by Dahlia West
“Oh, you!” She tried to kick out at him, but she missed.
“Careful now,” he warned. “You’ll fall right off, and I might not catch you.”
“You will.”
“Maybe not.”
She huffed loudly then looked around herself. “I can’t,” she finally admitted.
“You can.”
“I’ll fall.” In truth it looked like an awfully long way to the ground, which wasn’t even grass but gravel.
“Cash won’t let you fall. Neither will I. We’re going to take care of you, Princess. I promise.”
Cassidy bit her lip and saw nothing else she could do except grab the horse’s mane.
“There you go,” Sawyer said encouragingly.
She lifted her right leg and slowly moved it over the horse’s neck, letting it fall to the other side.
Sawyer nodded. “Move up a little.”
“Where?” she demanded. “How?”
“Just scoot up.”
She hopped a little, still afraid to fall, and barely had herself stabilized again before Sawyer took a running leap at the horse. She bit her lip, stifling a scream.
He mounted easily, right behind her, and wrapped one solid, muscled arm around her. With the other he gathered the reins in his hand.
Cassidy neither heard nor felt any movement from Sawyer behind her, but miraculously the horse started to move anyway. “Oh God,” she whispered, clutching Sawyer’s arm.
His voice came low and breathy in her ear, soothing and calm. “You’re all right. Like I said, we’re going to take good care of you.”
They started moving away from the bunkhouse, past the barn, and to the large grassy yard beyond. Within a few minutes, they were so far away from the building that she turned slightly. “Where are we going?”
“It’s going to be hot today,” he replied.
Cassidy hesitated, trying to understand. “Yeah, so we’re….oh. Oh, wait a minute.”
Sawyer’s grip tightened around her. “We’re going for a swim in the Snake.”
“Except I don’t have a bathing suit.”
“I’ve you seen you naked, Princess. I think it’ll be okay.”
“You’re not serious. Someone could—”
“No one’s going to come along. No one ever has. I know a place where we’ll be alone all day, for our whole lives, if we wanted to be. Just you and me, Princess. Totally alone.”
She liked the sound of that and leaned back to rest her head in the hollow of his shoulder as they rode. Sawyer’s large hand rested over her ribcage, just under her breast, and his thumb occasionally traced slow circles back and forth over the fabric of her T-shirt, but it seemed like a lazy gesture rather than an urgent one.
Over the years, Cassidy hadn’t spent nearly as much time outside as she would’ve liked. Now that there was no one telling her not to get dirty or ruin her clothes, she supposed she really could spend all day out here. And very possibly enjoy every minute of it.
The ride to the Snake wasn’t long or even particularly difficult. The horse was sure-footed and, thankfully, slow-moving. Sawyer’s Secret Spot, it seemed, was definitely secret. She couldn’t locate a road, a plane in the sky, or another person for as far as the eye could see. It really was just the two of them as he slipped down off the horse and pulled her down, as well. She watched him take the horse’s bridle off and sling it over a low-hanging branch.
“Won’t he run? And we’ll be stranded?”
Sawyer patted the large animal’s neck and laughed. “He’ll never leave us. He might as well be another one of my brothers. Except he smells better on most days.”
Cassidy watched as the horse did wander away but didn’t run. He began plucking at the thick grass that surrounded them, ignoring the two humans entirely. Sawyer pulled off his hat and tossed it into the grass. His shirt followed next. Every hard muscle, every sharp line was on display, and what a sight it was. He kicked off his boots and shucked his jeans. It wasn’t until he stood up again that she realized he’d taken down his underwear along with them. It was incredible, how free he was, how uninhibited even way out here.
“Your turn,” he told her.
Cassidy hesitated, hands hovering in front of her.
“No one’s here but me,” he assured her. “Now let me look at you.”
She stripped down quickly, before she lost her nerve. Seeing him without a stitch on himself certainly bolstered her courage. He was beautiful, a half-Mexican God standing before her like a statue carved out of stone. He was hard—everywhere—and she could hardly take her eyes off him.
When her clothes hit the grass he took her in his arms and kissed her gently. Cassidy was all but ready to melt into a puddle at his feet but then he suddenly swooped her into his arms and carried her, charging toward the churning water of the river.
“Oh my God!” she screeched. “Put me down!”
“Planned on it,” he replied and tossed her in.
Cassidy submerged entirely and came up spluttering. “You’re insane!” she howled, trying to push him under. She barely nudged him, so she pouted, arms crossed over her chest. “You’re no fun,” she told him. “All you do is torture me, and I can’t do anything to you.” She shivered, remembering the ice chips.
“Well, you’re covering yourself up,” he replied. “And trust me, that’s torture for me.”
“Good,” she huffed.
He started toward her, but Cassidy sank low into the water and pushed off the bottom with her feet, swimming backward and shaking her head. “No way. Uh-uh.”
Sawyer frowned. “You want me to touch you.”
There was no denying that, of course, but that didn’t mean she’d budge. “Nope,” she replied.
He stopped pursuing her and sighed. “Okay, then. We’ll have to think of something else to do.”
Cassidy looked around them at the rocks on the bank and the trees and the mountains far beyond. “What else is there to do out here?”
“I haven’t been out here in years. But we used to come all the time when we were kids,” he told her. “And dare each other to climb the trees and jump in. Whoever got the highest before he jumped, won.”
“That’s crazy. Boys are so crazy.”
“Dakota did it, too. And she won a few times.”
Cassidy turned to look at him. “Naked?”
“No. Never. And I have absolutely no interest in seeing Dakota naked. You, however. I could look at you naked all day, every day.” He regarded her thoughtfully for a moment. “We could play our own game. Truth or Dare.”
“Forget it. I’m not doing a dare,” she countered. “Not way out here. There are bears and other things out here. I’m not doing naked jumping jacks and getting mauled by a wild animal.” A huge grin spread across his face, and she slapped at his arm as he moved closer. “You count as a wild animal!”
“Truth, then.”
Her heart fluttered in her chest, and a spike of fear shot through her. “No, wait. I don’t—”
“Did you ever think about me? Before that night at The Spur? Think about us? Together?”
She’d been expecting something more sinister, but even this was a challenge in itself. Despite the coolness of the water she felt heat creeping up her face and into her cheeks.
“Princess,” he prompted.
“I…maybe.”
He smirked at her. “Truth means the whole truth.”
She glared at him then sighed. “All right, yes. I did.”
“I figured,” he said lightly.
“Did you think about me?”
“Absolutely. All the time. Who wouldn’t?”
He said it like it was a joke, like it didn’t mean anything. She hated that he’d cheapened it, made it like what everyone else had, what everyone else wanted. She turned away and began wading through the water.
“Hang on, Princess,” he said, reaching for her.
Cassidy jerked her arm away and stormed up the bank.
; “Wait a minute!” he called as he started after her. “There’s nothing wrong with what I said, Princess. You don’t—”
Cassidy whirled on him, blades of grass whipping her bare ankles. “Why do you keep calling me that?!” she cried.
Sawyer reached out and took hold of her upper arms. “Because you’re mine,” he told her. “I snagged myself the best goddamn woman in three counties, in the whole state of Wyoming, and I like to remind myself of it every chance I get.”
Cassidy blinked up at him but didn’t respond.
“It doesn’t have a damn thing to do with how good you look,” he informed her. “I see you, Cassidy. I see you, and I want to see more. I’m not giving up on this, on us. I won’t.”
“How do you know there is an us?” she shot back.
“I’m not even going to answer that. You know there is.”
A heavy silence hung between them. Cassidy couldn’t argue. She knew it was true.
“Tell me something,” he pressed. “Tell me something about you. Something true.”
“I don’t want to play this game anymore,” she snapped.
“I don’t either! I’m not playing anymore, Cassidy. I want something real, something from you that’s real.”
Sawyer caught her elbow and held her still. “Tell me something about you no one else knows. Please, Cassidy. I won’t hurt you,” he told her. “I promise.”
As Cassidy looked up at him, she saw everything she wanted and everything she was afraid of reflected in his eyes. She didn’t want to play anymore, either.
Chapter Twenty-Five
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SAWYER WAITED. HE could stand here forever, if that’s what it took to get her to crack. Cassidy was tough, all right, but he suspected she’d had to be. All around her, people underestimated her, assuming she was stupid or incapable. He was ashamed to admit that at one time he’d been one of them. He knew better now, though, and so he waited.
“I…I got into college,” she said, surprising him. “I even got a partial scholarship to the University of Colorado.”
He frowned at her. “Why didn’t you go? That was a great opportunity.” And one he would’ve killed for, himself, but Court had needed looking after.
He watched her shrug and press her arms tighter to herself. “That’s not what women are for,” she half-whispered.
“That’s bullshit. That’s your dad talking,” he said sharply.
“I wanted to go,” she told him. “But he wouldn’t pay the rest of the tuition.”
Sawyer was about to say that he would’ve swept floors and washed dishes for a shot at a college degree, but looking at her now, he understood that such things would’ve been beyond her. Not that she was too good for it. God knew he’d seen her shovel horse shit with the determination of a prizefighter. But that a world beyond Star Valley, Wyoming was a world that Cassidy Conroy, Lincoln County Fair Queen, was wholly unprepared to live in.
What had once been pitiable and slightly comical to him now enraged him beyond belief. Christopher Conroy had kept his daughter ignorant on purpose, a sin that was unforgivable in Sawyer’s mind.
Cassidy sighed. “My mom didn’t go. She only raised us. And my stepmother doesn’t do anything at all.”
Before Sawyer could say anything, Cassidy said, “I hate her. My stepmom. She ruined our lives.” She looked up at him with stark hatred burning in her eyes. Sawyer had never seen her so angry, or anyone for that matter. Those blue eyes were absolutely piercing.
“She killed my mom. Or they both did, she and my dad. They killed her. Or they might as well have. My mom was drunk when she went off the road that night. She just couldn’t take any more.”
She looked up at him in so much pain that Sawyer’s own heart nearly broke for her. “They’d been having an affair for a long time,” she told him. “Dad and Karen. Karen was his office manager. She liked to torture Mom with it. All the time. She’d call and tell Mom not to bother packing underwear for Dad’s next business trip, but that condoms were a good idea.”
“Jesus,” Sawyer replied quietly.
Cassidy shook her head and angrily swiped at fresh tears. “Dad never said anything, anything at all. Mom would scream and cry and beg and threaten to leave, and he would just stand there. One day she did leave. She took one last drink, got into her car, and drove off. He didn’t even try to stop her. Or call the police or anything. He just let her go.”
Sawyer stared at her, shocked. “Cassidy, I’m so sorry.”
“I hate her!” she shouted, trying to twist away from him.
When he didn’t let her go, she collapsed into his arms and sobbed so hard that he knew Cassidy didn’t hate her mother. She loved her, very much, and missed her desperately. Having lost both his parents, Sawyer understood that pain, that hollow ache in your chest and throat that you could distract yourself from but that never really went away.
“I hate her so much!” Cassidy insisted.
“Shhh,” he replied, holding her tightly. “No, you don’t.”
“She was a drunk!” Cassidy raged in his arms. “Why didn’t she stop? Why didn’t she care about me enough to stop?”
Sawyer wrapped his arms around her and shook his head. “I don’t know, baby. Maybe she just couldn’t. Sometimes people just do the best they can. And sometimes that’s not enough.”
She sobbed. “And then my dad was all I had left, and Karen took him, too. He didn’t want to get married to her. I know that. But once she had her claws in him and my mom was out of the way, she just wouldn’t let go! She ruined us! It didn’t used to be like this. He loved me before. In his own way,” she added quietly.
Sawyer had quite a few suspicions that Christopher Conroy’s idea of love wasn’t fit for the family dog. But he was the only father she’d known, and he didn’t blame her for wanting to hold onto the only parent she had left. He wasn’t willing to overlook abuse, though, even if she was. She’d told him this much. Now it was time for her to tell him everything.
“Cassidy, look at me,” he demanded.
She didn’t, though. As though she knew what he was about to ask, she turned away, shaking her head.
Sawyer could see the tears spilling from her eyes and landing in her cheeks. They sparkled in the sun like the ripples in the river next to them. “Look at me,” he said again, this time reaching for her and taking hold of her shoulders. He turned her back, turned her to him. “What happened that night, Princess? Tell me. Tell me how you showed up at my door looking like that.”
She shuddered, but he held her tightly, not letting her go, making her face this. “He hit me,” she whispered, so quietly that he barely heard.
“Who, Cassidy? Your dad?”
She shook her head. “Palmer,” she finally whispered. “But Dad was there. He saw me. He didn’t care, though. He just walked away.”
“Why? Why would they do that?” Sawyer couldn’t understand any of this. He didn’t doubt her word, but the idea of hitting a woman, hitting your sister, it was unthinkable. Sawyer and Dakota weren’t even related, but if anyone laid a hand on her, Sawyer would kill them. Of course, he’d have to take his place in line behind Gabe and Walker.
“He hates me,” she told him. “He always has. I don’t know why.” She sounded angry then, more like the Cassidy that Sawyer knew, and he was damn glad to see it. This tearful woman, this empty shell was almost more than he could take. He wanted his Cassidy back. The one who’d beaten him at pool then took down his zipper with her teeth, the fun, flirty, carefree woman who’d made the first move.
“He has everything,” she declared, jaw clenching. “He went to college. He’ll get the ranch. He gets a steady paycheck, and he barely does any actual work. But he still hates me, and I don’t get it. I really do not get it at all.”
Sawyer sighed, not knowing how to explain it to her. Some men were like that, he knew. Some men just liked to watch other people bleed.
And Sawyer’s recollection of Palmer Conroy was that of a spoiled
rich kid who liked being the center of attention. None of the Barlows had ever really liked him. Walker and Austin had been in the same graduating class, and neither had ever had anything good to say about the man.
Which was not to say that the Barlows were jealous. At one time Sawyer’s family had had just as much money as the Conroys, but they’d never flaunted it, not the way Palmer did in school. He shuddered to think of Cassidy trapped in that house, with those people. His princess was too good for that, for any of them.
“I don’t get it, either, baby,” he whispered as he held her tightly. “But you’re here with me now,” he told her. “And you don’t ever have to go back.”
Somewhere in the swirl of her wet hair, intermittent sobs, and labored breathing, her lips found his. Sawyer let her kiss him, determined to give her whatever she wanted. And if that was a safe place in his arms right at this moment, then so be it.
“I don’t want to leave,” she whispered. “Can we stay? Stay right here? Forever?”
She said it with such a twinge of sadness that it was obvious she knew the answer, but she was still hopeful. Or maybe Sawyer was. “Let’s do,” he said with a grin and wiped her cheeks.
She sighed, sounding exhausted. “We could go to that cabin,” she suggested. “You could tie me up and keep me there forever. Maybe no one would ever find us.” She smiled through her tears. “We could have so many fat little babies, and I could learn to cook.”
An eternity alone with Cassidy, the woman he’d once thought he’d drag off to a desert island (or a cabin the woods) to keep her forever. Her talk of having his baby caused his cock to throb.
He wanted her.
Now.
Completely.
“Lie down,” Sawyer ordered.
She didn’t.
Sawyer cupped her face in his large, rough hands. Her bruise had faded, but she had always been the most beautiful woman in the world to him. “Let me make love to you, Cassidy,” he whispered. “Let me love you like you should be loved. I promise I will never, ever hurt you.”
Once again, she hesitated.
Once again, he waited.
Chapter Twenty-Six
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