by Kadie Scott
Will tipped his head, surprised, but shook her hand.
She turned to the rest of the group. “Lovely to see y’all again, as always.”
Evaline was at her side in a heartbeat. “Oh, we hoped you’d stay for lunch at least.”
“I—” Holly hesitated but couldn’t think of a single reason not to stay. This family, who treated her with such open welcome, was a fun lot to be around. Besides, Cash was her friend now.
Why did the term friend in association with Cash make her want to grimace?
“I’d better go change, at least.” She waved a hand at her grubby appearance.
“You can borrow my clothes again,” Carter offered from where she sat on the floor playing a game with Sophia.
Holly grinned. “I consider myself to be a fast learner and brought my own this time.” She turned and headed down the hall to the sound of chuckles.
She’d just stepped onto the front porch when Cash called her name. Turning, she waited for him to join her, her heart hammering out a Morse code of happiness.
As he stepped outside, he waved a hand, indicating he’d walk with her. “Why don’t you stay here tonight?”
Holly did a bit of a double take—the comment was so far from what she’d expected.
“I…um…”
“Mom said you don’t have to work tomorrow. She sent me out here to ask.”
Ah, so that was what that’d been about.
“And your horses are here. No reason to rush back.” Cash paused. Holly might not’ve caught it if she weren’t hypersensitive where he was concerned. “Unless you have a date.”
Holly bit at the inside of her cheek to stop from smiling. Instead of answering that comment, she said, “I guess anything I have to do can wait until tomorrow.”
“Good.”
Something in his voice snagged her attention, and Holly stopped beside her truck to look at him. Her gaze collided with a penetrating blue gaze, focused solely on her. She caught her breath at the intensity, suddenly feeling like the only woman in the world. At least as far as Cash Hill was concerned. A heady feeling that could become addictive.
He glanced at his boots, breaking the contact and giving her a needed reprieve. But she stilled when he reached out and gently took her hand. He ran his thumb back and forth over her knuckles in a soft caress. Then, without stopping that disturbing little touch, he raised his eyes back to hers.
“Holly,” he murmured.
She watched in dazed anticipation as his head descended toward hers, giving her plenty of time to stop things…which Holly had absolutely no intention of doing.
He never took his gaze from hers as he dipped closer. He inched toward her at a torturous pace. Finally, ever so softly, he laid his lips over hers.
Then, with a groan that Holly wasn’t sure came from him or her, his arms snaked around her waist and pulled her in close to the length of his body.
She forgot everything but Cash—the sun beating down on them, the laughter coming from the house, even how grimy she felt after her morning riding. She inhaled the spicy scent of the man holding her close, closed her eyes and gave herself up to the sensation of his kisses. He took his time exploring, tasting, teasing her. Holly whimpered under the onslaught of sensation that his touch whipped up. She wanted to get closer. Needed it.
She had no clue how long they’d been immersed in each other, when the sound of John’s voice yelling out for them split the air.
Cash pulled away with a jerk. “We’ll be right there,” he hollered back.
He looked down at her, and, as she watched, the twinkle in his eyes faded to uncertainty. He cleared his throat. “Sorry. I seem to keep breaking that no kissing rule.”
“I was about to remind you of that.”
“Right.” He took a step back. “We’d better head inside.”
Holly licked her lips, trying to hide her burgeoning dismay at her total lack of control, and nodded. “You go on in. I’ll get my stuff.”
“Mom said to use the same shower as last time. She’s put a towel in there for you.”
Based on his own coolness now, he must be feeling equally dismayed at that moment of insanity. Two grown adults should have better control.
“Thanks,” she muttered and turned her back on him.
*
After a relatively quiet lunch and afternoon, dinner was rowdy, with all of his family talking over one another as usual. However, this time Cash noticed that instead of feeling intimidated or overwhelmed, Holly seemed to enjoy the ruckus. She smiled and laughed and gave as good as she got.
And man did she look incredible. She’d put on a pretty white sundress that had tiny blue flowers all over it that somehow brought out the extraordinary green of her eyes. It ended above her knees, showing off her beautiful legs, and the matching blue polish on her toes. Something he kept trying to remind himself he shouldn’t be noticing.
But that kiss wouldn’t leave his mind or his body alone. He wanted more. He wanted all of her. However, by her distant reaction when they were interrupted, he guessed she didn’t want him the same way.
I want her to want me.
But what did he do about it? Nothing, if all she wanted to be was his friend.
After dinner, they all congregated in the family room. Autry and Jennings put NASCAR on the TV and settled down to watch with Dad. Sophia had her tablet, and so she quietly watched her own shows.
Carter clapped her hands together, looking particularly devious. “Holly, how about a game of gin, or maybe poker?”
Will groaned. “Don’t do it, Holly. Or whatever you do, don’t bet money on it. She puts that brain to use and will rob you blind.”
Carter pouted. “Just for that, Will Hill, you get to play too.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him from the couch. “Go set up the card table.”
Will scowled. “Only if you don’t call me that.” There was some more good-natured grumbling, but he still went and did as she asked.
Holly raised her eyebrows at Autry.
“Will hates his nickname and last name together. Drives him nuts if anyone calls him Will Hill.”
“Oh.” Holly chuckled.
“You can play too, Cash,” Carter insisted. “We need an even number.”
They got everything ready then settled down to the game. It wasn’t too long into it when Cash glanced at the big grandfather clock in the back corner of the room. “Sophia, time for bed, young lady.”
“Aw,” she groaned. “Five minutes?”
“Nope. You know the rules.” He stood to go with her. These last few minutes in the evening together were special.
“I want Holly to put me to bed.” Sophia scrambled to her feet.
Cash ruffled his daughter’s hair. “Not tonight, sweetie. Maybe some other night.”
“No.” Sophia stuck her bottom lip out, her chin tilting up stubbornly. “I want Holly.”
Holly, who’d glanced up at her name, rose to her feet, putting down her cards. “Actually, I’d love to.”
“Really?” Sophia asked, hopefully.
Holly crossed the room and took Sophia’s hand. “Of course.”
“You don’t have to,” Cash said in a low voice.
“But I want to,” she whispered back. Then she looked down at his daughter. “Now…you’re going to have to show me how this works. I’ve never put a little girl to bed before. Is it hard to do?”
Sophia giggled, just as he was sure Holly intended her to do. The sound shot straight to his heart. Ever since she’d met Holly, Sophia had done that more and more. She was turning back into the child he remembered from before Georgia died.
Maybe he could turn back into the man he’d been before Georgia got pregnant.
He moved to follow them out of the room, but Sophia stopped him. “No, Daddy. No boys allowed.”
He held up his hands. “Sorry.”
They disappeared down the darkened hallway without him.
Cash sat back down at the table and pick
ed up his cards. He shuffled his hand and glanced over at the door the ladies had left through. Back to his cards and shuffled some more.
“Cash?” The tone of Carter’s voice indicated she’d called his name a couple of times.
He raised his eyebrows in question.
“Your turn.”
“Oh.” He tried to focus on his cards then glanced at the ones on the table. He discarded and picked up a few more.
Will snorted beside him. “Thanks, buddy.” He snatched the jack of spades Cash had set down.
It was the exact card Will had been waiting for. The one Cash had been holding on to deliberately. He kept his irritation hidden. Or at least he thought he did.
Carter glanced over at him. “Something on your mind?” she asked sweetly.
Cash gave her a bland look and didn’t answer.
She kept at it anyway. “Wouldn’t happen to be a sexy, single veterinarian?”
Cash’s eyebrows shot up, and his jaw dropped—deliberately. “You like Luke too?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I mean the other sexy, single vet. The one staying in this house. The one you couldn’t stop watching all through dinner?” Then she smirked and set her hand down. “Gin.”
Will and Cash tossed down their cards with a groan. That was three in a row for her. Why did they even bother?
“At least we didn’t put money on it this time,” Will muttered to Cash under his breath.
Ignoring the banter, Carter crossed her arms and gave Cash an unblinking stare.
He let out an exasperated groan. “What?”
“What’s going on with you and Holly?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Nothing.”
She shook her head. “Too bad, because we all like her. She’s been good for you and Sophia.”
“How’s that?”
Will and Carter exchanged a glance. “You’ve both…seemed happier since she came back. Sophia adores her. And the way that you look at her…”
Cash grunted in response to that.
“I just wish a man might look at me that way someday.” Carter winked.
“Right. Well…”
Done with this conversation and curious about how bedtime was going, Cash stood up. “You guys can put this away.” He headed toward the back of the house.
As he walked down the hallway, he heard a low murmur of voices. Poking his head around the door, he found the bedroom empty. The sounds of splashing alerted him as to where to look next.
He discovered them in the connected bathroom. Sophia was in the big Jacuzzi tub with toys and bubbles floating all around her, and Holly knelt beside it. They were both holding some plastic horses.
“Go!” Sophia declared.
Imaginations fully engaged, the two raced their horses around the edge of the bathtub.
Holly was apparently the designated commentator. “They’re off!” she said, in her best deep voice. “Pink takes an early lead as Green hesitates out the gate. They’ve started at a fast clip. Can they keep this pace up? Here’s the first turn. Pink holds on to her lead by a nose.
“Now for the water portion of the course, folks.” The two moved their horses down into the tub, where they started jumping over a series of obstacles that kept moving around in the churning water. “This is where Green excels. Indeed, there she goes, pulling ahead of Pink as they fly over the yellow duck crossing.”
By the end of the race, Sophia had won and Holly was soaked to the skin down the front of her dress. She’d practically ended up in the tub in her exuberant play. What grabbed hold of Cash’s attention was how hard Sophia was laughing. Deep belly laughs in her high-pitched voice that ate away at the bitterness Georgia had left around his heart and filled it with pure love. He’d forgotten how much he adored that sound. Regardless of her tactics or motivations, Georgia had given him this incredible gift. Their daughter.
“Daddy!” she squealed when she saw him. “Want to play?” She held up an orange horse.
Cash laughed. “I don’t think I could keep up with you two.”
“Besides, that was the last race. Time to get out,” Holly added.
Cash grabbed a towel and hefted Sophia out of the tub. Together, he and Holly got her dried off, her hair combed, jammies on and her teeth brushed. Sophia bounced onto the bed. He’d let her take the bed tonight while he planned to sleep on the couch in the family room. She grabbed a book from the nightstand and held it out to Holly, who climbed up with her. Cash started to leave the room.
“Read with us, Daddy,” Sophia said.
He flicked a glance at Holly, who didn’t meet his gaze, then joined them on the bed. They leaned against the rustic-looking headboard, feet sticking out in front of them, Sophia between them.
Holly started reading Harry Potter, which Sophia had insisted on. She did the voices with British accents and everything. Sophia was delighted, giggling every time there was dialogue. The chapter passed quickly. Together they tucked Sophia into bed, kissed her and turned off the lights.
“Thanks,” Cash whispered when they found themselves in the hallway. Alone.
She smiled softly. “I enjoyed that. She’s a sweetheart.”
“She could do with a woman’s influence more regularly. I’m lucky I have Mom, and sometimes Carter. But Sophia needs a mother.” Cash snapped his mouth closed audibly. Where had that come from? He’d had no such thoughts since Georgia had died.
Until now.
His eyes traveled over Holly’s face in the dim light of the hallway. “You’d make a wonderful mother.”
The minute the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to pull them back. A phenomenon that kept happening around her. He hadn’t meant for Sophia, he’d meant in general, based on how she was with his daughter. And he almost had himself convinced that was the truth.
Cash opened his mouth to explain but stopped when she suddenly said, “No, I wouldn’t.”
The sparkle in her eyes that had been there just a moment before had dulled and disappeared. Without another word, she turned and quickly walked to Carter’s room. When she got to the door, she turned back down the hall to where he stood watching.
“Night, Sheriff.”
Then she was gone.
Chapter Fifteen
Holly snuck through the dark and quiet house, wincing at every creak of a floorboard and trying to not knock anything over or stub a toe in the unfamiliar space. She let herself out onto the front porch, careful to catch the screen door, which had a tendency to slam. She sought the swinging chair she’d noticed earlier—wooden, hand-painted white, with a blue cushion.
With a sigh, Holly sank down and tucked her bare feet beneath her. Leaning her head back, she closed her eyes and breathed. Even this late at night, the humidity was making her T-shirt stick to her skin and the temperature couldn’t be below eighty.
A soft, welcome breeze lifted tendrils of her hair. The sounds of Texas at night filled her with a soul-deep kind of peace. The rustle of the leaves of the large oak trees…the chirp of the crickets…the occasional croak of a toad. The sounds of home.
“What brings you out here?” Cash’s soft voice startled her, and Holly abruptly sat up.
He waved a hand, indicating she should relax.
After a minute, she leaned back against the swing. “Did I wake you?”
He shook his head. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“Me neither.” She tipped her head at the place beside her. “Take a seat, Sheriff.”
He sat and pushed the swing into a gentle sway with the tip of his toe. It squeaked a rusty protest at the motion. “Have trouble sleeping often?”
Holly waved a dismissive hand. “On and off.”
“Mostly on, though?”
She glanced at him in surprise. How did he do that? See through her, into her, so easily? “Ever since Grams died.” She sort of surprised herself with the admission. She didn’t talk about this. Ever.
“You miss her?”
Holly gave a soft smile as she
thought of Grams, with her long gray hair always tucked into a bun and her straight way of talking. “Yes, but that’s not what makes it hard to sleep.”
She glanced over. Cash watched her with quiet curiosity.
She swallowed. “When Grams died, I had a choice…stay home and watch Kris and Noel, or go to school. I chose school.”
“I heard the rumors.”
She flinched. “Yeah. A woman actually stopped me in town once to tell me I was going to hell for abandoning them.”
Cash scowled. “Who?”
The cold fury in his voice warmed her, making her feel protected and cared for, but she shook her head. “It’s not important.”
Thankfully, he took her cue and let it go. “What happened to Kris and Noel?”
“Foster care.” She looked out over the moonlit yard, thinking. Regretting. “I could’ve stayed. Finished raising them then gone to college when they did. It wouldn’t have delayed things long—just four years, until Kris turned eighteen.”
“So why didn’t you?”
She shifted in her seat. She’d never shared this with anyone. It wasn’t exactly an easy topic to bring up.
Suddenly, Cash reached his arm over and pulled her in close to him. Holly didn’t know why, but she felt right there, at home in his arms. Relaxing, she laid her head on his shoulder.
“You can talk to me.”
Holly sighed. “I worried that taking them on would mean I’d never make it to college. Being a large animal vet had been my dream since I was five. I couldn’t walk away from that. I had a scholarship with an expiration date on it as well. The caseworker insisted it was in everyone’s best interest. Grams didn’t leave us any money, you see. Looking back, though, I was very selfish.”
“You were eighteen.”
“Kris and Noel needed me.”
“Based on what you’ve told me, they didn’t suffer. If anything, they’re doing very well.”
He was right, but that had been luck. They’d ended up with good foster parents. What she couldn’t bring herself to tell Cash was that, over the years of college, Holly’d come to realize she had abandoned her family. Someone who could do that for their own selfish purposes didn’t deserve a family.
