingers. “So goddamn gorgeous.”

I sigh, closing the space between our mouths and devouring his lips and tongue. Can I really have this man as mine? When we’re together like this, I believe it’s possible and that it will all work out.

His teeth graze along my jaw until he's licking and sucking my collarbone. The sensation of his mouth kissing me in private places where only he's been has me begging for more.

“Cash,” I whisper, my pussy already quivering at how full he fills me. “You were made for me.”

“Actually,” he says. “You were made for me.”

With a shaky breath, I steady myself, and tiny cries release from my lips. But he feels so good. The warmth quickly spreads through me as he watches me take what I need. I love being the center of his attention, just like this, with the morning sunlight peeking through the blinds.

I smile, and so does he. His strong hands glide over my bare skin. He leaves a trail of heat where he touches, and he can mold me into whatever he wants. As the orgasm threatens to take over, I take his mouth, fucking him so good a groan chokes in his throat. With my fingers knotted in his hair, I nuzzle into his neck.

“I’m about to come,” I whisper, tracing the shell of his ear with my mouth.

His hands are on my ass and he's pumping into me, giving me every thick inch of him until I crumble around him. Seconds later, he's losing himself. Warmth spreads inside me.

I collapse onto his chest. With his arms wrapped around me, he holds me against him, kissing my hair and forehead. Our want and need still buzzes in the air, but I don’t want to move, not when I’m encapsulated by him. He kisses my shoulder and traces up to my jaw with his scruff.

“Ready for second breakfast?” he asks.

“Can’t wait,” I say.

We shower together and then leave the condo once we”re dressed. My lips are as swollen as his, and guilt is written on our faces. He’s my best kept secret, but we can’t stay this way forever.

As we walk down the street, his fingers brush against mine. I quickly hook my finger with his and hold it briefly before letting him go. I’m not ready to show public affection yet, but as soon as I have Beckett on board, I will be. Hopefully, Harrison keeps his big mouth shut.

When we arrive at the diner, people are waiting outside on the sidewalk. Not surprising since it’s just past nine on a Saturday morning. The whole town is here, or at least that’s how it feels.

The sounds of chatter and plates and silverware clanking fill the waiting area. Ten minutes later, a girl who I believe graduated with my younger sister, Vera, leads us to a table in the middle of the room.

“Relax, roomie,” Cash whispers as he pulls out my chair, noticing I’m tense. We never go out in public together, and I feel eyes on us.

After our coffee is delivered and we order, he focuses his attention on me with warm eyes. “What are you thinking about?” Cash asks before taking a sip of coffee.

“Us,” I say.

“That reminds me of something.” Cash pulls his phone from his pocket and clicks around. Seconds later, he hands it over to me, and inside is a photo album he created of us. It’s full of selfies and pictures we took. There are tons and I scroll through them.

“We were so young.”

It’s impossible to ignore how we looked at one another. I’m positive the intensity hasn’t changed.

“I think we need an updated one,” I say. As I slide into the chair beside him, my heart rate ticks upward. I ignore my nerves and hold up his phone to take a picture.

We look at each other on the screen and I stick out my tongue and snap a few before handing it to him. “A few more to add to the collection.”

When I’m back in front of him, his gaze softens.

This man is exclusively mine, and when he glances at me like that, the world around me fades away. Being lost in one another like this has haunted me over the years. When he licks his perfect lips, it nearly takes me under, burying me alive.

The only thing that breaks us away is the server reaching for our coffee mugs to refill them.

Once we’re alone, he leans forward. “You’re gonna have to stop looking at me like that.”

I press my lips together and smirk. “I”ve always been told I can do whatever I want on my birthday.”

“Suppose you’re right,” he says, shooting me a wink, and I think back to the first time we kissed. It’s similar words I told him that night.