Page 8 of Naughty List Cowboy

I shove at his chest, and he grabs my hand. “You did. You hurt me… again. It’s nothing new, Cash. You always hurt me.”

His mouth drops, and anguish fills his face. “I did this? How?”

I try to pull my hand back, but he won’t release me. “I met your friend, Wanda. She told me about your little nightcap you had planned. I mean really, Cash, why do you want to hurt me? What did I ever do to you?”

The tears start to roll again, and they fall even harder when Cash puts one arm behind my back and one behind my legs and picks me up against his chest. He kicks the door shut and then goes over to the corner of the room and sits down in the big chair next to the tree. I should fight him, but I don’t. I just lay my head against his chest and let it all out.

He’s kissing the top of my head, and his words are soothing even though I can’t make them out. I try to get myself together, and I tell myself I’m going to get up, but like a fool, I stay where I’m atas if I’m a glutton for punishment. “Please stop crying, baby. I can’t handle it when you cry.”

“Don’t call me baby,” I tell him.

He tightens his arms around me. “Are you ready to listen to me now?”

I don’t answer him, and I feel his chest expand and then slowly, he says the words I’ve longed to hear forever. “I love you, Daisy.”

I lift my head and look at him. “What do you mean you love me? You can’t love me.”

He chuckles. “I do love you. I’ve loved you since the day my sister brought you home.”

“Wanda said…”

He shakes his head. “I don’t care what Wanda said. Of course, her father has tried to fix us up because he wants to join our land, but that’s never going to happen.”

My forehead is creased as I’m looking at him. I have so many questions. “So you and Wanda have never…”

When my voice trails off, he leans in. “In the last five years, since the day I met you, I have not looked at another woman, touched another woman, or slept with another woman. I couldn’t. Not when I knew that you would eventually be my wife and the mother of my children.” He shakes his head. “Icouldn’t live with myself if I touched someone else, Daisy. You’re the only woman I want.”

The lights from the Christmas tree are flickering all around us, and I’m cocooned in his big body. “But… but you haven’t even kissed me, Cash.”

He leans in so close I’m sure he’s going to do it now, but he stops. I can feel his breath on my cheek. “I’ve kissed you a thousand times in my dreams, but I’d give anything to kiss you now.”

I slide my hands up his chest. “Kiss me.”

He doesn’t even hesitate. He devours me with his lips, and when he tilts my head to the side, he deepens our kiss. My heart is racing, and emotion wells inside me. I knew it would be good, but I had no idea it could be like that. When I pull back, I’m panting and looking at him wide-eyed. “Wow… I didn’t know…”

He kisses me again with just a nip of his lips, groans, and pulls away. “I knew… I knew it would be like that.”

He puts a hand on each side of my face. “I know all this seems so sudden, but I’ve been planning it forever. Please move here to Whiskey Run and do your student teaching here. We can take it as slowly as you want. I just need you here, under my roof. I’m going to prove that we’re meantto be together. I’m going to make all your dreams come true.”

I thread my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. “I’d like to stay in Whiskey Run. I’d like to stay here with you.”

“Yes,” he whispers before kissing me again.

I sit here and let him kiss me until we’re both so frenzied we look almost dazed. I push my way out of his arms and stand up, holding my hand out to him.

He looks at me reluctantly but stands up and follows me. “I don’t want to go to the party. I want to stay up here with you, Daisy.”

I just smile at him over my shoulder. I lead him through the bedroom and out into the hall. But I surprise him when I walk across to his bedroom door and push it open. “Daisy, don’t fuck with me right now.”

I release his hand and move farther into the bedroom. I sit down on the bench at the end of the bed and start to remove my shoes while he stares at me with his mouth hanging open. “I’m not messing with you. You said you wanted to make all my dreams come true, and I thought we’d start with this one.”

I stand up and move to the side of the bed. Iunzip the zipper on the side of the dress and then let the material fall from my shoulders to the floor. “I always wanted to be in this bed with you. I want you to be my first, Cash.”

He’s in front of me in an instant. “I’m going to be your first… and your last, Daisy. Are you sure you want that? Because that’s all I’m offering.”

I shove his jacket off his big broad shoulders. “So let me get this straight. You’re offering me forever?”

He nods and tips my chin up. “Damn right I am.”

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