Shrinking Violet (Colors #2)

by Jessica Prince

  “Well, what if I buy it for her?” I asked, trying to come up with a solution. “I mean, if she won’t let you help because she thinks you’ve already done too much for her, maybe she’ll let me instead.”

  Carson’s head was already shaking before I even finished talking. “Won’t work, Violet. That girl’s stubborn as hell. She said if she can’t find a way to pay for that stuff herself, she just won’t go. I swear that hard-headed girl is gonna be the death of me. Why do women have to be so damn difficult?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. He sounded so much like a whiny little boy, and it was kind of adorable.

  “Glad you find this funny.” He glared petulantly.

  I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Ah, honey.” I giggled. “She comes by her stubborn streak honestly. You two might not have the same blood running through your veins, but that doesn’t mean you don’t share some annoyingly similar characteristics.”

  “What teenage girl refuses to go to prom if she can’t buy her own dress? It’s ridiculous!” he said, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration.

  I stopped laughing and tried to think of a solution to their problem. A bright smile spread across my lips when a sudden stroke of genius hit me.

  “I think I might have a plan.”

  He looked down at me skeptically. “Care to share it with the class, sweetheart?”

  “You just leave that up to me. But I’ll need your help at the farmer’s market tomorrow. You in?”

  His lips tipped up in the corners as he leaned down to give me a light kiss. “I’m always in, Violet.”

  “Carson! Carson! CARSON!”

  I turned around to see Willow charging toward me where I stood near the barn.

  “Hey, Doodle Bug.” I laughed as she practically threw herself into my arms, giving me no choice but to grab her or risk her falling on her behind. Propping the little girl on my hip, I looked over to see Cassidy walking toward us, about a yard away, laughing at her little girl’s antics.

  “Look it! I made you a pwetty pictew!”

  Right then, I noticed a bright pink piece of construction paper waving around in her itty-bitty hand.

  “You did?” I asked, a little stunned that Bug had actually thought of me enough to make me a picture. I’d been working at Willow Ranch for months and in that time, I’d grown really close to Bug. The little girl was impossible not to love. Once she’d decided you were someone worthy of her time, she was a relentless little thing. She showered you with her love and adoration, making you feel like one of the luckiest people on Earth, but it still stunned me sometimes just how much the little girl had managed to burrow her way inside my heart.

  “Yuh-huh. We’s made pictews for ouw daddies today. But I don’t have a daddy cuz Mommy said he lives weally faw away. So I made it fow you cuz if I could pick a daddy, I would pick you.”

  My breath hitched as my heart began beating a frantic pace in my chest. I barely heard the sound of Cassidy’s gasp over the blood rushing in my ears. Holy shit! This little girl—this amazing, warm, bright little girl—just told me that if she could pick her own father, she’d pick me. I had no idea how to respond to that other than to hold her even tighter against me as my chest swelled with a foreign emotion so strong, I felt a knot form in my throat, making it almost impossible to talk.

  Bug looked up at me with those big, innocent eyes and asked, “Do you like it?”

  It took everything I had to pull my gaze away from her adorable little face and look down at the picture she was holding up. Glued to the pink paper was a bunch of dried beans in what I could only assume was the shape of a heart. As I stared down at the wonky design only a toddler could create, I couldn’t remember ever loving something as much as that neon piece of construction paper.

  “I love it, baby girl,” I told her as I placed a kiss on her chubby cheek, eliciting a squeal from her.

  “YAY!” She planted a loud, smacking kiss on my cheek just before she began squirming around, a telltale sign she was ready to get down.

  “Love you, Carson!” Bug hollered over her shoulder as she skipped her way back to the main house.

  Those three words were a sucker-punch straight to the gut. I never would have guessed that a pint-sized little three-year-old could nearly bring me to my knees without even trying. But as Willow skipped off without a care in the world, I struggled to speak through the emotions that were clogging my throat.

  “Love you, too,” I croaked.

  In all my life, I’d tried my hardest never to get my hopes up. I refused to let myself envision my future and what it could possibly hold. So if you’d told me months before that I would be spending my days thinking about what it would be like to have a family with Cassidy and Willow, I would have said you were crazy. But staring at the happy little girl as she hopped away without a care in the world, I couldn’t imagine not having either of them in my life.

  As soon as she disappeared through the back door, I turned to see Cassidy holding a hand over her mouth, her blue eyes huge and full of emotion.

  “Baby, don’t you dare start crying,” I warned her, already feeling like I was teetering on the edge myself. “I’m on serious emotional overload right now, so I need you to try and rein it in.”

  At my words, she was overcome with laughter. As she was lost in a fit of giggles, I walked over and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her soft, curvy body against mine.

  “Oh, my God.” She sighed once she got control of herself. “That was…do you have any idea how sexy you are to me right now?”

  “Is that right?” I leaned down as she stood on her tiptoes, meeting me in the middle for a scorching kiss.

  “Mmmhmm,” she moaned into the kiss. “There’s nothing hotter to a single mother than a man who loves her kid. I’m telling you, it’ll get you laid every time.”

  My head fell back as a loud laugh burst from my chest. “God, I love you.”

  I hadn’t even realized what I said until I felt Cassidy’s entire body grow completely still in my arms.

  Her voice was full of bewilderment as she asked, “What?”

  I wasn’t going to take it back. Not only would that have made the situation worse, but it would have been a lie. I loved her. Never in my life had I felt for someone the way I felt for Cassidy. I refused to lie about that.

  I stared down into her wide, disbelieving eyes and owned everything I was feeling. “I love you, Cassidy. I love how you sometimes come off shy, but you have this fire deep down inside you that you only let some of us see. I love how you live and breathe for your daughter. You’re the best mother I’ve ever met. I love how selfless you are when it comes to helping people you care about. Christ, baby, I just love you. Every single thing about you.”

  She blinked and two tears trailed down her cheeks. I reached up and brushed them away with my thumb as my heart beat quickly in my chest. As our gazes remained locked on one another, fear flowed through me that I might have just scared her off with my confession.

  “No one has ever said that to me before,” she whispered.

  That was impossible for me to believe. I couldn’t imagine that there wasn’t a man from her past who hadn’t fallen head over heels for her. “You’re joking, right? What about Willow’s father?”

  She shook her head vehemently. “No. No one has ever said that to me, Carson. Willow’s dad, Seth, was a mistake. There was no love between either of us.” Her hands reached up and cupped my cheeks. “I never loved him…not like I love you.”

  With those words, my chest swelled. Threading my fingers through her long blonde hair, I pulled her to me, slamming my lips against hers. I poured every ounce of love I felt for her into that kiss. Our teeth clattered against each other, our tongues tangled in the most delicious way as the taste exploded in my mouth. I’d never get used to how perfect my girl tasted.

  “You love me?” I asked against her lips, feeling breathless.

  “So much, Carson. God, I’m
crazy about you.”

  “Say it again,” I demanded, pressing my forehead against hers.

  “I love you.”

  “Again.”

  “I love you.” She giggled.

  With a deep groan, I went in for another kiss. It wasn’t until Willow’s high-pitched voice called from the main house that I managed to clear my head enough to break away. I could have drowned in my shrinking violet right then and there and died a very happy man.

  Cassidy’s voice held a note of sorrow as she pulled back far enough to look up at me. “I have to go. I promised Bug I’d let her help me make cookies.”

  I didn’t want to let her go. I wanted to keep her pressed against me every hour of every day.

  “MOMMY! I want cookies!”

  Cassidy let out a grumble before giving me one last kiss. “I have to go.”

  “Come over tonight,” I insisted, reluctantly loosening my arms around her.

  “You’re not working at the bar?”

  “I’ll take off. I just want to feel you against me tonight. Spend the night with me…please.” I was desperate to have her in my bed. I’d never experienced the joy I felt when she told me she loved me, but there was still something deep inside of me that worried Cassidy would somehow slip through my fingers. If there was one thing I’d learned from my past, it was that I couldn’t count on the good things to last. I needed to hold her in my arms. It was the only way I could guarantee what I had with her was real.

  “Okay.” She beamed up at me. “I’ll come over after Willow goes to sleep.

  “MOMMY!”

  I let out a chuckle and kissed her again. I couldn’t help myself. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Carson. Oh, God.”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

  Jesus, I was so close. I could feel Cassidy clenching against me, squeezing me like a vice. I’d never seen anything as beautiful as my girl riding me. It was the ultimate turn-on and had me so worked up I worried I’d come before she did. I used my thumb to circle her clit at the same time I thrust my hips up, forcing myself deeper and harder, eliciting the most amazing moan from Cassidy as her head flew back.

  “Carson,” she whimpered. “I’m gonna come.”

  I couldn’t take it any longer. With a quick flip, I had her on her back. Resting on my haunches, I spread her thighs further apart as I buried myself inside her wet heat over and over again.

  “Come for me, baby. I want to feel you come all over me. Christ, you’re so fucking beautiful like this.”

  My words were just what she needed to send her flying. She tried to muffle her cries of ecstasy with her hands, but I wasn’t having any of that. Leaning forward, I grabbed hold of her wrists and pinned them to the pillow beside her head. My mouth crashed down on hers and I swallowed every cry, every moan, and every whimper as I drug her release out as long as possible. My tongue speared in and out of her mouth, mimicking each thrust of my hips until that tingling at the base of my spine built up to the point of explosion. Burying my face in the crook of her neck, I shouted out as I came. With each jerk of my release, her walls clamped down on me, milking everything from inside of me until there was nothing left.

  Utterly spent, I collapsed on top of Cassidy, unable to move my limbs even though I worried about crushing her.

  As I struggled to catch my breath, Cassidy’s arms wrapped around me, her fingers skating a gentle trail up and down my back as though she was soothing me.

  “I love you, Carson.”

  I finally managed to get enough strength to push up on my forearms. “I love you, too, baby. So damn much.”

  She smiled up at me, and I couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest man in the world.

  “Am I crushing you?”

  “Just a little.” She giggled, running her fingers through my hair. “But I loved it.”

  “And I love you.”

  I didn’t think it was possible, but her smile actually grew even brighter. “Man, I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”

  “Good, because you better get used to it. I’m never letting you go.”

  All of a sudden, her face grew serious as she asked in a quiet voice, “Promise?”

  “I swear.” I reached up to rub the frown lines that had formed between her eyebrows. “Hey, what’s this all about?”

  Cassidy inhaled deeply, and I watched as she schooled her features. “It’s nothing.” She gave me a grin that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  I felt a knot of concern forming in my gut as I tried to understand the sudden change in her mood. “You sure? You can talk to me, baby. Whatever it is that’s bothering you, I’m here. You know that, right?”

  She gave me an unconvincing nod and quickly changed the subject. “Hey, I brought you something.”

  Deciding it was best not to push her if she wasn’t ready to talk, I rolled off her and stepped into the bathroom to dispose of the condom. “Yeah?” I called out. “You brought me a present?”

  I finished up and walked back into the bedroom to find her sitting on the bed with my sheet wrapped around her chest. She was a vision with her golden hair hanging around her shoulders, her tanned skin a glowing contrast against the white sheet.

  “It’s nothing big,” she answered bashfully. “It’s just something I found out by the pond when I took Bug swimming.” She nibbled on her bottom lip anxiously as she held out her hand. “The color reminded me of your eyes. And the shape…well…it’s kind of obvious.” She laughed timidly.

  I took the object she held in her hand. The piece of glass was a pale shade of green and had been broken in just the perfect way to make it look like a heart. From the way the jagged edges were smoothed out, it was obviously several years old. If I had to guess, it was from something as simple as a beer bottle, but the fact that Cassidy saw it and thought of me, believed it symbolized what was growing between us…well, that made the piece of glass something I would cherish.

  “Do you…do you like it?”

  “Ah, sweetheart. I love it.”

  “Really?” She lit up as she asked. “I know it’s kind of lame, but—”

  I silenced her with a kiss, cradling her cheek in my hand and running my thumb against her cheekbone. “It’s not lame at all. This is the second best gift I’ve ever received.”

  Cassidy’s head tilted to the side as she looked at me curiously. “Second best?”

  “Well,” I started with a sly grin on my face. “It’s a really close second, but you just got beat out by the picture Doodle Bug made me.”

  With that, she let out a laugh and launched herself at me, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck.

  At that very moment, there was nowhere else I’d rather be.

  Carson had just carried over the last crate of homemade preserves as I started pulling out Navie’s jewelry and arranging them on the left side of my booth. I had the earrings and bracelets set out on deep navy blue fabric and I bought a little wire stand to display the necklaces to make them more appealing. I was no artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I managed to draw up a nice little card with Navie’s Knickknacks written in cursive.

  “What’s all that?” Carson asked as he set the crate down.

  I turned to look at him and held up my hands. “Okay, don’t be mad, but I snuck into Navie’s room after she left for school and took some of the jewelry she’d made. It’s all so beautiful and I tried telling her she should sell it, but she doesn’t seem to think she’s good enough to make any money. You said she refused to take money from anyone for her dress so I just thought that if I brought some of her jewelry to the market, I could sell it for her and give her the money to buy herself a dress. I have no doubt that these will sell, and then she’ll have plenty of money for a beautiful dress and even a pair of shoes.”

  I finished my quick spiel and sucked in a deep breath. “Are you mad?”

  Carson stepped up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders, slowly sliding them up to cr
adle my neck. “Are you kidding? Baby, that’s a fantastic idea! I’ve been telling her for years that she has a gift, but she wouldn’t believe me. Maybe this’ll give her the confidence she needs to realize how good she really is. And she’ll be able to buy her own dress. You just killed two birds with one stone, sweetheart.”

  “Oh, thank God,” I puffed out a relieved breath. “I really thought it was a good idea, but I was worried you or Navie would be mad at me for taking the jewelry without permission.” I twisted my fingers together in front of me as I asked, “Do you think she’ll be upset when she finds out?”

  His thumbs brushed against the underside of my jaw as he smiled that bright smile that made my stomach dip and my knees go weak. Man, I was crazy about this guy.

  “Sweetheart, if she’s upset, I’ll take full blame. I’ll tell her it was all my idea.”

  “But I don’t want her to be mad at you,” I insisted with a shake of my head. Navie was the only family Carson had. I hated the idea of causing any kind of rift between them.

  “Violet,” Carson chuckled, “that girl can’t hold onto a grudge when it comes to me. If she gets mad, she’ll crack in a matter of hours.”

  “Pretty sure of yourself there, aren’t you?” I glared.

  “What can I say? I’m irresistible.”

  I smacked him on the arm playfully as he laughed and pulled me in for a kiss.

  I’d been right about Navie’s jewelry selling well. By the time Carson and I packed up to head home, I’d managed to sell every single one of her pieces I’d brought with me—with several people requesting I bring more the next time I was at the market. I was really hoping Navie’s self-confidence would get a major lift when I handed over the cash she’d rightfully earned.

  We walked into Carson’s house and found Navie sitting at the kitchen table, studying. I was suddenly hit with a nervous energy, worried she’d be angry with me taking her jewelry and selling it behind her back.