That wasn’t going to happen. Ever.

*

By the time Cage got out of the shower I was dressed and the biscuits were in the oven. Facing him after what we’d done wasn’t going to be easy, but knowing he’d gotten off too eased my embarrassment. I always woke up horny. I had been doing that for months. I just hadn’t had to worry about Cage walking by my door and hearing me.

“I was gonna make breakfast this morning. It’s why I was up early. I got, uh, sidetracked on my way down here,” Cage said.

I glanced over my shoulder at him and felt myself blush. “Oh” was all I managed to say.

“Yeah, oh,” he replied with a chuckle.

My body relaxed from the sound of his amusement. It wasn’t going to be awkward. It was Cage. The things we had done together should make me immune to any sexual embarrassment with him.

“Can I make the eggs, at least?” he asked, stepping up behind me, close enough that I could smell the soap on his skin, but still not touching me.

“If you want to,” I replied, taking a deep breath so I could enjoy how good he smelled.

He reached for the skillet and set it down on the stove beside me. He wasn’t going to say anything about it. He was going to pretend it didn’t happen. That we hadn’t just… done that.

“I kept your panties. Hope that’s okay,” he said close to my ear before walking over to the fridge to get the eggs.

That was it. We had to talk. “Why?” I asked, turning around to look at him.

“Why? Because they smell like you and I miss that smell. Real bad… and they’re still wet.”

I sucked in a breath and reached for the edge of the counter for support. “Cage, what are we doing? I mean… what is this?”

He studied me a moment then he set the eggs in his hands down on the counter beside me. He walked up to stand so close to me, I had to press my back against the granite countertop behind me.

“I’m doing whatever the hell you will allow me to. That’s what I’m doing. Why? Because I can’t live without you. However you allow me to have you is what I will take.”

I wanted to scream at him that he had had me completely and thrown it away. Didn’t he get that? “You had me Cage. You fucking had me. You wanted something else!”

Tears burned my eyes. I hadn’t said that out loud before. I had thought it, but I hadn’t verbalized it. Not until today. My throat clogged with tears, and Cage rested his hand on my hip. “I made a mistake. The biggest mistake of my life. I let my insecurities keep me from fighting for you. I let myself believe the words you yelled at me over the phone. I didn’t come here and make you listen to me. That was my mistake.”

No. That was only part of it. Did he not see that? I hit him hard against the chest and let out a sob. He didn’t move. “No. No. No! That isn’t it. I wasn’t enough. You needed more. I can’t live with that. Don’t you see? I can’t live knowing you touched someone else. That you wanted someone else. I only ever wanted you! Only you!” Tears were blurring my vision. I didn’t care. I needed to let them free. I needed to say it. For over a week he’d been showing up there to work. He’d been sweet and thoughtful. I had let him. But never once had he told me he was sorry for what he’d done to me. For making me believe I would ever be enough for him.

“The picture of me touching the girls breast. I was looking for my phone. My roommate had taken it and I was stuck at a party I didn’t want to be at. Very few girls had on tops and I wanted the hell out. They wouldn’t go away and take no for an answer. I shoved her back and I was reaching for her shoulder when she moved so that I’d grab something else. The picture of me getting in a car with a girl was the only ride I could get home that night. I had no battery in my phone because, once again, my roommate had taken it. I was miles away from any store and it was late. That was just a ride home. The kiss was set up. I arrived at a team party at a bar. I sat down by myself on the couch to watch television, and she came up and laid one on me. I pushed her off and stormed out of there to call you. You didn’t answer. I went inside to get a beer and play pool and the beer I took had been drugged. Fifteen minutes after I went back in that bar, I don’t remember one fucking thing. Not one. And I never slept with that girl. It was also a setup. She was helping Ace set me up. That photo was taken by Ace. They wanted me to believe I had fucked her. Not once, Eva. Not fucking once have I wanted anyone but you since the moment I walked onto that porch out there and laid eyes on you. It’s been you ever since.”

I stood there, unable to find words. For six months I’d thought he had cheated on me. Betrayed me. For six months I had lived with the pain of not being enough.

“I should have fought for you. I should have fought for us. But I didn’t. I fucking didn’t, and I will never forgive myself for it.” Cage dropped his hand from my waist and stepped back. Then he turned and walked out the door.

My shattered heart slowly began to reform. Each moment that I’d thought he had wanted someone else melted away. Every tear I’d cried over not being enough to hold him dried up. I shoved off from the counter and went after him. He was walking across the yard, headed to the barn, when I hit the first step.

“Cage! Wait!” I cried, and started running down the rest of the steps.

He turned around and saw me then started walking back to me in long strides. “Don’t run, baby, you could fall,” he said, looking concerned.

I just laughed. He was my Cage. He was back. My nightmare was over. He grabbed me around the waist, but I flung myself into his arms. “I love you. I love you so much. I should have listened to you. I was so emotional and I wasn’t myself. But you deserved more from me. You deserved to be heard and I wouldn’t give you the chance.” I held him tightly knowing nothing I said could make the fact I hadn’t trusted him better.

Cage’s arms tightened around me and I felt him shudder underneath me. I cried harder. The boy who hadn’t been loved and had been left by everyone had trusted me with his heart and I’d let him down. I would never do it again. Ever. If he was going to give me the chance, then I would spend my life proving it.

I ran my hand over his head and threaded my fingers through his hair. He had bent down and buried his head in the crook of my neck and wasn’t moving. He just held me silently. “I love you so much. I never stopped,” I told him again.

Slowly he lifted his head and looked down at me. “You’re my world,” he said simply.

CAGE

Eva wasn’t loosening her hold on me, and I was good with that. We’d stand here like that all damn day if she wanted to. “I’m not engaged to Jeremy anymore,” she said against my chest. I smiled. I had forgotten that she didn’t know I knew she wasn’t engaged anymore.

“I know,” I replied.

She frowned and gazed up at me. “You do?”

I pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Yeah, he called me. Let me know.”

Her frown deepened. “I was going to break it off. He just beat me to it. I don’t want you to think I wanted to marry him.”

My smile only got bigger. I took a small taste of her bottom lip with my tongue. “I know,” I whispered before she slipped her tongue into my mouth and I entered the sweet warmth I’d missed.

Her body molded against me. Feeling the small swell of her stomach pressed against me made the possessive beast inside me come to life. That was mine, and I wasn’t fucking letting it go again. She couldn’t force me to leave her side with a damn gun pointed at my head.

Her hands slid under my shirt and went straight for my nipples. The woman was obsessed. I kissed a path from her mouth to her ear. “You start playing with my nipples, baby, and I get to play with yours.”

She arched her neck, and I took it as an invitation to continue kissing and licking my way down to her neckline. She started pressing her breasts toward me and kissing any skin she could find, including my biceps. “Cage,” she said, sounding desperate.