Then his breathing evened out.
A moment later he was fast asleep.
I smiled against his side. I wanted to take care of him as well.
4
Cash
I glanced at the house again. What was Riley doing right now? Something I’d been asking myself all day—the last few days. I scowled and hefted another plank of wood onto my shoulder. What had she done to me? I had a constant ache in my gut and a weird feeling in my chest.
I wanted to be inside the house with her. I’d brought her here for a lot of reasons: So I wasn’t alone anymore. To make my life easier, better. So I could get more done around the place. So far, I’d barely done any of the things I needed to do around the property.
How could I when all I could think about was what we’d done in bed three nights ago? The way she’d touched me and let me touch her. Her sweet, hushed words in the darkness, the little noises she made when I used my fingers on her to bring her to orgasm.
The feel of her tight opening against the tip of my finger. I’d wanted to plunge inside so badly. A shudder wracked through me. She said we’d fit together just fine, but I wasn’t so sure. What if I hurt her? She was so small. And what I wanted to do to her, the way I wanted to take her—
I clenched my fists and shook my head, trying to dislodge the images in my head of her under me, my hands holding her down while I slammed into her curvy little frame. What the hell is wrong with you?
Christ in heaven, I needed to stay the hell away from her. At least until I could gather some control. I needed to treat her with care, with respect. Not force her to endure my raw, unschooled hunger for her.
No, I hadn’t been with a woman before, but I’d been imaging what it would be like for a long time. Someone to talk with, eat with, share a life with. Someone to sate this burning lust deep inside me.
So many nights I’d lain in bed, feverish with hunger, cock in hand, feeling so incredibly lonely, so desperate for another person to touch me. Someone to help relieve the unrelenting ache between my thighs. Someone to just…hold me. It had gotten so bad, the loneliness had nearly broken me.
Until I finally did what Beau had suggested during one of my deliveries to their homestead.
Advertise for a wife, like he had.
I’d used the computer at the general store and started my search. Since I’d needed Landon’s laptop, I’d had to share what I was doing. He’d ended up helping me communicate with Riley. I didn’t have a computer, so I’d call him via satellite phone, he’d read me her emails, and I’d tell him what to reply with.
It was awkward and time consuming, but it was worth it.
Now I had my perfect, little wife. So beautiful and sweet. I wanted to protect and look after her. And fuck her so hard the walls would shake. If I took her like I desperately wanted to, she’d never look at me the same again. She’d probably run from me and never look back.
I couldn’t have that.
I finally had everything I wanted.
I couldn’t lose her. Not now.
Which was why I was getting up before she woke and climbing into bed after she was asleep.
I’d had her here less than a week, and I was already ruining everything.
I glanced at the house again and bit back a curse as a wave of lust hit me so strong I had to lock my knees. She was inside. In my house. Mine.
She was mine.
Growling, I dragged a hand down my beard. I’d woken early this morning with her plastered to my side—her arm flung over my stomach, her knee bent, thigh over mine, her face pressed against my ribs—and a cock so stiff I’d barely stopped myself from rolling her to her back, shoving her thighs wide, and stuffing her full.
Which was why for the third morning in a row, I’d gently shifted away from her and snuck out before she woke, busying myself milling wood for the house extension. Riley hadn’t sought me out. Not once.
I was confused and angry with myself. I didn’t know what to do.
My stomach rumbled. I’d barely eaten, and I was tired. I wanted her. I wanted to make things right between us. How did I do that?
My stomach rumbled again. It was getting late. The sun lower in the sky. Time to eat. You need to go inside. You’re making everything worse.
I couldn’t avoid her anymore. What kind of a man avoids his wife?
One with no self-control.
Somehow, I had to ignore the rough need I had for her. Not easy with her in my bed every night, curled up beside me, wrapping herself around me even in sleep.
Though, two of those nights, she’d woken with a scream, and as soon as I’d muttered what I hoped were soothing words, she’d curled into me and gone back to sleep.
I didn’t know what caused her distress, but I liked that I was there to comfort her.
It was the sweetest torture.
I adjusted the planks of wood on my shoulder and headed for the house, carrying them around the back, ready to use in the morning. I was hot, sweaty, hungry, and desperate to see Riley when I walked in. To try to make amends for the way I’d been behaving.
But when I stomped in, she wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen. I strode to the bedroom, then the bathroom.
She wasn’t there, either.
I stood there, looking around my small cottage like I expected her to appear out of nowhere.
Every muscle in my body locked tight. Has she left? Has she left me?
I ran out the door, searching the fields around the house—
A foot poked out from behind a tree.
My heart kicked into action, and I strode toward it—her—with what felt like a boulder in my throat, gut in knots. Of course, she hadn’t left.
She has no way to leave.
I shook that thought away.
She married you. She wants to be here.
Still, that moment of fear that she’d fled from me had me barking out her name, “Riley.”
Her foot jolted, then her head appeared around the side of the tree. “God, Cash, you startled me.”
I’d startled her? She’d scared the hell out of me. “What’re you doing out here?” I inwardly winced at the growl in my voice but couldn’t seem to stop myself.
She frowned and lifted the laptop on her lap. “I was writing.”
I dragged in a rough breath, feeling like an idiot, my heart still not calm, and there was no reining it in. “I’m hungry.”
What the hell is wrong with you?
Riley’s mouth opened. Closed. “Um, I’m sorry, I didn’t think…I…” She stood so quickly she nearly fell over. My hand shot out, steadying her, and just that tiny bit of contact with her warm, smooth skin against my palm and I was fighting not to snatch her up, shove down her pants, and take her against the tree she’d been hiding behind.
I pulled my hand back and shook my head. “I didn’t mean…”
“No, you’re right. You’ve been outside working all day. And I guess that was part of the deal, right? Me cooking the evening meals.”
The deal?
I hated that. This wasn’t some deal. She was my wife.
I couldn’t have messed this whole thing up more if I’d tried. “Riley…”
“Sorry, when I write I can get caught up and lose track of time. And honestly, since I haven’t seen you in days, I didn’t think... I’ll make something now, while you clean up.”