Titus: Book Two of the Cantrell Brothers Series

Chapter Fifty-Four

With sore limbs and aching muscles, Anna clung to the man beside her. She inhaled his familiar scent, kissing the warm shoulder underneath her. His sculpted muscles moved with every breath he took, the smoothed texture of his skin reminding her of their hot as ever love making that had taken place only a few hours ago, for last night had been the one night in which underlying desperation had been her fuel.

She had just gotten done towel drying her hair and putting on her pajamas when a knock had sounded on the bathroom door. Titus had been on the other side, dressed in nothing but the pajama pants she'd given him for Christmas, even though the summer heat did not permit such apparel.

He hadn't cared however, and neither had she, only looping her arms around his neck to press a kiss onto his lips. He'd responded by lifting her up as if she'd weighed nothing and worshiping her body on the bed. It had been a slower, more serious coupling. Although it had her eyes rolling back into her skull and her toes curling until she climaxed, Anna hadn't said a single word. And she hadn't been able to; he'd fallen asleep within minutes, leaving her thoughts to twist and turn as she held onto him with everything she had.

His shallow breathing filled the room now, faster than the slow, steady beat of his heart. She pressed her fingers to that area of roughened skin, closing her eyes to somehow sync them together – to somehow keep him there with her and away from wherever he planned to leave for in the next few hours.

Shutting her burning eyes, she tried to keep the war waging inside her at bay, but failed. It was a strong-willed battle between the trust that she had in Titus and the nagging voice in her head that told her something wasn't right. Those two subjects both had a say in where and what Titus would do, and right now, that voice in her head was superior to her trust.

It reminded her of so many things. From the guilty look he had tried to conceal in his eyes when he told her about the cattle auction to the moment back in time when he'd connived this entire plan up, lying to everyone that they knew without even batting an eye.

She had done the same, and it had been wrong, she knew, but just the way in which he'd been so good at deceiving everyone still stuck with her. If he was so good at lying to an entire town and their families, then it would be so easy to fib right to her face. It could be as easy and normal as taking a breath; and no matter how hard Anna tried to convince herself otherwise, the paranoid worry would not leave her.

But then her trust fought back, reminding her of literally everything he had ever done for her and why he couldn't possibly have another ulterior motive. It reasoned that a few sick bulls could be a cause for trouble and that maybe Titus wanted to try something new. Maybe, instead of administering medicine and setting them out to graze in a different pasture like he always did, he now planned to sell them and be done with it.

That was always logical. Logical, but not something that he did, her nagging voice once again said. Selling off a few sick bulls may be the solution to somebody else's problem, but Titus cared too much about his cattle to ever separate it from its herd before his normal sales season.

But there are exceptions, she thought, feeling sick with herself at not trusting it him. This is your husband. He loves you, and that's all that matters. He's not Hunter. Ten years has proven he's not like Hunter... It was an ever repeating mantra inside her tired mind, and she kept it up until her eyes began to droop and she fell asleep.

                                                                               ***

Anna rolled over, trying not to cringe as the barest rays of sunlight hit tired eyes. Her hands searched for the man whom she had strongly clung to last night, having needed the skin to skin reassurance. To her disappointment, they came up empty. All she could feel was the cool texture of Titus's pillow, just a little warmer than the feeling of emptiness digging its way inside her.