When she crashed down from the orgasmic high, she felt Cash shuddering beneath her. His upward thrusts contained no finesse, just short, erratic strokes emphasized by his hoarse grunts as he came hard and fast.
Sometime later, when their breathing steadied and their pulses regulated, Cash gently moved her off him so he could ditch the condom, then brought her body back to his and cuddled her close. She rested her cheek on his chest, sighing in sweet contentment.
God, this felt good.
It felt right.
Apprehension gnawed on her insides when she realized where her thoughts had drifted. She tried to wiggle out of Cash’s embrace, but he held her tighter, his husky laughter tickling her forehead. “You’re not going anywhere, sweetheart. I haven’t gotten my cuddling fill yet.”
An unwitting smile tugged on Jen’s lips, and she forced herself to relax, trying not to overthink this. Snuggling together after sex was perfectly acceptable fling behavior.
But…yeah, she definitely needed to work a little harder on the not-falling-in-love-with-him part.
Chapter Eleven
Four days later, Jen’s confidence in her ability to control her emotions began to crumble. Keeping an emotional distance from Cash was proving to be harder than she’d thought, especially when the man seemed intent on being so wonderfully wonderful. He cooked for her, offered encouragement while she worked on putting together a portfolio, made her breathless with his kisses and dizzy with desire.
They’d spent nearly every waking moment together, except for the night Dylan came over to watch football, but a follow-up to their threesome hadn’t happened—as incredible as it had been, Jen wanted only Cash in her bed. Thankfully, Dylan hadn’t seemed to mind that sex wasn’t on the table. Which didn’t particularly surprise her—she got the feeling nothing fazed that guy.
“I get it, Mom. She’s unhappy.”
Cash’s mumbled voice drifted into the room, breaking Jen’s concentration. She lifted her gaze from the laptop screen and spotted him pacing the hallway in front of the open bedroom door.
“I’ll do it now, okay? Uh-huh…uh-huh…got it. I’ll email you later. Uh-huh… Love you too… Say hi to Dad.”
Silence ensued, finally broken by a soft expletive from Cash, who entered the bedroom, sank on the edge of the bed and dragged a hand through his hair.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “What was that phone call about?”
He set his jaw. “That was my mother.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yeah.”
Jen waited for him to continue. When he didn’t, she rolled her eyes. “Come on, cowboy, spit it out.”
“I…” He was gritting his teeth now. “I need a favor.”
“Okay…”
“I wouldn’t ask you this if it wasn’t important.”
A million possibilities ran through her head. “Let me guess—you need me to serve as the getaway driver for the bank robbery you’re orchestrating.” She paused. “Wait, that makes no sense. Your parents are loaded.”
“Right, that’s why it makes no sense.”
“Fine, then you need me to…kill someone for you? Wait, no. You could easily kill someone all by yourse—”
“I need you to take my picture,” he interrupted in aggravation.
She gawked at him. “Seriously? That’s what’s getting your panties in a knot? Don’t tell me you’ve never had your picture taken.”
Misery clung to his voice. “It’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
“My birthday was last month.”
“Uh, happy belated birthday?”
Cash scowled. “I wasn’t done. Anyway, the team was OCONUS so I didn’t get to spend my birthday with my family, but my parents flew in for a visit a few weeks ago, and they brought a present my grandmother made me. Now she keeps harassing them, wanting to know if I liked it.”
“What was it?”
“A sweater.” He didn’t elaborate. “I called to thank her, but apparently she doesn’t believe that I like it. She’s demanding I send photographic evidence of me wearing the sweater so she knows I’m not lying.”
“That seems a little…strange.”
“She’s a strange woman,” he muttered. “Scratch that, she’s absolutely nuts. That’s one of the reasons my mom left home when she was a teenager. My grandmother has some issues. Serious case of OCD, gets hysterical at the drop of a hat, disapproves of anything she doesn’t understand. I’m not looking forward to spending the holidays with her this year, that’s for sure.”
Jen smiled. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll deal with this picture problem for now.” She closed her laptop and climbed off the bed. “I left my camera in the living room. Why don’t you put on the sweater and meet me out there?”
As she headed for the doorway, she noticed Cash hadn’t budged. “What now?” she asked with a sigh.
His cheeks hollowed and she could practically hear his molars grinding. “Before we do this, you have to promise me something.”
She waited.
“You can’t laugh,” he said in a deadly voice.
“I won’t laugh. What’s the promise?”
“No, that’s the promise. You have to promise not to laugh.”