“Yeah, I think I’m just going to go to bed early,” she added.
Cash wiggled his brows and smiled. When Jade mouthed stop, he couldn’t help but do it again. She pursed her lips to keep from laughing.
With her full hands and her attention focused on Livie, Cash couldn’t help but have a little more fun—and she was standing there in his shirt, so how was a man to resist?
Cash reached out and slid a hand up the side of her thigh and beneath the hem of the shirt. He glanced up to see her eyes widen, laughter and passion colliding in her gaze.
“Listen, Livie, can I call you tomorrow? I need to get to the bathroom.”
Cash narrowed his eyes and Jade stuck out her tongue.
“Okay. Bye.”
Cash pulled the phone away and disconnected the call. “You’re gross.”
Jade merely laughed. “I had to do something to get her off the phone. You said she wouldn’t know you were here.”
“No, I said I wouldn’t say anything, and I didn’t.” He set the phone back on the island. “You’d better get upstairs before I decide t
o lay you out on this island. I’d hate to break that, too.”
Shaking her head, Jade headed toward the staircase off the kitchen. This old, Southern home was quite stunning and had aged well. Cash loved the charm and simplicity of the place.
He loved watching Jade’s body shift beneath his shirt even more.
As much as he’d teased her about the call with Livie, another part of him hated that they were being so deceitful. What had started in Nashville as fun and flirty had filtered over into their daily lives. They weren’t just hooking up randomly every now and then; they were in a relationship.
Whether she wanted to admit it or not, whether either of them were ready for what this meant, there would be no dancing around this bold fact for much longer. Because as much as they tried to keep this about sex—and they’d done a stellar job at that—so much more had happened. Each day seemed to bind them closer and closer.
Cash took out the trash, thankful the can was just off the porch of the fenced-in yard where nobody could see him. Then he carried out the larger pieces that didn’t fit in the sack.
Once he’d locked the doors, front and back, he grabbed her bag and her cell. He mounted the back steps toward her bedroom. Night had fallen, and he just wondered if this would be the night they made it all the way through without a walk of shame before the sun came up.
* * *
Empty boxes lay open all over Jade’s king-size bed. Her stomach was full and she was starting to feel the warmth of the wine. Combine that with the man across from her staring back like she was his entire world and Jade considered herself pretty damn lucky.
She didn’t know how her life had circled back to Haven and now to Cash, but she wasn’t the least bit sorry.
“You look like you’re about one glass away from great shower sex,” Cash stated as he flashed that naughty grin.
“I don’t think you’ll need to give me anymore wine to get me in that shower,” she replied, taking the last sip from her glass. “I’m pretty easy when it comes to you.”
One dark brow quirked. “Is that right?”
Jade shifted and set her glass on her nightstand, then turned back and started gathering their garbage and putting it back in the brown bag.
“That was probably the best meal I’ve had in a long time,” she told him. “I’m kind of glad you decided to surprise me here.”
“Despite the broken chair?”
Jade shot a glance his way. “Even with the broken chair.”
He picked up his own mess, and once they had the bed cleared off, Cash reached for her hands and tugged her until she sat closer to him. She extended her legs to rest over his thighs and trail behind him.
“I’ve been thinking,” he started, hating the nerves in his stomach or the fact that he was risking too much by bringing this up. “I want to tell you about my dad.”
Jade’s eyes widened. “That’s not where I thought you were going when you pulled me over.”