“You two all right in there?” Gavin calls from the hall, pounding on the door again and interrupting Cash.
“Just a minute,” Cash snaps gruffly. When he turns back to me, he sighs. He doesn’t continue. The moment is lost.
My heart sinks. I would give anything to hear where that sentence was going.
“We can discuss all this when you get back. I can tell you about how our plan went off without a hitch and how I ended the day kicking my arrogant brother’s ass, and you can tell me how you explained Gavin to your mother and how she passed out in the floor.”
He grins.
“Oh shit!”
“What?”
“What am I gonna tell her?”
Cash shrugs. “You’ll have to think of something, because Gavin won’t be leaving that house. And you won’t be leaving his sight.”
“I guess I could tell her we’re seeing each other.” As I chew my lip in thought, I see the muscle in Cash’s jaw tick. I frown. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“No, not nothing. What?”
“You’re creative. I’m sure you can think of something else to tell her.”
“What difference does it make?”
“If she thinks you two are together, she’ll expect to see some affection.”
“So?”
“So, I’d hate to have to kick Gavin’s ass. And then kick yours.”
I can tell the last was added teasingly. I can’t help but grin.
“Kick it? I thought you wanted to spank it.” I’m not normally so brazen, but in the circumstances, I feel like the gloves should come off.
I see desire flare to life in his sinfully dark eyes. It kindles heat low in my belly.
“Whatever I do to it, I promise I’ll kiss it and make it feel better afterward. How’s that?”
His fingers are trailing lazily up and down my arms. It’s an innocent touch, but more than enough to make me wish his hands were on my naked skin elsewhere.
“Promises promises,” I purr in challenge.
“I guess I’ll just have to show you when you get back then. And if you happen to be wearing panties, make it a pair you hate. It’ll be the last time you see them intact. Consider yourself warned.”
A thrill of anticipation skitters down my spine. When Cash loses control, it always ends in us lying, exhausted, in a sweaty heap somewhere. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Duly noted.”
Gavin pounds once more on the door. Cash winks at me before he turns and crosses the room to pull it open.
“Damn you’re aggravating.”
Gavin’s smile is full of mischief. “Here I was hoping to get a glimpse of something good, but you let her get dressed.” The punch Cash gives his arm seems a little less than gentle. Still grinning, Gavin looks to me. “You ready?”
I heft my bag up over my shoulder. “I guess.”
I cross to stop in front of Cash. “Gavin can fill you in on the details since we were so rudely interrupted,” he says meaningfully, glaring at his buddy.
“Just be careful. Promise me you won’t take any unnecessary risks.”
“I promise.”
Rather than the tiny peck I figured he’d give me in front of his friend, Cash pulls me into his arms and kisses me. Really kisses me. My toes are curled and I’m breathless when he lets me go.
“Don’t forget,” he says quietly, his eyes roaming my face like he’s memorizing it.
“I won’t.”
I don’t know what he’s referring to—don’t forget what he told me, don’t forget his promises. Don’t forget him. It doesn’t matter, though. It still has a ring of finality to it that makes me feel like this is the end.
I can’t stop my chin from trembling as Gavin leads me from the room.
********
Gavin is quiet as he smuggles me down the stairs—all the zillion stairs—and out a side door. The night air is cooler than average. It’s like a slap in the face when I feel it hit the wet streaks on my cheeks. I didn’t even know I’d been crying.
Maybe that’s why Gavin is so quiet. He thinks I’m about to melt down.
Which I might be. Sometimes I feel like it.
As we strike out up the street, Gavin reaches over to take my bag strap off my shoulder. I offer him a small smile and let him have it.
“He’ll be fine, you know,” Gavin says quietly, his accent seemingly more pronounced in the dark.
“You can’t know that.”
“Actually, I can. He’s a sharp guy and he’s got a good plan. But even more than that, he’d go through hell and back to make sure you’re safe. And when he gets a bug up his ass like this, he’s like a pit bull. There’s just no stopping him.”
His words are bittersweet. It thrills me to hear that he thinks I’m that important to Cash. Cash must’ve said or done something to make him think that. Unless, of course, he’d be asshole enough to lie just to make me feel better. Even so, it just makes me feel sad and bereft that there’s a chance I might not ever get to tell Cash I’m in love with him.
Why the hell didn’t you tell him five minutes ago? When you had the chance? Oh, wait. I know. Because you’re a complete, proud idiot, that’s why.
My chest gets tight just thinking about my lost opportunity. I slow to a stop on the street, the urge to go back and throw myself into Cash’s arms is nearly overwhelming.
“Gavin, I need to go back. There’s something I have to tell him before he goes.”
Urgency is coursing through my veins like heroine.
Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod what have I done?
Panic, sheer panic is working a fine sheen of sweat onto my brow, despite the chilly temperature.
“It’s too late,” Gavin says gravely. I look into his handsome, sober face, and, just as I open my mouth to argue, a motorcycle zooms by. “He’s already gone.”
I feel the tears start afresh. “But there’s something I need to tell him, something I need him to know before he goes.”
Gavin puts his hand on my shoulder and leans down to look into my eyes. “He knows.”
“No, he doesn’t. He couldn’t possibly. I’ve been such a psycho lately, there’s no way he could know.”