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Reese rubbed her wrists, watching him closely. Turning away, she walked out of the cell. Cash followed behind her. She moved so he could unlock the next door when they reached it. When he took the lead, she followed behind him, closely studying him. Gone were the cocky grin and the swagger. A look of longing replaced it. Reese could relate. Nothing felt the same. Everything was a jumbled mess.
Upstairs they found the station deserted. No Pappy, no Franks, or anyone else that worked there, only empty space. The only light was the one in the hallway ushering them to the front door. Reese followed Cash out the front door and stopped when he turned back to lock it.
“I can take you home,” Cash offered quietly, pocketing the keys.
Reese looked at him closely before deciding. “Did Franks catch Pappy and his mother in the back of her car?”
“Yeah, he did. Sorry, but you are going to have to deal with that too.”
They walked together down the street to his truck. There was still no Pappy and no Franks or anyone else. Reese wasn’t sure how they managed it. She thought it would have been harder to get that much time alone in a police station.
“Want a ride?”
Reese nodded.
Cash opened the passenger door, letting her get settled before getting in the other side. He took a deep breath and sighed before starting his truck and backing out of the parking space. It didn’t go as well as he had hoped but not as bad as he feared it might.
He had no idea what was going on in her head. He was only going to wait so long before he started taring down the walls she seemed intent on building again. The woman sitting beside him was his, whether she wanted to admit it or not. Cash made up his mind to give her a day or two at the most. Then she was going to start getting reminded. He was going to do whatever it took to take away the hurt, sad look in her eyes. His woman would never look like that again.
“Were you going to tell me about Ash if she didn’t show up?” Reese asked as they turned down their street.
“Yes. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I have never lied to you before,” Cash drove toward their houses, never taking his eyes off the road.
“Thank you for the ride,” Reese said when Cash parked in his drive.
Letting herself out of the truck, she walked across the street without looking back. She needed time to think. Time to make sense of everything that happened. Time to decide if she could forgive him. Time to decide if she could trust him with her heart.
Chapter 23
Reese rolled again, kicking off the blanket. She was too hot. When the air conditioner kicked on, she was too cold. The sheets irritated her skin. Her robe rode up, annoying her. She had been off ever since Cash brought her home.
Dinner had been quiet. Pappy and Mav held their own conversation with little input from her until they both teamed up against her. Pleading Cash’s case at the dinner table, they tried to convince her to forgive him. Reese wasn’t having any part of it. She wasn’t done being mad yet. It didn’t matter what her body said. Her mind still wasn’t convinced.
She tried to act like everything was back to normal. Reese thought she could put him out of her mind by doing her nightly routine of dishes and laundry. It was all well and good until she went to the front porch. Her evening time to set on the front porch wasn’t going to happen when the man invading her thoughts at every turn was setting across the street staring at her house. Taking a long pull from her beer, she decided to make a new nightly habit.
Reese filled the cast iron tub with hot water and an extra splash of bubbles before sinking down in it. Keeping her beer close, she closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of the hot water releasing the tension in her body. Reese leaned back, forgetting her drink, resting her head against the towel she used as a pillow. The water had grown cold when she opened her eyes again. She had fallen asleep in the tub dreaming of the man next door doing incredible things to her. Blowing out a breath, she tried to shake the images of his head between her thighs and the throbbing need it created.
“Mom, are you about done in there?” Mav called from the other side of the door.
“I will be out in a minute,” Reese called back, mentally and physically pulling the plug on her time alone. Running the fluffy towel across her body created shivers and an emotion she didn’t want to name.
“Great, now I am getting turned on by a damn towel,” she mumbled to herself.
The light cotton robe did nothing to hide the fact that her nipples stood erect. They were just as affected as the rest of her. She could feel the wetness trickling down to her thigh. She either had to stop sleeping altogether or go next door and forgive the man who invaded her dreams. Tossing her robe on the floor, Reese hurriedly wrapped the towel around her body then pulled the robe back on. Tying it tight and running her fingers through her hair, she passed Mav in the hall, impatiently waiting his turn.
Reese shut herself in her room until the house grew quiet. Now she was lying on her bed weighing the merits of going next door. She knew from the look of Cash at the police station he wasn’t sleeping either.
Reese couldn’t bring herself to blame him entirely for the Ash situation. Yes, he should have told her he had an ex-wife, but she did ask him not to talk about it while Mav was missing. She didn’t give him the opportunity to explain the first morning. Reese cringed, remembering the look on his face as he crumpled to the ground after the shot to the nose and then the crotch. He still wanted her after she kicked his ass.
“You are an idiot,” she told herself as she got out of bed. Reese didn’t bother with clothes. At one in the morning, she doubted any of her other neighbors were awake and poking their noses out the window. Snatching up her discarded robe, Reese pulled it on then went in search of her nicest panties.
“In for a penny,” she muttered. Choosing the red lace, she eased the delicate fabric on taking a second to look in the mirror.
“Hope this works.” Reese bit her lip indecisively turning in front of the mirror. She closed her robe before she could change her mind. Again.
Reese slipped out of her room and down the stairs. Easing the front door open, she stepped out into the night and silently shut it behind her. When her feet hit the grass she stopped. Looking down, Reese realized somehow she had forgotten her shoes. Sexy panties-check. Shoes were never given a thought. A moment of indecision hit her. Maybe this was a sign she shouldn’t do this.
“Or maybe this is a sign of no sleep and the need for a good orgasm or two,” she grumbled. Carefully picking her way across the damp grass Reese made it to the other side of the street without anyone seeing her. Uncertainty hit her again as soon as her feet hit his porch. Shifting from foot to foot, she wondered what she was doing. Maybe this was the wrong decision, or maybe she needed to try to salvage any possible scraps of the amazing fire that burned between them.
