Heartless (Chestnut Springs, #2)(77)

And he’s not wrong. I’ve always been a little averse to growing up and settling down, but I’m finding I want nothing more. After so much time spinning around not knowing what I want, I think I might have finally figured it out.

“You’re important to me too, Cade,” is what I settle on, because I know he needs to hear that. He’s homed in on my insecurities, and I’ve homed in on his.

We build each other up. We tidy one another’s loose ends. We fit so perfectly.

“Good. But, Red, I don’t think I told you to stop playing with those tits.” His voice changes, taking on a playful edge as he takes long, casual steps toward the hot tub, peeling his shirt away and dropping it on the brick patio.

“Yeah, but now you’re standing out there looking like a total snack, and I want you to come play with them instead,” I pout dramatically while my hands move again.

He chuckles and leans his chiseled forearms on the rim of the hot tub. “Fucking desperate,” he murmurs, shaking his head.

“Hey, yo—”

“Sit on the edge of the tub, baby. You told me I could watch you touch yourself while you thought about sucking my cock on the porch. And I know you’re a woman who keeps her word.”

I practically purr under that compliment. Because I am the type of woman who keeps her word. I’m fiercely loyal, and that’s something I’ve always taken pride in. I’m trustworthy and a good friend. I might not be a high achiever, but you can count on me to be there if you need to bury a body in the middle of the night.

I do as Cade says, lifting myself onto the ledge, steam swirling off my skin as I rise from the water.

“Fuck.” He holds a fist up over his mouth and stares at me like I might be his last meal. “That fucking bathing suit.”

“This one?” I ask, pulling it up tight so it squeezes my pussy in the way that drives him wild.

“You almost made me lose it that night, you know?”

“I wish you had.”

“I don’t.” He replies smoothly, and I arch a brow at him. “Don’t give me that look, Red. It wouldn’t have been the same and you know it. I wouldn’t have known you the way I do now. You would have still thought I was an asshole.”

“Who says I don’t anymore?”

He gives me his disapproving scowl. “Between then and now I’ve . . .” he trails off, glancing away for a moment, thinking carefully about the next words, “gotten to know you and come to care about you in a way I didn’t expect.”

“Same,” I reply, like an idiot who doesn’t want to throw herself across the hot tub and say, Actually, I think I’m falling for you! Hehehe.

He stares at me, but like, into me. He stares at me like he really knows me, like he could pull out all my deepest, darkest secrets and insecurities. I almost giggle because in a lot of ways he already has.

I wonder if he can tell that I’m losing control where he’s concerned.

I decide I don’t care, so I widen my legs and pull my bathing suit to the side, baring myself to him, smiling when his eyes flare in perfect time with his nostrils.

“You were so jealous that night,” I say. “So angry. Not at me, I could tell that much. But at yourself for wanting me. And I couldn’t wait to watch you come undone.”

I swipe a finger through my lips, feeling the slippery wetness between them just from having Cade’s eyes on me.

“I was too rough,” he says, licking his lips, but he doesn’t look sorry.

“And I liked it. No. I loved it.” I press lightly on my clit, teasing myself for him, letting him watch. “Your hands in my hair.” He groans as I prop one foot up on the edge, feeling more and more bold. More and more turned on by the way he’s looking at me. “Your cock in my mouth. Hard boards biting at my knees.”

I tease my slit again, dipping a finger in but only to the first knuckle. “The way the muscles in your legs flexed beneath my hands. I felt like a goddess. And the fact that anyone could have walked up and seen us together? I loved it.”

His jaw pops under the strain of holding himself back. I can see the muscles in his forearms rippling as he rubs his hands together. It’s like he just needs something to do with them that isn’t ripping this hot tub apart to get to me.

“You wanted everyone to know that mouth is mine, Red?”

I nod. His throat bobs. “You looked like a goddess too. You always do. You should see yourself right now. All that pretty copper hair stuck to your shoulders.” His eyes trail over me. “Tits out and heaving. Begging to be fucked.” His gaze moves down over my torso. “Flimsy bathing suit all bunched up, proving how fucking useless it is at hiding your body.”

His eyes flare when they land between my legs, where my fingers are still swiping lightly over my pussy. “That cocktease of a tight little cunt all out on display for me. Begging. Just like every other inch of your body.”

A whimper spills from my lips and heat rushes out through every limb. I feel like I could turn to putty for him and his filthy words. Crass words that are reverent at the same time. So full of admiration. Possession.

“Stop fucking around and show me how pretty you look with your fingers shoved inside, baby.” His voice sounds strangled as he moves his eyes to mine. There’s something on his face I can’t quite place. A vulnerability that pops up only now and then.