Cash made an angry, short sound. “If you’re with me, you get to stay.” He stroked his thumb up the side of her hand and pressed it against her wrist. “I understand you’re embarrassed,” he whispered. “I hate it, but I understand it. Iwillapologize for that. I shouldn’t have kissed you at the party.”
Lark ducked her head at the quiet power in his voice. He spoke with earnestness too, and Lark had never had someone apologize to her this way before.
“I’ve already put it on the family text that it was a mistake, and I apologized to all of them too. That’s how I know only Mav actually saw us.”
Lark nodded, some of the disquiet in her soul easing away.
“You were just so beautiful,” he whispered. “And you fit in my arms like God made you to be there, and I lost my head.”
Lark looked up at him then, needing to see with her eyes if he looked as sincere as he sounded. She’d never see midnight the same way again, as every night when she looked up into the sky, she’d be reminded of Cash’s eyes.
Smoky, and deep, and able to conceal some things she really wanted to see, to know, to understand.
“So I guess I just need to know if you’re a little distant as you try to figure out how to stand confidently at my side, or if you hated the kissing and want to call it now.”
Her eyes went wide then. “Call it now? Like, stop…seeing each other?”
He nodded, his jaw jumping in clear irritation.
“Of course not.” Lark shook her head, bringing out some of the fire she’d fed him before. “Cash, no. The kissing was…acceptable.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Acceptable?”
“Incredible,” she said quickly.
“It doesn’t feel like it when you make me suffer through twelve hours without seeing you or talking to you.”
“We’ve texted,” she said.
“It’s not the same,” he whispered.
Lark smiled at him and cradled half of his face in her palm. “How do you do this?”
“Do what?”
“Show up and say all the right things?” She shook her head. “It’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair is how early I had to get up in order to make this breakfast buffet.” He stood, taking her with him. “If you’re really not avoiding me, come on. Breakfast is ready.” He let one hand drop and tugged on her other as he started for the door.
But Lark resisted. Cash turned back to her, surprise in those dark depths now. “What did you think of King for your nickname?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. After another moment, he smiled at her and drew her fully into his embrace. “I’m not sure I understand it, but I’d love to hear your explanation.”
“You know, how they say cash is king.”
His grin widened. “Cash is king.” He seemed to be trying the words out in his mouth.
Lark simply couldn’t look away from it. “Yeah,” she whispered. “And you may not have a crown, but you’ve got some pretty shiny belt buckles, and it felt decent coming out of my mouth.”
Cash swayed with her. “If I’m a king, does that make you my queen?”
Lark certainly felt like it. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
Feeling like a caterpillar who’d gone through a complete transformation and was now emerging from the chrysalis, Lark tipped her head back and looked at him. “I might need another kiss to determine that.”
Cash laughed, and he had barely sobered before he dipped his head as if he’d do what she wanted him to. Then his phone shrieked out an alarm, startling both of them back a step.
