I grabbed a glass, filled it with water, and chugged it like it might stand the chance of putting out the fire that raged inside. Like the coolness might bring forth a peace that had been demolished years ago because of one single choice.
A path set. One I never could have imagined its destination.
Then I froze when I felt the presence emerge from behind.
That soft glow that she always emitted.
The energy rushed over me like an embrace that I would never deserve.
Her voice came like a whisper injected directly into my soul. “I need you, Cash.”
EIGHTEEN
DAISY
“I need you, Cash.”
His bare back went rigid at my words.
In the muted light, I couldn’t fully make out the designs that he had tattooed over the expanse. Couldn’t fully make out the distorted horrors he had written there.
But what I could see was the bulky muscle flexing and undulating beneath the shapes.
He only had on light gray sweats, a meager covering for the magnitude of his enormous body.
His thighs were thick, and his ass was round, as if he spent half his life doing dead lifts in the gym, though I was pretty sure he hadn’t stepped foot in one in years.
His shoulders were so freaking wide he nearly took up the entire expanse of the window that he stood in front of.
Every inch of him was a coiled canvas of rippling strength.
Did it make me a horrible human that I couldn’t do anything but stare? It wasn’t like I was sleeping this time.
I was lucid.
Aware of every choice I was making.
But God. I’d missed him. Missed him like crazy, even though I tried to convince myself that I was over him.
But the fantasies always infiltrated.
And those fantasies hadn’t come close to doing him justice.
How many times had I tried to picture what he would be like now?
Years gone.
Clearly my imagination was lacking.
Sorely.
My notions were boring and dull since this man was a depiction of dark perfection. All glowering brutality and surly viciousness.
That was the part that I hadn’t expected, but I guess I should have been prepared after what he had been through.
Cash seemed to war as he remained facing away before he finally inched around.
There was no stopping my eyes from traveling down his front, as beautiful as the back. Maybe more so because those hazel eyes I would never forget stared back at me through the dim light of the room.
