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He shakes his head. “I’ve had a crush on you since you walked into our tenth-grade English class with your hair falling down your back in waves and wearing your favorite Doc Martens. You gave me one of your signature smiles, and I was a goner.”
I tilt my head and nibble on my lower lip. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Theo caught me staring and confronted me after class. He made it clear that you were off-limits if I wanted to stay his friend, and I couldn’t risk losing you both.”
“What’s changed?
“Now I know what it’s like to live a life without you in it.”
I blink up at him, unable to speak. This is madness. I should ask Cash to take me back to my hotel, but the hopeless romantic inside me that’s been dormant for years has resurfaced and refuses to miss her chance at the happily ever after she used to dream of. No matter how fleeting it may be.
I’m pulled from the memory, when Cash shifts in bed. A reminder that the hopeless romantic won out and I’m now in bed with my husband.
I still can’t believe we got married.
There’s something intoxicating about his confession that he’s had feelings for me since high school, and my heart races, recalling the warmth of being held in his arms last night. It makes it so much harder to resist the temptation to move to his side of the bed to be close to him again.
It’s going to be a long night.
8
CASH
I WAKE UP WITH EVERLY DRAPEDacross my chest. Her head is nestled in the crook of my shoulder, her leg hitched over my thigh, and her arm wrapped securely around my waist. In sleep, her features appear softer, the creases around her eyes ease, giving way to a peaceful expression. The weight of the world has been lifted from her shoulders as she relaxes into the security of my arms.
As I shift beneath her, my rigid cock presses against her stomach, straining against my boxers.
Fuck.
I carefully maneuver out from under her, avoiding waking her up. The last thing I want is for her to panic and blame me for invading her space. Although, technically, she was on my side of the bed.
The last two mornings, I’ve woken up way earlier than usual. I’m a night owl, and I sleep in every chance I get. When Harrison first took over Stafford Holdings, he held early morning meetings with Dylan and me. However, after I missed half a dozen in the first month, he stopped scheduling any with me before 10:00 a.m. He’d be shocked if he could see me now.
While I’m close to my siblings, I often feel like an outsider.
From an early age, Harrison was primed to take over Stafford Holdings. He graduated college with a business degree and went on to complete his MBA. Aside from a rebellious stint playing professional hockey for a year, he’s the perfect son.
Dylan is a financial whiz and graduated at the top of his class. After his long-time girlfriend stepped out on him and Lola when she was just six weeks old, he was a single dad until Marlow came into his life.
And then there’s Presley. She’s the long-awaited daughter who can do no wrong in my parents’ eyes. After high school, she ventured out on her own, determined to be recognized for her own accomplishments, not the Stafford legacy. Now she’s thriving as a marketing associate at Sinclair Group.
Unlike my siblings, I’ve never had ambitious goals or the drive to achieve tangible success. I have more straightforward aspirations. Making people laugh, caring for my family and friends, and living life to the fullest makes me happy. Most people mistake those qualities for laziness, lack of motivation, and unproductivity. My accident taught me to embrace each day as it comes and not to worry about what tomorrow might bring.
My mind is wide awake, so I decide to go for a run.
I check my phone and find that I have multiple texts all from Theo.
Theo: How was your Friday night in Vegas?
Theo: Say hi to your family for me.
Guilt gnaws at me when I glance over at a sleeping Everly.
I can only imagine what Theo will do when he finds out I married his sister. He explicitly said she was off-limits and won’t care that it was fourteen years ago. I decide to hold off on texting him back until Everly and I decide how we want to move forward.
I send my pilot a text, requesting that one of the crew members deliver the suitcases we left on the plane to my parents’ house. They stayed at the Coastal Haven Inn last night, a local bed-and-breakfast, so they should be well rested.
As quietly as possible, I dress in a pair of running shorts and shoes I left here during my last visit. I’m in the habit of keeping clothes here since my mom prefers her kids to stay at her house when we come to Aspen Grove.