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“Oh, we’re not,” I quickly corrected her. “We’re just friends.”
She leaned toward me and murmured beneath her breath. “Does he know that?”
I smiled and tilted my head, not sure what she meant.
“That boy hasn’t been able to take his eyes off of you.”
I was glad she mentioned it because I’d actually noticed the same thing. Yesterday, after I’d taken my shower, things had been different between us. He was acting different. I’d noticed him touching me more and his compliments felt more…personal.
At first, I thought that they were accidental contacts. His arm grazed mine as he pulled out a stool for me to sit on beside him at the kitchen island while his mom prepared dinner. While we sat there his knee kept brushing against mine. He’d leave it there longer and longer each time.
Then at dinner last night, he’d had his arm around me the entire time, and his thumb had drawn lazy circles on my shoulder. I’d have stayed at that dinner table forever. It was such a small touch, but my entire body had been on fire from it.
I’d hoped that maybe after dinner, Cash and I might have a little bit of alone time before bed. But by the time I’d finished helping his mom with the dishes he’d been sacked out in the basement. I didn’t blame him. He’d been up for well over thirty-six hours at this point. He had to be exhausted.
Today, Colleen had kept Cash busy with party preparations, sending him on errands, so I hadn’t seen him since breakfast. I’d gotten ready in the bathroom that was next to the guestroom I was staying in and when I came out, he was standing in the hallway. The look in his eyes when he saw me caught me completely off guard. I was wearing a blue halter dress that I’d thrown into my bag on a whim. I was glad that I had since it was the only thing that I had in the way of party attire. It was backless and showed a tiny bit of cleavage, but wasn’t what I would call sexy. But when Cash saw me, he looked at me like I was a Victoria’s Secret model on the catwalk. It was so intense I started to get a little self-conscious when he finally spoke.
“Damn.”
Damn wasn’t a word that I would normally blush at but the way Cash said it had made me turn fifty shades of red. His deep voice growled the sexually charged term of appreciation.
I hadn’t been able to respond because his comment had me feeling tipsier than I had at Billy’s wedding. I was dizzy with desire and need. Thankfully guests were arriving at the time, so my silence didn’t become obvious.
Cash led me out of the hall with his hand on my lower back which was bare since it was a backless dress. The skin-on-skin action was part of the reason I was so lost as to what everyone’s names were. The heat of his palm and the gentle caress of his thumb which instead of making lazy circles was just moving up and down in slow, sensual grazes, was beyond distracting as he made introductions.
Every brush of the roughened edges of his thumb against my sensitive skin, sent tingles shooting straight between my legs. It was hard to concentrate on learning people’s names when I could barely stand on my lust-drunk noodle legs.
Part of the reason I’d excused myself to sit down was because I didn’t want to make a fool out of myself by swooning. Especially since there were no fainting couches handy.
Now that Mary mentioned it, since I’d been posted up in the corner, I had noticed that Cash was looking at me nearly every time my eyes scanned past where he stood. I’d been trying to tell myself that he was just checking on me because I didn’t know anyone. But there was more than that in the way he was looking at me. It was almost possessive.
There was no disputing his energy toward me had changed. I had no idea why, but I wasn’t complaining.
“Watch.” Mary tilted her head toward Cash.
I looked over at him and saw that he was still holding Mitch’s granddaughter Claire in his arms. She was giggling as he lifted her above his head.
There was something about seeing a man with a baby that was sexy but seeing Cash with a baby had my ovaries throwing a rave. I could actually feel my womb tingle as I watched him lower baby Claire down and cradle her against his broad chest.
I swallowed a sigh of appreciation and was just about to look away before I made a fool of myself when his eyes met mine. I felt my cheeks flush. I wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or arousal or a little bit of both.
“See, that boy can’t go two minutes without looking at you.”
“I think he’s just checking on me because I don’t know anyone,” I explained.
“I think it might be a little bit more than that.”
“Aunt Mary!” Corey, Mitch’s oldest son called out from the other side of the room. “How old was dad when he threw up on that roller coaster?”
“Oh, this is a good one.” Mary patted my leg before getting up and heading across the room to retell a story I’d bet she’d told a hundred times.
That was another example of family life that I wished I had. I had no interest in the stories that my grandparents told because none of them were about my mom. All they ever talked about were their friends.
I’d hoped that I’d be able to ask Colleen about my mom, but we just hadn’t had the opportunity. Since we were staying three more days I was crossing my fingers and toes that I’d be able to find some time.
As Mary had the other side of the room cracking up as she regaled Mitch’s first experience on a roller coaster, I began sketching again. I was filling in all the shading and contour since I’d gotten all the lining done.
When I looked up again, I saw that the party was beginning to wind down and realized that I had no concept of how much time had passed. The crowd had dwindled significantly. The only party goers I saw were Mary and her husband, whose name I’d forgotten.
