From Ashes (From Ashes #1)(19)

“You’ve been there for over three months now, and you had no idea. It’ll be fine.”

“But now I know they’re there,” I reasoned. “Way different.”

“I promise they won’t hurt you.”

“Can we talk about something else? I’m still freaking out and they’re not even near us.”

He stiffened.

“Gage?”

“So how’s work going?”

“Gage!”

Tilting my head back so he could look in my eyes, he spoke softly and watched closely for my reaction. “My shotgun is in the backseat.”

My breath caught. How many times had I been in his truck, and I’d never noticed this? “Nope.” I shook my head and forced myself to relax into him. “No, I’m pretty sure that’s incorrect. There isn’t a shotgun in your truck.”

He laughed. “Yes, ma’am. Whatever you say.”

“So work is going great.”

He laughed even louder. “I’m glad. Though now we have so much coffee in the apartment, I don’t think we’ll ever go through it all.”

“Probably not. I’ll send some with you to the ranch.”

“They’d like that.” He was quiet for a moment. “They’d like you too. I hope you come with me sometime.”

“I will,” I promised.

We slid down so we were now lying in the truck, looking up at the stars. He kept an arm around me, and I stayed curled into his side, my head resting on his shoulder. Our morning hugs were the most we ever touched now, so I closed my eyes and enjoyed every bit of this, knowing it wouldn’t last forever. I listened to his heartbeat, breathed in his clean, masculine scent, and memorized the way my body felt pressed up against his. His heartbeat picked up when I lightly ran my fingers across his chest and I smiled to myself.

His chest rumbled as he said, “What do you want to do for the rest of your life, Cassidy?”

Stay here with you. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I know you don’t want to go to school. Just wondered what you wanted to do. If you had a certain career in mind.” Gage’s deep voice got even huskier as he continued. “If you actually wanted to do something with your photography, or get married and have kids, if there’s somewhere you want to move to . . .” He trailed off.

No kids. I refuse to have children. “I don’t really know. I’ve never thought about it.”

“Seriously? You’ve never thought about your future and where you’d like to be? What you’d like to be?”

“Not once.” The most I’d ever thought about the future was in terms of weeks.

“I thought girls start planning their weddings when they’re little, and have crazy dreams like being an actress or a singer.”

I shrugged. When I was little, I wanted to grow up to be a princess. But my dad treated me like one, so I’d already thought I was one. The day he died, all dreams of the future stopped, and I hadn’t had one since. “What about you?”

“I want to finish college and move back to the ranch so I can take over it for my dad. Other than a family, that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“That sounds perfect for you.” I was already jealous of his future wife.

“You’ve really never thought about it? Never aspired to be a doctor, or a scientist, or a coffee shop girl?”

I laughed and rolled my eyes even though he couldn’t see. “Nope.”

“Everyone thinks about their future, but if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine, I get it,” he joked, and squeezed me tighter. When I didn’t say anything for a few minutes, he whispered, “Are you with me, or did you fall asleep?”

“Gage, can I tell you something I’ve never told anyone?” I asked softly.

“Of course you can.”

“I wasn’t lying to you, I really haven’t ever thought about what I wanted to do with my life. I, uh . . .” Clearing my throat, I tried again. “I never thought I’d live long enough to be able to move out of that house, so it seemed pointless to think about the future.”

“Cass,” he breathed, “I’m so—”

“No, I didn’t tell you that so you’d feel sorry for me. I just didn’t want you to think I was keeping something from you. I want you to know who I really am, Gage.”

He didn’t talk for a moment. “Thank you for trusting me with that.” He rolled me onto my back, his left arm still under me, and propped himself on his elbow. Brushing back loose strands of hair, he ran his fingers down my jaw; my eyes shut and I tilted my head back when he continued the line down my neck. “You’re away from them; you’ll never have to see them again. You have your whole life ahead of you, darlin’.” His voice dropped another octave and my eyes shot back open when I felt his breath on my lips. “It’s okay to dream about the future.”

My heart started racing as he slowly lowered his body to mine. Heat zinged through my entire body when his chest pressed against me, his lips still hovering less than an inch from my own. Our eyes searched each other, and his green eyes darkened as he leaned in closer to brush his lips across my forehead and both cheeks. Pulling back slightly, he waited, giving me the opportunity to stop him. I ran a hand through his messy black hair and curled it around the back of his neck, giving the slightest pressure so he’d know I wanted this too. A soft smile broke across his face and he leaned toward me again. Just before his lips could meet mine, my cell phone blared Tyler’s ringtone.