“Had more important things on your mind, I reckon,” Ollie said, smiling at her.“Now—is there anything else I can do for you?Offer you a ride back to Margie’s, maybe?”
“Thanks, Ollie,” Cassie said, tucking the tape into her back pocket.“But I already got one.”
“Looks like rain,” Ollie added, glancing up.“Weather’s turnin’.”
Like a goddamn dog with a bone, Nash thought, fighting the urge to deck the idiot.
Cassie looked up just as a raindrop hit her cheek.She wiped it away with her thumb, almost smiling.
“Hell,” she said.“It’s just a little rain.I’ve performed in worse.”
As she turned away, Ollie’s eyes flicked to Nash, his smile faltering.
Nash slid his arm back around Cassie’s shoulders and held Ollie’s stare over her head, answering it with a slow, knowing smirk.He didn’t turn his back on the hospital until Ollie disappeared inside.
At the bike, Nash handed Cassie his helmet and swung a leg over the seat.She didn’t climb on right away.
“Connor knew Maya,” she said quietly.“Didn’t he?”
Nash dipped his chin.“Yeah.Pretty sure they were usin’ together.Don’t know if it was more than that.”
“I think…” Cassie sighed.“I think I want to talk to her.When she wakes up.”
Nash nodded.He wanted to talk to her too—had questions of his own—but there was no point adding more weight to today.
“One thing at a time,” he said, then, “Cas—ride with me.”
Climbing up behind him, she slid her arms around his waist, her cheek settling between his shoulder blades.
As the bike roared to life beneath them, Nash sat perfectly still for a second, just feeling the weight of her against his back.
Then he pulled onto the street grinning like a fucking idiot.
Chapter Nineteen
TheypulledintoNash’sdriveway just as the sky split open.Lightning cracked across the ridge, so close the whole holler lit white, thunder chasing fast enough Cassie felt it in her chest.By the time they hit the porch, they were soaked—hair plastered to their faces, clothes clinging like second skin.
Nash barely made it through the doorway before stripping—leather, shirt, boots hitting the floor in a trail behind him.
Cassie toed off her sneakers.Her jeans hung heavy, her shirt streaked with blood, puke, and God knew what else.She yanked it over her head, letting it fall with a wet slap.
When she looked up, Nash was already down to boxers.Rainwater traced the ink on his arms and chest, dripping down ridges of muscle, skin gleaming in the dim light.She watched him a moment, feeling more than a little unmoored.
I’m family,he’d barked at the nurse.
The words hadn’t left her since, tightening her chest every time they replayed.Truth or bluff—she couldn’t tell.What ached was how much she wanted them to be…true.
Nash straightened, catching her staring.His eyes swept over her, a grin tugging.
“Put that look away,” she muttered, fumbling with the button on her jeans.“I’m covered in puke and blood.”
Nash stepped in, brushing her hands aside.“Hold still,” he said, crouching low.He worked the soaked denim down her hips, peeling it from her legs and tossing it aside.
Still on his knees, his gaze dragged slowly up her body, his breathing roughening.He never looked away as he pressed his mouth to her hip, heat flaring where they touched.Then higher—another kiss against her stomach, his eyes still locked to hers.
Faster now, hungrier—his mouth climbed her body, each scrape of teeth and pull of his lips stealing her breath.His hands slid higher, popping the clasp of her bra with practiced ease.The straps slipped from her shoulders, and then his mouth closed around her breast, teeth grazing just hard enough to make her gasp.
God, she wanted it.Wanted him.They’d lost an entire day tangled up in each other, and still it hadn’t sated her.
