Page 16 of Wait in the Truck
Thankfully, Sage has yet to turn around, so I extract a smoke from the pack and light it up. Nicotine coats my tongue before I announce my presence. “You know it’s illegal to trespass, Wildflower.” I don’t really give two shits that she is swimming in my river, but she’s teased me enough for today. I figure it’s my turn.
Sage turns on a dime, sputtering something that sounds like “Fuckin’ hell, Kade” as she does her best to cover herself with her towel.Bit late for that, sweetheart. I’ve already seen most of what you have to offer, and fuck me, I have every inch memorized.Finally, those ocean-blue eyes latch onto mine. “You almost gave me a heart attack. How long have you been sittin’ there?”
Holding her gaze, I tilt my head to the side and survey her from head to toe with a wicked grin. “Eh, not long. Actually, I justcame, darlin’.”
SAGE
10
My eyes are fixedon Kade and his twitching lips. What a fucking odd way for him to phrase his arrival.I just came.My cheeks grow pink with a reminder of the dream I’d had while dozing earlier. In my mind’s eye, visions of this man looming over me as he plunged in and out of my body, sexy and slow, make my throat go dry. The searing-hot look in his eyes had been my undoing. And then…You came hard in my dream, for sure, Kade.Semi-embarrassed by the path my thoughts have taken, I blink rapidly before blowing out a breath.
I refocus on him, now acutely aware of both the tingle of arousal between my legs and the fact that I’m standing here in wet panties and a towel. Fuck knows when Kade really showed up. He wasn’t on the bank when I arrived and definitely not when I decided to strip down to my underwear for a cooling dip in the river. But, oh god, he couldeasily have witnessed my exit from the water… and me standing here bare chested as I dried off. I swallow hard, a knot of tension building low in unmentionable places.
Sucking in a breath, I find him staring at me, his head cocked to the side and a quirk to his mouth that makes me wonder if he isn’t aware of every single dirty thought running through my mind. My face flames red. I will probably never know how long he was really there. I clutch the towel in my fist between my breasts. Fuck. He looks good relaxing there in jeans and a white T-shirt, knees drawn up and loosely encircled by thickly muscled arms. And those keen eyes of his haven’t veered away, seeing everything from under the brim of his hat.
It doesn’t seem like he’s going anywhere, content to sit, smoking his cigarette, so I slowly make my way from the bridge that spans from the Rivers’ side to the Everett property.
His eyes lick like flames over my skin as I walk closer to him. He juts his chin upward, gazing steadily at me. “I’ve been to Boozin’ Boots a couple of evenings. Missed seein’ ya.”
At his mention of the bar, my tongue sneaks out, touching my healing lip, like it has so many times over the last several days. “I haven’t been there this week. I took Billy up on his offer to take some time off.” I grimace, remembering how Kade had stressed I shouldn’t hide what Toby had done to me. “I’ve been into town with my dad… people have seen what he did.” I absentmindedly lift a few fingertips to the bruised skin at the outer corner of my eye, wincing at the dull ache that my probing causes.At least I think they assume it was Toby.No one has reason to assume otherwise.
Kade works his jaw to the side. “Good for you. I mean that.”
I shrug, then exhale hard, remembering the prying eyes that’d been on me during the stops we’d made at the bank and the drugstore. “They’re still talking, no doubt.” I shoot him a pained smile.
“Don’t worry about other people,” he grits out, rubbing a hand over the five-o’clock shadow on his cheek as he stubs the cigarette out. “They don’t matter, Sage. They really don’t, in the grand scheme of things.”
He’s not wrong. I know that. But the idea that people are gossiping about why I’d choose to be with someone who would hurt me? It stings my pride. “By the way, whatever you said to Toby must’ve stuck. I, uh… I haven’t heard from him. He did say he’d be working on himself, so maybe he’s simply not ready to come back. But”—my brow wrinkles—“I’ll admit, I did expect for him to conveniently forget what he’d done and pretend like it never happened. Like he usually does after a few days.”
Kade’s lips twist, and he rasps, “Well, I can be pretty persuasive when I wanna be. Sounds like he heeded my warning.” He grips the back of his neck, tugging like he’s alittle wary of whatever he’s going to say next. His eyes study me carefully before he murmurs low, “Are you done with him, Sage?”
I let out a sigh, watching the sun descending in the sky as it heads toward the horizon. “The truth is, I’ve been ready to leave him for a good while now.” I draw in a deep breath, but when I try to speak, my voice sticks in my throat.
“Take your time. No judgment here.”
I nod, letting another exhale skitter from between my lips. “It’s hard to get out of a vicious cycle when you’re in it. That probably doesn’t make any sense, but?—”
He winces, the skin at the corners of his eyes creasing. “No. I understand.”
My toes curl into the grass and my eyes roam over him. As they do, I let my mind wander, slipping easily back to the dream I’d been having about Kade as I slept… but also what’d come before. It’d started as a nightmare, so lifelike and real that I thought I was awake. My chest tightens at the memory of the familiar man who’d been touching my body. It’d made my stomach clench and churn. Just as quickly, though, he’d morphed into Kade, pulling me from the shadows. Those big callused hands of his had caressed my body in a way that had me throbbing with need for him. He’d been playing mercilessly with my nipples, tweaking them into stiff peaks before sliding one hand between my legs to stroke at my clit.
With a start, I realize I’m staring at his hands and wishing I could tumble back into that part of the dream, to the place where I’d felt completely safe. Why does he make me feel that way? He shouldn’t. My father has warned me so many times to stay away from his entire family. But there’s something about him that draws me in and makes me feel secure.
“Sage? Ya okay there?” His brows have tugged together, and his tongue swipes over his lower lip as he watches me startle.
Flustered by his deep voice that sounds so like when he was whispering huskily in my ear while I slept, I glance away from his insistent gaze, and stutter. “Y-yeah. I’m good.”
“Can we circle back to my question from the other day, then? You know. While we’re not bound to be interrupted by your shotgun-toting daddy?”
My eyes snap to his.Uh-oh.“What do you mean?”
“I’m curious why you sleep in that barn.”
No, no, no… not ready to discuss this with him. To be fair, I don’t want to discuss it with anyone. And the way he’s eyeing me, there’s no avoiding it. I grip the towel, my fingers twisting in it.
Where do I start?I rack my brain, thinking back to all those times this week when I felt someone watching me. It’s not like it’s anything new. More and more lately, I’ve felt the sensation of eyes on me. It’d happened when I’dbeen handling the foal born the night Toby beat me, then again while I’d been grooming Cruella. The next day, I felt it again in the middle of mucking the stables. And then yesterday in the garden. I’d been tilling so we can plant soon, and a weird sensation had made my skin prickle. A breath heaves from me. I’d rather believe it was Kade watching me because I know he doesn’t mean me any harm. The problem is… it hadn’t felt like him. Every time, an awful creeping, clawing uneasiness settles in my gut.
Those are some of the reasons I sleep in the barn. But I’m not about to pull back the veil and share the tumble my home life has taken since my mother left and my father has no one else to focus on but me. I stare stonily at Kade, who is so completely at ease there in the grass, like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “I don’t want to talk about it. You can go now.” Turning my back on him, I stride quickly for the old bridge. With my toes curling at the edge of the wood, I hazard a glance at him, only to find he’s stripped out of his T-shirt and is now lying back on it with his legs lazily propped and his hat plunked down to shield his face.
