me before I hung up. “I’ll see if I can make it later. I love you, sweetheart.”
Forcing my eyes away from the marauder’s, I looked down at my phone, shaking in my hand. My hands had been shaking ever since the day he told me I had to marry him. It caught me off guard because sometimes I didn’t even realize they were.
Scott had hung up, but my heart was in my throat.
I should tell him. I should tell him. I should tell him.
One look at Cash Kelly and I knew I couldn’t.
He knocked on my window, and I used the hand crank to roll it down. “Can I help you?”
“Who was that?”
“None of your business.”
“Nah, that’s where you’re wrong, darlin’. You are my business now.”
“Scott Stone. He can’t make it.”
His eyes narrowed, and even though his face didn’t reflect a particular change, something about him was different, something I could feel rather than see.
“Since you seem a little disappointed that not everyone can make it—” That was when it hit me like a blow to the gut. Scott. What did this have to do with him? Did they know each other? Was Scott crooked and had double-crossed Kelly? I didn’t want Cash to catch my reaction, though, so I relaxed my features, or tried to.
Cash leaned in a little closer. His cologne smelled like something expensive, but woodsy. If it were anyone else, I would’ve licked my lips and even rolled my hips if I were on the dance floor. “Cat got your tongue, darlin’?” Then he opened my car door. “This party is not for Scott Stone. It’s for you.”
“You mean us.” I stepped out, and even with wedges on, I had to look up at him. Scott never liked when I wore them because we were the same height. Sometimes I was taller depending on the shoe, and I totally avoided those altogether. There was no way I was going to reach the marauder’s height unless I wore platform heels.
I ran a hand down my green silk blouse, ironing out any wrinkles. “Aren’t we announcing our engagement tonight?”
“We’ll see.”
“Always so cryptic.”
He followed behind me to the front door, and I could feel his eyes on my ass. I’d felt them the day of the fair, too, and I made sure to swing my hips a bit to give him an eye full.
“What did he do?” I casually threw over my shoulder as I made the steps.
Before I could knock and then let myself in, Cash took me by the arm and swung me around like some dame in an old black and white movie. One of my hands was pressed against his chest to push him away, but I couldn’t move. His heart beat steadily under my palm. His entire body was hard and it held me in place.
My eyes were level with his mouth, and I silently sucked in a breath. Damn me. He had the perfect shaped lips. I wanted to bite the bottom one hard enough to make him bleed and suck in a breath at the pain.
Scott had soft lips. Not firm at all.
Why am I even comparing? Fuck if I knew.
My eyes made a slow journey to his, and that was when he locked me in again. “You’re a little psycho in the bedroom, aren’t you, Ms. Ryan?”
“Me? Little?” A boisterous roll of laughter thundered from my mouth.
He made it a point to look down at me, proving his point that I was smaller than him. No man had ever made me feel that way before. It wasn’t totally physical, either, and that made me uncomfortable. I had finally met my match. If I ever told him to go to hell, he’d probably invite me along, because he’d been there before.
Instead of hell, maybe it was time that I invited him to heaven. I leaned in closer, putting my lips close to his neck, right over his pulse point. I made sure my voice was breathy, so warm air blew over his skin. “Wouldn’t you like to know how I am in bed, Marauder.”
He grinned and then let out a breath of a laugh. I breathed in and then automatically breathed out. I refused to take him inside my lungs. He wasn’t my air; he was my suffocation.
“I already know everythin’ about you, darlin’. I know how Scott Stone fucks you up against the wall in the moonlight. That perfect ass of mine sliding up and down the windowpane. I already know