Crossed Off

by Lacey Silks

  “Ready to go?” he asked.

  “Yes.” I hugged my new friend. “Thank you. We need to see each other again soon.”

  “We do. You’re more than welcome to stop by anytime. It was nice seeing you, Cash. And please treat her right. This one’s a keeper.”

  “I will. Thank you, Grace. I mean that. Thank you for everything.”

  Without asking for permission, Cash stepped closer. The hug was as awkward as they got, but I was certain that with more practice they would get much more comfortable quite fast.

  Cash concentrated as he drove through the city. I held on to the seat at each turn and finally asked, “Are you in a hurry, Cash?”

  “Yes, definitely in a hurry. I was going to take you out to dinner, but it looks like we’re going to stay in today.”

  “Why? Did something happen?”

  “Yes, my woman primped herself up, and I can’t wait to be inside her.”

  The side glance I got from him seared through my every muscle and every bone, ultimately collecting right between my legs. Just before Cash parked the car, his phone rang. He leaned back in his seat. I noticed the caller ID as Emma’s. He shrugged before answering, “Hello, Ms. Cross... all right... yes, I’ll check... do you think it’s serious? I’ll check my father’s end... okay, hold on.”

  He handed me the phone, saying, “She wants to talk to you.”

  I reached for the cell with hesitation. If there was one thing that I knew about Emma, it was that her ability to sneak up on me with unsuspecting phone calls.

  “Hi, Sky. Hold on a sec. I’ll conference you in.”

  Conference me in? Oh crap!

  “No, no. Emma. You know I can’t.”

  I heard her hiss before she continued through her teeth. “Damn it, Sky. You’re going to take this call or I swear I will never forgive you. This is important.” I could already imagine the scary look in her eyes. And her tone was just as serious.

  “Okay, fine,” I said.

  Another click sounded and Emma said, “She’s on.”

  “Hello?” I leaned my head back against the seat.

  “Skyler? It’s so good to hear your voice.” Annabelle sounded like she was crying and I sat straight up.

  “Annabelle, what’s the matter? Is everything okay?” My whole body stiffened.

  “It’s just that I miss you so much. I wish you were here.”

  “I know. Me too, Annabelle.”

  “Good, then you’ll come to my wedding this weekend? I want you to be my maid of honor. Please?”

  Wow! When did this happen? “What? You’re getting married?” From the corner of my eye, I saw Cash grinning, and I had a feeling Emma had told him about the big news before me.

  “Yes, and I will not walk down that aisle if you’re not here.”

  “But, Annabelle, that’s last minute. And I have work....”

  “No, you don’t,” Cash whispered from the side. “The Bahamas has been moved another week.”

  Crap!

  “Skyler, whatever is going on in your life, please tell me you’ll find two days out of your schedule to come see your family. Everyone will be here. Emma’s entire family is coming from New York as well. It would mean a lot to Derek too. It would mean everything to me.”

  I held my breath. My dead fiancé’s brother was marrying my sister. How could I reject them? I couldn’t. Deep inside, I knew that was what Blake would have wanted as well.

  “All right. But can I bring someone with me?” I asked, eyeing Cash.

  “Yes, of course. So you’ll come?” The happiness in her voice jolted my own joy to a new height.

  “I would be honored to, Annabelle. I love you and I can’t wait to see you all.”

  We hung up, and I handed the phone back to Cash. I wanted to call Emma back and tell her what a sneaky betrayer she was for conferencing me in like that, but I knew she’d done it out of love.

  “How long have you known?” I asked Cash.

  “A week. I’ve been wanting to tell you, but Emma said she’d kill me.”

  I leaned over the seat and kissed him. “You know you’re coming with me, right?”

  Nerves were beginning to bubble up inside me but Cash wasted no time drawing my attention back to him.

  “I was hoping you’d say that.” He grinned. “Now let’s get you upstairs and naked.”

  Somehow, I had a feeling that his definition of coming at this moment was different than mine.

  CHAPTER 13

  The clothes flew from one side to the other. Cash claimed my mouth the moment the door locked behind us. I fought him off a bit, just long enough to set the roses he gave me into a vase. If it weren’t for the flowers I was holding, and if I hadn’t insisted on them staying intact, I was sure we’d be all over each other in the elevator.

  With his mouth latched on to mine I walked backwards until we hit the couch.

  “Hold on, babe. I want to do something.” He pulled away.

  “Yes, me too.” I grasped the back of his neck with my hand and brought him toward me.

  “No, no. I’ve been thinking about this the whole day,” Cash said against my lips. “You gotta stop.”

  “I thought you were the one who wanted to get home as fast as possible.” I wondered what happened between the time we entered the condo nearly glued to each other and the ten steps we walked toward the couch. When I saw that look of lust mixed with mischief on his face¸ I knew that Cash had planned much more than he was letting on.

  “I did, and I do.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a lotion bottle. “I got this at Grace’s.”

  I read the label. “Massage oil?”

  “Yes. I was hoping I could test it out on you.” He nearly growled.

  “Are you sure you’ll have the patience?” I teased, unbuttoning my shirt.

  “You’re not playing fair, but yes, I have more self-control than you think. Give me a moment?”

  “All right.”

  Cash ran upstairs. I heard him walking from one end of the room to the other before he called out, “Okay, I’m ready.”

  I tiptoed up to his bedroom, curious about his plans, and when I walked in, my breath was taken away. “When did you do this?” I asked.

  “When you were at Grace’s,” he replied.

  Hundreds of pink rose petals were scattered around the bed. Their aroma drifted around me as I took in the rest of the setting. Cash had pulled the drapes closed and lit candles all over the room. The soft glow danced on the ceiling, casting provocative shadows over the room. Standing in his boxer-briefs, Cash looked like pure perfection, and I realized I must have done something extremely wonderful to deserve all this—I just couldn’t figure out what it was. At the foot of the bed was a professional masseuse table, all set up with a towel over its top.

  “Wait a minute. Is that why my massage was cancelled?”

  “Skyler, there was no way I would have anyone else touching your body that way. No one.”

  “But, it’s just a massage....”

  “Just a massage? Well, let me show you then what ‘just a massage’ looks like.” He motioned with his hands to the table. Seeing him already getting excited under his boxer-briefs, I stepped forward, wondering how much self-control he’d actually have to complete the full massage. I removed my bra and panties, giving him a good look at my freshly waxed area, and laid down on my stomach, settling my face in the middle of the cradle at the front.

  At a click of a button, soft music sounded from the overhead intercom system. The sound of chirping birds in a forest added another layer of relaxation to the atmosphere.

  “Massage with all the fixings?” I asked, closing my eyes.

  “Nothing less for you, babe. Nothing less. Okay, try to relax, Sky.”

  Warm liquid dripped just below my neck, slowly meandering down my back. I smelled coconut. Shivers raced through me at the first touch of Cash’s fingers over my spine. He spread the oil from the center to the sides w
ith his full hands before the pad of his palm dug deeper into the tissue. Each stoke was calculated as Cash gave thorough attention to every inch of my skin. Within minutes, I was so lost to his touch, I could have dozed off, but it felt too good and relaxing to miss. Cash manipulated my muscles like a professional, starting from the very top and working his way down, squeezing and pulling, handling my muscles as if they belonged to him and only him. My nerve endings responded to every rub and knead of his fingers. He took me to a place I hadn’t been to before. A point of relaxation I longed to have yet had not been able to achieve.

  As he neared my lower back, the atmosphere shifted. I could feel his stare from above, and I was sure that it wasn’t to see where his hands were. The motions slowed. His touch became more enticing as he slowly slid his hands to my ass, kneading my buttocks. I moaned and heard him take in a raspy breath in response.

  “You keep making those sounds and we’ll need to finish early.”

  “Then you better move on down, Cash. I’m not sure my ass can take any more teasing.”

  I heard him shift as he removed one hand, and I had a feeling that Cash needed to adjust his underwear. Once he got to my thighs and calves, the heat that’d been collecting deep in my belly settled slightly.

  Moments later I heard him say, “Time to turn around, Sky.”

  “What?”

  “I’m giving you a full-body massage, babe. One you’ve never had before.”

  I lifted my body and lay down on my back. The sparkle in his eyes when he looked at me had me anticipating the end of the massage already. But Cash simply shook his head, saying, “It should be a sin to look at you.”

  He started pressing his fingers over my upper chest, avoiding my breasts, pulling around them and underneath, making me squirm more each second. I felt my need spike in an instant. I didn’t want to open my eyes, but I could feel the smile on his face. And by this point, I was sure Cash could no longer fit into his briefs. There was no way. As he made his way down my belly, maneuvering his hands over my skin as if it were Play-Doh, handling it gently yet with enough force to make the effect of his touch last in a spot for longer than I anticipated. He squeezed over my hips, dragging the skin with his pull. By this time, I was panting and moaning.

  “Cash...,” I breathed out, half-aware that I’d said his name out loud. Instead of replying, his hands became slicker. He forced my legs further apart and started working on my thighs—inner thighs specifically. Each time he neared the apex of my core, I felt my hips push upward. With all my senses alert and excited, Cash was beginning to drive me wild, agitating me with every touch and pull of my skin. My ass was beginning to tense all on its own, and when he finally skimmed his fingers between my crevice, gently rubbing my lips between his thumb and forefinger, massaging every inch of my most sensitive area back and forth, I could no longer take it. It was too much but not enough.

  “Please,” I begged.

  “Open your eyes, Sky. It won’t take long, and I want you to see your eyes when you come.”

  As soon as my eyes flew open, his fingers found my mound. It only took three gentle strokes for me to scream his name. The trembles shook my body, tearing through all those tender muscles. In my heated state and the relaxing atmosphere, this orgasm was beyond satisfying. I was sure that my soul had left my body countless times only to return back down to it and be thrown out with another stroke of his finger. When I settled, my body was spent. Cash lifted me into his arms and carried me to his bed, where for the next few hours he revived that bliss over and over again, taking me in the process.

  CHAPTER 14

  The first time I hugged my mom, I didn’t want to let go, and neither did she. It felt so good to be in her arms. As many painful memories as Ogden had brought me, my entire family made up for them with their love. When I saw Blake’s older brother, Derek, I broke down in his arms. He was marrying my sister, and I guessed that through him, part of Blake would always remain with me. The Fields family tried not to mourn Blake on this day, instead they chose to celebrate who he was by incorporating some of his favorite meals at the wedding. That was what Blake would have wanted.

  We’d arrived in Ogden last night and stayed at Annabelle’s and Derek’s house. The wedding was tomorrow, and it would take place outside, at my parents’ farm, right over the square where their other home used to stand before Huntz, my father, burned it down. My mom wanted to make something positive out of the tragedy and so she’s been growing a flower garden there. Now it bloomed with hundreds of blossoms, and it was truly beautiful. As we were finishing the last-minute decorations and the men double-checked the fastenings on the enormous outdoor tent to the side of the house, I sat on a swing and watched how well my mingling family worked together and how happy they seemed. It appeared that my past two years in New York hadn’t been in vain. If this was the peace I was able to give them by removing myself from Ogden, then I’d definitely made the right decision.

  Cash was fitting in like a pro, which I knew he would. I watched him stand up on his toes to bring the tie tag closer to the roof of the white tent. Kyle, Blake’s younger brother, who was thirteen now, was holding a pair of clippers for him.

  The swing I sat on swayed as Blake’s mom sat down beside me. She took my hand into hers and rubbed her thumb over the top. I leaned my head on her shoulder as she brought her arm around me. It would have been so easy to have her as my mother-in-law. “Skyler, sweetheart, it’s time you moved on. Cash seems like a gentleman.”

  “He is, but....”

  “No one will ever be able to replace my son. But Blake would have wanted you to be happy. He would have wanted to see that smile on your face the way it always was when he looked at you. I haven’t seen you smile like that in such a long time.”

  I lifted my head to look at her. “That’s because I haven’t been here, Mrs. Fields.”

  “You and I know that’s a lie.” She gave me that half-stern look, and yes, she was right. I hadn’t felt the kind of freedom I remembered with Blake since his death, and I wondered whether I ever would. Perhaps part of the reason was because my family wasn’t aware of the trouble that had followed me since then. They thought I’d left Ogden to start a new life, and I had, but that wasn’t the reason why I hadn’t returned to my hometown since.

  “Please promise me, Sky. You’ll smile the way he would have wanted you to, and laugh that same way as well. You have so many beautiful years ahead of you. I want you to give life and love another chance.”

  Was she giving me her blessing to move on? Because I desperately needed it. While I would always keep a special place for Blake in my heart, maybe it was time that I let someone else in as well.

  My gaze went back to Cash, who was now chatting with Eric and was showing my brother, the one who married Emma, something on his phone. The two of them laughed as if they’d known each other for ages. I wondered whether Cash was using his talent to blend in, the same one I’d seen in Vegas, or maybe he was truly being himself. As I looked at the freedom in his movements and ease with which he fit in among everyone here, I really wanted to believe that it was all him. I wanted to know that this was real. Cash looked my way as if hearing my thoughts about him. I smiled at his gentle wave toward me.

  “I will try. I promise,” I said to Mrs. Fields.

  “Good. Now go on and give that man of yours a proper kiss. He’s been looking at you like a man in love the entire time.”

  A man in what?

  Mrs. Fields simply lifted her brows, encouraging me to join Cash. I got up off the swing and made my way over, wrapping my arms around him from behind.

  “Miss me?” I asked.

  He turned around, embracing me.

  “Always. You have a wonderful family, Sky. I’m so glad we came here. They really missed you.”

  “I missed them too.”

  Was that distant voice my own?

  Eric looked at me as if trying to read what was going on in my head “Are you feeling okay? I mean,
to be here?” he asked.

  “Yeah. I think I needed this more than I can admit.”

  “Eric!” Emma called out from somewhere behind the tent. “I need you.”

  From the way she’d been organizing everything, running around like she had some kind of a motor attached to her butt, and checking off the to-do list on her iPad, sometimes I wondered whether she had missed her calling to be a wedding planner.

  “Excuse me,” Eric said. “I’ll be right back.”

  “You know, having seen Emma in action at her job, Ogden was the last place I’d picture her,” Cash said, shaking his head. “But it really works for her. She fits better than fish in water. Emma Cross—living on a farm.”

  “She travels a lot,” I explained. “But they seem to work well together.”

  We sat down on a spare bench by the tent and watched my family prepare last-minute details for Annabelle’s wedding tomorrow. The scene of loving commotion in front of me had only confirmed that I’d made the right decision by leaving for New York. “I’m still worried about them. It terrifies me that somehow me being here will draw Mateo to town.”

  “Skyler, this place is secure. I made sure of it and so did Emma. There’s nothing to worry about. And right after the wedding, we’ll be on our way home.”

  Home, I thought. “See, I’m not sure where home is any more.”

  Cash shifted slightly, forcing me to look at him. Once again, his eyes held that wonder and curiosity, as if my answer was his own lifeline.

  “Where do you want it to be?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. What’s going to happen once Mateo is caught and dealt with? I won’t have to hide any longer. I’ll need to get a new job and.... I just don’t know where my future is. All I’ve known the past two years was that I needed to hide. That is, until I met you. I don’t need to hide when I have you.”

  “No, you don’t, Sky. And I don’t want you to.”

  Cash had that look on his face that confused me. His cheeks softened and eyes drooped. I knew he wanted to say something but was holding back. I’d felt attached to him since the day I met him, yet I wasn’t sure what that particular look meant.