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  *

  This woman on top of him was gorgeous. She’d abandoned the original rhythm she’d set and was now doing what he’d told her to. She was taking what she needed and she was beautiful in her selfishness. He could feel her squeezing against him every time she rocked back.

  “C’mon, baby,” he encouraged her, closing his eyes against the feelings coursing through his body. “Come all over my dick. I wanna feel it.” And he would feel it because he hadn’t put a condom on; it had been the last thing on his mind.

  “Harder,” she whispered. “Faster.”

  He gave her what she wanted, pressing against her flesh harder and strumming his thumb faster. In less than three strokes, she broke against him, grinding her body against his, moving her hips against his cock. Using his strength, he flipped them over, before putting her face down, and spread her thighs wide against the comforter on the bed, grasping her hips in his hands.

  “Now, I get to be selfish,” he rasped against the back of her neck as he layered his body over hers.

  Cash could still feel the aftershocks working their way through her body as he pounded into her from behind. He held onto her hips with one hand, braced himself against the wall with the other, and let himself fuck her like he’d never fucked another woman in his life.

  “Harper, God, you feel so good,” he breathed out, licking the sweat on his upper lip. It poured down his body, making them slide together in the best way.

  “You feel good too,” she echoed the sentiment.

  It was when he saw one of her hands reach under her body and go straight for her core again that he felt the tingling at his spine start. He knew he had to pull out; he wasn’t sure of the birth control situation, and that was a complication they didn’t need. He gave himself two more thrusts before he extricated himself from her body and jacked off against her back, breathing heavily, moaning loudly as he came.

  Sweat stung his eyes as he saw the evidence of his desire on her lower back, dripping down her ass, and he knew he could never look at her the same again. She’d broken the barrier.

  ‡

  Chapter Five

  They were in a holding pattern, and Harper hated it. She sat at the kitchen table, doing homework. Her mind, however, was not on homework. Her mind was on the afternoon three days before that she and Cash had spent in Richardsville. Since then, they’d both been a little clingy with each other. She wasn’t sure what had happened, but their relationship had shifted in a major way.

  “Harper, is it okay for me to go down the street to ride bikes with Tommy?” Remy’s question startled her, and she dropped the pen she’d been chewing on.

  If this had been a week ago, she would have said yes without even batting an eye. But now she worried. Would his parents try to make a play for him when he wasn’t being watched? She and Cash hadn’t discussed this, and she didn’t want to make the wrong decision. Glancing up at the clock, she saw that it would be at least an hour before he got home.

  Usually she wasn’t scared to let him out of her sight, but now, she thought twice about it. “How about we wait for your brother to come home?”

  She could see the disappointment in his eyes, and she hated it.

  “By then Tommy will have to get ready to go to his dad’s,” he whined, stomping his foot.

  Harper hated this. He didn’t understand because they hadn’t been honest with him. He didn’t get why all of a sudden they were careful about where he went, with or without the two of them. Bike riding was one thing he had always been allowed to do. It was good for building his stamina up and had done wonders for his asthma, but she couldn’t make the decision without talking to Cash. She didn’t feel comfortable making it on her own. “I know.” She nodded. “But we talked to you about what’s going on with your mom and dad, and we want to make sure you’re safe, Rem.”

  He wasn’t used to hearing no from either of them, and she watched as his face got red, and she knew that the normally easy-going kid was gearing up for a tantrum. “I could always go do whatever I wanted to when we lived with mom.”

  “Here is different, Remy; there are rules.” She stood her ground, not letting a ten-year-old tell her what to do. It was hard, because she normally didn’t say no. She reached way back in her memories for the tone of voice Cara had used when she’d been in trouble as a child.

  “I hate your rules!” he yelled at her, stomping his feet.

  A tantrum was unusual with Remy. In fact, she’d only seen it once before, and it took her by surprise, the force of his voice shouting at her. In his anger, he looked more like Cash than he ever had.

  “I’m sorry, Remy.” She kept her voice calm and level. “But there will be rules here, and you will have to obey them.”

  “You aren’t my mom!” he yelled at her again, knocking her book off the kitchen table.

  “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

  Both of them snapped up as they heard Cash’s voice. Neither one of them had heard him come into the apartment.

  *

  Cash had heard Remy’s voice yelling at Harper from outside the apartment, and he had quickly made his way up the steps and through the door. Neither one of them noticed him as they had faced off. He did his best to hold onto his temper as he saw Remy knock her textbook off the table. He’d asked his brother what was going on, and he was still waiting on an answer.

  “She won’t let me go ride my bike,” Remy whined, glancing up at his brother, pleading for him to see his side of the story.

  Cash turned his attention to Harper, his eyebrow raised. There had to be a reason she wouldn’t let him ride his bike; it wasn’t like her to tell Remy no if she didn’t have a reason.

  “I can’t watch him,” she explained, picking her textbook up off the floor. “I have to finish this paper because I have to work tomorrow night. I don’t want to let him go down there if I can’t watch him.”

  It dawned on Cash as to why she’d said no. They hadn’t discussed what to do about the situation of Janet and George coming after Remy. “Remy, when she says no, she means no. There’s a reason she said it.”

  “I hate you!” he screamed at Cash. “I never get to do what I want to do!”

  Those words stung, and Cash reacted the only way he knew how. “Go to your room, right now. Forget riding your bike. You’re in timeout.”

  “You’re not my mother, and you aren’t my father.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Good.” Harper threw a glare at him. “I don’t want to be your mother. I’m way too young for that. If anything, I’d be a sister.”

  “Well you ain’t my sister either. I always wanted one, but it sure ain’t gonna be you.” His tone was ugly and he stomped to his room and slammed the door as the two of them looked at one another, both at a loss for what to say.

  Cash had a seat next to Harper at the table and glanced at her. “That went well.”

  Suddenly she couldn’t stop laughing.

  *

  She tried hard to get herself under control, but it felt good to laugh after all the stress they had been under. “I’ve never seen him get so pissed, and I’ve sure never heard him say he hates anyone.”

  Cash shook his head. “He’s been on his best behavior because we’ve been giving him everything he wants, for the most part. Remy’s just like any other kid; he can be a major brat. This isn’t the first time he’s told me he hated me.” He shrugged. “I won’t say it didn’t hurt, because it always does, and I’m not sure how parents deal with it, but he’ll be over it in an hour.”

  “I didn’t know how to handle it,” she admitted. “I’ve never seen him act that way before, and then I wasn’t sure how far I was supposed to go with telling him no. I mean, I know that I’m the adult, but I’m not his mother.”

  “No, but you’re his authority figure, and he should respect you at all times. I’ve tried to drill that into his head, but sometimes he reverts back to the Janet Sawyer way of thinking, and that’s thinking that
everyone bows down to him.”

  Harper reached out, grabbing Cash’s hand. “He’s a kid.”

  “A kid that normally has manners and apparently needs to learn boundaries. If we let him walk all over us now, how’s he gonna be when he’s a teenager?”

  He could have smacked himself in the mouth as those words came out. That was implying there was in fact a future between the two of them; that was assuming she’d want to deal with his fucked-up life after all was said and done. Cash had never been the type of guy to make plans because nothing ever fully worked out the way he wanted it to. With Harper, he found himself making more plans, counting on the fact she’d be there with him every step of the way and hoping she wouldn’t let him down.

  She grinned, her eyes shining. “If he’s anything like his older brother, the ladies better seriously watch out.”

  He laughed as he reached over and hooked his arm around her neck, pulling her into a chaste kiss. It wasn’t often that they flirted, but he liked that he could do that with her. “Thanks for not letting him scare you off.”

  She winked, flirting right back with him. “He’s ten and shorter than me. For now, I can hold my own.”

  And for the first time in a long time, Cash thanked God for that.

  ‡

  Chapter Six

  Three Days Later

  It was like coming home, being behind the wheel of his car. It felt like it had been years since he’d been on the Trail rather than a few days. Cash had never believed the cliché when people had said it before, but as he sat there, waiting on the start of the race, he finally understood. He breathed easier here, the tension in his neck didn’t hurt so bad, and the feeling in his chest didn’t smother him when he sat behind the wheel of his car.

  Working to remove all the noise from his head wasn’t hard. This was the one place all of that didn’t affect him. This was the one place he could turn it all off. He needed this release almost as bad as he needed a sexual release. They both served different purposes, but each relieved the stress he felt of everyday life. Cranking the music up louder, he drummed the beat on the steering wheel with his thumb. To anyone looking, he was the picture of relaxed, and it was true. He never felt more relaxed than he did behind the wheel of his car.

  “Ready?” the flagger asked.

  He nodded, because he was so ready. The adrenaline rush he got from this was unlike anything he could explain to anyone else. The flag dropped, and he immediately pressed the gas and shifted gears. He had done this for so long and for so many times that it was ingrained into his psyche. He went on autopilot as soon as he got in the zone.

  On this night, Louisville road was quiet. There were no cars as far as the eye could see. Tonight it wasn’t about skill; it was about the speed of your car and the patience you had to reel your competition in before you blew their doors.

  Less than a minute later, he was taking the checkered flag and pulling back around to collect his winnings. Almost immediately, he realized he needed to have the same kind of calculating patience with the Remy situation. Maybe he was approaching it all wrong. Maybe he needed to wait them out, let them make a move. He didn’t have to anticipate whatever they were going to do—there was no way to know. Being high one minute and coming down the next made them unpredictable. Cash knew he had to quit thinking rationally. Patience would pay off—eventually.

  *

  Harper sat at the kitchen table doing what she felt like she did all the time. A fucking budget. Tyler and Meredith had found them a lawyer. Unfortunately that lawyer was not pro bono. He was cutting them a break, but his services still cost money. Wasn’t she too young to do a budget? That’s what she kept telling herself—she wasn’t old enough to be a housewife, but damn if she didn’t enjoy acting like one.

  Glancing up at the clock, she hoped Cash was on his way home. He’d gone to the Trail because they desperately needed the down payment for their first visit with the lawyer in the morning. She wasn’t sure how they were going to pay him, but knew they would. Neither one of them wanted to see Remy taken away, and she hadn’t lied when she had said the kid had wormed his way into her heart.

  With all the appliances off and the apartment eerily quiet, except for her phone softly playing music next to her, she heard Cash’s car pulling into the street. She listened as he parked in the driveway and then got out, walking slowly up the stairs. It wasn’t a dejected walk—so to speak—but it did make her wonder if he had done well or not.

  His keys jangled in the lock, and he walked in, glancing over to where she sat. There was something about the way he walked into their apartment. He walked in like he owned the place. It was so male that she couldn’t help but get goosebumps every time she saw him do it. This was their place, and she belonged here with him. There was nothing in life better than that.

  “It’s late. What are you still doing up?” he asked as he kicked off his shoes and threw his wallet on the table by the door.

  The truth of the matter was, she didn’t sleep well without him there, and she grew more and more nervous that his parents would do something while she was there alone with Remy. She didn’t say that, however. She shrugged her shoulders and indicated the papers in front of her.

  “Trying to figure out how we’re gonna pay for this.”

  He came over and had a seat in the chair next to her, turning his chair sideways and her body sideways so he could pull her back against his chest. “We’ll figure it out.”

  She hoped so. This was the most important thing she’d ever done in her life. “I don’t know how.”

  He put his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. “You let me worry about that.”

  Harper let herself melt into his arms for a moment, breathing in the scent of gasoline and summertime, and felt the whiskers on his chin rasp against her scalp. Disentangling herself from his arms, she turned so she could face him. “No way. We’re in this together. I won’t let you worry about it by yourself.”

  “Same goes.” He leaned forward, kissing her softly on the lips. “Just like you won’t let me worry by myself, I won’t let you worry by yourself.”

  She entwined her arms around his neck and rested their foreheads together. For a couple who wasn’t usually sweet, these moments had a decidedly sweet vibe, and she liked it. “How did you do at the Trail?” she asked softly.

  The grin that lit up his face was enough to push any doubts away she’d had about him providing for them.

  “Fuckin’ won that bitch.”

  Harper watched as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills, placing them on the table. It never failed to amaze her how much money he carried around after winning. She wished she knew where people came up with that kind of cash to bet. If there was a money tree somewhere, she hadn’t found it yet.

  “I think this will be enough for the initial payment to the attorney.”

  She glanced at the money, mentally doing the math in her head. About a thousand dollars lay in front of them. It wouldn’t be enough, but it would be a good start. “I picked up a private catering job this weekend too,” she mentioned.

  “Are you cooking?” he asked, his mouth already watering, his stomach already growling.

  “Unfortunately not.” She laughed at the excited tone of his voice. “I’ll be serving. It’s on Saturday night, so I hope you don’t have to run the Trail. I don’t know if I’ll be home in time to watch Remy.”

  “How late is it going to be?”

  Her nose wrinkled. “Typically, I don’t get out of those until at least midnight, but it’s cash, and it’s usually around three hundred bucks.” She shrugged. “So I do it with a smile on my face, even if I don’t like it very much.”

  “I don’t like you leaving that late at night by yourself. Maybe I’ll let Remy stay up past his bedtime, and we’ll come get you,” he thought out loud.

  “I’m a big girl, Cash. I can take care of myself,” she reminded him. “I’ve taken care of myself for a
long time.”

  He kissed her again. “Well, now it’s my turn.”

  ‡

  Chapter Seven

  Cash felt like a fraud. He glanced around the waiting area they sat in and took a deep breath. This was one of the nicest places he’d ever been in. The walls were immaculately polished wood, the floor looked to be slate stone, and even the receptionist desk had a marble countertop on it.

  “Are you sure we can afford this?” he whispered to Tyler, who sat next to him.

  “Yeah, my man, you can afford this,” he assured.

  As far as Cash was concerned, Tyler and Meredith Blackfoot were angels in disguise. Somehow, they’d found this guy, whose office lobby cost more than Cash had probably ever seen in his life, and they were about to have a meeting with him. Gripping Harper’s hand in his, he shifted in his seat, smoothing the button-down shirt he wore. It was borrowed from Drew, he didn’t have anything at all nice like this, the pants too. The shoes he’d grabbed from Layne. It still amazed him he’d not even had to ask for the clothes. When Tyler had showed up at their front door this morning—after they’d quietly and quickly gotten Remy off to school—he’d held a bag in his hands. Meredith also had a bag, just in case Harper had need something. Together they’d cobbled together outfits and made themselves look as responsible as possible.

  “Tyler, Mer?”

  Cash’s head snapped up as he heard the voice across the room, asking for his friends.

  “C’mon, man, that’s us.” Tyler tapped him on the leg.

  They all stood up, Cash refusing to let go of Harper’s hand as they made their way into the office. If he’d thought the lobby looked amazing, he hadn’t seen anything yet. The office they walked into was big and open, a huge wall of windows looked out over the Bowling Green Ballpark where the minor league baseball team played, and he could see almost out to the rock quarry on Veteran’s. The view was breathtaking, but it also served to remind how expensive this was going to be.