No Regrets (Bomar Boys #1) (17 page)

“Thank you, for coming to check on me and for staying.”

“I was worried.” She frowned when she glanced at his bruised knuckles and then gently kissed them as well, “I am worried.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine, but you will be okay. I know that.” She released him and reached for his shirt, pushing it up until he had to raise his arms to help her take it off of him.

“I should probably go take another shower but I’m too damn exhausted.” He swayed on his feet.

“I don’t mind. Just get in bed before you fall down.”

He peeled off his shoes and jeans, letting her help steady him and then did as she said once he was down to his boxers. He held the blankets up and Jemma crawled right in beside him. She snuggled up against his side, resting her head against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. After a couple of moments, the tension inside him began to uncurl and sleep crept up.

“Jemma?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

She smiled against his chest, “You already said that.”

“If I weren’t so tired, I’d probably break my promise and try to get you naked.” He yawned and resettled her a little tighter to his chest.

“No, baby, you wouldn’t.” She kissed his jaw, “Now go to sleep.”

He did, with a smile on his face, something he hadn’t known was even possible after dealing with Decker, and it was all because she was here, in his arms, in his bed, right where she was supposed to be, and she’d called him baby.

Every single mile that inched them closer to Houston, Hoyt and her horrible old life made Jemma rethink the decision to go after her things. She shouldn’t have come. There was nothing back here for her. She knew that. She should have just called it a loss and replaced everything, started from scratch. There was nothing here that she couldn’t live without and the dark memories that the past few hours in the car had dredged up were threatening to eat her alive.

She took a deep breath, let it out and closed her eyes. Watching the road rush past was giving her a headache. Seeing all of the places she’d contemplated stopping when she was on the run didn’t help either.

The hotel she’d refused to stop at because she’d worried Hoyt would see the charge on the credit card and come to get her. The convenience store where she’d purchased the sunglasses to cover her black eye. The gas station where she’d stopped to use the bathroom and ended up crying for twenty minutes before she managed to pull it together. There were a thousand other landmarks on the seven plus hour drive but she only seemed to notice the ones that hurt.

Once they’d entered the city and she’d pointed the way towards their destination, it had only gotten worse. She didn’t miss this city, not really, but it still left a funny taste in her mouth to be looking at it as an outsider. Maybe she always had been. Maybe that was the point. She’d never felt at home here, had always known that it belonged more to Hoyt than it ever would her, mostly because he’d never failed to point out that she wasn’t local, wasn’t a city-girl and never would be.

She hadn’t been happy here. She knew that now. She’d thought that would make coming back easier but it didn’t. If anything, it made her sadder. Because she’d known she wasn’t happy and she hadn’t done anything to fix it, to get out, not until she’d lost everything, not until it was almost too late.

“Hey…”

Jemma released the breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding when a warm, familiar hand slid into hers. She turned to face the source of that just as familiar, just as warm voice. The worry on his handsome face made her heart hurt and she squeezed his hand, letting her fingers automatically intertwine with his as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Those intense blue eyes studied her for a long moment before flickering back to the road, “You okay?”

She nodded.

It wasn’t a lie if she didn’t say it out loud. That’s what she told herself at least. Even she didn’t believe that lie though, because Cash could see through her.

He saw her in ways nobody else ever had, or ever would. He knew her history because he was a part of it. At first, she’d thought that was a bad thing, because he knew all of her baggage, all of her damage, better than anyone. But over the past few weeks, she’d come to realize that it wasn’t, because he would never use it against her.

Since the night she’d spent curled up beside him in bed, they’d rarely gone a day without seeing each other. They hadn’t slept together again, literally or sexually. He hadn’t pushed her for more, had in fact drawn them back from the ledge more than once when a simple kiss had turned into a steamy make-out session.

He said they didn’t have to rush. She agreed. What she hadn’t brought herself to tell him, at least not yet, was that it didn’t feel rushed. Not with him. It felt like she’d been without him too long already, as if he was a limb she hadn’t known she was missing, and now that she had it back, him back, she was ready to move forward.

Before she did that, she had to put her past behind her.

“We’re going to get in and get out okay?” Cash squeezed her hand as he eased through an intersection, “Only what you need. There’s enough room in the back for a few boxes but we can’t take anything big like furniture.”

They’d gone over this at least five times already. She knew. He knew she knew. He was just tense and edgy. So was she. It had been a quiet trip for the most part because Cash wasn’t a big talker on a good day and also because she was lost in her own head. Now that they were close, the tension in the cab of the truck had become suffocating and somebody had to say something.

“I know. I don’t need much. There’s not much that’s mine anyways.”

“We have the suitcases Skylar sent. You can jam as many clothes in those as will fit and…”

“Cash.” She cut him off with a sigh, “I know, okay? I’m ready. I just want to get this over with.”

He was silent as he made the turn into the parking lot of the building she’d pointed out. Since he needed both hands, she let him go and stared out the window as the large hi-rise where she’d lived with Hoyt loomed. Get in and get out. This was it, the last step she had to take before she could move on with her life.

A low whistle sounded from the back seat, “Whew, that’s one hell of an ivory tower, Jem.”

She shot Cash a look out of the corner of her eye and saw his jaw twitch. Their chaperone had been quiet most of the trip as well but he sat forward now, sticking his head between them to look out the front windshield. Jemma scooted over to give him more room when Colt wedged his broad shoulders between the front seats of the old truck.

She’d been surprised to find he was joining them but when she’d shot Colt a questioning look as he climbed into the truck this morning he’d simply shrugged and said more hands meant it would go faster. Neither of them had said a word about the look they’d shared when she said Skylar wasn’t coming and they’d been downright evasive when she asked about Colt closing down his shop for the day for something they could have handled on their own. Cash had scowled at him but remained quiet about his brother despite the hours they’d all spent together on the road.

“Shut it Colt.” He growled through clenched teeth now.

“I was just saying…”

“I know what you were saying. Shut. It.”

Colt rolled his eyes before leaning back in the seat with a muttered, “Rich bastard is gonna get a rude fucking awakening when he sees us is all I’s sayin’ bro.”

Jemma scrubbed a hand over her face and sighed, “He’s not going to see any of us because he isn’t here. He told me he’d be out of town or I wouldn’t have even come. I’m going to go up, get my stuff and then I’m out of here.”

Cash growled, “Hold up, I know you don’t think we’re letting you go up there alone, right?”

“We.” She corrected with a small smile, “We’ll go up and get my stuff and then we’ll be out of here.”

“Better.” He grumbled.

She pointed out the guest parking near the door and he flipped a turn, backing into the spot. A Mercedes that had been following behind them honked but Cash flipped them off out the window. Colt grumbled from the backseat about rich people having no manners and she fought a snort at hearing the Bomars talk about etiquette in any capacity. They all piled out of the old truck but Jemma hesitated when the doorman eyed them warily.

“Hey… um, maybe somebody should stay with the truck.” She fidgeted when two sets of intense blue eyes focused on her, “I don’t want them to tow it just because it looks out of place.”

Colt hissed something else about fancy bastards and then nodded, “I’ll stay. Cash, go help the girl pack up.”

“Thanks.” She squeezed his arm before accepting the suitcases he handed over and then heading up the sidewalk and inside the building with Cash close on her heels.

People stared as they walked through the lobby to the bank of elevators and she fought a laugh when Cash only tensed further. He might have thought they were staring because he looked out of place in his faded jeans and t-shirt to their pressed suits but she knew better. The women literally stopped in their tracks to stare at him, some of them gasped, and she was fairly certain a couple of them drooled.

Like she could blame them?

Cash had always looked like a walking, talking sex god to her and today was no exception. His light hair was ruffled and wind-blown from where he’d rolled the windows in the truck down. He hadn’t shaved and the rough, day old stubble on his square jaw gave a dangerous edge to his good looks. In his dust covered boots and faded gray t-shirt, he did look out of place but only because he could have stepped off one of those old-school billboards for bourbon and cigarettes. He was a towering, muscled giant compared to these scrawny businessmen and he was glorious.

“What’re you grinning about?” He rumbled as they stepped onto the elevator.

“You.”

An eyebrow winged up, surprise shining in his eyes, “What about me?”

“You’re sexy.” Her grin widened when he only blinked, “You are and every woman in that lobby wanted a piece of you.”

He moved closer to her, his eyes dropping to her mouth, “You think so?”

“I know so.” She sucked in a breath when he planted his hands on either side of her head and leaned close, a breath that only drew in his musky, masculine scent and made her insides summersault.

“I didn’t notice but even if I had, it wouldn’t have mattered. I’m taken.”

She swallowed a moan when he dropped his mouth to her ear, his stubble raking over her sensitive skin and making every nerve ending in her body hiss, “You are?”

“Mmhmm.” He hummed, “There’s this pretty little redhead I’ve got it bad for.”

He drew out the word bad… and then he licked her. The tip of his tongue on the sensitive flesh just beneath her ear. Her legs nearly buckled and she had to hold onto him to stay upright when he blew cool air over the damp spot and then pressed his lips firmly against her skin.

She shivered as want and desire flamed through her veins. Her head fell back, giving him more room, and he took it. He pinned her to the wall with his big body and they both groaned at the contact. The sparks between them caught fire just that fast and easily and when he raised his head and took her mouth it burned out of control.

This man was so damn dangerous… So damn good to her, but so damn dangerous all at the same time.

It had been a little over a month since she stumbled back into his life. Four weeks since she’d kissed him and told him that she wanted him. Two weeks since she’d slept in the same bed with him and he’d promised not to push her.

In all that time, he had never been the one to initiate contact, had held himself back, waiting for her to come to him, to come around, to be ready. Every time she’d been the one to make the first move and a little piece of her loved him for that, for holding back, for wanting to take their time and make sure she was ready, but a big part of her had been waiting for this.

Because this was the Cash she remembered. Bold and dominant, he didn’t wait and he didn’t ask permission. He simply trapped her small body with his big, powerful one and took what he wanted. His mouth on hers, his tongue greedily laying siege, his big hands tangling in her hair and then tracing her body, pulling her hips up to meet his so that there was no denying another big part of him wanted her.

She whimpered from the loss of his kiss when the bell dinged that they’d reached their floor and he broke away. They were both panting and out of breath. Neither of them budged from the others embrace for a long moment, not until the ding sounded again and the doors started to close.

“Damn it.” Cash grumbled, letting her go and jamming a suitcase in front of the door to block it from closing.

Her eyebrows winged up as his chest heaved and a scowl marred his handsome face, “Damn it?”

“This isn’t the time or the place, baby.” He reached for her, tugging her into his side and planting a sweet kiss against the top of her head, “You need to finish this, put this guy and this mess behind you before you’ll ever be ready to give me what I want from you.”

She buried her head against his chest, afraid to look him in the eye when she asked, “What do you want from me?”

“Everything.”

Her heart fluttered and she was glad she’d hidden her face. The smile would have completely given her away if she hadn’t. Because that was Cash, the boy she’d known and the man she was only beginning to understand, equal parts sexy and sweet, angel and devil. He
was
everything.

“Come on, we need to get my stuff and get out of here.” She finally pulled away from his embrace and dragged him down the hallway.

The tension that had been beating off of him all morning only grew as she pulled her key from her pocket. She’d already explained to him that she would use her key to get them in and then leave it behind when they left. She thought that was the reason he was scowling again, the reminder that she’d been living with another man only a month ago, but when she stopped in front of one of only two doors on the floor his unease was explained.

“That bastard owns the entire floor?”

“Half of it.” She admitted with a nod, “The top floor is considered the penthouse and we’re one floor down from that. There’s an east and west suite on this floor.”

His scowl twitched, “Fucker must hate having someone above him.”

She nodded and unlocked the door. She didn’t think there was any use explaining that Hoyt’s parents actually owned the penthouse as well. They only used it when they were staying in the city, a fact that did, actually, annoy Hoyt because he wanted it for himself. Cash seemed to like the idea of her ex being a step below someone and she wouldn’t take that away from him.