Country Kisses (3:AM Kisses Book #8)(59)

Is this something new? It couldn’t be. She looks poised and polished, for lack of a better word, seasoned. How the hell did I not know this? But then, why would I? Cassidy kept her entire life under lock and key. It’s a miracle I knew as much as I did.

She teases the crowd by taking off her belt, and her silver robe falls open in the front, revealing a matching set of bra and panties.

“Fuck,” I grunt it out as my eyes drift to the throngs of salivating bastards all beckoning her to take it off while fisting dollar bills at her.

Cassidy—Caila—at this point, I’m not sure what her real name is, sings like an angel, beautiful and strong, and it’s only when she looks in this general direction do I notice that her scar looks as if it’s been miraculously healed. My stomach sours for a second. I’m damn sure this is her, but she just looked right through me as if I were made of glass. Not that I’m here to disrupt her routine, but, then again, I’m very much here to disrupt her routine if need be. I can’t stand the thought of all these men chanting obscenities at her, just waiting for a glimpse of what she has to offer.

She looks my way again, and this time I lift my hand in an effort to gain her attention. Cassidy winks and offers me a squeeze of the fingers mid-air before continuing to fill the place with her beautifully haunting voice. She tosses the mic out to someone on the other side of the runway as the guitar solo goes off overhead. Cassidy peels her robe off, balling it up and tossing it in my direction. She hugs the pole in front of her and squats, licking a line along the phallic metal tube as she shimmies her way back up. Her hips grind into the base of it as she tosses her head back and moans into oblivion while the music breaks free in a frenzy. Cassidy looks every bit as if she’s pleasuring herself right there on stage in front of a house full of drunks, each one drooling at the opportunity to watch the very public display.

I can’t do this. I can’t sit here while the woman I love, the woman I’ve been dying to see, hold, and speak with continues like this. Something isn’t right, and I can’t put my finger on it. It’s as if I’ve exited one nightmare only to find myself fully awake in another.

“Cassidy!” I do my best to shout over the music, but my voice is drowned out by the network of drunken cheers.

She bends over, spilling her golden hair to the floor a moment while her fingers work the back of her bra, and once she stands abruptly, her tits bounce out in turn as if happy to finally see the crowd themselves.

“Oh shit.” I wrestle my way through the thicket of limbs. I whip off my jacket and toss it over to her. “Cassidy!” I shout with everything in me. “I love you!” I climb up and pull her in, examining her features for a trace of the woman I thought I knew.

“Cade!” a familiar female voice screams from below, and I turn, fully expecting to see Piper, but instead I’m met up with…

“Cassidy?”

A swarm of beefed-up security guards tosses something that amounts to a blanket over my head, and I’m thrown offstage, wrangled out to the cool night air before I can process what just happened.

“Shit.” I struggle for air as they pull the blanket off my face.

“Don’t come back, dude.” It’s the bouncer that I bothered to tip with a fifty. “Next time bones get broken, if you know what I mean.”

“I have to get back in there.” I pull my wallet out and toss a few hundred dollar bills at him.

“Keep your money, man. It’s not good here anymore.” He pushes me out to the curb as I try to leap past him.

“Cassidy!” I shout so loud my voice echoes down the empty street.

“Do that one more time, and I’m calling the cops.” He shakes his stiff neck without making eye contact. “Believe me, the chick’s not worth the trouble.”

“This one is.” I try to dive past him just as his oversized mitt connects with my jaw.

The last thing I see is Cassidy Clayton running out screaming—that beautiful face of hers staring down at me in horror.

If that’s the last thing I ever see, I’m good with that.

Then the world claps to darkness.





Making Hay of the Situation





Cassidy





Cade James lies cold and dead in my arms as I wail into the night like a creature that’s just been skinned alive. I might as well be. My beating heart has fallen right out of my chest and is rolling around somewhere by my feet—or at least it feels that way.

A hard groan comes from him as he bucks in my arms.

“Cade!” I howl into his face and slap him silly until his lids flutter and dance. He gives a groggy-eyed stare up at me, and I slap him one more time just for the heck of it. “Wake the hell up right this minute!” I shout so loud my voice rubs raw.

Cade grunts and moans, struggling to sit, just as a car pulls up and out spills Piper.

“I knew you two would work it out!” She gives a smug grin just as Caila struts from the side of the building.

“You need an ambulance?” My sister breaks that last word into three distinct parts far better than I could have. Sometimes, I think Caila beefs up her accent just for the hell of it. On second thought, it’s most likely just for the hell of her tips.

“No,” Cade growls as Owen helps him to a standing position.