Sea Breeze 03 While It Lasts (11 page)

             
“Can I just drink the water?” I asked
,
scowling at the pills. I hated swallowing pills. I did it if I absolutely had to but I hated the taste they left in my throat and the way they felt going down.

             
“If you don’t take the a
spirin
you’
re going to have one
helluva
hangover in the morning. Drink this whole glass of water and take the pills.”

             
His voice was all deep and hypnotic. I wondered if he’d talk to me while I fell asleep? I’d have to ask him that. First
,
I needed to drink the water.

             
“I hate swallowing pills,” I grumbled
,
reaching for the glass of water.

             
Cage’s smile
reappeared
and he reached up and tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear. I’d tried to tuck that hair behind my ear earlier but I couldn’t get my hand to cooperate. I kept missing my ear.

             
“You can do it. I’m right here if you need me. I’ll even hold your hand. Just please, Eva, swallow the pills.”

             
His eyes were
too ridiculously
pretty
to belong to a guy. Especially
a guy
with abs like his
and back muscles… oh
,
I liked those
back muscles.

             
“It’s not fair that your eye lashes are so long and curly. Girls spend a lot of time and money trying to get eyelashes like yours.”

             
Cage laughed and reached up and ran his thumb under my left eye. “Yeah, well my eyelashes have got nothing on your eyes. They’re fucking incredible.”

             
Oh. Wow.

             
“I wish I hadn’t run off last night,” I admitted as h
e continued to caress my cheekb
one, then my jawline.

             
“It was a good
thing you did. I was close to l
osing my control.” His voice had dropped to a husky whisper that made me shiver.

             
“Maybe I wanted you to l
ose control.”

             
Cage’s grin returned. “You’re drunk, Eva. I can assure you that the
sober Eva doesn’t want me to lo
se control. She wants me to keep my distance.”

             
Was that true? No
,
it wasn’t. The sober Eva was just so determined to live by her own set of rules.

             
“Drink the water,” Cage nudged the glass toward my mouth.

             
I took a small sip and the cold taste of water on my tongue was refreshing. I hadn’t realized how dry my mouth was. I took several longer swallows when Cage reached up and took the glass from me.

             
“Now take the a
spirin
,” he ordered
,
holding the pills up for me.
Obediently
I opened my mouth and he placed them on my tongue. He brought the water back up to my lips and I swallowed the pills with ease. I didn’t even taste them in my throat.
Maybe I shoul
d just get drunk every time I go
t sick and need
ed
to take pills.
M
aybe I just need
ed
Cage to give them to me.

             
“Good girl,” he said as I finished
the rest of the water. “Now, lie
back down but scoot your cute little ass over against the wall. I have to fit in this bed too.”

             
Looking up at his wide shoulders and long legs I began wondering if that was going to be possible. I really didn’t want to sleep in the house tonight. I wanted to be with Cage. But was I making it hard on him to get good rest?

             
“I’ll make it work. I happen to know exactly how to sleep in bed with a girl comfortably,” he assured me. I scooted over until my whole left side was touching the wall. “Now roll over on your side.”

             
I did as he instructed. Then the bed dipped down with his weight and he slid in behind me. One warm arm wrapped around my stomach as he tucked himself against my back.  This was nice.
Really nice.

             
“Cage?”

             
“Yeah?”
             
I wanted to feel close to him. I didn’t want the lies between us anymore. But the thought of saying Josh’s name while drunk and snuggled up against Cage seemed wrong. I couldn’t do it. So, instead
,
I closed my eyes.

Cage

             
After a week of waking up with the sun, my eyes easily popped open before the sunrise was complete. Eva was making some soft purring sound in her sleep. Her legs had gotten all tangled up with mine at some point last night.

             
The smooth silk of her skin sliding against my calves was hard to resist. But I’d managed. I wasn’t a complete angel though. I couldn’t help myself
. When she’d grabbed my arm with her hand and pulled it up closer around her my hand had been left to palm her left boob. So, yeah, I’d cop
p
ed a feel. But damn, I’m a man.  They were real nice too. Soft but firm and her nipple had been nice and hard even in her sleep.

             
The erection I had pressed into her ass probably wasn’t going to go over real well when sober Eva woke up. As much as I hated to
,
I eased my arm from around her and untangled my legs from hers.  As quietly as I could I slipped out of bed. Grabbing a pair of jeans, a work shirt and my boots I left the room to go
get
dress
ed
. I didn’t want to wake her. She really needed to sleep that shit off. I’d be willing to bet that was her first drunken experience. She’d been so damn cute. If only sober Eva liked me as much as drunk Eva did. With a sigh
,
I pulled on my jeans and laced up my boots. It was time to get back to the cows.

             
Stepping out into the morning sun
,
I
wasn’t surprised
to see Jeremy there.
I wondered if he’d even gotten any sleep worrying about leaving Eva with me. I had to question his common sense a little. I would’ve never le
f
t Low with a guy like me while she was drunk and not thinking clearly.

Jeremy was
pacing back and forth in front of the barn door with a worried frown. His hair looked like he either forgot to brush it or he’d been running his hands through it so many times that he’d messed it up good.

             
“Thought you had to leave early this morning,” I said in greeting.

             
Jeremy stopped pacing and
closed the distance between us. He almost looked brave enough to take me on. 
“Dude, please tell me you didn’t—“

“I
just gave her a
spirin
,
some water and slept beside her.”

“She
okay
? Did you do anything to her? Is
she sick? DAMMIT,
I shouldn’t
have left her. Josh would be furious with me. She was vulnerable and
I just left. I can’t just leave.” H
e stopped his tirade and starting pacing again.

             
“She’s fine. I took care of her. She’s nice and safe. No harm done.”

             
Jeremy shook his head and kept pacing. “No. No
,
she isn’t okay. She
ain’t
ever
gonna
be okay. I’ve been waiting for her to be okay for eighteen months. I know Josh would want me to s
t
ay and look out after her. I’ve been doing what I know he’d have wanted for a year and a half. I gave up my scholarship to
Vandy
. I lost a semester
of school. I went to this dumb
ass cowpoke community college just so I could stay near her. But I can’t keep doing this. I want to live again. I will miss Josh for the rest of my life but I d
on’t want to keep mourning him.”
He stopped and put his hands on his hips. His eyes looked glassy like he was trying to hold back tears. “I can’t stop my life for her anymore. But I’m afraid that if no one is here to catch her when she falls, like last night at that damn bar, then she will crash and burn. I’d never be able to forgive myself if something happened to her. She always had Josh. He was her best
friend,
her protector and he made her feel complete. But I’m not Josh.”

             
I closed the barn door firmly behind me after checking to see if the bedroom door was still closed. I didn’t want Eva hearing this. I understood that
Jeremy
needed to let this out but Eva didn’t need to be so fucking close when he did.

             
“Why don’t we go somewhere else and talk about this,” I suggested walking away from the barn and closer to the house.

             
“You’re right. Sorry. Damn
,
she’s still asleep
,
isn’t she?”

             
I nodded and led him to the front porch where I had a view of the barn door but we were far enough away that I knew she wouldn’t be able to hear us.

             
Jeremy walked up t
he steps and ran his hands through
his hair again. He even pulled the ends a little as if he were trying to inflict pain on himself.

             
“I just need to do this. I need to go to
Louisiana
and get everything set up for the fall. But every time I think about coming home and telling Eva that I’m leaving in August to go away to school I feel like I’m
gonna
vomit.”

             
Poor guy was b
eating himself up. He was right,
though,
he couldn’t keep putting his life on hold for Eva. She wasn’t his responsibility. Just because she’d been his brother’s didn’t make her his now his brother was gone. Why hadn’t someone told him this before now?

             
“I’ve got a best friend who also happens to be a female. I understand what you’re feeling. I know that if Low needed me
,
I’d be there. I’d drop the world for her but there were times in our life that I wished I didn’t have that responsibility. Difference is that Eva wasn’t your best friend. She was your brother’s. This isn’t about Eva. This is about you wanting to
fulfill what you believe your brother’s last wishes would have been. In my opinion
,
you have. I didn’t know the dude but
I
think you’ve done your job. I don’t think he ever wanted you to give up your life for Eva.
”

             
Jeremy sank down onto the old wooden rocker that I’d often seen Eva sitting in
while
drinking a glass of tea and staring off into space. “You saw her last night. What if that happens when I’m gone?”

             
Hell
,
I wasn’t a damn psychiatrist. What did he expect from me? He was asking for wisdom from the guy who was working at a farm all summer because of a DUI.

             
“She’
s a big girl. She’ll be okay. She has her daddy here watching over her and she has other friends.”

             
Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “What about you?
While you’re here,
d
oes she
have
you?”

             
Me? What the fuck kind of question was that? She didn’t want me. At times I was pretty damn sure she hated me. But, yeah, if she needed me I knew without question I’d be there. She’d gotten under my skin.

             
“Yeah, she has me.
As long as I’m here, I’ll be available if she needs me.
Even when she doesn’t want me.”

             
Jeremy chuckled and stood up. “She wants you. She just doesn’t want to want you. Or at least that is what she said in my truck last night.”

             
She told Jeremy she didn’t want to want me. I liked that. I could work with that.  “Drunk Eva was something else,” I replied.

             
Jeremy walked over to the steps and held out his hand. I stared down at it and realized he wanted to shake my hand. I clasp
ed
it and he shook it one good time before letting go. “Take care of her for me.”