Solitary Man (The Smith Brothers Book 3)

by Sherilee Gray

  “Okay?” he asked roughly.

  “Yes. I know you’ll keep me safe,” I said again without thought but believing it with everything in me.

  We barely knew each other, but in that, I had no doubt.

  He’d keep me safe.

  I also knew he needed me as much as I needed him. Cash had been lonely out here by himself. Anyone could see that. And I was determined to give him everything he needed and more. To nurture this connection between us.

  Maybe his family could help me on that front? I had no idea how to get through to him.

  I wanted my husband to let me in, and I’d do whatever it took to make that happen.

  6

  Cash

  We’d been to the general store and loaded the plane with supplies. Landon and Riley had talked, free and easy, like they’d known each other for years, and I hadn’t liked it. Christ, I’d been jealous. I wanted to be able to talk with her like that, and I couldn’t goddamn do it.

  Yeah, we had talked a little more since we left home, but not like that. There was an easiness between her and Landon, an easiness I craved but couldn’t find. I glanced at her again as we were coming in to land at our third drop-off and swallowed hard. Ever since we’d talked about kids all I could think about was planting a baby inside her. Riley all soft, her belly round.

  I scowled. What is wrong with you? You can barely talk to her. We hadn’t even had sex yet and already I was thinking about her carrying my babies. But good Christ, something about the sweet girl beside me brought out the caveman in me.

  Riley closed her eyes as we headed for the runway, a flat-ish field near the cabin we were stopping at to deliver food and fuel.

  Seeing her scared like that was a punch in the chest. “Hold on,” I said, trying to gentle my voice. “This one’s bumpy.”

  She scrunched her face up, squeezing her eyes tighter. As we touched the ground, her hand shot out again, like it had the first time—like she had when we landed at the general store earlier that day and the two stops after that—seeking comfort from me. I liked that she did that. Liked it more than was reasonable.

  I know you’ll keep me safe.

  Her words from earlier had been on repeat in my head as well. And hell, if it was possible, I’d fly the damn plane with her in my lap. There was nothing I wanted more than her soft warmth wrapped around me, holding her tight, making sure she never felt scared again.

  We bumped and jerked as we taxied down the field, and Riley’s fingernails dug into my skin, adding more tiny crescent moons to the others she’d given me today. I liked that, too. I liked that she marked me while she used me to ground herself, that I’d be able to look down and see those marks for days to come and know that she’d sought me out when she needed me.

  We stopped, and she finally opened her eyes, her entire body relaxing.

  “Okay, darlin’?” The endearment had been slipping out more often, but still my face predictably heated. I blushed easily, and it was pissing me off.

  She released a long breath and nodded, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. I wanted to kiss her. “Yes, I’m fine. But I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.”

  “You will.” I hoped so, anyway. She hadn’t wanted to be left behind, and I hated the idea of being apart from her.

  Tucker walked out of his workshop by the house and strode toward us. I climbed out, then came around and opened Riley’s door. Helping her get unbuckled, I gripped her soft, rounded hips and lifted her out.

  I turned back to Tuck and his step faltered when he spotted Riley beside me.

  Riley’s hand slid into mine and I had to hide my surprise, the pleasure of her seeking reassurance from me spreading warmth through my chest again. I curled my fingers around hers as Tuck reached us.

  “Cash,” he said before his gaze slid to Riley. “And who’s this? You get me a present?”

  Tucker’s gaze was moving over Riley in a way I didn’t like. Not at all. Tuck was handsome, joked around, smiled a lot, and had experience with women.

  Once a year he paid for one to come from the city to stay with him for a month. To scratch that itch, he’d told me once. I flew them to him and back out again.

  When his smile widened at Riley, I had to bite back the angry growl trying to crawl up my throat.

  I caught and held his eyes. “Tucker, this is Riley. My wife.”

  Tuck’s head jerked back, his eyes getting wide. “Wife?”

  Riley stepped forward, and I tightened my hold on her hand as she held the other out for Tuck. He took it, and she graced him with one of her beautiful smiles.

  “Nice to meet you, Tucker.”

  Jealousy gripped me, and I tugged her back, pulling her in close to me.

  “Call me Tuck,” he said, grinning. “How the hell did a big, ugly bastard like you find a beautiful woman like this?” Tucker asked me good-naturedly.

  I wasn’t feeling very good-natured myself, not when he turned that grin back on Riley. I ignored his question and opened the cargo door to start unloading his supplies, pulling Riley with me.

  “We met online,” she said.

  “Never knew you had it in you,” Tuck said to me.

  I ignored him again.

  “How long have you been married?”

  “Not quite a week,” Riley said.

  Tuck chuckled. “Ah, so you’ll be in the honeymoon phase? Can’t keep your hands off each other, huh? Good thing I set up the mezzanine in the barn for you, Cash. You can be as noisy as you like out there and I won’t hear a thing.”

  I did growl at that. “Not staying,” I bit out. I had planned to, I always did. But I didn’t want Riley around Tucker. I didn’t like this feeling inside me. I didn’t like the way he could talk and I couldn’t. I didn’t want him talking to her, and I didn’t want him looking at her.

  “Of course you are,” Tuck said. “It’s gonna be dark in another hour and I made supper. Got a nice bit of venison roasting.”

  I opened my mouth to tell him thanks but no, thanks, when Riley tugged on my hand. “Please, Cash. I don’t think I could get back in that plane again today. And you must be tired?”

  Her wide, pleading eyes cut off my refusal. We’d been flying all day, and she needed a break. I couldn’t bear to do something to make her unhappy, so I gritted my teeth and nodded.

  She released a relieved breath, squeezed my hand, and curled into my side. “Thank you.”

  Tuck clapped his hands. “Now that that’s sorted, let’s have a drink and some food.”

  I collected our bags and headed for the barn, and I kept Riley tucked against me the whole way.

  Riley threw her head back, laughing at something Tucker said. I couldn’t look away, my heart thundering in my chest. My wife was beautiful. When she smiled, laughed, her whole face lit up. She’d had a little bit of Tucker’s apple pie moonshine and her cheeks were flushed. Somehow that made her even more beautiful, when I didn’t think that was possible.

  Tuck would never touch her, I knew that, but there was no missing the way he was looking at her. He appreciated how lovely she was, was enjoying being in her company. I could only assume that Tuck was lonely like I’d been. He liked people, was good with them like Riley was, and I could tell they were both enjoying the chance to talk. It wasn’t like I was much company for her.

  “More?” Tuck said, holding up a mason jar of moonshine. “It’s the Smith family secret recipe.”

  Riley’s head tilted to the side. “You’re a Smith?”

  “Yup. Cash and I are cousins, though distant. Same with Beau and Hank. There are Smiths all over the area. We’re obviously not a very adventurous bunch. We seem to put down roots and then hang in for the long haul.”

  “You don’t get lonely?” Riley asked, her head tilting to the side.

  Tucker’s throat worked, but he grinned wide. “Nah, suits me this way.” He took a sip of his drink. “So you two met online, huh?”

  “We did.”

 
Tucker glanced at me. “Guess that means you finally caved, followed Beau’s advice, and got satellite internet and a computer?”

  I shook my head. “Just the internet, for Riley.”

  Riley frowned and turned to me. “You don’t have a laptop?”

  I shook my head.

  “Then how did you email me?”

  “Landon.”

  Riley frowned. “So you flew all the way to the general store to message me?”

  I shook my head again. “He’d call. I’d tell him how to reply.”

  Her frown deepened. “Oh.”

  She didn’t like that. My gut gripped tight.

  “So what do you write?” Tucker asked, breaking the silence.

  Riley turned back to Tucker. “Romance.”

  Every muscle in my body went rock solid. I hadn’t even asked her that question. Why the hell hadn’t I asked her what she wrote? And now I was sitting here in front of Tucker, looking like someone had just slapped my ass.

  Tucker’s brows rose. “Really?”

  She nodded and took another sip of her drink before her gaze slid to me again. Her cheeks got pinker. “I love a happy ending.”

  “And how will that work now that you’re living with Cash? Can you still make it work living out in the middle of nowhere?”

  “It shouldn’t be a problem.” She glanced at me. “Like he said, Cash got me satellite internet. Hopefully, I can carry on without any hiccups.”

  Why hadn’t I thought of that? Her writing and her readers were important to her, she’d told me that in one of her emails, and I hadn’t even asked her what she needed or what I could do to help. I scowled, angry with myself, and angry that Tucker was the one asking her questions that I should have.

  “So what kind of romance do you write?” Tuck asked.

  “Erotic, mainly.”

  I choked on my drink.

  “How interesting,” Tuck said, his gaze sliding to me and grinning so wide I had to physically stop myself from strangling him.

  Erotic romance?

  “So you write about your couples being…intimate?” Tuck asked, eyes glittering, obviously enjoying himself.

  “Yep, the bedroom door is wide open in my books. It’s through sex and intimacy that their relationship grows and evolves.”

  I had no idea what any of that meant, but it was obvious my wife was far more experienced than me. Humiliation washed over me. How disappointed was she that she’d been stuck with me? She would have been better off with someone like Tucker, who asked her questions about her and her work, who made her laugh. A man who I could only assume, but didn’t doubt, knew how to please a woman without instruction.

  “I’d love to read some of your work sometime,” Tuck said.

  Riley beamed at him. “I’ll make sure to bring you a few of my books next time we stay.”

  “I’d like that.”

  Riley was still grinning as she stood. “If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, I need the bathroom.”

  She left the room and Tucker turned to me, an expression on his face I’d never seen before.

  “Jesus, Cash. Where the hell did you find her? You have to be the luckiest son of a bitch on this planet. Does she have a twin sister? Can we clone her? Shit, you done good, my friend.”

  “I know,” I said, my voice hoarse, my gut in knots. “And she got stuck with me.” Tuck and I were close. We talked, but I’d avoided topics that were too deep in the past.

  Tuck frowned. “What the hell are you talking about? The way she looks at you? Honestly, I’m jealous as hell.”

  My next words came from my chest, my gut. The thing that I worried about most since I started talking to Riley. “What if I can’t…make her happy.”

  Tucker’s chin jerked back. “She already is.”

  He was wrong. He had no idea that I kept messing everything up. That I hadn’t even known the kinds of books she wrote until right now, because he’d asked. How I’d had to get my wife to show me how to please her in bed.

  And how I hadn’t taken her properly yet, like I desperately wanted to, afraid that if I did, I’d hurt her because I was an animal who wanted to fuck his sweet, little wife so hard the bed would break.

  Riley walked back in, and I cleared my throat, wanting her closer to me but not knowing how to ask for it.

  “You want another drink, Riley?” Tuck asked.

  “As delicious as your moonshine is, I better not or Cash will be carrying me to bed tonight,” she said on a soft giggle.

  My gut gripped tight, and then, like she could read my mind, instead of going back to her seat, she walked to me. I looked up at her as she took my hand, moving it out of my lap, and positioned herself between my spread knees. Her arm came around my neck, hand resting on my shoulder, and she perched her round, peachy behind on one of my thighs.

  I stared at her in shock, my cock instantly hard, my heart racing a mile a minute, while the caveman in me roared with pleasure.

  Her hand slid up the back of my neck, and she toyed with my hair, sending tingles all over my scalp. “Dinner was delicious, Tuck. Everything was perfect. I might have to get some tips from you. I’m not the best cook, and my husband has a big appetite.”

  I swallowed audibly at her calling me her husband, and as for my appetite, she had no idea. None. But it most certainly wasn’t for food.

  “Happy to,” Tuck said, lips twitching.

  There was humor in his voice, but I didn’t look his way. I couldn’t, not with Riley perched in my lap. Not when she pressed her thighs together like she had in the plane before we took off, like she was trying to soothe an ache.

  “Right, well, I’m feeling a little tired,” she said to Tucker. Her gaze came back to me, dipped to my lips. “I think I’m ready for bed, are you?”

  Tuck chuckled low across from me, and I continued to ignore him.

  “Yep,” I said and stood, placing Riley on her feet.

  “Night, Tucker,” she said as I all but towed her from the room and out the door. I kept hold of her hand as we crossed the yard to the workshop.

  This was where Tucker did his woodwork, and the smell of cedar and pine was strong when we walked in.

  “Up here,” I said to Riley, motioning to the stairs.

  She walked up ahead of me, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her lovely ass. A perfect peach. I wanted to lick all her juice, spread her wide, and slam inside.

  I quickly adjusted my erection as we reached the top. Riley stood there looking around the small space Tuck had set up for guests when he very occasionally had them.

  “This is so cool,” she said, taking everything in.

  “There’s an outhouse around the side of the barn if you need it later.”

  She screwed up her face. “An outhouse?”

  She was cute when she did that, and I couldn’t stop my chuckle. “Yep.”

  “Well, if I have to go out during the night, you’re coming with me. I have no desire to be eaten by wolves while I’m peeing.”

  I chuckled again. I didn’t do it often, but I liked it. And I liked the look on Riley’s face when I did. I dipped my chin. I’d take her to the outhouse if she needed it, I’d take her anywhere she wanted to go.

  I motioned to the bed. “Climb in. Get warm. I’ll be back.” I headed for the stairs to use the outhouse myself and grab a couple more blankets since it was cool tonight and I wanted Riley warm.

  When I climbed back up a short time later, she had one of the lanterns by the bed going and was under the covers.

  Her gaze dropped to the extra blankets. “Quick, get in, I need my husband to keep me warm.”

  My chest expanded from my sharply indrawn breath. I wanted her to call me that every day, all day. I’d never get enough of it. It made all this feel real. I wasn’t on my own anymore. I had Riley. She was mine.

  But I wasn’t sure if she was ready for me to warm her the way I really wanted to tonight. Hell, every night since I’d picked her up at the general store close to
a week ago.

  I put one of the blankets on the chair by the bed and flicked out the other one, spreading it over her. She eyed me over the edge of the covers and didn’t look away as I grabbed the back of my shirt and tugged it off over my head and tossed it onto the chair as well. No, her eyes dipped, gaze moving over my chest, down to my hands working my belt loose.

  If she didn’t look away now, she’d see how hard I was.

  She’s had you in her hand, her mouth. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Still, my face warmed.

  I expected her to avert her gaze, but as usual, my little wife surprised me and lifted to her elbows. To get a better view? My pulse thundered in my ears. I shoved my pants down, tossing them and my socks aside as well, leaving me in only my briefs.

  My gaze slid over her—

  Oh God.

  Her shoulders were bare.

  Was Riley naked under there?

  Was I finally going to see her breasts? Was I finally going to get to touch them? Suck on her nipples? I’d seen them straining against her shirt, and not knowing what they looked like, how they felt against my lips, my tongue, had been driving me insane. I wanted it so bad.

  What if you lose control?

  I shook that thought loose. I wouldn’t. How could I when all I wanted to do was take care of her? I’d keep control because I had to. The idea of hurting her made me sick to my stomach. Sex might not even be on the table tonight. I was okay with that, really I was. I was thankful for anything Riley gave me.

  I’d happily bury my face between her thighs and stay there all night.

  “Are you getting in?” she said softly. Her breathing had changed to shallow pants.

  I’d been so caught up in the idea of seeing her naked, I hadn’t noticed the way she was staring at my cock.

  Lust washed over me so hard and fast I had no choice but to grab myself over my briefs and squeeze. Riley sat up and pulled the covers back. The sheet dropped away, revealing one full breast, pale and round, tipped with a mouthwatering rose-colored nipple.