Kentucky Home

Chapter 11

Cash

The hardest thing I've done in a long time was having the control to keep myself from going back in that room to finish what we started. I mean, damn. Not only do I have this perfectly sculpted image of her naked body tattooed on my brain, but I know how she feels against me and how she aches under my touch. Just knowing that I make her feel the way she makes me feel is the worst part when I have no choice to keep my hands off of her from now on.

I certainly don't want to, but it's unfair to her. I know this is more than just a physical desire. I knew she wasn't going to get away from me without taking part of me with her when she left. How in the hell do you even know that about someone?

I want to chalk it up to the fact I haven't been with a woman in nearly four years and I wish that was the case, but its not. It's more than that, and I'm afraid I'm going to end up empty handed and maybe even empty hearted.

Is this some cruel joke that I've harshly been chosen for? First my dreams are destroyed because of the sudden loss of the two most important people in my life, then the woman of my dreams is only available just to show me what I can't have.

Yep. That cold shower is looking more and more appealing, but I'm just too tired to even worry with it. 

"Cash! Wake up." My body is being shaken by little hands, but my mind is still grasping onto whatever I'm dreaming about.

"Cash! Are you gonna sleep all day? The horses ain't gonna feed themselves."

"Just five more minutes." I say as I absentmindedly turn over and stretch out.

"Katy, is your brother up yet? I need a ride to Aunt Karen's." I hear someone holler in the distance.

"No. I guess he's gonna sleep all day. He won't wake up." Katy hollers back to the other voice.

Suddenly, the other voice is much closer. "Does he know it's a quarter after ten?"

My eyes fly open at those words as I flop my body around to look at the clock and throw the blanket off of me. "Shit." I mutter, rubbing a hand across my face.

"About time. I'm outta here." Katy says, rolling her eyes. "And get some clothes on. Nobody wants to see that." She walks out, throwing her hands up, exasperatedly.

I pull the sheet back over my bottom half as quick as I can. "Whatever kept you dreaming must've been good." I look up to find the person the other voice belonged to. Emma stands against the door frame holding a cup of hot coffee with a smirk on her face.

I hop out of bed quickly finding jeans to throw on. "Shut up!" I say with frustration. "I wasn't dreaming about anything." I sloppily pull a shirt over my head looking up to see the main character of the very dream I'm telling her I didn't have still standing in my doorway.

"Surrree." Emma says before taking a sip of her coffee. Hurrying out my bedroom door, I stop in the doorway inches away from her face. "Wouldn't you like to know," I say with a wink as I grab the coffee from her hands and walk off.

"Hey! That wasn't for you, jerk." I hear her holler, aggravated, but I'm already down the stairs.

Cady is sitting at the table drawing in her notebook when I get to the kitchen. "Why'd you let me sleep so late?" I ask as I slip on my boot.

She stops what she's doing and looks at me with an unamused expression. "First off, it's not my responsibility. I'm not your alarm clock."

"And second?" I ask, slipping on my other boot.

"Second, I did wake you up earlier, but after you grumbled something about Emma and smiled I figured you might just need to sleep." She turns back around like she hadn't just said something incriminating.

I'm stunned and try to keep my shock from showing. "I did not." I pull out a chair to get eye level with her, and without a glance in my direction she says, "you so did".

"Okay. Well, what else did I say?" I can tell she's eating this up, and before she has a chance to answer me Emma walks into the kitchen and answers my question making me want to crawl under the table in embarrassment.

"It would just be wrong to make your little sister repeat those words." Emma sighs, contentedly, as she pours another cup of coffee.

"Mhmm." Cady sounds. "Told ya I did the right thing by letting you sleep it off."

Emma and Cady burst out laughing in unison. "Whatever." I groan and slam the screen door behind me.

"They're so full of shit." I groan out, kicking the dirt as I make my way to the horse barn. "Can't believe this shit. And I thought one female was rough."

As I'm feeding the last horse I hear a knock on the barn wall. Emma's standing there in skin tight jeans and a fitted white shirt that hugs every curve I felt with my own barehands last night making my mouth instantly water at what could've been.

"Hi." She says with a smile as she pets the horse who's feed bucket I'm filling.

"You come out here to make fun of me some more or did you need something?" I say a bit aggressively.

"Aw. I think someone has their panties in a twist this morning, Rusty." She says to the horse with a chuckle.

"I do not have my panties in a twist." I sigh, frustratedly. "Never mind. Did you need something?" I ask, holding the gate open ushering her out of the barn.

She laughs but doesn't push any further. "I need a ride over to the house. I have a potential buyer meeting me at noon, and I want to get a few things squared away before they get there."

We both stare at each other a moment knowing what it means when the house is sold. She'll go back to Wisconsin leaving Cady and me behind like we never existed. That thought shouldn't bother me since I barely know her, but damn it if it does.

"Uh, well," I kick the dirt with my boot and wipe the sweat from my face, "yeah I can drop you off. Can you give me ten minutes?"

She's standing nervously with her hands in her back pockets as she looks at me through her lashes. "Yeah. Sure. I'll just, um, meet you at the truck." I can tell she's wanting to talk about last night since we're alone, but I don't want to drag it out or make it more than it is when she's leaving sooner rather than later.

I get back up to the house to see both Cady and Emma in my truck. "Where do you think you're going, little girl?"

"I resent you for that nickname, but if you must know, you're dropping me off at Rachel's so we can work on our art project for the end of summer competition."

"Oh, am I?"

"She didn't give you much of a choice, Cash." Emma shrugs her shoulders siding with my ten year old sister. I'm in over my head with these two.

I roll my eyes, "I give up," I sigh and put the truck in reverse before going forward down our long driveway.