“I suggest you take a step back, Mr. Buckman. My husband doesn’t like others in the house when he’s not here.”
“I didn’t realize you two were married yet,” he says, ignoring my words.
I slip past him, pulling the door closed behind me, making him take a few steps back. I take a few of my own in the other direction, trying to get some distance from him.
“Cash is over at the Johnson farm right now. Shouldn’t you be there?”
“He always fill you in on his affairs?” The way he says the word affairs has my heart picking up a few beats. The tone doesn’t help any either. He studies me, and I look to the driveway the leads over the hill. Cash should be back any minute. He said he wouldn't be gone long and then we’d be on our way.
His boots click on the wooden porch as he takes a step closer to me.
“I can see why June was so fit to be tied. You are a pretty little thing. I’m not sure what Cash is gonna do with you. I don’t think you could handle one ride.”
I flinch at his words because I don’t think he means a ride on a horse. And the implication runs a little too close to home.
He reaches out, grabbing one of my curls. “The Johnsons aren’t home, you know. Went to a cattle show. Only one there is June. How long has he been gone over there with her?”
My body freezes at his words. He’s been gone for over an hour now. I turn to bat his hand away from my hair and tell him to leave, but before I can, he’s gone. A loud crash fills the porch as Billy is pulled away from me and he hits the house. Cash’s hand is around his throat, and Billy is starting to turn red.
Cash has him a good foot off the ground. I hadn’t noticed how short the other man was, but now that Cash is next to him, it really shows.
“You think you can come on my land and fucking touch my wife?” Cash’s face is so close to Billy’s I have to step to the side a little to see him. His face is turning purple now, and I don’t think Cash is really looking for an answer to his question. It’s clear the man won’t be able to talk with how tight Cash’s squeezing his throat.
“You don’t look at her, you don’t talk to her. In fact, you don’t even know she fucking exists.” Cash is so mad I can feel the anger pulsing off him in waves. He continues to choke Billy, and all I can do is stand there, shocked by how fast everything’s happened. I don’t even know where Cash came from. It was like he knew a man touched me, and poof, he just materialized. That actually would not shock me at this point.
“Fuck!” I hear someone yell, pulling my eyes from the scene in front of me. I see Earl and three other hands with him start to run towards the porch. They head for Cash and try to peel him off the other man. It takes all four of them to finally get Cash off Billy. When Cash lets go, Billy slides down, his ass hitting the porch. His hand goes to his throat as he coughs over and over again. I look back to Cash, who’s still being held back by the men as they try to calm him down, but it doesn’t seem to be working.
He keeps pulling to get free, wanting back at Billy.
“He fucking touched her.” He lunges again, this time breaking free of two of the hands, and I jump in front of him. He halts, almost running right into me, and I throw myself into his arms, wrapping myself around him. No way he’ll keep going at Billy if I’m locked around him. If we don’t stop him, I’m starting to think he might kill the man.
His hands go to my ass, catching me easily. I pull back and cup his face. “You marrying me today or you going to jail?” I ask him as I lean in, my lips just a breath from his, and I can see his face visibly relax.
“Marrying you.”
“Think we should practice that kissing part again?” I tease him, brushing my lips across his.
He takes my mouth. The kiss is hard and demanding, almost knocking the air right out of my lungs. I can feel everything he felt moments ago. All the adrenaline still pumping through his body, only now he’s using it on me. He pulls back sooner then I want, breaking the kiss.
“Get him off my land,” Cash says, not taking his eyes from mine as he starts to carry me towards the house.
“I’m calling the Sheriff. He’ll hear about this.”
“When you call him, can you tell him he still owes me a hundred dollars from our last poker night?” I hear Earl say as Cash kicks the door closed behind us and places me on my feet.
His eyes run over me, and I can see the rest of the tension leave his body.
“Goddamn, you look perfect.” His voice is gruff, but he takes a step back from me.
I take a step towards him, and he holds one hand up.
“Barely hanging on, sweetheart. I gotta get you to the courthouse, and if you touch me right now with how I’m feeling, I’ll snap and take you right on this floor.”
“There’s more than what just happened out there, isn't there?” I ask, pointing to the door we just came through.
“Yeah. I was already fucking pissed before I saw Billy reach out and touch you. I went right over the edge after that.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. Not a goddamn thing.”
I just stare at him. Cash runs a hand over his face, then pulls it through his dark hair.
“I went to the Johnsons’ and they weren't there.”
“But June was.”
“But June was,” he confirms, making me uneasy. I don’t like that one bit.