From Ashes

Making quick work of taking everything off Bear, I left him out in one of his fields so he didn’t have to go back into the stable and forced myself into the house. I’d come to really like Isabella over the past two months; she was just as sweet as Mama, and she always welcomed me and Cassidy into the house. I dreaded the day Jesse would call with the bad news. And today, I just didn’t think I could handle it.

I heard laughter when I opened the door and, when it shut, the noise stopped completely. There was a buzz in the air and it was making my heart race. I felt like I should have known what was happening, but I was so far gone from what was going on with Cassidy, I couldn’t focus on it enough. Turning the corner to the living room, I stopped dead and gripped the corner of the wall.

Cassidy, Isabella, and Mama were sitting on the main couch, each with completely different expressions on their faces, but all I could focus on was Cassidy’s. She looked like she was about to burst, like she’d just seen the sun for the first time and was terrified that it was about to be taken away from her.

She slowly got off the couch and made her way to me, stopping when she was just inches from me. All I could think about was the fear she’d had in her eyes the night she left and how she’d flinch away when I tried to touch her. The fear on her face now was nothing like her fear of me, so I slowly brought my hand up, dragged the tips of my fingers across her right cheekbone, and cupped her face. Not once did she flinch, not once did she blink, and her body didn’t still when I touched her; it relaxed.

That was all I needed to know.

I grabbed around her waist to haul her body to my chest and crushed her mouth to mine. Not caring that my entire family was staring at us. Not caring about anything except for that little noise in the back of her throat, and that her arms immediately went around my neck, her hands taking off my cowboy hat and letting it fall to the ground, grabbing fistfuls of my hair. Without another word I walked us out of the house and toward my truck, cursing when I realized it was blocked in. A second later the Tahoe bleeped and the lights flashed, and Cassidy smiled slyly as she handed me the fob.

“How?”

“I’ll explain everything. Can we go to our spot?”

Kissing her soft lips once, I whispered against them, “I’ll do one better.”

I drove us to the house and watched Cassidy’s confused face as it came to view. “What is this place, Gage?”

Swallowing hard, I grabbed her hand and looked at her. “It’s our house, darlin’.”

At the word our, her head whipped around to mine and her eyes went wide. “Our house?” she whispered. “We have a house?”

“If you want it.” Her eyes went bright with unshed tears and she turned to look out the windshield, taking in everything about the outside. “C’mon. Let’s talk and I’ll show you around.”

We walked around the house first. The entire time she held my hand tightly, and her other hand was covering her mouth, which was wide open. By the time we got inside, I couldn’t go any farther; I pulled her to me and kissed her long and hard. Something about being in our house ignited something in both of us and the kiss quickly escalated.

I was kicking off my boots at the same time as I unbuttoned her shorts and pulled them over her hips, taking her lacy black underwear with them. My fingers trailed over her heat and I damn near died when I found her completely ready for me. She moaned and arched against my hand when I slid two fingers in her and her gasp filled the empty house. Her head had fallen back, and she righted it, trying to focus her eyes on my plaid button-up. When she was tugging it down my arms, I took my fingers away and helped her remove the shirt, laying it flat on the floor before standing up and grabbing that sexy-as-sin green shirt she was wearing and pulling it, and another light shirt I hadn’t noticed, off her, revealing Cassidy without a bra.

“Babe,” I growled, and bent to take one of her perfect br**sts in my mouth, loving the way her fingers slid through my hair as she gently kept my head in place.

Too soon her hands were gone, but then they were at my jeans and in no time she had them off and had taken my length in her hands, and I had to struggle to stay standing as I kicked the jeans and boxer-briefs away from us. Removing her hands from me, I hitched her legs up around my hips and helped lay her on my shirt on the floor.

“Gage, I love you,” she breathed as she brought my face to hers, and I smiled against her lips.

“God, darlin’, I love you so damn much. Don’t ever leave me again.” I kissed her once more before making my way down her body.

I should have taken my time kissing every inch of her now that she was back in my arms, but that would have to wait ’til later. I needed to take care of her, of us, and I needed to do it right now. Not wanting to tease her, I dove right in and her back arched off the ground. The sexiest moan you’ve ever heard filled the room and her hands wove their way through my hair to keep my head where she wanted it. I groaned against her, having missed the taste of her, the way my sweet Cassidy completely let go when we were together, and thanking God that she had come back to me.

She came so hard and fast, I wanted to stay there and make her come again that way, but I knew I’d have time for that later. Now I needed her. Her hands were already pulling my body back up hers, and though I tried to be considerate to her and not kiss her after that, she slammed our mouths together and swiped her tongue against mine, moaning even louder when she tasted herself. Dear Lord, my girl was hot. She wrapped her legs around me at the same time I sank into her and our kisses cut off as she cried out and I groaned. Feeling her around me took away the last of the tension of those last two weeks and I reveled in the feel of her.