Solitary Man (The Smith Brothers Book 3)

by Sherilee Gray

  I shivered. His voice. Dear God. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to it.

  “Put the ring on Riley’s finger,” Landon said.

  Cash pulled a simple gold band from his pocket, took my hand in his, and slipped it on my finger.

  “Now it’s your turn,” Landon said to me and rattled off what I had to say.

  I glanced back up at Cash. His eyes bore into me so intensely that a shiver moved through my entire body. It wasn’t a bad shiver. But I was freaking out just a bit. This quiet, intense man was about to become my husband. The man I lived with…slept with.

  The nerves skyrocketed.

  He squeezed my hand gently. “Riley?”

  The way he said my name, unsure, softer, but no less rough pulled me from my mini freak-out. This is what you want. This is why you’re here. You know this man, you’ve been talking to him for months.

  You know him.

  I’d known him the moment I’d stared into his eyes.

  “I, Riley Emeline Lewis, take you, Cash Wyatt Smith, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will honor you all the days of my life.”

  His fingers squeezed again, this time more like a spasm, like he’d been surprised I’d actually said the words.

  “Riley, put the ring on Cash’s finger.”

  I blushed and quickly grabbed my bag from the shop counter where I’d put it and pulled out the ring box. I flipped it open and pulled out the wide gold band I’d chosen for him. Honestly, I should have cottoned on to the size of the man I was marrying when he emailed me his ring size.

  Taking his huge, hot hand in mine, I pushed it on his long, calloused finger and smiled up at him.

  “I now pronounce you husband and wife. Congratulations. Cash, you may kiss your bride.”

  Cash’s gaze shot to Landon, then back to me, and color darkened his cheeks—what I could see above his beard, anyway. I turned to face him fully, more nerves erupting in my belly. He didn’t make a move. He stood there frozen, looking down at me.

  Landon chuckled. “Don’t blame you for looking at her like a deer in headlights, boy. But you’re gonna have to help her out.”

  Cash frowned at Landon.

  “You’ll need to bend down, son.”

  He turned back to me, paused a moment, then bent down. I gripped his arms and rose to meet him, lifting to my tiptoes.

  His lips finally touched mine, soft and warm, and a spark shot through me so hard and fast, I had to cling to him tighter, digging my fingers into his monster biceps so I didn’t fall to the floor in a heap.

  His breath huffed out of his nose against my cheek, and without my say-so my tongue slid out to graze his upper lip. Cash jolted and lifted his head sharply, his eyes flashing.

  Did he not like it? Was it too much, too soon?

  Cash turned back to Landon. “License.”

  Landon was grinning again, so wide all I could see were teeth. Cash signed it, then he took my hand and tugged me forward, putting the pen in my hand. Not handing me the pen, but literally putting it in my hand and wrapping my fingers around it, all but signing for me.

  I signed my name and looked up at Landon. “Thank you for…”

  Cash towed me from the general store. “This all of it?” he said, motioning to the three suitcases holding all my worldly possessions.

  “Yes.”

  He dipped his chin, picked up all three, and headed to the plane. Landon waved as I jogged after my new husband, trying not to trip over the uneven ground.

  “See you in a month, Riley,” Landon called.

  Cash loaded my bags into the plane, then opened the door closest to me, gripped my hips, and lifted me like I weighed nothing. I did not weigh nothing. I had curves. Some would say I was overweight. I didn’t care what anyone said. I had the same figure as my mother and her mother before that. There was no changing it, even if I wanted to. I didn’t.

  Next to Cash, though, I felt petite in a way I never had in my life.

  He shut my door, walked around, and climbed in beside me. Without a word, he reached over to help me buckle up and placed a headset on me. He put on his own, and soon the plane roared to life and we started moving.

  My hands curled into tight fists, and I was finding it hard to breathe again. “I’m not the best flier,” I said into the headset. “I apologize in advance if I talk your ear off. I talk when I’m nervous.”

  He said nothing.

  “Oh God.” We bumped down the “runway,” picking up speed, and I shrieked and clung to the seat.

  Then we were lifting off.

  My hand flew out, gripping Cash’s forearm. He again said nothing as I clung to him like Velcro while he tried to fly the plane at the same time.

  If I hadn’t been terrified, I would have been embarrassed or at least appreciated the pleasurable zaps firing up my arm from that little bit of contact between us.

  Instead, I squeezed my eyes closed and hung on to him for dear life.

  2

  Cash

  I shut off the plane and turned to my new wife.

  She was smaller than I thought she would be.

  She also liked to talk. A lot. Something I kind of already knew from the two phone calls we’d managed. Which was a good thing, I guess, since I didn’t.

  Her eyes were currently closed. They’d been closed nearly the whole flight, but the few times when she’d opened them, they’d sucked me right in, like she’d reached inside me and taken my gut in her dainty fist. That’s how I felt when I looked at her. I thought that might be a good thing.

  “You can open your eyes,” I said.

  She let out a long breath, her shoulders drooping, which caused her breasts to bounce and the unrelenting ache in my stomach, the throbbing of my groin, to increase. I ignored it. Which wasn’t as easy as it usually was. Probably because I wasn’t just looking at a photo of Riley this time; I was looking at the real thing—all soft and round and warm. She was so warm.

  When she’d hugged me, when she’d lifted up to kiss me, the heat of her body and the way her curves pressed into me was better than anything I could have imagined. And I’d imagined a lot. She wasn’t an image in my fantasies anymore. She was real. And she was mine.

  My gut did that gripping thing again. Yeah, I ached from wanting her to touch me again. I hurt so badly from it. And I wanted her to keep touching me. Riley—my wife.

  Christ, she was beautiful. The most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Her soft, wavy blond hair reached just past her shoulders, and when she closed her mouth, her lips were like a plump rosebud. Her eyes were wide and the softest, loveliest brown, and her nose was a cute little button.

  She undid her seatbelt, and her hands were shaking.

  Riley had held herself rigid during the flight. It was obvious she didn’t like flying, she’d told me that, but she hadn’t complained. Instead, she’d grabbed my arm; she’d clung to me. I’d liked that. A lot. Did that make me an asshole? Probably. Definitely desperate and pathetic.

  But Riley was everything I’d hoped for. More.

  And I’d thought about it a lot over the last ten years, what it would be like to have a woman out here with me. Someone to take care of me, like my mother had taken care of my father. Someone to cook for me, keep the house. A warm body to hold at night.

  My gaze moved over her face again, lingering on her mouth, and I had to clear my throat when I remembered her little tongue sliding against my lip. I’d spent the whole flight thinking about her mouth, that kiss. And though it had just been a short one, not the kind I fantasized about, it had been the best thing that had ever happened to me. I wanted to kiss her again. I wanted to kiss her all the time.

  I wanted to do a lot more than that.

  She’s your wife. You can kiss her whenever you want.

  And I wanted. I wanted, badly.

  “Cash?”

  I jolted at my name on her lips, then heat hit my face. I’d been staring at he
r mouth.

  She reached out, her hand on my forearm again, and those same zaps of electricity shot through me. I had to stop myself from leaning closer, from begging her to keep touching me. To never let me go.

  Riley bit her lip, her brows lowering. “Are you…okay? I mean, you are happy, right? Happy that I’m here?”

  My face grew hotter. I wasn’t great with words. This was the longest time I’d spent alone with a woman who wasn’t my mother. I didn’t know what I was doing. Was I happy she was here? Happy didn’t come close. But I was also out of my depth, aching for my sweet little wife and scared out of my mind that I’d mess everything up.

  Talk, Cash.

  “Yep.”

  Idiot.

  That wasn’t enough. But I didn’t know what to say. I shoved my door open and grabbed her bags down, then rounded the plane and opened her door for her. I reached up, and she gripped my shoulders instantly as I caught her around the waist and lifted her down. I had to bite back a groan as her soft, full breasts pressed against my chest, her hips brushing mine as she slid down the front of me.

  I grunted from the contact, then I blushed hotter. There was no way she didn’t feel how stiff I was behind my zipper.

  I winced and quickly put her on her feet, snatched up her bags again, and headed for the house. My nerves grew again as I led her up the front steps. I’d built this place just for me. My family home was on the other side of our property. I hadn’t wanted to live there after my parents died—too many memories. I’d scattered their ashes there right after I lost them, and now the old place had been pretty much taken over by nature.

  The house had been built by my great-grandparents and hadn’t been in the best of shape when I was a kid. My dad and I had planned to build a new house together. We never got that chance.

  The last time I saw it, a tree had taken out one wall and a family of raccoons had moved in.

  My father would have liked that, giving that piece of our land back to nature.

  This house was small: one bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, laundry, and bathroom. I was glad I had a working toilet now. At least there was that. But I wasn’t finished. I’d begun working on an extension, adding another couple of bedrooms and an office for Riley to write her books in.

  I switched off the small electric fence charger, unhooked the bungee cords across the door, unlocked it and shoved it open. She followed me in.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  “Electric bungee. Stops the bears.”

  She laughed nervously. “Bears. Right…of course. How could I forget?”

  I strode through the living room and into the bedroom, putting her bags on the floor. My gaze moved to the bed, and my gut tightened, the ache increasing, becoming almost unbearable.

  “This is so pretty,” she said behind me.

  I had to stop myself from jumping out of my skin.

  “Still building the extension,” I made myself say. I wanted her to know I was going to give her a good home, that I could provide for her. That I’d give her whatever she needed.

  “So right now it’s just the one bedroom?” she asked and glanced around my room.

  Her cheeks were pink, her eyes wide. I cleared my throat. “Yep.”

  “Maybe you could…show me the rest of the house?”

  Was being in the bedroom with me scaring her? The grip in my gut wasn’t the good kind anymore. What if she didn’t want me like that? What if she saw the size of me and was disgusted? Afraid?

  My heart beat faster.

  She married you.

  I dragged in a breath, trying to calm myself. She had. She could have backed out, but she hadn’t.

  I dipped my chin and led her back into the living room, then through to the kitchen. I motioned to the door off that. “Laundry and bathroom. Just put them in.”

  She walked through, and I held my breath. Riley said she loved baths, so I put in a tub. It was the old, heavy, cast-iron, claw-foot kind. I’d taken it from my family home, the only thing I had here from my life before I lost my folks. It’d taken some getting it here because of its size and weight. I’d restored it for her, as a kind of wedding present.

  She stood in the middle of the room and took it all in. It was a big bathroom. I’d built the cabinets and ordered the basin and toilet in special from the city. The washing machine was new, too.

  “This is…wow, Cash, this is beautiful. If the extension you’re working on is half as nice, your house is going to be gorgeous.”

  “Ours,” I said before I knew the word was coming out of my mouth.

  “Pardon?” she said, turning to me, eyes wide.

  “Our home,” I forced myself to repeat, even as my face heated again.

  Her lips curled up at the edges. “Oh, yes. Ours.”

  I wanted to kiss her then, badly.

  Instead, I walked out before I embarrassed myself.

  We’d finished eating a little while ago. I’d had some leftover venison stew I’d heated up. Riley was on the couch, her legs tucked up under her, eyes heavy. She was tired and trying to fight it.

  It wasn’t overly cold, but I’d lit the fire. I didn’t want her cold. I wanted her to feel warm and happy here with me, safe. She needed to know how good I could take care of her.

  It was getting late, but neither of us had made a move to the bedroom.

  What was I supposed to do? Did she expect me to make the first move? How did I do that? Did she even want that? Did she want time to get to know me before we did…anything?

  “I love the wedding ring you chose, and you know I adore my engagement ring,” Riley said, breaking the silence and beaming at me, then glancing down at her hand. “I know I already emailed you that I loved it, but it really is perfect. I couldn’t have chosen better myself.”

  I flushed with pleasure. I’d been terrified of getting it wrong. “Good,” I choked out, my vocal cords feeling impossibly tight. I’d picked them out of a catalog Landon had ordered for me. The engagement ring had a diamond in it, was dainty and pretty like Riley, which is why I chose it.

  I looked down at the one she’d slid on my finger earlier and swallowed, hard. I liked seeing it there. I liked the way it made me feel. Like I belonged to Riley. Like we belonged to each other. Insane, I know, since I could barely goddamn talk to her.

  “I almost forgot. I have something for you,” she said, breaking through the silence and my racing thoughts. She left the room and was back a few minutes later with a book. As she handed it to me, her face lit up in a way that stole my breath and made me nervous at the same time. “You said you liked thrillers. I bought you the new Stephen King.”

  How did she know I liked thrillers? Had I told her and forgotten? I didn’t think so. I took it from her and frowned down at it.

  “Um…is it okay if I take a bath?” she asked.

  “Don’t need to ask,” I said roughly as images of Riley naked in the tub filled my head. “Towels are in there.”

  She started toward the kitchen.

  “Thank you,” I blurted. “For the book.”

  She smiled at me over her shoulder, then disappeared around the corner.

  I wandered around the house, shaking out my hands, not sure what to do with myself. There was a restlessness inside me, something I’d never felt before. I gripped the back of my neck and dragged in a deep breath. It didn’t help, nothing helped. And every now and then I’d hear a splash in the bathroom as Riley moved in the water. My imagination ran rampant. I may not have ever been with a woman, but I wasn’t an idiot. I’d seen movies. I had a large DVD collection, and I obviously read books, lots of books.

  The bathroom door lock clicked, and I froze in my position right beside it. I hadn’t meant to move so close. She’d think I was listening on purpose. You were.

  The door swung open, and Riley jumped, looking up at me wide-eyed. She was wrapped in a damp towel. Which meant she was naked underneath. “Cash?”

  “I-I was just…” What? I couldn’t
think of a good excuse.

  She let out a shaky breath and winced, her cute little nose crinkling. “Look, I know things are…awkward right now. And Lord knows, I’m no expert. I wasn’t around my parents enough to know what a healthy relationship looks like. But we know each other, we’ve talked over email for months. And I like you, Cash. I’ve grown to…care about you. A lot. We got married today.” She smiled up at me. “But I’m so incredibly nervous. I don’t know what to do or say. And I think you might be feeling the same way?”

  I nodded, nostrils flaring, breathing in her scent, a scent unique to Riley, mixed with my soap. I barely stopped myself from leaning down and licking the drop of water sliding over one of her creamy, smooth shoulders.

  She touched my arm, and I jolted. “Are you, Cash? Are you feeling the same way?”

  She needed something from me, and I didn’t know what to do, what to say. My inclination was to howl in frustration, but that would only scare her. So I went with the truth. “I’m not…great with words. I want you to feel…”

  “Kiss me,” she said.

  I froze, again. “What?”

  “I think we should just…get it out of the way, don’t you? I know some couples in situations like ours wait before they start the…intimate side of their relationship. But I’m worried the longer we wait, the harder it’ll get. What do you think?”

  I wasn’t thinking. Not one damn thought. All I could see was her pretty, rosebud lips. “Yep,” I choked out.

  “So you think we should…um, kiss?”

  “Yep.”

  She moved closer, her face tilted up to me, waiting, waiting for her husband to kiss her. I wanted to do this right. I didn’t want to mess it up. Do it, Cash. Kiss your damned wife.

  I thought about our short kiss at the general store, the way her tongue had darted out. How I wanted to sink into it, into her. I’d let nerves get the better of me then, and it was happening again.