Page 27 of Catching Mr. Right

“How tiny?”

“It’s not relevant.” She swats at a fly that buzzes too close to her face. “But his friends really teased him, and the next thing I know he’s whipping down his pants to pull out his penis. Which was a little small if I’m honest. After that, I became the girl guys flashed for a long time.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” The idea of a bunch of teenage boys getting in Mandy’s face with their dicks because she made a mistake makes me bristle.

“There are nice guys, and not nice guys, and these days I can tell what size penis any guy has mostly based on his personality.” She shrugs and starts to climb off the fence.

I snag her around the waist and lift her bodily down from her perch. She’s warm and delicate pressed against my chest. One hand wanders over my pec. She’s beautiful, and sweet, and she deserves the best. If that’s Sam…

I drop my hands to my sides. There’s no ‘if.’ She wants Sam. He’s her perfect guy, and even if I don’t agree that he’s right for her, she deserves to have everything she wants. No matter how I feel about that. “Why do you want Sam so much? Be honest with me.”

“He’s a good guy. I know you might not think so.” She puts her hand to my mouth to keep me from speaking and I’m torn between telling her she’s wrong about him, and kissing each digit. “But he is. He’s got his head on straight, and he loves his family, he’s protective and kind and capable. Once he realizes age is only a number he’ll know I’m right about us. We’ll fall in love, and he’ll be able to give me everything I’ve spent my whole life wanting.”

“It doesn’t work like that, Mandy.” I take her hand away from my mouth, hold it at our sides. I should let go, but can’t. “Falling in love doesn’t come down to the size of his dick or whether he has the means to take care of you. It’s about so much more than that.”

Mandy laughs, pats my chest and pushes away from me. “Don’t be so serious, Cas. Of course I know that. But these things build up over time. Love isn’t magic, you know?”

“I’m not so sure.” What I had with Juliette was instant and perfect. I would have followed her to the ends of the earth to be with her. I’d spent three years in Europe while she pursued her dream career, and I waited for her to be ready to settle down. I would have waited forever.

“Tell me about you,” she says, moving toward the gate. Her hips sway with each step, mesmerizing me.

“Nothing to tell.” I follow.

“Bullshit.” She smiles while she waits for me to latch the gate. “I’m still waiting for you to tell me about the horrors of a blunt knife.”

“Other than you could accidently stab yourself in the eye and impale your brain on it?” I brush my hands together as we stride toward the kitchen door.

“That’s gross.” She slaps the back of her hand against my chest.

“It’s the truth.”

“Yes, but it’s not why you lost it, and then we, you, I…” she stutters to a stop, her cheeks going pink as her shorts. “I came all over your leg.”

“That you did.” My voice is hoarse, my cock twitching at the memory of her riding my leg. I want it to happen again. Want to set my lips to her skin, push her up against the blue door with her hands above her head, tight in one of mine, my other hand pushing aside her panties. Want to see her ride my fingers, watch her eyes shutter and her body melt when she orgasms.

Can’t though. Even if she wasn’t as good as someone else’s, I can’t start anything with her. Can’t hurt her. Can’t risk it.

“Cas?” She’s right beside me, her arm bumping against mine.

“It’s not about blunt knives. It’s about how easily things can go wrong. You should understand that. An accident took your family.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to live scared.” She frowns, narrows her gaze intently on my own. “What are you afraid of?”

Mandy Pearce has the ability to see past the gruff exterior that’s kept people at bay for so long now, past the parts of me that ache, that are still filled with Juliette’s voice, her smile, to the parts of me that are stone cold, corroded, and dying. She sees them, and I want to split open and show her my scars. I want this girl to breathe life and warmth into me. The way she began to from our very first words. The urge is so strong, it leaves me shaking. “Nothing. I need to get back to work.”

“I don’t believe you.” She steps into my path. Legs apart, she holds her ground, one hand landing on my shoulder to stop me.

I glance at her hand, her face. Her eyes widen and she draws in a quick breath. Those legs, those pink as pink shorts, that blue door right behind her. The way her ponytail hangs over her shoulder, taunting me. My heart slams hard into my ribs. My cock is practically fucking steel, it’s that rigid. I can’t get that close to her, can’t hurt her. “Let me past.”

“We’re friends, aren’t we? Talk to me.”

“I don’t have friends.” That’s a lie. If not for my friendship with Razer, I wouldn’t be here on the ranch. Face to face with this stubborn pain in the ass girl. “Don’t need them.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Sure I do.”

“You’re being a jerk, Cas.”

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