Page 55 of Catching Mr. Right

Chapter Twenty-Two

MANDY

I wait for Cas to tell me he’s out of here. That he never meant to get close to me. That we’ll be friends. He’ll email or text me. Maybe he’ll call me once in a while. Of course, he’ll be too busy to do it more than every blue moon, but still, what else should I expect? Only a foolish girl would hope for more, right? And that’s never been me. I’ve always been smart about my feelings.

Especially when it comes to relationships. I’m transparent about what I need in the man I’m going to fall in love with.

Loyal to a fault. Family orientated. Kind.

That is why I picked Sam Sweets, after all. Because he is all those things. It’s why I’m putting my heart and soul into trying to convince him I’m worth more than a cursory glance. Even if it is taking so much longer than I thought it would. It’s also why I came out here to tell Cas we need to break up.

I don’t know why I’m sick over the idea of telling him that Sam might not be ready to commit, but he’s more than willing to explore what’s between us, when I’m not really with Cas in the first place. He’s always been clear that I’m nothing more than a pain in his ass. Almost always. Besides, this is how both of us anticipated things would go. It was our plan. Why am I not ready?

Why doesn’t he say anything? If he would only come out and say that I’m not even a thought in his head when it comes to the next move he makes, it would be easy to tell him we don’t need to continue this charade. Instead he looks at me in a way that makes my knees weak. I hate that he can do that, because I know how much I’ll miss him.

And I know how grumpy he’ll be without me around to make him laugh.

And I’ll miss the orgasms. Oh God, the orgasms.

My vibrator sucks in comparison. Not that I will need it. I’ll be with Sam, who’ll no doubt be sweet and considerate in bed. He’ll make me come, and it’ll be good. But it won’t be like it is with Cas. None of it will be like it is with Cas. Which is exactly why it’s what I want, isn’t it?

“Fine. Don’t answer.” I stalk toward Soldier. More so Cas doesn’t see how sad I am over his grumpy ass, than because I have a chance in hell of catching his horse. Besides I don’t need him to put the silence into words. I don’t even know why I care. I promised myself I wouldn’t waste time on men who weren’t right for me, no matter their effect on my pulse.

Cas still has hold of my hand though. He doesn’t let go. “What about Sam? Has he come around yet?”

I don’t take my gaze off Soldier. Can horses tell when you lie? Aren’t all animals supposed to be able to read people? I swear his big, brown, horsey eyes drink everything in. “No. Not yet. I need your help to push him over the line. It’s only a matter of time. Please, Cas.”

It takes him forever to speak. His voice is raw and demanding when he does. “No more of this staying away from the ranch, from me, because you have this stupid notion that we need reminding of what this is we’re doing, okay? We both know it’s not real.”

“Okay.” My heart flops without the flip. Why is one way the most amazing feeling, the other painful?

“I’ll stick around as long as I can. For you. To help you with your Sam issue.”

“Seriously?” What if I need him to never leave? What if I need him always? What if it would make all the difference? But he doesn’t say he’ll be there as long as I need him because this isn’t what we are. He’s only helping me land my perfect man, and then I won’t need him anymore. Once Sam realizes he’s serious about me I probably won’t care that Cas is gone, will I? I won’t even notice. At all.

“Yeah.” He pulls me back, his hand sliding up to grasp my elbow, so that we’re standing face to face, a few bare inches between us. “Yeah, girl. As long as I can.”

“That’s great.” I can’t stop looking at his lips, remembering what they felt like, what he felt like that night we spent together. I should probably look away, or at least make it clear that we shouldn’t repeat that incredible experience. After all I’m supposed to be making another man fall in love with me, not falling into Casper’s bed. That’s why we’re here. “We won’t have sex again, though.”

“I said nothing about sex,” Cas says, frowning. But there’s hunger in his gaze as it heats my skin.

“Good, because we probably shouldn’t.” Even if Sam thinks we are. Considering it should make me feel dirty, but it doesn’t. Not when Cas steps in closer, winds my hair around his fingers and tugs to angle my head while he starts kissing his way up my neck. It makes my insides melt, and my thighs slippery. And when his mouth gets to mine I kiss him back.

Oh God, how I kiss him back.

We’re all tongues and teeth and wild, wild hands as we pull at each other’s clothing, tearing off T-shirts and denim and lace. Black boxer briefs go too. Until we’re a tangled mess of limbs and mouths and boots and a condom he holds captive between his fingers. His lips are on my breast and his hands are on my ass as he picks me up and staggers over the uneven terrain toward those boulders and the shadows they cast where Soldier chews on a mouthful of long grass. My back finds warm stone; flat and grainy rock that rubs at my skin.

He puts me on my feet, turns me around, smooths his palms along my arms until he gets to my hands, plants them on the granite face while he trails kisses from my jaw to my shoulder. “Do you want to tell me we shouldn’t do this again? That you don’t want it? Because we can stop.”

Can we? I’m completely naked except for a pair of pink cowboy boots, and he’s running his hands over my hips and between my legs, forcing me to widen my stance. All I can focus on is the anticipation and the need coursing through me. I stare back at him over my shoulder. “I want it. So much.”

“Mandy Pearce, you do my fucking head in.” His fingers fill me. Two of them fucking in and out of my pussy, and I grind into his palm. “You have no idea how crazy you make me.”

So crazy. So irrational I can’t breathe. Or think about anything other than the sparks shooting around inside me. A fizz along my nerves that can’t be contained. The heat and pleasure that builds into an inferno of need. “Just do it, Cas. Give me your cock. Stick it in me.”

He lifts one of my legs, puts my foot onto one of the smaller boulders so that I’m wide open for him. It takes him a moment to put the condom on and then he wraps an arm around me to thrum my clit as he guides his cock to my entrance and eases into me.

I rest my head against his shoulder as I moan with his shallow movements. He kisses my hair, brings his hand up to massage my breast and pinch my nipple. I wriggle down on him. Take more of his cock. Want more.

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