From Ashes (From Ashes #1)(28)
Grabbing her hand, I led her through the dark house, snatching a blanket out of the closet on the way out, and had Bear saddled up and both of us on him in no time. I could have gotten Star ready for her, but I wanted this excuse to have my arms around her, her back against my chest.
I led Bear to a creek that ran through my favorite part of the ranch and tied his reins around a tree branch on top of the hill before spreading out the blanket and lying down with Cass. We talked for two hours about the ranch, the stars, the quiet other than the light wind and cicadas, and the fireflies, which were her favorites. Cassidy began yawning a lot and I started to wonder if I should take her back, but I wasn’t ready to end this.
“I’m going to miss it here.” She sighed softly. “It’s so beautiful, all of it.”
“You can come back as often as you’d like.”
She smiled as she rolled on her side to look at me. “I’d wear out my welcome if I came here as much as I wanted to.”
“Not possible, my family loves you.” I love you.
“I’m going to miss them too; they’re so amazing. I’ve never really been close with any other girls, even Jackie. I mean, she’s a good friend and all, but it’s just not how I feel with your mom and sisters. I wish I could’ve had family like that growing up.”
God, there were so many things I wanted to say, but every single one of them was too much. I’d just scare her away. She yawned again and I sat up. “You’re tired, I should get you back.”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me back down, scooting up to lay her head on my chest. “Not yet. Going back means I have to leave you, and I don’t want to.”
My heart skipped a beat, then took off. “Cassidy.” I placed my fingers under her chin and tilted her head back; her honey eyes were bright in the moonlight. I slid out from under her head and hovered over her, my lips within an inch of hers. “Please don’t leave.”
Brushing my mouth across hers, her breath caught and eyes darkened before she wrapped her hands around my neck and crushed her mouth to mine. Our lips moved against each other, and a soft whimper escaped her throat when I caught her bottom lip between my teeth. Exactly the way I’d wanted to from the first night of meeting her. I pressed my body against hers and couldn’t stop my groan when her tongue met mine and she ran her hands through my hair. Lowering my body to hers, I wanted to die when she hitched her knees onto my hips; placing both forearms on either side of her head to hold my weight, I ground my hips into hers and was rewarded with a sweet-as-sin moan. God, I wanted her, to feel her and hear her sigh my name, but I knew I needed to restrain myself from anything like that for now, which meant I needed to stop kissing her. I just didn’t want to. I wanted to rip her shorts and shirt off and spend the rest of the night worshipping her body, I wanted to make her moan like that again and again . . . damn it, I really needed to stop. I forced our kisses to slow until our lips were barely brushing each other and tried not to think about slamming into her.
When I finally calmed down, I opened my eyes and saw her looking at me under heavy eyelids. “You’re so beautiful, Cassidy,” I whispered against her cheek before kissing it.
Her cheeks were still stained pink from our kiss and her lips tilted up in a soft smile I was beginning to realize she only ever gave me. My smile.
We stared at each other while her eyes slowly closed a little more and I knew I had two options: take her back to the main house and say good night, or keep her with me. “Come here.” I pulled her into my arms and rolled onto my back so she was lying across my chest. Kissing the top of her head, I relaxed under her. “Get some sleep, darlin’.”
She nodded against my chest and pressed her lips there twice before curling against me. “Good night, Gage.”
Good night indeed.
CASSIDY
I WOKE UP with my back curled into Gage’s chest, my head resting on one of his arms, his other wrapped securely around my waist. Last night wasn’t a dream. Oh my God, Gage kissed me, and I slept in his arms. I took a deep breath in and out and couldn’t help the huge smile that broke across my face. Tyler had been wrong about everything; Gage did want me. His arm tightened around my waist before he intertwined my fingers with his and brought my hand back to his lips.
“Morning.” His rich voice was even deeper from sleep.
“Good morning.” I rolled over and blushed as I placed my lips to his neck. I wasn’t sure how things were supposed to be this morning, but I couldn’t stop myself. I held my breath for a few seconds until his wide smile and dimples came into view right before his lips pressed softly to mine. My whole body started tingling the instant his mouth was on me. Dear Lord, if I had known kissing Gage would feel like this, I would have tried to make it happen long ago.
He pulled away, but placed two more quick kisses on my lips before sitting up and pulling me with him. “Come on, I need to get back to the house.” He must have seen the hurt in my eyes, because his went wide and he cupped my face. “I wouldn’t go back unless I had to. My dad’s probably already pissed that I wasn’t there this morning. I’m not going to work today though; we’ll get ready and I’ll take you to another spot on the ranch that I want you to see. Just us. But I need to tell him I won’t be around today.” His eyes were bright and though he tried to contain his smile, his dimples gave him away.