by Marie Harte
“See,” Jordan said loudly enough to be heard by the woman who didn’t move far enough away. “Women think you’re available. But I bet if they knew we were together and how skilled I am with a pistol, they’d all leave you alone. No matter how magnificent you might be.”
The redhead moved.
“You are so badass.” Cash’s smile blinded her. “How about we drop the food and go home so I can show you how much I appreciate a badass? Rafi’s at Daniel’s today, right?”
She let him have one kiss then pushed him away. “Stop.” She laughed. “Yes, he’s out. You want to leave? Fine. But we’re buying all this before we go. No way am I coming back to grocery shop again with you.”
“Aw, honey. You’re no fun.”
They purchased the groceries and headed back.
A question had been nagging her. “You never did tell me about your plans for your mom’s house.”
He tapped the steering wheel, and she wondered what he had to be nervous about. Because that tapping was one of his tells.
“Cash? Are you okay?”
“I need you to hear me out on something. It’s important.”
“Okay.”
He put on his emotionless mask, the one that normally meant something had upset him.
She put a hand on his thigh, and he tensed. “You can talk to me.”
He glanced at her before focusing once more on the road. “It’s… Wait. Did you talk to Rafi yet?”
“Rafi? I saw him this morning, when I made us all breakfast. You were there.” She frowned. “What am I missing?”
“Nothing. Never mind.”
“You told me last night went fine. That I had nothing to worry about with my brother.”
“Well, he’s a teenager. And he’s a boy. Of course you have stuff to worry about. Just not super bad stuff. I don’t think he’s murdered anyone. Yet.”
“Cash.”
“Jordan, Rafi is a nice kid. You’re a terrific big sister, and he knows it.” A significant pause. “You’re putting your life on hold for him. He told me about your college plans.”
She groaned. “I’m not waiting to go because of him. Well, not exactly. I just want to take my time before I go back to school. I want to pick a major I can live with.”
“Good.” He coughed, sounding nervous. “So, well, uh, you need money for college. For books. I hear they’re expensive.”
“Yeah, they are.” She studied him. “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, damn it. Thanks for asking.” He tapped the steering wheel some more. “I was just thinking that if we lived together, you could save on rent.”
She hadn’t expected that bombshell. “Say that again?”
He gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. “I’ve been thinking about moving into my mom’s. It would become my house. New paint, no tacky rose wallpaper, and no more hoarding.”
“Right. No more hoarding.” Her heart raced. Living together? What, as roommates? Lovers? Something more?
“It’s in a nice neighborhood. The mortgage is paid, so it’s just utilities really. That and my food bill,” he tacked on, trying to sound lighthearted and failing. “I have a ton of room in there. So, uh, if you felt pressured to be with me to stay there, you wouldn’t have to. You don’t have to fuck me to live there or anything. I mean, I want to fuck you. All the damn time. But I know you need space for Rafi and that it weirds you out if we’re together and he’s around.
“I just think it makes sense. That way I can save money by moving out of my current place when Reid leaves. And you can move in with me. Like, we can be together. With Rafi. And, well, in the house.”
She stared at him, having never heard him speak so fast for so long.
After a moment, he groaned. “You are killing me. Did I just mess everything up or what?”
“I’m confused. You want me to move in as your roommate? But no more sex?”
“What? No.” He finally arrived at his house and pulled into the driveway, parked the car, and turned to face her. “I want you in my bed, in my life, and in my house. With me. You need a place to stay. I need you. Seems like an easy thing to fix.”
“I…” She had never thought he might ask, and not so soon.
“Look, think about it, okay? You don’t have to make up your mind now. You’re fine staying with me here as long as you want. I can always rent out my mom’s place and we could live here.” He blew out a breath. “What I’m saying is, you could live here with me until you find a place to rent. If you wanted to go, I mean.”
She hated that he felt so nervous he kept repeating himself. But, dang, he was so cute. He wanted her with him. To move in with him. “Is this because you feel sorry for me?”
“Huh? No. You put Smith in a wristlock. I think I love you.” After a very awkward silence in which she feared his face would burst into flame, his cheeks had turned so red, he corrected himself. “I love you for hurting Smith. Not for…I don’t… Well, I do have…feelings I…” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “Shoot me now.”
“Oh, no. This is the most fascinating conversation I’ve ever had with you.” She laughed, unable to help herself. She lowered her voice to mimic his. “I mean… Feelings…I…well… Bananas.”
“Shut up.” He lifted his head and glared. “My blood sugar is low. That’s my excuse. What’s yours?” He slammed his way out of the car, his face still beet-red, and grabbed a bunch of grocery bags.
She followed, taking the last two, and joined him inside. “My excuse? For what?”
“For being obnoxious,” he snarled as he slammed things into cabinets and shoved items in the refrigerator.
She trailed him down the hallway toward the bathroom, where he tossed a bundle of toilet paper. Before he could leave, she blocked his way. “So huffy.”
“So huffy? You’re such a jerk sometimes, Jordan.”
Not so amused, she stared him down. “What is your problem? We had a great day, lots of fun, laughs, then you got weird in the car, and now you’re acting like an ass.”
“My problem? My problem, Jordan, is that I love you. And I don’t want to scare you away, and you’re such a pain in my ass.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Fuck. You know the last woman I told that to? She cheated on me, stole from me, and nearly had me arrested for trumped-up claims of abuse. And the first woman I ever loved hated my guts for no apparent reason. So excuse the fuck out of me for being weird in the fucking car!”
He picked her up, set her down behind him, and stormed from the bathroom.
It took her a moment to process because she kept hearing “I love you” in Cash’s snarly, grumbly voice. This from the crass, less-than-sophisticated brute who hadn’t wanted to hire a woman in the first place. The soft teddy bear of a guy who would do anything not to have a woman cry on him, who pretty much supported her through everything she’d ever told him, loved her.
Giddy and thrilled, she darted out of the bathroom and found him closeted in his bedroom, the door locked shut.
Bull. Shit.
She spotted the spare key over the doorway and had to use a chair to reach it. Then she fit the key in the door and pushed her way inside.
“It was locked for a reason,” he growled, looking miserable as he stood by the window, staring outside.
“Cash. Look at me.”
He refused to move. Refused to glance her way. So she decided to get his attention.
Jordan walked to him and tugged him by the waist to turn. He opened his mouth, but she put a finger over his lips. She tugged his shirt over his head, aware he let her. Then she tapped his shoes with her toes, signaling for them to go. He slipped them off, following with his socks.
Neither of them spoke, but Jordan guided him to disrobe piece by piece until he stood before her nake
d and aroused.
She kissed her way down his chest, stroking him everywhere she could reach. He felt so soft yet hard, so warm and coarse. The breathy sighs he made, the grunts and groans, had her wet and willing. But she wanted to do this for him. And, hell, because seeing him come turned her on.
“Jordan,” he whispered as she kissed her way down his body. His cock was thick and slick at the tip. His balls hard, heavy. She took them in hand and blew over his cockhead.
He jerked, his breathing loud in the otherwise quiet room.
She put her mouth over him, licking him clean, and he gripped her shoulders.
He pushed deeper, and she took more of him inside. Then she eased her way over him, relaxing to take him impossibly deep.
He swore, trembling, but made no move to push.
Jordan pulled her mouth back, sliding over him. She let him fall to her lips before taking him to the back of her throat once more. And as she did, she fondled him, stroking his thighs, his balls, cupping the hard knots and rubbing them while he whispered her name and clenched his ass tight, as if to keep control.
The sweet torment aroused her to no end, and she loved knowing she could make him so lost to her touch.
“Oh fuck, Jordan. Honey, I’m gonna come. I’m so close.”
She bore down, sucking harder while she rubbed his balls.
Cash gripped her shoulders tight and shattered, coming down her throat while he pumped in her mouth.
“Shit. Oh fuck. Jordan. Baby, yes. Oh God, yes.”
When he’d finally finished, she eased off him, her jaw sore. He pulled her to her feet and hugged her, his body like a furnace.
She glanced up and saw his eyes suspiciously shiny. But she didn’t mention it, and neither did he. “You have too many clothes on.”
She let him strip her naked then obeyed his command to lie down on the bed, her knees up, her legs spread wide. Cash lay down between her legs and rested his chin on her belly.
“Jordan, you mean everything to me.” He watched her, laying everything on the line.
She wanted to say it back, to tell him she loved him too. But he didn’t let her. Because his mouth settled over her sex, stealing her breath. Then his tongue went to work.
He licked and kissed and plunged his tongue inside her. His large hands stroked her thighs, her ass, then slid up her body to play with her nipples.
She writhed beneath him, but he refused to budge, giving no quarter as he brought her so close to orgasm…then left her on the edge. Only to build her up again. And again.
He constantly had her teetering on the edge of bliss before pulling back.
“Cash, please. I need you inside me.”
Only then did he rise over her, his mouth slick, his green eyes dark.
“You need me. Say it again.” He settled over her, staring at her mouth.
“I need you. I need you,” she emphasized, in case he didn’t get it the first time. “I lo—”
She didn’t get the rest out because he fastened his mouth to hers and shoved his thick cock inside her at the same time.
She screamed into his mouth as he rode her with a fierceness that prolonged her orgasm.
He pulled his lips away, hammering inside her while her body clamped down tight, wanting nothing more than to feel him spill inside her.
She moaned as he tensed, coming with her at last.
They lay together, spent but not done. Jordan and her man. It had been the most intense experience of her life.
Still inside her, Cash had to lean up to stare down at her and wiped tears from her cheeks.
“Was I crying?” Surprised but too sated to care, she saw him nod. “Oh. I don’t think I can move. I don’t think I can think.”
He grinned, his beauty as much from his joy as his dark good looks. She just stared at him, not sure how this man could be hers.
“What are you thinking now?” He toyed with her hair. He started to withdraw from her then surged deeper, their connection so much more than physical.
They both sighed.
Jordan loved him. Cash Griffith, a man who gave his everything to those who mattered. And miracle of miracles, she mattered to him. Yet he could be skittish. She had to be smart about how she interacted with him. Twice she’d tried to tell him how she felt, but he’d shut her down. Why?
“What am I thinking?” she asked, trying to figure him out.
“Yeah.” He stared down at her, as if looking into her soul.
So she told him the truth. Rather, she told him a truth she knew he could handle. “Cash…”
“Yeah?”
“I think we left the ice cream out.”
* * *
Cash stared down at the woman he’d confessed to loving, seeing in her a future he could only pray he’d have a shot at keeping. Then her words sank in.
“Shit. Not the cookies ’n’ cream!” He dashed out of the bedroom and found the mushy container by the fridge. He stuffed it in the freezer and returned to find Jordan in the shower.
Hmm. Shower sex. Okay.
Despite having bared his heart, he wasn’t as out of sorts as he’d expected he might be. Though the fallout from Mariah’s deception had gutted him, Cash had done his best to put her in the past. His few Marine buddies hadn’t liked her much. And Reid had never cared for her. She’d ended up being a user and a liar.
Jordan was nothing like her. Smart and funny, she held her ground. She had integrity, and she was loyal to those she loved. More importantly, his friends all liked her, as did Reid. So maybe he hadn’t chosen wrongly this time around. Chosen? More like he’d been lucky enough to find a woman like her to put up with him.
She pulled back the curtain when he opened the bathroom door. “Well? Get in here.”
He stepped in the tub and let her move him out of the spray so he wouldn’t block her from the warm water. The spray jetted over her dark hair and clung to her golden skin, making her shine.
“Oh yeah. I do love you wet.”
She grinned. “Blowing you made me really wet.”
“Well, it made me really hard, so I guess we’re even.”
“Maybe.” She stood there, her hair slicked back, a golden mermaid…with a side of teeth. “Cash, I—”
“No. I don’t want to hear it. Not yet.”
“But I—”
“No. Think about it, Jordan. Don’t feel you have to say it back. And don’t feel pressured about anything.”
“But—”
“The love stuff slipped out. Pretend I didn’t say it, okay?”
She gave him a puzzled look. “Pretend?”
“Did I stutter?”
She frowned. “Fine. But I’m just going to say this once.”
“If you must.” His heart hammered, not ready to hear her rejection. Not yet. He’d fucked up and admitted to things too soon, he knew. But if they stepped back from all the emotional bullshit, maybe he could keep her a little longer.
“I hate your shampoo.”
He blinked at her. “What?”
“You heard me. I’ll buy the shampoo and soap for all of us from now on. So don’t bring any of this to the new house, okay?” At his obvious confusion, she said more slowly, “Your mom’s place that’s now yours, where we’ll be living? You did say we could live with you there.”
“Ah, yeah. Uh-huh. Right.” His heart raced. Jesus, she’d said yes?
“And that’s final. Now wash my back like a good boyfriend.”
She turned and tilted her head down, holding her hair off her graceful neck.
Where we’ll be living, she’d said. With him.
“Um, okay.” Dazed, he grabbed the soap and washed her, mesmerized by her sleek lines. So full of love, he let the warmth fill him, and then, because he couldn’t help it, his hands traced more of her, encou
raged by her pleas.
And Cash learned something important. He really did love Jordan wet.
Chapter 20
Sunday, while Cash went with Reid to his mother’s house to do some final cleaning, Rafi had asked to spend the day with Jordan. Pleased and surprised her brother finally consented to spending time with her, and of his own free will, she took him to one of his favorite breakfast places in Green Lake. He loved Sofa’s Bakery for their ham and gruyere croissants. She loved their ass-widening pastries.
Her stomach protested, loudly, that she needed to eat. By the time they reached the front of the line, she didn’t see any croissants left. She did, however, see the guy Cash had saved from a beating. What was his name again?
“Well, well.” The handsome guy gave her a big grin. “You’re Jordan, Cash’s main squeeze, right?”
Conscious of her brother listening with a fascinated look on his face, she nodded. “Um, yeah. This is my brother, Rafi. Rafi, this is—”
“Elliot Liberato. I own the joint.” He looked around him. “Impressive, huh?”
From behind him, a tall woman with dark hair and toned arms, wearing a sleeveless Sofa’s shirt, scoffed. “I’m sorry. Who owns the place?”
“It’s family run,” he said smoothly, leaned closer, and added, “But I’m really the brains behind everything.” Elliot cleared his throat. “What can I get you—on the house?”
“No, no.” Jordan tapped her wallet. “I’ll pay for—”
“You’ll pay nothing.” Elliot swept his hands in front of him. He seemed to have a tendency toward drama, and his voice rose and fell with an actor’s grace. “I’m still alive because of your boyfriend’s heroic sacrifice.”
“Elliot. You’ve met Cash. He likes to fight.”
“He saved my life.” Elliot wiped at his eyes. “Those are imaginary tears, at the thought, the travesty, of me being dead. And what a crime that would be.”
Rafi snickered.
“Elliot, for God’s sake,” growled the tall woman behind him. “We have a line, and I’m pretty sure your savior wants to order.”
“Thanks,” Jordan told her.
“No problem.” She cuffed Elliot in the head. “Little brothers are such a pain.”