“Still, you could’ve warned me I was walking into the Chelsea dressing room, with his mate here and all.”
Cash snorted. “Chelsea? Dom and Serge never played for those wankers.”
Like that was the point. But I understood the discretion, and with my lack of football knowledge painfully exposed, I changed the subject. “What’s for dinner?”
Cash turned back with full arms and a wide smile. “Stew and mash. That okay?”
It was more than okay. With the chaos of the last few weeks, no one on camp had found time to cook properly, and my diet of microwave rice and instant porridge was starting to get old. The rainbow of vegetables Cash dumped on the counter looked like heaven, and only my desire to touch him was stronger than my eagerness for dinner.
Cash cooked while I played with the cat, keeping half an eye out for his housemates. Dom never came back, but Lucky appeared again a little while later.
“You have two choices.” He swiped something from Cash’s pot. “You can look after Victoria for the night, or I can stay in and ruin your fun.”
Cash shot him an indecipherable frown and turned back to the stove.
Lucky turned his attention to me with a questioning stare.
I shrugged and tickled Victoria’s chin. The name suited the haughtiness she was starting to show, and the regal way she held herself as her fear faded. In some ways, she reminded me of a vixen. “We’ll take care of her, mate.”
Lucky fussed Victoria, kissed Cash’s cheek, and left.
A moment later, the front door banged. Cash turned his eyes briefly to the ceiling. “Thank fuck for that.”
“Oh stop,” I said. “He’s nice. I like him.”
“You live with him then.” But there was no weight behind the words, only a fondness that made the cosy kitchen even more welcoming.
***
Cash brought a pot of rich vegetable stew and a dish of mashed potatoes to where I sat, with deep bowls and a couple of spoons. “No one around here knows me from sabbing. I only told Lucky about it a few weeks ago.”
“How did that go?”
“You’ve met him. What do you think?”
“That he’d be cool…perhaps even want to join in.”
Cash pointed a spoon at me. “You’re bang on, but Dom’s too recognisable for Lucky to get involved with our shit. I had to say no.”
Our shit.Crude words, but they meant something. Perhaps they meant everything. At this point, who the hell knew? “Does Dom know?”
“No idea. If he does, he hasn’t said anything.”
The practical side of me pondered what the support of a high profile face like Dom’s could do for the cause, and weighed up the cons that came with it—for us and for him. But I didn’t get very far, because my supper smelled too good, and I hadn’t come here to work.
We ate huddled up at the counter, shoulders touching, knees brushing. The food nourished me, and Cash’s quiet, healing company brought me to life. As he cleared the dishes away and dumped them into the sink, something irrevocable shifted in me. It had been alongtime since I’d shared such an intimate meal with someone. Since I’d craved someone the way I craved him. We had much in common, and yet we were different, but being with him, even if it stayed just like this, felt so…right.
Cash washed up while I fed the cat and settled her—as much as a cat would ever deign to be settled—in her new bed. Then we turned the lights low, left the radio on for her, and retreated upstairs.
I wasn’t sure what Cash had in mind. He swung effortlessly into his attic bedroom, and I followed, only for him to grip my arms and pull me up.
He didn’t let go. He kissed me once, twice, three times. “We can stick a film on if you want? Or go down the pub—”
I let him know without words exactly what I thought of any plan that didn’t involve staying right there. Claiming his mouth, I backed him against the nearest wall, slipping my tongue past his soft lips. My hands slid under his clothes, coming to rest naturally at the base of his spine and the back of his neck. The alchemy of our perfect fit struck me again and it was all I could do not to fucking ravage him.
Cash was apparently less concerned with subtlety. He made a noise low in his throat and gripped my hips, hitching my leg up to press us impossibly closer. The bulge in his jeans ground against my hard dick, and I swear I whimpered. God, he felt good. So good. Only the desperate need for more drove us apart.
I took his hands and tugged him to the bed, and he was on me instantly, his gentle kiss ramping up as his lips became more demanding.
