Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
My heart lurches as he begins to push open each stall door. “Everybody out. Now.”
The third and final stall is locked. The girl inside immediately scurries out when Cash bangs on the door, glancing at me before she loops her purse across her chest. “You okay, Cash?”
“Mind giving us a minute, Lucy?”
“You got it.”
When Lucy exits, Cash crosses the room and bolts the door that leads to the bar, the lock sliding home with a definitive thump I feel between my legs.
Then Cash turns to me. My pulse leaps, feeling like a fist slamming against the back of my throat.
He looks downright furious. Jaw ticcing, nostrils flaring. Eyes on fire.
The hungry, barely contained something I see in them turns me inside out. I hold on to the sink for dear life, falling back against it as he approaches.
He closes the space between us in three huge, angry strides. He’s enormous. Even in my boots, Cash towers over me, the air vibrating with emotion as he stops six inches from me. Way too close.
Not close enough.
Is he angry with me? Why?
My body pulses at his nearness, sparks of desire catching up and down my spine. My nipples are hard. Pulse is frantic.
“Him?” Cash finally says.
I blink. “What?”
“Palmetto. Palmston. You want him?”
“We’re not—I’m not—we’re friends who—wait. My relationship with Palmer is none of your business, Cash.”
His chest barrels out on a sharp inhale. “Answer me.”
“We’re friends.” My voice shakes. “And, yeah, we hook up sometimes.”
“Did y’all hook up today?”
“I’m not answering that.”
He leans in, eyes flicking to my mouth. “Did. You. Hook. Up. Today?”
“We didn’t, all right?” I put my hands on Cash’s chest and give him a shove. “Why do you care so much anyway?”
Cash grabs my wrist, stepping forward so my hands are on his chest again. The firmness of his grip makes my pulse riot. “He’s an idiot. You can do better. So much better, Mollie.”
“Again, who I’m with—”
“That’s really what you want?” He searches my eyes. “Someone who has no clue how fuckin’ amazing you are?”
My heart must explode into a million pieces, because I feel its ardent beat everywhere: in my lips, my skin, my stomach.
I’m hit again by the urge to cry.
“Don’t,” I whisper.
“Don’t what? Tell you that I was wrong? That you’re everything I thought you weren’t? Big-hearted and generous and smart as hell and, yeah, fuckin’ beautiful? Sexy as hell?” Cash’s eyes graze my face. “Tell me to go, then. Tell me to let you go, and I will. But you gotta say the words, honey, or—”
“Or what?” I blame him calling me honey for this sudden burst of bravery. “You’ll give me what Palmer couldn’t?”
His eyes flicker. “You’re such a brat.”
“Yeah, well, you’re a brute.”
“I am.” His gaze is pleading. “Tell me to go.”
But I don’t. I look down at my hands, which are still on his chest. He’s a solid wall of warm muscle. I can feel his heart beating against my palms.
“You’re the center of everyone’s universe, you know,” I manage. “Everyone on the ranch. Everyone in your family. They all look to you, and you never ever let them down.”
He breathes in. Out. “They’re everything to me.”
God, how have I not gone up in a fireball yet? Because truly, there is nothing sexier than a man who shows up for the people he loves.
He’s showing up for me.
“You being here.” I swallow. “Sticking up for me. Helping me. Filling me in on everything I missed with Dad. That’s everything to me, Cash. You’re a good man, and I…”
The edges of his eyes crinkle. “What, honey?”
“At first, I couldn’t fucking stand you.” I scoff. “And now I can’t fucking stand how much I want you.”
His eyes look positively feral. “Ask me.”
“Ask what?”
“Ask me to give you what you want.”
I stare at him. “I can’t—”
“But you can.” He steps closer, melting his hips into mine. “Because you gotta know by now, I can’t deny you anything, Mollie. Not a fuckin’ thing.”
I thought swooning was something that only happened in books. I can now affirm it is an actual thing that happens to actual people, because it’s happening to me.
I go weak in the knees; the only thing holding me up is the solid weight of Cash’s body pressing me against the sink.
Reading me like—ha—a book, Cash curls an arm around my middle. The throb between my legs blares hotter at the onslaught of contact. I love it. Love the feel of him pressed against me. So much so that I feel my eyes rolling to the back of my head.
I bite my lip. “Be the brute,” I breathe. “Leave the good man—”
“Hello?” There’s a knock on the door. “Hello?! Y’all, I have to use the bathroom—”
“Get fucked,” Cash shouts.
Then he glides his hand onto my face and leans in and kisses me.
Cash Rivers kisses me, his scruff catching on my skin as he presses his mouth to mine.