Something I Need (xoxo Nashville Book 1) (12 page)

“I so don’t wanna go up there.” Jonte blew out a long, exaggerated breath, hanging her head low again, her curls tumbling forward and creating a curtain that hid her face.

“Go back to the ranch with Cash for the night,” Dolly called out over her shoulder. “Spend the night in my old room and Cash’ll bring ya home in the morning. Right, Cash?”

“What the hell am I supposed to wear to bed?”

“Sleep commando.” Dolly chuckled and shut the glass door behind her.

“Fuckin’ Dolly. How am I supposed to get you on the bike dressed like that?”

Jonte looked down at her dress and boots. “I’ll just go upstairs and try to sleep with a pillow over my head.”

“Nah, you don’t wanna hear that shit. Hell, I don’t even wanna think about it. We’ll sort something out.”

C
ash pulled
the bike up near the house and killed the engine. He helped Jonte off, glad he’d insisted she wear his jacket over her dress as some sort of protection. Damn stupid sparkly dress on a motorbike.

“Come on, let’s get you inside.”

Jonte followed him into the house, up to the top of the staircase, and into Dolly’s room.

“This was Dolly’s room?” She took in the dainty floral bedspread that lay across the white iron bed and the puppy dog print on the cream wall.

“Nannie redecorated a few years back when Dolly moved in above the bar.” Cash had had to completely repaint the room because all the tacks and tape Dolly had used to cover the walls in band posters and her favorite tattoo art had massacred the original paint job.

“Well, that explains it.” Jonte smiled and his heart halted. How was she so damn breathtaking, even at this hour of the morning?

“Let me show you where the bathroom is.”

“Sure. Just let me take off these boots first.” Jonte hopped towards the bed on one foot, pulling off the first boot before lowering herself onto the bed.

Mother fucker.

His heart stopped and he just about had a coronary when it collapsed. Literally. Metal scraped against the timber floors, producing a God-awful sound a million times worse than nails on an old school chalk board, as the bed gave way and the mattress slid off to the side, taking Jonte with it.

“What the –” Cash rushed forward to help her and wasted no time in pulling her up onto her feet. “Christ, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jonte smoothed down her dress and pushed her hair away from her face. “Shit, I broke your bed.”

“You didn’t break it.” Cash leaned down to check out the section that had collapsed. Huh, it looked like one of the bolts had come loose. Not that he knew how in the hell that could have happened. He reached for the backing nut that lay innocently on the floor and showed it to Jonte. “Here’s the problem. Although it’s not gonna make much difference now.”

The bed was totaled. When the offending leg had collapsed, the strain on the rest of the bed had caused it all to buckle and twist.

“I’m so sorry.” Jonte bit down on her bottom lip, looking like she’d committed some cardinal sin and might burst into tears at any given moment.

“Why are you sorry? I’m sorry. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Seriously, I’m fine.”

“Here, let me help you with that boot.” Cash kneeled down and carefully pulled it off. He did it as quickly as possible and stood back up, trying not to think about all the things he could do to her while he was down here. Don’t be a perv. Ignore those legs. Mmmm…legs. “Shower?”

“That’d be great.”

He led her out of Dolly’s room and up the hallway. He yanked a clean towel out of the linen closet on the way to the bathroom and handed it to her.

“Maybe just sleep in that clean shirt from the bar?” He flipped the light on in the bathroom.

“Good idea.”

“Sorry about all the guy stuff in here. Nannie’s probably got a spare toothbrush somewhere. I’ll ask her in the morning, if she’s around.”

“Thanks. Can I borrow your toothpaste tonight?”

“Sure.”

“So, when I finish, where should I sleep?” Jonte fidgeted with a curl, popping it into her mouth and then pulling it out again.

Lips. Mouth. Yum.

“Oh, Christ. Um…”

“I can sleep on the couch downstairs.”

Cash ran his hands through his hair, tousling it. Where should he put her? “Nah. Nannie and Pop’ll be up and clattering around down there in a few hours.”

“It’s fine, seriously.”

He played with the stubble on his jaw and let out a breath. There was only one viable option. It was both tempting and inviting trouble. “That bed and mattress are ruined. I know this is weird, but you could sleep in my bed. I’ll sleep on the floor and you can sleep in my bed.”

“You can’t sleep on the floor, Cash!”

“Well neither can you.” His reply was firm and he shut the door, giving her some privacy to shower and ending the discussion.

She was sleeping in his bed.

There you go.

That was that.

How in the hell had that bed fallen to pieces just now? Nannie’s second cousin Maude had slept on it only a few weeks back. Maybe that explained it. Maude was a larger lady, and it was possible all her tossing and turning had loosened the nut.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Cash hurried into his room and did a quick tidy up, throwing the few dirty clothes he could see into the hamper and hurling his stray shoes into the robe. He rushed back down the hall and opened the linen closet again, this time loading up his arms with the spare comforter, a thick blanket, a clean set of sheets, and pillowcases.

He was slipping the last pillowcase on his pillow when Jonte walked through his door. Holy shit. Her face had been scrubbed clean and she was only wearing the black polo he’d given her before they’d left the bar. Okay, so it was possible she was wearing panties too, but Cash could neither confirm nor deny that fact, and so he chose to believe she had taken Dolly’s advice and gone commando. The thought was exciting and scary, because really, how in the hell was he going to sleep in the same room as a pantie-less Jonte?

Jonte rested her bag and the pile of her clothes on the wooden chair near the door. Desperate to get out of the room before his semi gave away his pervy thoughts, Cash yanked a pair of boxers out of his chest of drawers and headed for the door.

“I’ll make a pallet on the floor when I get back,” he called over his shoulder. “Oh, and I already put clean sheets on the bed for you.”

* * *

J
onte wandered
over to Cash’s bed and tried not to be too nosey. It was more than a little awkward being in here, but she couldn’t exactly call a cab to come get her at this hour of the morning.

A photo on the nightstand caught her eye. Carefully testing the bed to make sure it wasn’t going to collapse, she sat down and reached for the frame. The picture was of a young boy and girl, no doubt Dolly and Cash at about four or five years old. They were all cuddled up in the arms of a young woman who looked like Dolly, except with shoulder-length mousey-brown hair. Scared Cash would catch her snooping, she returned the frame and pulled back the covers.

Wow. The bed was comfortable, and Cash hadn’t been lying when he’d said it was huge. It seriously was. Jonte snuggled into pillows and wrapped the comforter around her.

Sleep had almost claimed her when she heard Cash’s footsteps and the door shut. With the light off now, the moon played peek-a-boo through the curtains as he approached the other side of the bed.

Dear God, was he getting in?

She tensed, holding her breath and waiting, but he just grabbed the pillow next to her and turned away.

“You seriously can’t sleep on the floor,” she said, without thinking.

“I thought you were asleep.” His soft chuckle picked up the pitter-patter pace of her heartbeat.

“Almost. You were right, the bed is enormous. Please just jump in.”

“Are you sure it’s not weird?”

The bed dipped under his weight and Jonte tried to relax.

Act natural. Act normal. Act unaffected.

“What? You sleeping in your own bed? How can that be weird?”

“No. Me sleeping in a bed with one of my employees.”

Hmmm. He made a good point.

“I probably won’t be your employee tomorrow.” Jonte threw back the covers, not sure where she had found the confidence to do such a thing.

“Well, this is true.”

Cash climbed into the bed and lay down parallel to Jonte. She noticed he was careful to keep space between them, but the distance didn’t stop the smell of his aftershave wafting over.
Mmmm, he smelled so good.

“I’m glad you did well tonight.” He whacked his pillow a few times.

“Lumpy?”

“Not really. It’s just you’re using mine.”

“Oh, shit. Here, swap them.”

“No –” Cash started to protest, but she had already sat up and thrown over the pillow she’d been lying on. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“We should try to get some sleep.” He was all business, quickly resettling on his swapped pillow.

“Yep.”

She was so on board with the whole sleep plan. If she was asleep she wouldn’t be thinking about whether she was sleeping on his side of the bed.

W
arm
.

Jonte was too warm.

She moved to push the comforter away, but it felt rigid. Her eyes shot open and she discovered she was all tangled up with Cash, their legs intricately threaded through and wrapped around each other, his face nuzzled into her neck, and one of his hands cupping her ass.

Oh, wow.

And her hands weren’t all innocent either. One was pressed against his hard chest and the other was down his – shit.

She quickly removed her hand.

Crap.

Where was she supposed to put it now?

Cash moaned and pushed himself up harder against her.

Hard.

Yep, that was definitely the word of the morning. If it weren’t for two scraps of material, right now they’d be joined at the – well, you get the picture.

Jonte’s heart raced as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to do. Cash’s grip on her ass tightened, and now she unquestionably felt moisture on her neck. Was his kissing or drooling on her? She wasn’t quite sure. Either way, she had to stop this. Now.

“Cash,” she whispered.

“Mmmm,” he mumbled and his calloused hand squeezed her ass.

Maybe she should simply shut her eyes and go back to sleep? The man liked to pretend and she could simply pretend she’d never woken up. Although, there were definitely worse ways to wake up in the morning. And she would honestly be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about their almost night together.

No, he was asleep. Despite how much
she
was enjoying what he was doing,
he
didn’t know what he was doing. She was taking advantage of him while he was unconscious. It was wrong and bad and good, all at the same time.

She gave him a little kick as she removed one of her legs from around his waist and then tried to push him away. But it was no use; he was like a dead weight. A ruggedly sexy I-think-I’m-going-to-orgasm-just-looking-at-you dead weight, but a dead weight nonetheless.

“Cash,” she said, a little louder this time.

“Hmmm?” He snuggled in closer.

“Wake up. Cash, wake up.”

Uh-oh.
He was definitely awake now. She knew this for a fact because his whole body stiffened at the realization of what he was doing. He tugged his hand away from her and tried to extricate his legs from her body.

“Shit. Fuck. I’m so sorry, Jonte.” He scooted backwards, almost falling off the bed but righting himself just in time.

“It’s fine. No problem. Seriously.” She wiggled back towards her side of the bed. The safe side. The side where nothing naughty happened.

“It’s not fine.”

“Oh, come on, Cash. It’s nothing we haven’t done before.” Yes, yes, they had fewer clothes on this time and the skin-to-skin contact was kind of impossible to ignore.

“Do you ever think about what it would have been like if Dolly hadn’t walked in?” he whispered, leaning in closer, getting all back in her space. Technically his space. Whatever.

Jonte sucked in a breath. That night had been completely off limits since the morning after when he’d shown up with bagels and an apology. “You said you should’ve never let it happen.” He’d burned those words into her brain, making it impossible to forget them or their night together.

“You were drunk, Jonte. I was taking advantage of you.”

“No.” She shook her head. He was distorting the events of that night. “I threw myself at you.”

“Oh, come on, I didn’t exactly protest.”

“So you wanted to?” She pushed out the words quickly, surprised at the turn the conversation had taken. Was he saying what she thought he was saying?

Cash ran his hand through his messy hair and inched closer. “Of course I wanted to.”

He wanted to.

Holy shitballs. OMG. OMG. OMG went the beat of her heart. She decided to push her luck, desperate to know more now she’d gotten him talking.

“What about now? No one’s drunk this morning.”

He wiggled so they were lying down facing each other. With slow, deliberate movements, he leaned in and licked the soft spot in between her collarbone and neck with his tongue, causing sparks to shoot to all the best places. “Tell me if you want me to stop.”

Had the man lost his damn mind? Stop?

She wasn’t stupid. She knew this would be a one-time thing and she was fine with that. He wasn’t going to be her boss anymore, and it would be easy for them to minimize their contact after this. Yes, she could totally do this. Easy-peasy, and fingers crossed they’d top it off with a big O.

Cash trailed his tongue along her neck and then he nuzzled at her ear lobe, causing her to shiver in the most delicious way.
Mmmm…more please
. She skimmed her hand down his well-defined abs, playing with the soft trail of dark hair and following it all the way down to his boxer shorts. What the hell, she’d already been down there this morning. She pushed aside her nerves and forged ahead. She ran her middle and index finger along his length and then circled his tip with her thumb before wrapping her hand around him.

Cash moaned and roughly dug his fingers into her hip, holding her in place and close.

Oh
God, that was sexy
.
Totally hot.

She continued to stroke him. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down. Still gripping her hip with one hand, he moved his free hand up the inside of her leg and hooked his fingers in her underwear.

Thank goodness she’d worn nice panties. Not that he was paying any attention to them. Jonte raised her knee, giving him easier access. His fingers continued their exploration, finding her wet and ready. So, so ready. He eased one finger inside and matched the rhythm of her strokes.

Holy crap, this was really happening.

Loving his fingers, her mind already lost in la la Cash land, Jonte’s breathing came out in rasps. When Cash slipped a second finger inside her, she pushed herself up even harder against him to increase the friction. Her grip on him tightened and he moaned in her ear. “Fuck, Jonte. Christ, I’m going to –”

Warm liquid coated her fingers. He moaned again, his head resting at her neck. Oh. Right. Yay for getting him off so quickly, but there went her O.

“Well, that was fun.” She smiled and removed her sticky fingers from his boxers. Feeling bold, she oh so slowly raised them to her mouth, slipping them in and sucking.

Cash’s eyes widened. He lunged forwards and pushed her up against the bed, attacking her mouth with his, licking and probing her with his tongue and grinding his body up against her. “That was so fucking sexy,” he whispered, his voice all low and gravelly. “Fuck, I can taste me in your mouth and it’s hot. Now I have to taste you too.”

Before she could protest, he disappeared under the covers, wasting zero time in yanking off her panties. Cash licked his tongue up the inside of her thigh. Lick. Shiver. Writhe. Rinse and repeat, again and again. He steadied her hips, his hands holding her in place.

The moment his tongue slid inside her, tingles shot through her body. Tingles everywhere. Oh. My. God. No one had ever done this to her. The few guys she’d slept with back home had always been more interested in getting straight to the main event. Foreplay was pretty foreign, but oh so welcome.

Yes, please. Come again. Ugh. Stupid, selfish Aussie boys.

Cash’s replaced his tongue with his fingers, flicking back and forth. She jerked her legs up and her toes curled into the sheets.

So. Damn. Good.

He tried to steady her again, but now she bucked uncontrollably against him, waves of pleasure rippling through her body. Possessed, she tugged at the covers and bit down hard on them, stifling her screams.

Holy fuck.

Yes.

Yes. Hell.

Oh. Yes.

* * *

C
ash watched
Jonte suck in erratic breaths, her body now still on his bed.

Fuck, she tasted so good. He had to kiss her. Now. So he could mingle the taste of both of them in their mouths. But he was rock hard and needed to be inside her. He kicked off his boxers, scrambled back up to the top of the bed, and then threw off the comforter. He fumbled with his bedside drawer and grabbed a condom, ripped the foil, and rolled it on.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, still panting and trying to catch her breath.

And that’s how it’s done.
Yeah, he was a cocky prick, but she was a pile of goo, all happy and sated.

“I need you. Now.” He smiled and carefully pulled her up so he could tug her T-shirt over her head. Naked Jonte had him ready to blow on the spot. Those breasts. A perfect handful – gorgeously round and perky.

Gently, he lay her back down, maneuvering her so she was lying horizontally across the bed. She was all doe eyed and come fuck me. Any restraint and control he had evaporated. He lunged forward and began easing himself into her. Hot. So fucking hot and tight and…Jonte tensed, and he stopped.

“Shit, am I hurting you? Are you okay? Can I continue?”

She nodded and bit down on her lip.
Calm the fuck down.
Cautious, he slid in deeper and gradually rocked himself up against her, his fingers digging into her raised knees. Must. Taste. Now. He lowered his head and claimed her mouth with his. Their tongues danced, touching and then retreating and then fusing together again, sending him into a frenzy. She worked her fingers through his hair, tugging on it every time he plunged deeper into her, each tug driving him crazy.

So fucking sexy.

He cupped Jonte’s butt with one hand, bringing her in as close as he could possibly get, while his other hand massaged one of those perfect breasts. Heaven. She was fucking heaven. She wrapped her legs around his waist and locked them tight, her heels whacking against his ass each time he thrust into her, spurring him on.

Jonte moaned and made a number of hot as fuck noises that indicated she was thoroughly enjoying everything he was doing. She didn’t ask that ridiculous question that so many women insisted on bringing up during sex. The answer to which was almost always,
I’m thinking about how fucking amazing this feels and I need to get deeper.

This, being with Jonte, was sensory overload. He couldn’t concentrate. Could barely think. Could only do. Her muted vanilla smell, the taste of them both in his mouth, the feel of her everywhere.

And then she started shaking. Coming all around his hard as steel dick. She bit down hard on his shoulder, repressing the scream that had started to escape, and yanked his hair more forcefully.

So. Fucking. Hot.

He was done.

Game.

Over.

Worried he’d crush her, Cash rolled off Jonte, removed the condom, and then flopped down on the bed next to her.

“That was…” He tried to slow his ragged breaths. There were no words. Unfuckingbelievable just didn’t cut it. His mind and body were well and truly blown to pieces. Well beyond fractured or shattered, he was irreparably broken. One morning and she’d gone and ruined him.

“Mmmm,” she agreed, a sex-drunk grin plastered across her face.

He leaned over and kissed her again, his lips teasing hers softly. Christ. He could happily spend the rest of the day, hell maybe forever, in bed with her.

“I really need to think about getting home,” she said and pulled away.

Shit. Talk about dousing cold water over someone. He wasn’t expecting that and sat up abruptly.

“Sure. Right. You have that big interview after lunch?” He feigned cool and calm but his mind was…

“Yeah. And I don’t want to make this into something it’s not.” Jonte covered herself up with his sheet

He fucking hated that she did that. She could cover herself up all she wanted; the image of those flawless breasts and her naked body writhing against his would be permanently etched in his brain. He replayed her words –
something it’s not?

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m not stupid, Cash. I know this was a one-time thing. You were curious, I was curious. Now it’s out of our system.”

That was just curiosity?
He struggled to wrap his mind around her words. Had she lost her mind? Fuck it. Who needed words?

“Who says it’s a one-time thing?” He crawled towards her. Ready to ravage her again. Ready to fuck this nonsense out of her. She could be on top this time and he…

“Crystal said you –”

What the fuck? That was totally out of left field and stopped his advance. “Why are you bringing Crystal up right now?”

“She said you don’t do relationships.” Jonte pulled her T-shirt back on, stood up, and headed towards the chair next to the chest of drawers where her clothes and purse were.

Fucking Crystal. He shook his head, pissed she had gone off and bad-mouthed him to Jonte. Fuck. When had they even had the opportunity to have this little tête-à-tête?

“What would she know?”

Jonte looked over her shoulder, all prim and proper and coy. “Do you?”

He didn’t. Admittedly, Crystal was correct on that front. He didn’t do relationships and attachments with women, or anyone really. Hell, Tanner was the only non-family member he’d allowed himself to form any kind of bond with. Ever.