Penmort Castle (Ghosts and Reincarnation #1)(70)

It was some time after that Abby realised this was not the way to start her first day of having her head screwed firmly on straight.

His h*ps pressed gently into hers as he murmured against her neck, “Exquisite.”

At his word, Abby shivered before he pulled out gently, rolled them to their sides but his hand glided over her bottom and down the back of her leg, keeping it hooked over his hip.

His fingers trailed up her spine, cupped her head, tucked her face in his neck and remained there, lazily playing with her hair.

“We have things to talk about, darling, but I have to get to work,” he said over her head.

Last night on the long ride home, she’d fallen asleep. Cash had gently woken her in the car and she’d leaned heavily against him on the short walk to his door (how he found a parking spot directly opposite his front door, she had no clue and groggily thought it unfair). After Cash made her take two paracetamol, they’d gone straight to bed, Abby breaking one of her most closely held rules of never, but never, going to bed without taking off her makeup and putting on moisturiser.

Apparently being assaulted by a spirit from beyond the grave took it out of you.

At the current moment, she didn’t know what they had to talk about.

What she did know in her post, double-orgasm addled brain was that she needed a swift retreat and a call to Jenny for another “it’s-only-a-job” pep talk mixed with an oh-my-God strategy session on how to survive a murderous ghost.

“That’s okay,” she muttered into his neck.

“Do you feel like cooking tonight?” he asked and she tilted her head back to look at him. His chin dipped down and she felt his eyes on her in the early morning dark.

She also felt herself wishing, even though she knew she shouldn’t, that his gentle concern was real.

“I conked my head and scratched my arm, Cash, I’m not an invalid,” she told him, her words made soft by her voice. “Stop worrying about me.”

His head dropped further, his forehead coming to rest against hers.

“Abby,” he said and something in the way he said her name made her brace, mentally throwing up walls because she knew that tone, harsh but sweet and unbelievably warm, a tone she’d never heard from him before, was akin to an emotional battering ram. “Darling, you show it, you act it but I need you to say it.”

Abby’s breath caught and she forced herself to let it free.

“Say what?” she whispered.

“That you forgive me,” he replied.

Her throat closed and tears burned the backs of her eyes.

She was right, the walls around her heart splintered ominously under his attack.

“Say it,” he demanded.

She swallowed.

“Abby, please, f**king say it,” he growled, the words were curt, their meaning anything but.

“I forgive you,” she whispered and she knew she did and further, she knew that was stupid too.

She had no time to dwell on this, his arms went tight around her, his mouth crushed down on hers and he gave her a world-tilting kiss.

When his mouth broke from hers and Abby’s mind and body recovered from his words and his kiss, she realised she was in worse trouble than she first imagined.

And she imagined it being pretty, dang bad.

But she knew then this wasn’t just going to be a battle over her emotions.

This was going to be the epic battle of a lifetime.

Cash broke into her thoughts. “I’m sorry, love, but you’re going to have to get up with me.”

Her body went still at that alarming news.

What was next? Was he going to handcuff her to his side and make her spend the day with him?

“Why?” she asked, her voice as alarmed as she actually felt and he laughed.

Her head tilted back to look at him, not thinking one damned thing was funny.

His chin tipped down and she saw the white flash of his teeth indicating he was still smiling.

“You can go back to bed in a minute,” he assured her. “I just want to check your arm.”

Oh, that was it.

Abby relaxed.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” she told him dismissively, sliding her head down on the pillow.

“I want to check,” he returned.

“It’s fine,” she repeated and got a tight, warning squeeze of his arms in response.

“Abby, I want to f**king check,” he finished in a not-to-be-denied voice.

With no other choice Abby gave in but not without muttering, “Geez, you’re stubborn.”

His arms got tighter and he said, “Yes, I am and I’ll remind you why.”

Abby didn’t like the sound of that.

Cash went on. “You’re mine. And, darling, I’ll repeat as necessary until you get it into that obstinate head of yours, I take care of what’s mine. Is that clear?” he finished on another arm squeeze.

Her mind on the epic battle that lay before her which seemed to get worse by the second, Abby grumbled a barely distinguishable, “Yes.”

When she did, the tension she didn’t realise was in Cash’s body slid away, he rolled, taking her over the top of him and pulled them up.

He knifed out of bed, Abby going with him, he took her to the bathroom and did exactly as he wanted.

Fifteen minutes later, her cuts covered with antibiotic goo and bandaged anew, Abby crawled back into bed as she heard the shower start.