Wild Heart- Extended Edition (The Wild Heart Series) (4 page)

“Prove it to me,” he challenged.

As he pulled her weight toward him she reached back and grabbed the paint stained brush that was propped on the edge of the rim. Without thought she swiped the moist bristles, covered in crimson red paint, right across his arm. His brows shot up in astonishment as he reached for the paint brush. She dodged left as he went right and tucked herself below his reach and struck his leg.

He let out a laugh straight from his belly and Ani took off running toward the opposite side of the barn. “Now who’s a stick in the mud?” she asked excitedly.

She ducked around the corner, waiting for a sarcastic response, but found none. She waited a moment as nothing but the sound of the chirping crickets settled around her. She grinned playfully as she peeked her head back around the corner of the wall and found the front of the barn empty.
Where the hell did he go?
She took a few brave steps away from the wall as his large solid arms came wrapping around her waist and he picked her up over his head. She let out a squeal as he hoisted her up over his shoulder.

“Put me down, barbarian,” she requested through her light giggling.

“Say you’ll come tonight,” he countered.

“You’re impossible, Cash.” She flopped all of her weight down onto his shoulder, not giving him any assistance in carrying her weight, though it was useless. He probably benched pressed her weight without effort on the weekends.

He swatted at her ass before placing her down onto the ground carefully. For a moment his hands rested at her hips, her arms placed gently on his shoulders, and they were eye to eye. They stood there for a few brief moments that felt much longer than they actually were. She waited patiently, waiting to see what would happen, but like a true gentleman he moved his hand around to the small of her back and led her back toward the front of the house.

As they made their way around the side of the house, Stevie came speeding up on the lawn mower, stopping it just short of the front of the shed; right before crashing into it. She smiled at the stupid grin on his face as he stepped off and headed over toward them.

“That thing drives like a race car!” Stevie shouted too loudly before removing his earmuffs, “So did she say yes?” He looked over at Cash with a brilliant look of expectation on his face.

“Nope, she’s being difficult. Why don’t you love on her a bit, Stevie?” Cash grinned as Stevie came toward her, arms wide open as if to engulf her in a large hug. Ani grimaced and trotted away from his since the front of his shirt was covered in dirt and oil.

“Hell no! Get away from me, Stevie!” Ani shouted, taking off running in the opposite direction.

“Ani, it’s either we cuddle right now, for at least five minutes, or you come with us to The Hill tonight.” A boyish grin spread across Stevie’s face because he knew he had her right where he wanted her. And slowly, but surely, he could see her giving in.

“The Hill? Really? You’re still going out to that old mud hole?” Ani rolled her eyes, trying to pretend that the idea was completely lame.

It had been the popular hangout of all the high school kids back in the day. Everyone for miles around would all wait until a good, hard, rain passed through and then take their trucks out to see who could get stuck in the mud pit first. There had never been a shortage of mud, beer, and girls in skimpy outfits; and Mr. Baxley would always bring the tractor to pull out those who did get stuck. Who says it’s hard to find entertainment in a small town in the south?

“Come on, Ani,” Stevie’s brown eyes pouted as he begged, “please.”

“It hasn’t rained in days,” she said, trying to keep from looking up at the clouds now forming across the sky. She had been able to feel it rolling in all day, but she wouldn’t admit that to them.

“It’s gonna rain in about twenty minutes and you know it. You mean to tell me a few years in New York and all of a sudden you’ve lost the gift of weather forecasting?” Stevie’s eyes cut sideways at her, he wasn’t believing that for a moment.

“Damnit. Fine! I’m gonna go take a shower and I’ll see you in a few hours. If you’re not here by eight I’m going to go to bed,” Ani said as she marched back toward the house, not once did she turn back to them. There was no way she would let them see the excitement in her eyes.

“Yeah! That’s the spirit!” Stevie shouted as the men walked back to Cash’s truck.

Ani made her way into the lower living room of the house. Her dad was lying on the couch snoring lightly as Storage Wars hummed out from the TV speakers. She knew he hadn’t been sleeping well lately from the new medicine the doctor had put him on, so she left him and quietly walked toward the stairs leading upstairs. As she made her way into her bathroom, she realized just how disheveled and dirty she really was. For the past three days Cash, Stevie, and she had been working on getting the chores around the house and barn finished. They had been able to get more than she’d expected done and, aside from popular belief, she was actually looking forward to going tonight. She hadn’t seen any of her friends from high school since she had left for New York and with Stevie going, she wasn’t as worried about being with Cash alone.

After showering, she slipped into a pair of cut-off jean shorts, a tight fitting white tank, but even though it was much warmer here at night than in New York, she didn’t want to be stuck out in the woods cold. She dug through one of her dresser drawers and grabbed a lightweight long sleeved pink shirt. She dusted her face with powder, fixed her mascara, and topped it off with her favorite coral lip gloss. This was the most effort she’d put into getting dressed up in a while. Though admittedly, it had become too easy to stay in her pajamas on the weekends when she lived by herself. A light layer of hair spray later and she was ready to go. She slid on her boots and made her way out to the kitchen just as Cash and Stevie came in the door.

“Hot damn, woman!” Stevie said, coming over and wrapping her up into a tight hug. He’d never been one to understand any personal boundaries, but Ani didn’t mind.

“Stevie, I have a knife in my boot and I will use it,” she joked.

“That’s even sexier.” He beamed at her playfully.

“You boys want some food before y’all head out?” her dad asked as he came up the stairs to the kitchen. “I can fix you something.”

“No sir, Mr. Forrest. We fired up the old grill before we left the house,” Cash replied as he strolled over toward Ani. “I appreciate the offer, though.”

His eyes carried a certain hint of hunger, but not for food. She could feel him consuming her as he crossed the floor to her, it made her stomach twist and after a moment, she realized she had all but stopped breathing. He looked handsome in his black shirt and camouflage pants. There wasn’t much that was sexier to her, than a man who looked like a man. And Cash was the very essence of that; from his boots up to his dark hair. And his eyes; God they were beautiful, mesmerizing. They alone, were enough to get a girl lost for days. He wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and Ani was toying with the idea of what it would be like to have those hands against her body once more. One thing they had always had in their relationship was passion. It was a fire that, even after years, had obviously not burnt out.

She eyed him playfully as he closed the remaining distance between them. She could now feel the wall she’d put up, slowly starting to crack in his presence. She’s tried so hard for so many years to keep to herself, to shield herself from any chance of pain. Where once she’d felt anger toward him, she was beginning to feel excitement; excitement of what was to come. But she was thankful for any emotion that he could stir up in her, because it was more than she’d felt in ages.

“You look as beautiful as a southern sunset, princess,” his smile reached his eyes as his strong hands grabbed her hips.

Princess
. An endearment she’d never get tired of hearing.

“Thanks, Cash. You don’t look too bad yourself.” She didn’t hide her gaze, as once more the flames flowed from her stomach and down through her limbs and settled at the apex of her thighs.

“You ready to go? I wanna see what that truck of yours has to offer.” His thumb brushed across the bare skin of her hip, lingering before he turned to the door.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said quietly to herself.

“Well, you kids have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Ani’s father said, hugging her goodbye.

“Let’s be honest, Mr. Forrest, you and I both know you had some wild days back in the military. You’ve told me some of the stories,” Stevie joked as he bounded across the kitchen toward the door.

“Yeah, suppose that’s true. I won’t wait up then,” Mr. Forrest chuckled as Stevie ran out the door.

How the hell Stevie had so much energy was beside her. He hadn’t changed one bit since high school. Still the same energetic class clown with floppy strawberry blonde hair. He hadn’t gained any weight or lost any either; still just a scrawny southern boy. But, of all the people she’d been friends with, Stevie had been the only one who’d been there for her after she and Cash had broken up; and for the first year after she had left, he’d been the only one that had kept in touch aside from her family. Over the years, she and Stevie had grown apart, like she had with everyone else, but she knew she could always trust him.

“It’s like high school all over again!” Stevie said, jumping into the back seat of Ani’s Toyota and drumming on her headrest with his hands.

“Is he going to be this hyper all night?” Ani laughed, glancing over at Cash who hadn’t taken his eyes off her since he’d walked into the house earlier.

“He hasn’t changed a bit,” Cash smiled.

As they pulled out onto the main road, Ani made her way down toward the corner store, stopping for the guys to grab a handful of snacks and a few too many cases of beer. After loading the truck with enough stuff for what could have easily seemed like a weekend trip, they headed toward The Hill. Even though she hadn’t driven out to the mud hole in years, she still knew exactly how to get there. She took a left onto a dark dirt road that was covered by the canopy of the trees that still dripped from the heavy downpour earlier. She hit every puddle in the road, tossing Stevie back and forth in the back seat.
I told you to put on your seat belt.

As they neared the end of the dirt road, she took a small cut-off to the right, so inconspicuous that unless you were paying close attention, you could drive by it ten times before you realized it was there. She followed it along the babbling creek, until the trees opened up into a spacious field. Large dirt hills still sat in the back corner of the property, worn from the constant pounding of the ATV’s that drove over them. Toward the far left corner, she could see the orange and red glow of the massive bonfire coming from between the trucks that circled around it. As she rolled down the windows, the faint sound of Hank Williams Jr. came floating into the truck, and his crooning about Bocephus grew louder as she drove closer to the bonfire.
Yep, I’m officially back in the country.

She hadn’t seen any of these people in years and the butterflies were beginning to flutter around in her stomach. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous, but if Cash and Stevie hadn’t been in the truck riding with her, she would have happily turned around and headed back home. The dark figures standing around the fire turned and she could feel them staring at her large SUV as she pulled up to one of the empty spots.

“Who’s that, babe?” She heard a girl ask from the tailgate of a mud covered truck.

She let out a deep steadying breath and looked over at Cash who was smiling proudly.

“No need to be nervous. It’s just like old times,” he said smiling as Stevie hopped from the truck, hooting and hollering at the guys gathered around the fire.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about,” she smiled back at him weakly, hopping down out of the truck and making her way over to Cash. She followed him to the fire, adjusting her clothes with each step she took, as a few blank stares landed on her.

“Holy shit! Ani?” a shrill voice came from the back of one of the trucks.

She squinted over the fire to see a flash of blonde hair running her way. Trisha Stephens came running up and flung her arms around Ani’s neck, almost knocking her over. Trisha had been one of Ani’s closest friends growing up. They had played softball together and would ride their horses through the trails almost every weekend that Ani hadn’t been with Cash. However, high school drama had forced a wedge between them their senior year and the two had drifted off down their separate paths. However, her excitement proved that it obviously didn’t matter anymore.

“Guys, you all remember Ani, right?” Trisha yelled to the group of smiling faces.

Ani scanned the crowd looking for one face in particular that she’d thought might have been here tonight, frowning when she didn’t see the blue eyes she’d secretly been hoping to find tonight. Ani could admit that she had been a horrible friend, the one person she should have said goodbye to before she left was Kate. But when Ani left Coker Creek, she sped out of here so quickly it was a surprise that there wasn’t a trail of burning tire tracks left behind. She’d been selfish and instead of saying goodbye to Kate, she hadn’t and every attempt she’d made to call after that was met by a voicemail. Eventually, Ani stopped trying.

“Is Kate coming out tonight?” Ani asked Trisha.

“I don’t think so. I think she’s opening at the credit union tomorrow,” Trisha giggled, hugging Ani again, “It’s just so good to see you!”

“Thanks, it’s good to see you too, Trisha.” Ani followed her back over to the tailgate where a few other girls sat.

“Ani, this is Shelby, Sarah, Linsey; you remember her from our softball team, right?” Ani nodded toward the girl and shook each of their hands as Trisha introduced them. “Ladies, this is Ani. We go way back.”

“Hi,” Ani smiled. She vaguely remembered some of these girls from high school, and maybe catching a fly ball and knocking Linsey to the ground once, but she hadn’t really been friends with any of them.