Red Hot: A Friends to Lovers Small Town Rom Com

by Cat Johnson

  Was I?

  No. Definitely not . . . Maybe.

  Shit. I didn’t know.

  All I did know was that blowjob had been pretty incredible today. BJ. Now those were two letters I really liked.

  My cunning wit had me chuckling to myself even if there was no one there to share it with as I proceeded with my stealth errand.

  “Hey, girlie. How are you? I’m so sorry I’m so late. Your Uncle Stone was a pain in my ass and kidnapped me to a meeting.”

  I sat in the straw next to the calf. Cradling her head in my lap, I didn’t have to do more than put the bottle near her mouth for her to latch on and start sucking down her dinner.

  “Wow. You’re hungry. Don’t tell your mommy I let you go so long before feeding you.”

  My conversation with the calf had me thinking of Red, not that she’d been far from my mind before that.

  She’d want to see her baby, I was sure. It might be too risky to have her visit in person right now. I wouldn’t put it past the stock dealer to be keeping an eye on her. Suspicious fuck.

  But I could definitely take a couple of pictures for her.

  Being the great multitasker that I was, I managed to keep feeding the calf while wrestling the cell out of my jeans pocket.

  “Smile, pretty girl.”

  I snapped a couple of action shots, then admired my work on the display screen. I had to admit, she was a cutie.

  “You’re a real beauty, just like your beautiful momma Red,” I said aloud and then realized something.

  I wanted to see Red. Hell, I wanted to more than see her.

  Yeah, it might ruin our friendship. But fuck the consequences. One taste of Red had only made me want more.

  “Drink up, baby girl. I’ve got a lady I need to see tonight.” And I had a bad feeling I wouldn’t even try acting like a gentleman this time.

  SIXTEEN

  Red

  I watched my cell phone’s display light up. Once. Then again. And again.

  The group text between Bethany, Harper and me was hopping.

  I glanced at it quick to make sure nothing important was happening.

  In this town, and with these women, you never knew. It could be anything. Intruder in the attic. Missing chickens. Bat in the kitchen. Harper had all three things happen to her over the period of a couple of weeks.

  I never completely ignored the texts. But sometimes, like when I was busy with customers, I wouldn’t reply. Or, like now, when I had no good reason but still had no intention of replying.

  That decision was not because Harper and Bethany were comparing recipes and I, as a person who could cook but usually chose not to, had nothing to contribute.

  I wasn’t responding because I was afraid. Afraid one word from me, even by text, would tip off my two best friends that something life changing had just happened with Cash.

  Yes, the world would keep turning. The Mudville gossip mill would keep churning. But my world as far as my relationship with Cash was forever altered and I wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

  No doubt the physical aspect had been good. Great. Amazing. But the rest? Him flying out of here. That sucked monkey butt.

  But he’d also saved my calf from being returned to the meat pen at the stock auction—one more thing I had to hide from my friends—proving he was a good guy. A great guy.

  For what he had done for me and that calf, in spite of it probably being larceny, or a felony, or something very bad that I wasn’t really sure of, I would be forever grateful.

  And so, I remained torn. About Cash. About changing my mind and participating in this discussion in my group chat that had now turned to something I actually had an opinion on—getting more followers on Instagram for each of our three respective businesses.

  I was about to cave and suggest we do some sort of joint promotion involving my store, Harper’s books and Bethany’s baking, when there was a knock on my door.

  My head whipped up. It could be the sheriff’s department coming to question me about the calf. And now that I actually knew where she was, they were the last people I wanted to speak to.

  It could also be Cash.

  “Red?” The sound of his voice had me untangling my legs from the throw on the sofa and running for the door.

  Cell still in my hand since I’d forgotten to put it down in my excitement, I struggled to unlock the door. When I got it open, Cash was standing there, hands braced high on the doorframe, his head down until he lifted it to look at me.

  He stared at me for a moment. Our gazes locked as his nostrils flared with his rapid breaths.

  “This is bad. I shouldn’t be here,” he said.

  I couldn’t disagree more. “Why not?” I asked.

  “I took some pictures for you of the calf eating.”

  “I’d love to see. But why is that bad?”

  “Because I could have—I should have—texted them to you. But instead I came over because I wanted to see you.”

  I smiled. “I don’t think that’s bad at all.”

  He pressed his lips together, still hovering in the doorway.

  His gaze dropped to the floor again as he said, “There’s something else.”

  “Yeah?” I asked.

  Cash brought his gaze back up to meet mine. He drew in a deep breath and said, “I’ve got a pocket full of condoms.”

  “A pocket full of condoms, huh?” I said, my lips twitching.

  He wasn’t exactly a Boy Scout, but at least he was prepared.

  I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Partially from the miserable expression on his face at that admission. Partially from the fact he’d made the confession at all.

  It was like the two sides of Cash—the good boy and the bad boy—were both equally strong. As if they coexisted side by side within him.

  The bad side did what he wanted while the good side took care of the apologies and that made it all okay. And, I realized, I wanted both sides of him. I wanted him.

  “Cash. Come inside.”

  He pushed off the doorframe, following me into the living room. I heard him close and lock the door but I didn’t see it because I was walking toward my bedroom at the time.

  In the doorway between the two rooms I paused and glanced back to where he stood, frozen in place, watching me.

  “You coming?” I asked.

  I saw his shocked expression at my invitation. Finally, he recovered. He smiled as he said, “Not yet, but I hope to be soon.”

  There was the bad boy I knew and loved. Just in time. Right when I needed him.

  I put my cell on Do Not Disturb because, well, I didn’t want to be disturbed. Not during this.

  Whatever was happening out in the real world could wait.

  I was about to finally do what I’d dreamed about since my teen years. Have sex with Cashel Morgan. But instead of my teen imaginings, where we’d been everywhere from the back of his truck, to behind the bleachers on the ball field, this time we’d be in my bed. Like adults.

  It was going to be great. I was considering exactly how great when two strong hands lifted me from behind and tossed me onto the mattress. He flipped me over onto my back before I could react and leaned low.

  His fingers were already poised at the elastic waist of my pajama bottoms as he asked. “You ready?”

  Ready for a near feral and aroused Cash? No, I suspected I was not. But I’d never admit that. Not to him. Not even to myself.

  I nodded and that was all the prompting he needed.

  My bottoms disappeared as he yanked them down my legs, off my feet, and tossed them onto the bedroom carpet. I was bare from the waist down, except for my fuzzy socks with the corny saying on the soles. If you can read this, bring me a glass of wine.

  As Cash lowered his head between my legs and I had trouble breathing, I had to think I might need an oxygen mask instead of that wine.

  He latched on to my core with a practiced expertise I tried not to think about too much.

  No
matter where he’d gotten his experience, I was the woman benefiting from it now. He was focused solely on me as he spread my thighs wide to accommodate his head.

  He must have ditched his jacket sometime when I wasn’t looking but he was still over dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt, jeans and work boots.

  I’d have to worry about getting him naked later. I was too busy trying not to sound like a bad porno now as Cash dragged out of me sounds I’d never made before. I wasn’t ready for how hard and fast the orgasm would hit me.

  Grasping his hair in my fists I rode his mouth like a bucking bull at the county fair.

  When the spasms slowed and sanity returned, I finally released my hold on his hair.

  Free of my tight grip, Cash glanced up, a crooked smile on his lips as he straightened. I watched as he kicked off his boots and pulled the T-shirt over his head.

  The man should never wear a shirt ever. Not with muscles like that. Not bulky like gym rats and body builders. Leaner and oh so defined. Farmer fit. That was the perfect term, I decided as his hands moved to his belt and distracted me.

  Before taking off his jeans, Cash proved he hadn’t lied about the condoms when he reached into one pocket and tossed a handful on the bed. I stared at them until him pushing his jeans down his legs dragged my attention back to him.

  His thighs were perfection, defined by long, hard muscles that proved the man lifted with his legs while tossing all those bags of feed and bales of hay.

  I was having a full out farmer fantasy for myself when Cash shoved his boxer briefs down his legs and that part I’d become intimately familiar with this afternoon sprang forward.

  So smooth yet so hard, it held my attention completely. Rude maybe to be staring like this. I’d probably be angry if he stared at my boobs like I was at his cock, but I couldn’t help myself. I was rapt as he reached for one condom, tore into the wrapper, and covered himself.

  My heart pounded as he climbed over me to kneel between my legs on the bed, his eyes focused on mine.

  His gaze dropped down as he dragged one fingertip down my slit and over highly sensitive nerves, shooting a tremor through me.

  He looked up again and said, “This has been a long time coming.”

  “Yeah. It has,” I agreed, though this seemed like an odd time to be starting a conversation.

  Luckily, he was done with words as he lifted my knee with one hand and lined himself up with my entrance with the other.

  The cutest crease formed between Cash’s brows as he concentrated on his task.

  When he pushed inside me, that thought and all others fled.

  The one question that shot through my mind as my body tingled in response to his was, why the heck had we waited so long?

  SEVENTEEN

  Cash

  “I gotta get home.”

  Not that I really wanted to leave. Then again, I wasn’t sure about staying either.

  Having sex with a woman was one thing. Sleeping with her—as in actual slumber—was quite another.

  Red and I were too new for that. Too good of friends and that part threw all sorts of complications into what we’d just done.

  “Oh?” she said, struggling to sit up while still covering her tits with the sheet.

  Why she was worried about exposing her nudity to me I had no clue.

  I’d been the one to take off her shirt after round one. I’d had those nipples between my teeth as she came by my hand just before round two.

  And if I didn’t want to be hard as a rock again, I needed to stop thinking of all that. Swinging my legs over the side of the mattress, I stood.

  I reached for my underwear and said, “Yeah. I don’t want anybody to know where I am.”

  My hanging out with Red now, of all times, was a bad idea. Any number of people could make the connection. She had a calf go missing. My family owned a farm full of cows.

  It was a risk I didn’t want to take for all of our sakes, not in the least that little girlie hidden in the shed.

  As I reached for my jeans I wondered exactly when it would be safe for me and the calf. Probably not until the damn thing was full sized and less recognizable since its picture had already been plastered on Facebook.

  I reached for my shirt and turned to see Red, sitting up against the headboard with an odd expression on her face.

  “You all right?” I asked.

  “Just fine. Could you just maybe throw me my pants and top?”

  Still with the modesty? I didn’t question her but I did silently consider playing keep-a-way with her clothes just to see what she’d do.

  The mature side of me won out and I said, “Sure.”

  I handed her the clothes and sat on the edge of the bed to put my boots back on, figuring turning my back to her would make her and her sudden bout of shyness feel more comfortable.

  My cell vibrated in my pocket and I had to stand to pull it out. It was Boone, letting me know he was leaving the bar and heading home, just in case I’d been on the way to meet him.

  Crap. If he beat me home, he’d see I was out, but not at the bar, and then the questions would follow. I had to get back fast.

  Red was safely back in her PJs when I turned to her. “I, uh, gotta go.”

  “Okay.” There was that tone again, putting an edge on a deceptively simple answer.

  This was why I didn’t date. Women should come with a handbook or a decoder ring. Then maybe I’d know what the hell they were thinking and feeling and what I was expected to do about it.

  Was this because she wanted me to stay the night?

  If that’s what she really wanted then I’d have to figure something out for next time. Maybe sneak out of the house after everyone was asleep then sneak back in before anyone woke . . . and now I felt like I was back in high school again.

  Maybe it was time I got my own place. Still, living with Mom and Dad had its benefits. Free rent. No commute to work. Laundry and meals provided.

  I sighed. I’d figure it out, but not tonight.

  “Walk me to the door?” I asked.

  “Sure.” Another one-word answer delivered in a tone that spoke volumes.

  Yup. She was pissed.

  We’d reached the door and the end of our time together.

  With the clock ticking on Boone’s arrival home, I didn’t have long, so I put all my energy into grabbing her face between my hands and kissing her, hard and thorough. I took her mouth like a man who hadn’t just taken her front ways and backwards just an hour ago.

  When I finally let her go, she stumbled back a step. Her eyes looked a little unfocused and I knew my job was done here.

  “See you tomorrow, beautiful.” With a smile, I opened the door and ran down the stairs.

  I’d purposely left the couple of extra condoms on her bed—for next time if all went well—so the only thing in my front pocket now was my truck key. I was about to pull it out when movement caught my eye.

  Mother fucker. If I wasn’t completely crazy it was the same size and shape as the shadowy figure I’d seen creeping around Red’s yard last time. But this time, I’d seen him before he’d seen me.

  As he reached into the big orange donated clothing bin set up at the end of the shop’s driveway, I tackled him.

  The guy didn’t have a chance. It hadn’t been that long since I’d played football and I was bigger and stronger now. Not to mention I was motivated. This was my girl he was fucking with and he wasn’t going to get away with it again.

  Not on my watch.

  I had him pinned beneath me and was shouting questions at him beneath Red’s motion light when I heard her voice, “Cash. Oh my God. What’s going on?”

  “Your thief is back. Call the sheriff.”

  Events moved quickly from there. It all felt like a big jumble of flashing lights and questions, both from the deputy—John Callahan this time instead of Carson—and from the neighbors.

  The kid was put in cuffs and shoved in the back of the deputy vehicle. And he was indeed
a kid.

  The fact that it had turned out to be a boy—maybe thirteen or so—did much to deflate my superhero ego at having caught him. I probably outweighed him by about seventy pounds.

  But young or not, he’d still been up to something tonight, and most likely the other night too. Proper procedure had to be followed.

  “So how did you see him?” Callahan asked.

  He’d graduated high school with Stone and had been such a fuck off back then, I was having trouble taking him seriously in his role of authority now.

  Time for a lie.

  “I was driving by on my way to meet Boone at the bar, when a text came through from him saying he was leaving and on his way home. So, I swung in the side street to turn around and head home again when movement caught my eye.”

  Damn, I was a good liar. Too bad a person couldn’t make a living fibbing. Well, unless I wanted to be a politician.

  I smothered a chuckle at that since this was serious business and continued, “Since Red has been having trouble with intruders, I parked down the block and snuck back just in time to see him messing with the donation box.”

  “You hear anything?” Callahan asked, looking past me.

  I turned and saw Red was standing right behind me. Red shook her head in answer to Callahan’s question.

  She looked kind of shell shocked. I didn’t blame her.

  I’d have given anything to be able to pull her against me, wrap my arms around her and make her feel better, but that wasn’t appropriate.

  In the eyes of everyone here, we were just old friends from high school. Nothing else. I didn’t want the town gossiping about us, so I could no more give her a hug than tell Callahan the truth—that I’d been leaving Red’s apartment at almost eleven p.m. when I’d seen the guy.

  “Anything of value taken?” he asked her.

  “I don’t know. I mean I haven’t checked the shop. But if all he was doing was pawing through the bin, then no. There’s nothing in there but clothing donations for charity. It’s where I put the stuff I can’t sell in the shop.”

  Callahan nodded then flipped his little book shut. “All right. Let me know if you discover anything missing.” He turned to go and I stepped forward.