Lost and Found

by Jennifer Bryan Yarbrough

  "I was just wondering if you, well, if you minded lying in bed with me and holding me for a little while, until I fall asleep. You don't have to, it’s just I think I would..." I didn't even have to finish.

  "Sure, scooch over."

  And just like that, I was facing the wall of my room with Cash behind me, with one arm under my head and his other arm draped over my side. He pulled me closer towards him and I started drifting off to sleep, feeling safe nestled in his arms. I felt safer than I had felt in such a long time. It was then that he whispered into my ear.

  "Goodnight, Liv. No more bad dreams for you, sweetheart. No more bad dreams." Then he leaned down and kissed me on the temple and I fell asleep.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I woke up to Cash running his fingers through my hair. I look up because we are both facing each other. Even though his arm was under my neck, I must have turned around sometime in the middle of sleep. He reaches down and gives me a light kiss on my forehead.

  "Good morning, beautiful. How are you feeling this morning?"

  I had completely forgotten about my stomach, because I was so mesmerized at how natural it felt to not only wake up in his arms, but also the good morning kiss that he just gave me. I noticed that I was no longer nauseous, but had more of a hollow ‘I'm kind of hungry, but maybe I shouldn't chance it’ feeling in my stomach.

  "I feel quite a bit better, thank you. I probably shouldn't enter myself into an eating contest, but I think I could maybe hold something down."

  I feel like things have shifted some for both of us in a better way. I'm no longer looking at him as just my boss. More like we have finally formed a friendship. Yes, I feel more for him than I would say, Carmen or Lucas, because they don't give me the same fuzzy warm feeling I'm getting right now in the pit of my stomach.

  The way he's looking at me right now makes me feel naked. I hesitantly pull the covers up and look to make sure my clothes are still on and breathe a sigh of relief. He must have read my mind, because he smiled that gorgeous smile of his.

  "You're killing me, Liv! Where's the trust in this relationship? Hahaha... No I did not take advantage of you. You really know how to wound a man’s pride, ya know that?"

  He's laughing and still grinning at me, so I know that he's just joking with me, so I just smile back at him.

  "I can't help it. Other than Derek, and my father, you're the only man I've ever spent one on one time with and seeing as how we've had a couple of intimate moments, well, it's a big adjustment."

  "I'm figuring that out about you, which is why you seem to be such an enigma to me." He lowers himself closer to me with his arms still around me. "So, why don't you go take a shower and brush your teeth. And...." Oh god! I've thrown up how many times, and I can only imagine my breath must smell like the pit of the underworld. I cover my mouth with my hand and start pushing the covers off of me and he starts laughing. Full on belly laughs.

  "Yeah. Brush your teeth and get dressed and I'll go cook us up some breakfast. Nothing too heavy for your stomach."

  He gets up off of the bed and as he's walking out laughing his head off, he's also dodging all of the pillows I'm throwing at him. The brat.

  I crawl into the shower and I think it's the best shower I've ever had. I stand there an extra 10 minutes letting the scalding hot water wash all over my face and body of yesterday's sickness and nightmares that I had.

  Cash was like a knight in shining armor catching me, literally. When I fell from my stomach doing cartwheels, he was there. He was there to pull me out of my nightmare that I had and he was still there afterwards, when I told him everything about the accident.

  I would have thought with that much chaos in a span of a few hours would have had any normal man running back to their own room from all of the craziness, but nope. He stayed there, ready to help me with the cold wraps for my fever, a waste basket for me if my stomach had to release, and even perfect timing with the Kleenex.

  He thinks that I'm the enigma? Oh, he would be wrong about that. I'm pretty much an open book, but Cash on the other hand? There are definitely different layers to Mr. Cash Kingston and suddenly I'm not as scared to explore those layers, like I was just a week ago. Time. It's amazing how time changes things.

  That's exactly what I was thinking about when I walked into the kitchen to the aroma that was awaiting me. Cash pointed at the bar for me to sit down. There was coffee and orange juice, bacon, toast, and oatmeal. All of it smelled and looked delicious.

  "Is the bar fine with you? I figured since it’s just the two of us, there was no need to eat at the table. Unless you want to."

  "No, the bar is fine. Did you actually cook all of this?" He nodded and looked at me, shocked that I couldn't believe he could cook.

  "Just because I CHOOSE to not cook, doesn't mean that I don't know how, Liv."

  He pulled out a couple of plates and bowls and even made my plate for me and fixed my coffee exactly the way I like it. I'm wondering how he knows what I like in my coffee and he must have watched Carmen make it, because after that first morning, I was never allowed behind the bar in her kitchen ever again.

  "What kind of trouble are you going to get into for messing around in Carmen's kitchen?" I must have caught him off guard, because he spit out his orange juice.

  "I won't get into any trouble if YOU keep your mouth shut! What happens on the weekends stays on the weekends! I'll have it all spic and span before she comes back tomorrow and she'll be none the wiser. Okay?" This had me laughing my head off.

  "You're not scared of Carmen now, are ya Cash?"

  "You're damn right I'm scared! She thinks I just mope around all weekend and order take out! Seriously! Don't breathe a word of this!" Oh, I've got him now.

  "Ok, your little secret is safe with me. I'll try my best to not brag about this breakfast you cooked for me. This is very delicious, by the way. I'm very impressed."

  I look at him and he still seems nervous that I'm going to say something, which reminds me of the look that Gideon gave me when we were negotiating his punishment the day I met him. I reached over and reassured him that I wouldn't say anything and only then did he smile. I'm very impressed at the wrath of Carmen. I'll have to find out what her secret is.

  I guess since I'm feeling better I should probably head home and spend some time with Claudia." Cash suddenly got a panicked look on his face.

  "Why? I already told her you wouldn't be going home this weekend because you got sick."

  "But I feel better now, thanks to your doctoring last night and I'm sure you have things you were planning on doing this weekend." He shakes his head at this.

  "Nope. Didn't have anything planned. Why waste a drive, when you'll just have to turn around tomorrow and come back." He's absolutely serious.

  "So you WANT me to stay?" I kind of get that panicked look on my face.

  "Not for what you just thought of no, but I'm not going to deny that I like having you around. Aren't you having fun this morning?"

  I have to admit that I am indeed having fun and liking this side of Cash that I haven't seen, except for with the kids.

  "Actually, I am. But what are we going to do all day and night, Cash? I'm talking PG rating, when I'm asking this question." He drops his head and starts shaking it. "What? What's with the head shake?"

  "No PG-13? Really? PG? Come on. Loosen up just a little bit. I've been a good boy, haven't I?" I realize he's teasing me.

  "So, what did you have in mind?" I'm seriously wondering what he has up his sleeve at the moment.

  "We could go bowling or swimming, or watch some movies. That's just a few ideas off the top of my head."

  "I really don't feel like being around people, though. What if I'm still contagious?"

  "Oh, we won't have to leave the house for any of that. Have you not seen this whole place yet? What it all has to offer?" Well, now that I think of it, no I haven't. So I shake my head.

  "Well, then the first thing we are going to do is tak
e a tour of my castle. Man! This will knock out the rest of the day. Hurry up and eat. so that I can clean the kitchen!"

  His gruff tone had me laughing at him. Yes. I liked this side of him. He is so fun and playful and I have no idea why, but I'm curious how this tour is going to go and wonder if I'm going to see anything that surprises me.

  ******************

  I was completely amazed at just how big the castle was. In just the two weeks I've worked here, I thought that I had seen a lot of the castle, but I was so wrong. I had only seen maybe a fourth of it.

  Cash said we needed to start at the top and work our way down, to absorb the massive size of the castle. He led me to an elevator I was never made aware of that led us all the way to the top, which happened to be the 5th floor.

  "I never imagined there were five floors to this place. Granted, it's massive from outside, but I guess I hadn't really thought about it, because I never go further than the 3rd floor where our bedrooms are."

  "There are seven floors actually. The elevator goes two floors further down than the main living area." Oh my word. 7?

  "7? Don't tell me you really have a dungeon!" He laughed at how childish I must have sounded.

  "I haven't been down there in years, but yes, there is a dungeon and I'm not talking about the one I was teasing you about last week. That was actually the hallway that leads to my own personal gym."

  He winks at me and grins, which has me remembering the hallway. How could I forget that kiss? And him suggesting what we should do that weekend. I shook the feeling off, as the elevator opened up into the biggest bedroom I've ever seen.

  "This is what the owner before me called the master suite. Pretty massive, huh?"

  I'll say. Massive doesn't even come close to describing it. There are antique rugs the size of the downstairs living room all over the place. A king sized bed that literally looked like it was made for a king and was the size of two king sized beds put together.

  On each side of the bed were walk in closets that made a three car garage look small, and there is a swimming pool in the middle of the room that Cash said was actually a bathtub.

  On the east side of the room was a kitchen that blew the one downstairs to shame and a living room with tons of massive comfortable couches on the west side of the room, with the biggest flat screen TV I've ever seen above a huge fireplace, with what looks like an actual bear skin on the floor.

  "Was this yours and Vanessa's room?" Why I wanted to know I have no idea, but I did. He started laughing.

  "God no! I tried to talk her into it, but she wouldn't go for it. She said I should have been ashamed of myself for buying this place in the first place and wasn't about to sleep so far away from everyone else and be treated like royalty. We did come up here a couple of times just to pretend that we were. We even took advantage of the bathtub, but after waiting 4 hours to fill the tub up, I had to admit it was pretty ridiculous."

  I must still have my chin dropped, because he touched my chin and pushed it back up and started laughing, which had me laughing. He grabbed my hand and led me back to the elevator.

  "So, what do you think so far?"

  "I think you should start charging admission, is what I think. Do you realize you could turn that whole massive room into 4 or 5 decent sized apartments?" He shrugged his shoulders, as if I wasn't the first to bring that up.

  "Yeah, but then I'd have people traipsing all over downstairs and that's kind of funny, because Vanessa told me I should have done the same thing. I think you two would have gotten along pretty well, because you tend to say the same things that remind me of her." He has a confused, but somber look on his face, which has me wondering what he's thinking about.

  "Cash, what are you thinking about at this very moment?" Even though we were several feet apart on the elevator, all of a sudden it felt as if we were inches apart by the look he just gave me.

  "Do you really want to know?"

  That mischievous grin of his that I imagine got him out of trouble when he was a kid, like it does Gideon now. He is still grinning at me, as he's closing the distance between us.

  "Well, now I'm not so sure." I chuckle to hide my immediate fear and start backing away from him, as he's moving towards me and I hit the wall of the elevator. I have nowhere else to go, because he's right there and he puts a hand on each side of my face against the wall.

  "I was wondering what your reaction will be when we reach the dungeon. Just curious is all." The door opens, and he moves away from me and walks thru the door with his hand extended out to me.

  "Olivia? Are you coming? This would be the 4th floor and it’s one of my favorites." I reach for his hand and I'm already scared about going to the dungeon.

  I look around and see all kinds of gym equipment and the quantity reminds me of a gym. The kind where you would pay a monthly fee to join. There are at least a dozen treadmills, weight benches, stationary bikes of different kinds. and stair steppers, and each one has a TV monitor so you could watch TV while working out. There is even a boxing ring in the corner of the room and sandbags that I imagine Cash has put to a lot of good use.

  To the side there is a sign above the door that says it’s the tanning room and another door that says sauna and steam room, and a shower room. If this was his favorite floor, then that would explain the perfect physique of his body that I try not to notice every day.

  "This is your favorite floor? I've been in gyms that are smaller than this. Do you realize that if you ever decided to retire, you could just sell gym memberships and rent rooms out to the public?" He laughs at my idea.

  "Nah. I like my privacy and I like the sauna room for when I get through working out. Sometimes I'll workout in here instead of by my suite, when I'm in a bad mood, because there are more ways to wear you out than what I have. You're more than welcome to use the place if you want. As a matter of fact, you ought to invite Claudia over for a weekend and you two can have the whole upstairs to yourself some time."

  That actually sounded like a good idea and she would probably love the change of scenery. I could already picture her jumping up and down on the massive bed like a little kid.

  "Thank you, Cash. I will probably mention it to her. It would be like a vacation to her and I know she'll appreciate the offer."

  He just grinned and headed back towards the elevator. "So, are you bored yet?"

  "I think I'm more amazed than anything, but I think I've seen the rest of the house, seeing as how we all sleep on the third floor."

  "But you haven't seen the 2nd floor, which is where I sleep." There's that mischievous grin again. He leans forward and pushes the number two. I guess we are going to his floor. Great! I smile back, trying to act excited.

  The door opens and I follow him out and he leads me down an unlit hallway. This has me wondering if it’s the same one that he scared me in and then kissed me, and sure enough, I see all of his gym equipment. There are so many different exercise machines, I'm surprised he even uses the one upstairs.

  "I'm sure you're wondering why I use the one upstairs, huh?" I nodded my head and grinned back at him.

  "There is a steam room with a sauna upstairs and trust me, when my muscles get sore, it's a blessing to have access to the sauna."

  I nodded my head to let him know that I understood. He led me back down the hallway and across the room where the elevator was, and led me to the other side of the wing and that's when I realize we were walking into his bedroom.

  I was actually expecting a bigger room than this. It's not much bigger than the suite that I had on the same floor as the children. I would assume that he and Vanessa shared a bigger room than this. Not like the huge massive one on the top floor, but close to that size. I also noticed the decor was all male with a lot of dark colors mixed in.

  "This was the nursery that adjoined mine and Vanessa's room. When she died, I closed our room up and turned this into my master suite. I just couldn't sleep in there anymore without her. I'm sure you could under
stand why."

  Oh, indeed I did. It was the same reason I never went back home and had my dad sell our old house. I just couldn't face it. I grabbed his hand and gave him a reassuring grip, letting him know that I did understand.

  "Down this hallway is the library and the movie theatre. The library is big and I have a lot of first editions in there, so feel free to use it any time you want."

  It was very big and it was nothing but wall to wall books on each shelf and a lot of artwork hanging on each wall, and I'm sure originals at that. He kept leading me further down the hallway to the movie theatre, and once again, it was a jaw dropping moment. You could easily fit 100 people in this theatre and I could picture future birthday parties for the kids.

  "This is also one of my favorite rooms. I have the luxury of getting to watch movies before they're even out in theaters, so if you think of a movie you'd like to watch, I probably have it. There's even a popcorn machine up top with all of the sodas you can think of."

  "Wow! I'm very impressed. Claud would love this room. We usually spend one night a week watching movies."

  "I was thinking we could come up here later tonight, if you don't mind. A director friend of mine has been harassing me about watching his movie and giving him my thoughts on it."

  "That sounds fun. I wouldn't mind at all." He grabs my hand and leads me out of the theatre and we are heading towards the elevator again.

  "So, we are getting closer and closer to the dungeon. Are you nervous yet?"

  I honestly don't know what to say, so I just give him a sideways grin and shrug my shoulders. The more he talks about it, has me scared to death. He starts laughing at me.

  "I love how I can read you like a book, just by the expression on your face. Your eyes give you away every time. They're so big and beautiful and you say a lot with your eyes, without even having to open your mouth!"

  I could say the same thing about you, Mr. Cash! I immediately turn red, because whatever my eyes were telling him, had him laughing again.

  "I swear you're thinking the same about me right now." I blushed and put my hands over my mouth, because I know I didn't just say what I was thinking out loud. How does he do that?