by Maisey Yates
She picked up the first sandwich and began to eat, suddenly realizing just how ravenous she was. Really, she was kind of a mess, and something about this shabby but well-ordered house, and the fact that she wanted to cry over a sandwich, brought that to light in an undeniable way. Not even she could ignore it now. He didn’t say anything while she polished off both sandwiches, sighing heavily when she was done.
“Thank you,” she said for the third time, really meaning it this time.
“I had better get you back to the campground,” he said, standing, his broad frame filling up the room.
She felt a prickling on the back of her neck and turned around and saw Aiden’s mother standing in the doorway. “The campground?”
Casey looked at Aiden, who was standing there, immovable and silent. She cleared her throat. “That’s where I’m staying.”
“Oh, no,” she said, her brow creasing deeply. “That’s no good at all. You should stay here.”
CHAPTER FOUR
CASEY BLINKED. “I... WHAT?” It sounded an awful lot like the other woman, a stranger, was asking her if she wanted to stay with them.
She was back to having cult concerns.
“You’re camping?”
“Yes,” Casey said, hesitant now.
The look on her face was...motherly. “Are you with anyone? Are you staying all by yourself?”
“I’m by myself. Really, I’m fine. I always travel alone.”
“No,” she said. Her blue eyes—identical to her son’s, Casey couldn’t help but notice—were soft and filled with concern. “You can’t stay by yourself. It isn’t safe. Plus, it’s been such a chilly spring. You have to be freezing staying in a tent.”
Yeah, she was. “It’s really fine,” she lied.
“We have a trailer here on the property,” the older woman continued. “Just a little travel trailer, but it has heat. And it’s dry.”
She looked back at Aiden, who was looking tense but resigned. “Yeah, Mom, you have a point,” he said, a slave to Good Samaritan urges that were entirely foreign to Casey.
Understanding slowly rolled over her and she shook her head. “No. I don’t want to put anyone out.”
“Nonsense,” she said. “You won’t be putting anyone out. It has water, and it’s hooked up so that the bathroom works. And no one is staying in it.”
“No offense,” Casey said, “but you don’t even know my situation. I could be a criminal.”
“Are you?” his mother asked.
“Well, no.”
“Then I’m sure it will be fine for you to stay here until you’re back on your feet.”
“Really, I won’t be here for long. I’m just working at Ace’s and saving up money until I can afford to get my car fixed.”
“See? No trouble at all. You can call me Josie,” she said, extending her hand. “Josie Crawford.”
Casey took hold of it. “Casey James,” she said.
Inexplicably, emotion expanded in her throat, making it difficult to breathe. Difficult to speak. She could hear everything he had just told her echoing in her mind. About how his mother helped people even when she couldn’t afford to offer help. She felt like knowing that made her somewhat obligated to turn all this down. But she just couldn’t.
As cynical as she wanted to be about people’s motives, she also needed help. How could she turn it down when it was offered? She couldn’t. Even if she gave it the side-eye the whole time, she had to accept the handout.
“I suppose I’d better get the trailer unlocked and turn the heat on,” Aiden said.
“Oh,” Casey said. “I don’t have any of my things.”
“I’ll go take care of the trailer,” Josie said. “Aiden, why don’t you take Casey back to her campsite to get her necessities?”
“Come on,” Aiden said. “Let’s go.” She could tell that there was a heavy sigh building inside of Aiden that he was refusing to let out. It would have been amusing, except she was currently at sea, floating in emotions she had very little experience with. So, no laughing was happening.
“Thank you,” she said, the words sounding so flat and inadequate. She’d said them four times in the past few minutes alone and she didn’t know what else to say, didn’t know what else to do. This was why she preferred those kinds of arrangements with men where they clearly wanted her body in return for anything nice they happened to do for her. At least then it was equitable. At least then she didn’t feel so at a loss. She could cut ties with a clean conscience, owing nothing. This was... This was just a gift, and she had no clue what to do with that.
She followed Aiden back out to his truck, climbing into the passenger seat and folding her hands in her lap. She was acutely aware that he was irritated with her, and that as soon as they were out of earshot from his mother, he was going to let her know.
As soon as he started the truck engine, he proved her right. “Well, there’s a prime example of my mother being my mother.”
“If it’s terrible of me to accept, just let me know,” she said. Annoyance built inside her, canceling out the warm fuzzy feeling she’d had just a moment earlier.
“It’s not a problem. She’s right. We’re not using the trailer, and there’s no reason for you to freeze your ass off in a tent.”
“Actually, my ass has managed to stay intact for the past couple of weeks. It’s not like it’s going to kill me to spend another couple sleeping on the ground.”
He threw the truck in Reverse and she had to grip the door handle to steady herself. “Just let us do something nice for you.”
“Well, you seem so pissed about it that you don’t really make a girl want to accept your charity.”
“I’m not pissed.”
“Yes, you are.”
“It isn’t personal. There’s a lot going on here, and I have a lot on my plate already. Adding anything to it just seems...”
“Impossible?”
He paused for a second. “You know the feeling?”
“No,” she said, realizing the truth of it even as she said it, “actually I don’t. I pretty much never have anything on my plate. And I’m not being sarcastic. That’s the benefit of not having very many personal connections in your life.”
“I have too many. Maybe we need to trade some around.”
“No, thanks. You’re not exactly selling me on the institution of family.”
Silence gathered between them, tightening like a fist, and she took a deep breath, trying to dispel some of it. It didn’t ease up. “This isn’t exactly what you bargained for when you left your keys with me, is it?”
He huffed out a laugh. “To say the least.”
They completed the drive to the campground in relative silence. As soon as he put the truck in Park and killed the engine, she scrambled out, desperate to escape the tension between them. At least, there was tension on her end. As far as his side went, it could just be that he thought she was annoying.
She heard the driver-side door slam, and she kept her eyes fixed ahead on the trail that led to her campsite.
“It’s just up here,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and squinting into the darkness. Small solar lamps lined the walk, casting a soft orange glow over the asphalt. Trees loomed on either side of the walk. Every night, walking through alone, she’d imagined they were like a wall, closed off completely. Nothing lurking in the space between.
But now she could hear his heavy footsteps behind her, and she found it to be strangely comforting. It was nice to have him here.
Nice.
There was that word again.
Time to say something irreverent to diffuse that bit of warm fuzzy. “Welcome to my home,” she said as they approached the space. “You know, since you let me into yours, it only seems fair.”
An unanticipated bit of shame crept through her, heat bleeding into her cheeks as she saw her living situation through his eyes. It was all right for her. She barely looked at it anymore. Came home in the dark, curled up in her sleeping bag and went to sleep.
But looking at it, really looking at it, like someone who was just seeing it for the first time, was a whole different thing. One small tent, a sad little fire ring and nothing else. It was modest at best, derelict at worst. It was... Well, it was her life.
“Why don’t you go get your things, and I’ll help you take the tent down,” he said, his voice hard, unreadable.
“I have to say,” she said, finding a snarky comment to help break up the heavy rock that had settled in her chest, “many a man has pitched a tent because of me, but you’re the first to help me take one down.”
He said nothing, didn’t even laugh.
“That was a penis joke,” she said.
“I got it,” he said, his voice rough.
“You don’t seem amused.”
“I’m not.” He moved ahead of her, making his way to the tent and unzipping the flap. “Go get your things. I don’t intend to stand here all night.”
She smiled as sweetly as possible. “You are the meanest guardian angel a girl could ever hope for.” She swept past him, going into the tent and kneeling down. The chill from the ground beneath seeped up through her jeans. She was not going to miss sleeping on this.
She rolled the sleeping bag up quickly and zipped up her duffel bag. Then she took both things and chucked them out in front of the tent before following them back outside.
“That’s it. That’s my life. I can pack up and go in five minutes. Well, except for the tent.” He didn’t say anything. “You’re a tough customer.”
“Am I?”
She rolled her eyes and started detaching the tent poles from the pockets they were settled in. “You don’t have much of a sense of humor.”
He moved over to help, placing his hands dangerously close to where hers were. She could feel the warmth emanating from his body. From his skin. She wanted to touch him. Wanted to lean in close and rest her head on all that strength. She didn’t know where that desire had come from, only that it was strong, and very real. She blinked, pulling away quickly.
“I just want to get the tent taken down,” he said, shot. Clipped. “I’m sorry that I’m not humorous enough for you.”
“It’s not... It isn’t...” What was wrong with her? Why was she stuttering? Men did not make her stutter. She made them stutter.
“My dad has alienated so many of our clients, I’m afraid that we’re not going to break even this spring.” He said the words in a hushed tone, all the while continuing to work on her tent. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind.”
“Sounds pretty stressful.”
She wondered why she had moved away from his touch. Why she hadn’t leaned into it. Really, what would be the harm? She was going to be staying with him, after all. And she didn’t like the idea of feeling in debt. Maybe they could blow off a little steam together, and she could feel a bit more like this was a fair exchange.
She looked up, rolling her shoulders back, even though she knew he couldn’t see what that bit of enhanced posture did for her boobs, not in this light. Still, she felt sexier. And that was what counted.
“Maybe you need a little bit of stress relief.” She took a step toward the tent, and placed her hand very purposefully over the top of his. He froze, looking up, his eyes meeting hers in the darkness, illuminated by the little solar lights.
“What?”
“I was saying that maybe you and I could relieve a little stress together. Trust me, staying in a campground for the past couple weeks hasn’t exactly been a picnic for me. Hell, the past few months haven’t exactly been a picnic.” In all honesty, the past life hadn’t been much of a picnic.
“Do you feel obligated to make a pass at me because I’m letting you stay with my family?”
Heat stung her face, her cheeks. A sense of crawling shame—foreign and completely unwelcome—assaulted her. “I don’t... No.” Except, yes.
“You keep making comments about it. The first time we had a conversation you basically accused me of angling to blackmail you into giving me a blow job. I don’t know what you think this is, but if I want to get laid, I can damn well do it and I don’t need you to offer me your body as a trade.”
The way that he said it...as though she were dirty. As though suggesting it at all had impugned his character.
Didn’t it?
Sure. Maybe in this world. Where people could afford morals and shit. Where they had a bed to go to every night no matter what and could always eat dinner when they were hungry.
But that wasn’t her world. In hers, this was just the cost of doing business, and no guy that she’d ever come across would have batted an eye over it.
Maybe this one doesn’t want you.
Now, there was something that hadn’t occurred to her. Until now.
Now she felt guilty, ashamed and horrified. This was new.
Anger emerged from the center of her discomfort and she embraced it. “I’m sorry, okay? I just thought you might want to have a little fun. Sex isn’t that big of a deal. Don’t act like I asked you to kick a puppy.”
“Sex is kind of a big deal,” he said.
Why did that make her feel things? What the hell was wrong with her? That made her even angrier. “Oh, is it? I’m sorry, I missed that memo. No, maybe I didn’t. Maybe one of my foster parents gave me the chastity talk. But I was only with them for a couple of months, so it didn’t really stick.”
She hated the way that she sounded now. Harsh, defensive. It was way too betraying of how she felt. About all of this. About herself. About the past. He didn’t deserve that. He did not deserve to know her for five minutes, offer her a place to sleep, and pass judgment on the way she’d survived for the past twenty-two years. “I don’t owe you an explanation of myself.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
She gritted her teeth, curling her hands into fists. “If you want to call me a slut, just do it.”
He paused, the tent still halfway intact. “I wasn’t going to.”
“You were thinking it.” Had he been? Maybe not. But she felt like one. She felt dirty and it was his fault. “So, are you a virgin, Aiden?”
“No,” he said through gritted teeth, his voice low, dangerous.
“Right. So, don’t go standing there acting like you can lecture me on purity or some shit.”
“I wasn’t lecturing you on purity. I was lecturing you on acting like you have to trade sex for a place to sleep.”
“Maybe I just want to do you. You’re kind of hot. Well, cancel that. I thought you were hot until this. This is ridiculous.”
“It’s not how I do things.”
“What? You only bang your girlfriends?”
“I’m not having this discussion with you. Do you want to sleep out here? Or do you want to spend the night in the trailer?”
“Neither. Not right this second.”
“I don’t recall presenting you with a third option.”
Anger, and most of all embarrassment, made her reckless. “Right now? I just want to knock you off your high horse.”
And with that, she closed the distance between them, wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.
CHAPTER FIVE
AIDEN WASN’T SURE how he’d gone from being yelled at to being kissed in the space of only a few seconds. He’d seen it happen in movies before, but it had never happened to him.
She’d asked if he was a virgin, and the answer was—of course—no. But he wasn’t as far away from one as he’d like to be.
One woman. He’d only ever sl
ept with one woman.
Their attraction had been companionable, but not connected to love. It had been about convenience. And when he’d imagined a future with Caroline, it had been about comfort. Stability. Logic.
Caroline had been easy. Caroline had been fun. This was neither.
Casey was tough. She was intense. Casey was angry—he could taste it on her lips. On her tongue. She pressed herself against him, her breasts crushed against his chest as she slid her tongue across the seam to his mouth, delving deeper, kissing him harder.
He should stop it. Should push her away. But he found he wasn’t very motivated to do that. Heat roared through his veins like a beast, tearing at him, a new, unfamiliar sensation that had nothing to do with the kind of kisses he’d had before.
The sex with Caroline had all been carefully planned. Carefully agreed upon. He had known her as well as he knew anyone. This... This was not that.
An angry, deep, passionate kiss from a stranger was about as far as you could get from a cautious, careful kiss from a friend.
He raised his hands, planting them on her hips, getting ready to push her away from him, but instead he found himself hanging on. Clinging to her, the blunt tips of his fingers digging into her soft body. She shifted, tilting her head, nipping his lower lip slightly before she soothed away the sting with her tongue. This woman knew what she was doing, no mistaking that.
And judgmental was not how he was feeling. No. He was in awe, grateful and so damn horny he could barely see straight.
She pulled her mouth away from his, kissing the line of his jaw, down his neck, tracing a path with the tip of her tongue.
Fire exploded in his midsection, his cock so hard it was painful. And he decided he was done letting her have the control. He growled, pulling her in tightly, letting her feel the effect she had on him as he claimed her mouth with his, tasting her as deep as he could.
She whimpered, her arms going tighter around his neck as she surrendered completely to the kiss. To letting him lead. Letting him have control.
He didn’t possess the skills she did, but what he had was six months’ worth of pent-up celibacy and raw, untried lust built up to the point of bursting.