Page 92 of Loving Whiskey

My hand moves to my stomach, and I rub it. “Okay, baby, you really do have a good daddy. I think it’s all going to be okay.” I close my eyes at this admission, almost sure that it’s true.

A few moments later I hear a knock on the bathroom door. “Come in,” I reply, ready to open up to Cash.

“Hey Angel, can I get you anything?” he asks, opening the door. I can’t see him because my back is to him, so I turn to the mirror to see if I can spot his face. His eyes are closed. It’s absolutely adorable that he’s trying to keep his word of being a gentleman.

A grin tugs at my lips. “Can you come in here? And don’t try walking with your eyes closed. I don’t feel like taking another trip to the emergency room tonight,” I tease.

Cash meets my eyes in the mirror and smirks, but he stays rooted in place. “Just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He starts to back out and I feel panic rising. I want him here, beside me, holding my hand. I need it more than I can explain.

“Please, Cash, I need you.” Desperation drips from my voice.

In two steps he’s beside the bath, staring down at me with an almost pained expression. “You know it’s impossible for me to say no to you.”

I twist my mouth and smile. “Good.” I tap the area beside the bath. “Now sit down and wash my hair, please?”

Cash’s entire face warms and his eyes sparkle like a glass of whiskey that’s been poured over ice. I want to drown in his stare. Get drunk in it and dance.

He rolls up his sleeves, sits down on the edge, and grabs the shampoo and conditioner that I noticed he’d already moved by the bath earlier. “Come here, beautiful.”

I maneuver myself so that my head is almost in his lap, and I allow Cash to lean me back, and with a cup he empties warm water over my head, making careful work not to get any of it on my face.

My eyes are closed but I can feel him moving closer to me, until the moment his lips are right next to my own, breathing the same air, humming with an electric energy that makes my entire body buzz. My breasts float on the edge of the water, and I feel my nipples harden as the cool air dances around me and the warm water laps against them.

“Oh Cash,” I moan, feeling everything so acutely.

Cash’s mouth hits mine and his tongue parts my lips. My hand moves around his neck, and I pull him closer to me, almost losing control and pulling him into the water. Cash pulls me up though, so that I’m sitting upright and against his chest, practically panting with need. The pressure builds between my legs, and I’m positive I’m about to get him into this bath and between my legs when he pulls away.

He stares at me, breathing heavily. “I made a promise…” he says in a whisper.

“Fuck your promises…” I reply with a throaty laugh.

Cash licks his lips, and his eyes dip to mine again. “You’re so gorgeous, Gracie. You’re a dream come true right now in my bath, in my bedroom,in my life.” He swallows. “I don’t want to screw it up.”

I lean my head against his chest. He’s sopping wet now from my body against his own, but he’s still just sitting on the side of the tub. My completely gorgeous, hopelessly in love, disaster of a man. He’s not perfect and neither am I, but in this moment, I truly believe we are perfect for one another.

“The only way you’ll screw it up is if you stop kissing me,” I say in defiance.

Cash glances down at my lips again, and it’s like I can read his thoughts the moment that he saysfuck itand grabs me, pulling my mouth to his own. I’m lost in the warmth of Cash, in his taste, the familiarity, the longing.

When the phone starts to ring, I ignore it. Nothing matters but the two of us right now. The moment we’re sharing. The reconciliation, the reunion, the future I’m mapping out in my head. But the phone doesn’t stop, and eventually Cash chooses not to ignore it anymore.

“It could be Tessa or Cat checking on you. Let me grab it, and then I promise I’ll go back to what I was doing,” he says with a wink as I groan in disapproval from the loss of his lips against mine.

Cash moves to the bedroom and grabs my phone, and I hear him mumble a few words. When he comes back his entire demeanor has changed. The lightness of a few seconds ago is gone, and the warmth has left his eyes completely.

“Who is it?” I ask, nervous for the answer.

“Hayden,” he replies, barely looking at me. “You should probably get out of the bath,” Cash says, grabbing me a robe and a towel which he leaves on the side of the tub before placing the phone on the counter and heading toward the door.

“Cash,” I say, trying to stop him as I stand up and wrap the towel around me.

He doesn’t even look up. Even with me naked, he doesn’t spare a glance. “I’ll see you in the morning, Grace. Sleep well. If you need anything, let me know.”

I take a few seconds to get my mind back on task, swirl my hair into a towel and wrap the robe around my body before I pick up the phone. “Hi, Hayden.”

“Grace, are you okay?”

I sigh. I was. I was more than okay for a few moments there. “Yes, the doctor said everything is fine.”

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