Page 64 of Freeing the Wild
“He was my guitarist.We got along well but we never really had much of a spark.I just felt that at twenty I needed to start having real sex withsomeone.I trusted him and he was good to me.”
I stand and pace to the window.“But no one else?No groupies on the road?”
She shakes her head.“I write love songs, Haden, and in my experience there’s no such thing as true love anymore.There’s only people who want something from you.I’d rather imagine what true love is like.That way I’m not let down.”
“Christ,” I mutter.I’m an asshole.I should’ve asked her—
“I shouldn’t have told you this.It’s not a big deal.You and me, we did have a spark.I mean wereallyhad a spark.I don’t regret what happened between us, Haden.”
I turn back to face her.All the words I want to say are on the tip of my tongue and it’s getting harder and harder to fight them.
“I don’t regret it either,” I tell her.“Not in the slightest.”
She smiles at me with a sassy little look.“Besides, it gave me a hit song,”
I chuckle at her, taking my bottom lip between my teeth.The audacity of this woman.
“Now, enough about my lack of a love life.Get over here and get ready.I’m gonna kick your ass at Monopoly.”
I shake my head as I walk back over to the sofa to play a game with her.But as we talk more and play a full game, I register what she’s saying to me without saying it.It replays in my head like a leaking faucet.Cassie doesn’t sleep around or let people in.Because she doesn’t trust them.Yet, for some reason, that night she trustedme.And the thing that scares me even more?I like knowing I’m the man she can trust.
By midnight we’ve had our fill of Monopoly and are in the middle of a game of Uno when I grab a bottle of bourbon from my kitchen and place it in the middle of the table.
“You’ve been playing wrong your whole life,” Cassie fires at me.It’s actually quite a comfortable temperature in here now with the fire blazing away, filling the room with warmth.
“It’s not wrong.You pick up until you can go,” I tell her, taking a much-needed swig of bourbon.This woman is both bratty and stubborn, especially when she’s losing.
She looks at me with narrowed eyes, holding up at least twenty cards to my five.
“Don’t get pissy because you’re gonna lose, Princess,” I chuckle taking another swig.She follows suit and takes a shot herself.
“I don’t lose.”
“You’re about to,” I say as she finally picks a card up she can play.
“If I have to pick up until I can play, I can double-lay the cards until I run out when they’re the same color or number.”
I start to laugh as she layers on her cards.
“You dirty little cheater,” I chuckle under my breath.
She feigns shock and pulls her knees up to her chest.“I’m not a cheater, and I’m not losing.”She lays three more cards down.By my count our hands are almost even now.
“Is that so?”I ask, leaning on my forearms.If I lose, it’s only because the sight of her like this is so goddamn distracting.
“Yeah, that’s so.Care to make it interesting,Competitive Cowboy?”
Her lips curve up and she leans forward, resting her chin on her palm.Maybe it’s the bourbon talking, or the fact that she’s just too damn beautiful in this light, but I give in.
“How?”
“Well, I don’t have my wallet, so we’ll make it simple.Best of five.Starting with this game.If your opponent calls ‘Uno’ before you, you pay.In clothing.”She grins at me and takes another swig from the bottle.“Unless you’re too cold.Or chickenshit, of course.”
Cassie stands up and pulls her sweater off over her head.“It’s so warm in here, I’ll even give you a headstart for my previous ‘cheating.’”
She’s wearing nothing but a white tank top underneath.Definitely no bra.The moment her sweater is tossed aside her nipples harden under the scrap of fabric that is acting like the only barrier between her perfectly full tits and my mouth.
Christ.Get it together man.
