by A. K. Evans
Tipping my head to the side, I countered, “He might stay, too.”
“You don’t honestly believe that,” she said.
“I think a man like Cash wouldn’t waste time, money, and resources on something that he didn’t think was worth it,” I told her. “I think he sees you differently than you think he does.”
“And I think I’m smart enough to know a man like him would never change,” she responded.
I had a feeling I was about to enter dangerous territory, but I didn’t care. Demi needed to see that she was someone worthy of love, that there was someone out there who’d hand her the world. I didn’t know if Cash would be that man, but after watching him closely in the last few minutes and reminding myself that he’d interrupted the break in the middle of his tour to come back here to see her, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
With that in mind, I took a deep breath in before I said, “And if that’s what you believe him to be, why are you so angry about it?”
Demi looked like I’d slapped her in the face.
“I’m sorry,” I lamented. “I just… I just think that you want a lot more in your life than you lead yourself and everyone else to believe. I know you’re attracted to him, and I completely understand why you’re struggling to give into him. Trust me, I get it. But Demi, if I’m right, you have no idea what you’re missing out on. This thing with Cal and me… it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m happier than I’ve ever been, and I want you to find that same happiness.”
“You know what would make me happy, Sam?” she asked, her voice soft.
“What?”
“You and me celebrating the fact that I’m no longer working at the hotel by dancing our asses off right now,” she shared.
Well, I tried.
And the truth was, I didn’t expect to get nearly as much out of her as I did. She’d shared more than I had anticipated, which I thought was a huge step. Maybe she’d change her mind if she had a bit more time to think about what I said.
For now, I could give her what she wanted and needed right then.
“Okay,” I agreed.
With that, we continued our journey to the dance floor. Ten minutes later, the mood was completely different. Demi’s vibe had gone from angry to joyful, and I was grateful for that. Tonight was about celebrating, so I was happy her night hadn’t been completely ruined.
I had to be honest with myself, though. I might have been dancing and enjoying the night, but in the back of my mind, I was silently wishing and hoping that Cash was the man I believed him to be and that Demi would eventually get the happiness she deserved.
“Are you okay?”
That came from Cal, and the question surprised me.
I was on my side in his bed, he was spooning me, and we’d just finished making love. There was no reason for me to not be okay.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” I countered.
“Everything that happened today,” he said. “It was a lot, and I want to know that you don’t have anything lingering that’s unsettling you.”
I ran my fingertips along his arm and up to his hand. After linking my fingers with his, I confessed, “I mean, I guess I’m a little worried about Demi. I want her to be happy, and I know she puts on a brave face most of the time, but she’s not genuinely happy. I want her to be able to feel the way I feel when I’m with you.”
“I think it’s going to be hard for her to open herself up to that, but I can’t say I disagree with you,” Cal replied. “I think she really needs someone to love her like she deserves. I just hope this Cash guy is capable of making a big change for her.”
“Me too.”
A few moments of silence passed before Cal said, “I kind of have something else I want to talk to you about.”
I was suddenly a bit worried because he hadn’t given me any indication that something was wrong.
“Okay. What’s going on?” I asked, feeling the trepidation and uneasiness in my tone.
“Your ex,” he said.
This was about Mitch? Why did Cal want to discuss him?
“What about him?” I questioned Cal.
Cal hesitated a moment before he responded, “Well, it’s just that earlier today, when we talked on the phone, you mentioned you had work-related things upsetting you as well as personal things. I had assumed the personal thing was you seeing Cash and talking to him about Demi, but now I’ve got the feeling that it was the situation with your ex that you were referring to.”
“It was,” I confirmed.
“Right, so the first thing I want to do is make sure that you don’t have anything weighing on your mind with regard to that,” he noted. “I realize that after you gave us the details, you mostly brushed it off. I know that was all probably because you wanted the focus on Demi tonight, so I understand. I just want to know that there’s nothing else you want to discuss about it.”
I didn’t.
But I loved that Cal cared enough to ask me.
“Truthfully, all I had wanted to do was share it with you,” I told him. “Once I got it out, I completely forgot about it.”
“Okay.”
Cal seemed to accept my answer that easily, but I had a feeling there was more going on with him. While I wholeheartedly believed he was genuinely concerned about my feelings on the situation, I started to wonder if perhaps he was struggling with it.
“What about you?” I asked.
“What about me?”
“Is there anything on your mind about the situation with him?”
Cal didn’t immediately respond, which told me what I needed to know. There was definitely something bothering him.
A few more seconds passed with no response from him, and I suddenly had an awful thought.
“Cal?”
“Yeah?”
“You know that I love you, right?” I asked.
“Of course, I do,” he insisted.
I believed him, but I still didn’t like the way this felt. I shifted my body, rolled to my other side so I was facing him, and pressed the entire length of my body into his.
Bringing one hand up to the side of his face, my fingertips pushed back into his hair. “Okay, let me clarify this. You know that I love only you, right? Cal, you don’t have anything to worry about with Mitch. I’m with you, which is where I’ve always wanted to be. He’s not a threat.”
“It’s not that, Sam,” Cal said.
“So, what’s going on?”
His hand traveled down my side with a delicate, whisper-soft touch, I nearly shivered. When it landed at my hip, it settled there, and he gave me a squeeze.
“I don’t know this guy all that well, and from what I do know about him, I know I don’t really like him,” Cal began. “Is this guy going to be a problem for you? I don’t want him thinking he can call you every day at work or on your cell. And that’s not because I’m worried about him having a chance with you. You being in a good place mentally is my only concern.”
It was incredible that my heart still managed to function properly. With the way Cal looked out for me, cared for me, and loved me, I didn’t know how my heart hadn’t completely melted.
“Knowing you’re here for me whenever I need you, day or night, is what makes me okay,” I started. “Mitch can’t mess with my head because he doesn’t have that power over me any longer. I was foolish to let it happen at all before when I was with him. It’s not something that’ll ever happen again, especially not when I’ve got a man who has shown me exactly what it’s like to be treated with love and respect.”
“As long as you’re sure,” he said.
“I’m sure.”
“If it changes, or even if he continues to bother you, do you promise you’ll let me know?” Cal asked.
“Yes, Cal, I promise I’ll tell you if he reaches out to me again.”
Cal’s body, which I hadn’t realized until that very moment was tense, had relaxed a touch. I cuddled closer to him and p
ressed a kiss to the base of his throat.
“Thank you,” I whispered against his skin.
“For what?”
Another kiss. “For always looking out for me and wanting the best for me.”
“You better get used to it, babe, because I love you, and that’s never going to change,” he shared.
I smiled because there was no work for me to do. I was already completely, totally used to Cal and the way he treated me. And I loved it more than I could have ever told him.
With that, I said, “Question.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you like being the big spoon?”
He let out a laugh and nudged my hip backward. “Roll over, Sam. I want your ass nestled against me all night.”
I did as he asked and rolled over. He immediately hooked an arm around my waist and tugged me close to him. Once my ass was nestled against his cock, I wiggled it just a few times until his arm clamped down on me.
“It’s late, and I’ve already given you two orgasms tonight, babe,” he pointed out. “Do you think you can take it easy on me until the morning?”
I giggled. “Okay.”
“Love you,” he said softly.
“Love you, too. Good night, Cal.”
“Good night, Sam.”
With that, even after all the excitement and drama of the day, it took me almost no time to fall asleep.
Twenty
Samantha
“Cal.”
I called out my warning.
He had been torturing me, and I was mere seconds away from an orgasm.
It was Saturday morning, I was flat on my belly in Cal’s bed, and his knees were on either side of my thighs as he slowly drove his cock inside me.
With my legs squeezed together, his slow thrusts forward managed to build me up in no time at all. Plus, I knew he was watching. Not only had I managed to lift my head from the mattress to twist my neck and look back at him, but I also felt him squeezing the cheeks of my ass as he groaned each time his length disappeared between my thighs.
“Love this pussy, Sam,” he shared, his voice a deep rasp.
There was that, too.
Hearing the sound of his voice so ragged and overcome with emotion was enough to do me in. Of course, he didn’t only give me that. I got that and the benefit of feeling myself so full of him inside me.
“Cal,” I called again.
He didn’t move any faster in an effort to indulge me. Cal continued his slow assault on my body.
It built. And built. And built.
Then it hit, and it was one long pulsing wave of pleasure after another. Since we’d gotten together, Cal and I had been intimate many times. It was always great. He never failed to satisfy me.
But this was different.
The languid but powerful thrusts made it so that my orgasm seemed to be a never-ending swell of satisfaction. It just kept coming, and it was glorious.
My fingernails clawed at the sheet beneath my body as I struggled to lift my hips up and back, seeking more. Cal held me in place with his hands on my ass.
And I moaned.
My eyes squeezed shut tight, and I moaned and writhed.
It was everything I didn’t know I wanted.
Then again, it was Cal.
I wasn’t sure how long after it started when I finally started to come down, but the moment that happened, I was hoisted to my knees.
“Keep your ass high, babe,” Cal ordered.
Whatever he wanted. I would do whatever he wanted me to do. I tilted my ass higher and squeezed him tighter with each stroke he delivered. His pace had started steady, but it quickly grew wild and just on the cusp of losing control.
He held it there until one… two… three more brutal thrusts later, he planted himself to the root and groaned through his orgasm.
When it left him, Cal bent forward, pressed a soft kiss to my shoulder, and whispered, “I was right.”
“About what?” I asked, still struggling to catch my breath.
He kissed me again. “Sleeping in with you on a Saturday morning was going to be incredible,” he replied.
I smiled and noted, “We didn’t exactly sleep in.”
“No, but you were too beautiful to resist,” Cal said. “So, we’ll clean up, get back in bed, and take a quick nap.”
“Okay,” I agreed because I honestly couldn’t find anything I didn’t like about all that.
Two hours later, Cal and I were in the kitchen having breakfast.
“Tonight is going to be such a big night,” I declared. “And we’ve got so much to do today to prepare. This is totally the silver lining from Thursday’s heartbreaking phone call with that bride.”
“And I thought what happened this morning was the silver lining,” Cal teased.
I rolled my eyes. “You know what I mean,” I scoffed. “This is going to be so huge for you tonight. I’m so proud.”
“It might not have happened if it weren’t for you,” he pointed out. “You’re the reason that Cash came to Granite on Thursday night.”
Shaking my head as I lifted my fork to my mouth, I corrected him, “No, Demi is the reason Cash came to Granite. I just happened to be the one to tell him she’d be there.”
“Semantics. The bottom line is, you’ve done so much to help me get to this point,” he began. “I never even considered live bands. You put that idea in my head, and it’s been one of the best things for the bar. Then you manage to find a way to get one of the lead singers of My Violent Heart to walk through that door.”
“It was nothing,” I replied, brushing it off.
What I’d done really didn’t feel like such a big deal to me. It had all been minor, and in my opinion, I was the one who lucked out. Cal had brought so much joy and happiness to my life, and the things that would have normally felt like a big deal or problem in my life no longer were. Sure, I had my bad days, but the truth was that I knew I’d have him there to help me through whatever it was that was on my mind. And with Cal by my side, I just didn’t feel like I had any reason to worry.
“It was everything, Sam,” Cal insisted. When I looked up at him, he continued, “It was everything and more. But no matter the things that I have accomplished or that I will accomplish as time goes on, I had no doubt that making you mine will be the greatest thing I ever do.”
“Don’t make me cry,” I ordered.
He smiled at me and gave me a kiss, which helped me stave off the tears.
A couple hours later, Cal and I walked into Granite. We’d left his place earlier and went to mine so we could pick up some of my T-shirts we were going to be displaying as well as my brand-new business cards.
No sooner had we carried the boxes inside and started working together to prepare for the night ahead when Demi walked in.
“Demi!” I declared.
“Hey, Sam. How’s it going?” she returned.
My eyes blinked rapidly in surprise. I hadn’t expected to see her tonight.
“It’s… it’s great,” I answered. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?” she countered.
“Demi?” Cal interrupted as he walked up to where I was standing with his cousin.
“Hey, Cal.”
“We didn’t think you were going to come here tonight,” I told her.
“But I’m so happy you’re here,” Cal added.
She shot us both an incredulous look. “Where did you think I would be?” she asked.
Cal and I exchanged nervous glances. I knew we were both unsure of how to approach the conversation with her. Figuring this was more my territory, I returned my attention to her and said, “We just thought that with My Violent Heart playing tonight, meaning Cash is going to be here, you wouldn’t want to put yourself in the position to be around him.”
“And if that’s what it was for you, Demi, you know I’d completely understand,” Cal assured her.
“Cal, this is going to be one of the biggest nights of your lif
e,” she started. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything. And I’m not the least bit concerned about Cash. He already knows where I stand. If he wants to continue putting himself in the position to be turned down, I’m happy to oblige him.”
“Are you sure?” he questioned him.
“I’m positive,” she returned. “Besides, I might think Cash is full of himself, but the man can sing. And the rest of the band is awesome. They’re one of my favorites, so I’d be a fool to miss out on a live performance in my own backyard because of one guy.”
Shaking my head in disbelief, I marveled, “Gosh, you’ve got such willpower. I don’t know how you’ll make it through one song with him singing, let alone a whole set.”
“Trust me, he’s not all you’re both making him out to be,” she argued.
“You’re right, Demi. He’s probably way bigger than what we think,” Cal retorted.
“Well, tonight isn’t about him,” she announced. “I mean, I guess it is about his band. But for me, tonight is about being here to support my cousin on what is bound to be one of the biggest nights of his life. And while I’m doing that, I’m going to make sure I tell everyone I know about my best friend’s T-shirt business. That’s what tonight is about for me.”
Cal and I looked at each other again and smiled. I think we both knew just how lucky we were to have Demi. She was the best friend anyone could have ever asked for.
With that, we both moved toward her and pulled her into a group hug.
“Oh, man. You two have gone all sappy on me since you’ve gotten together,” she mumbled.
“We love you, Demi,” I bubbled.
“Yeah, yeah. I love you both, too. But we need to get to work now.”
So, that’s just what we did. Demi and I bounced around doing a bunch of random tasks helping to set up and prepare for the evening while Cal worked with the rest of his staff to make sure everything was fully stocked and ready to go behind the bar.