Chapter Four

Cage

I knew enough about country music to know that it was George Strait’s voice singing over the speakers. Becca Lynn’s hand squeezed mine as she walked beside me toward the big ass fire they had going. The moonlight was the only other light out here in the woods. The small area was crowded with unfamiliar faces. A couple of them I wouldn’t mind getting to know a little better. A flirty little brunette flashed me a teasing smile before pressing her nice sized chest against the arm of the guy she was holding onto.

I surveyed the rest of the crowd. I still wasn’t sure I was going to be doing anything with Becca Lynn tonight. I couldn’t make up my mind. I just had a feeling she was going to be the kind you couldn’t get rid of after the one-nighter. There were a few other options out here in the dark. My mind went to Eva and I wondered if she’d be here. This probably wasn’t her scene. I doubted Eva Brooks went to bonfires at night. But damned if the idea of getting her snobby little ass pressed up against a tree didn’t sound real good. She might be a bitch but she was so fucking sexy it didn’t even matter. I’d have to keep reminding myself that she was off limits. I had too much riding on her daddy liking me to get too attached to the idea of getting her out of her panties.

“Let me go get you that beer,” Becca said, reminding me she was beside me.

“Thanks,” I replied, smiling down at her.

“Here comes Jeremy and Eva. You can talk to them while I’m gone,” she beamed then turned to hurry toward the large coolers full of ice sitting as far away from the fire as possible. Of course, Eva had shown up with the boyfriend that didn’t suit her at all. She needed someone who could show her how to loosen up. Good ‘ole Jeremy wasn’t that guy.

“Hey man, Becca dragged you out here tonight, huh?” Jeremy said in an amused tone as he stopped beside me.

“Yeah. I thought I’d check out the night life around this place,” I replied, shifting my eyes from Jeremy to Eva. She wasn’t looking at me but I could tell she was trying real hard not to. Her stiff posture told me she was very aware that I was watching her. Dammit why’d that make me fucking happy?

“Thanks for sending out the cold ice rags today. Those sure were nice,” I said, knowing she wouldn’t be able to ignore me now.

She took a deep breath that she tried to hide but I was watching her too closely. Then she turned her eyes my way and it was like a damn kick in the stomach when the light from the fire illuminated her face. I’d been with a lot of gorgeous women but never had I been so affected by their looks before. There was something in her eyes that drew me in. I wanted to make the sadness she tried to hide go away. Eva Brooks was haunted and my protective tendencies were being tugged on.

“You’re welcome,” she replied in a clipped tone.

“I realize that those were probably meant for Jeremy but he shared and it was much appreciated.”

A small frown puckered her brow. “I sent two out there, didn’t I? One for each of you.”

Ah, so she was admitting to thinking about me too. I liked that.

“Really. Well, thank you. I was under the impression you wouldn’t spit on me if I was on fire.”

Jeremy’s amused response was a low chuckle that was beginning to get on my nerves. He did that a lot.

“As long as you do the work that Daddy has for you and you work hard then I will be more than happy to supply you water and cold towels.”

Her responses were all so matter-of -fact. Did she ever get passionate or emotional about anything? It would be a damn shame if she was that cool and controlled during sex. Something in her eyes told me she was holding back. There was something I was missing.

She lifted her hand to tuck a stray lock behind her ear and I saw the twinkle of a small diamond that sat securely on her left hand. I stared at it as understanding slowly began to sink in.

Eva was engaged.

Words left me. The world tilted a little off center. I jerked my gaze off the ring to Jeremy who was watching me closely. Jeremy was her fucking fiancé?

“Here ya go,” Becca Lynn said as she held out a can of Bud light to me. I took it from her outstretched hand and opened it taking a very long swallow. I had to get my head on straight. I hadn’t been expecting this. Jeremy and Eva dating was crazy enough but engaged? How the hell did that happen?

“Want to go swimming?” Becca asked sweetly. I needed to remember I was here with her. I needed to focus on anything other than that diamond ring on Eva’s hand.

“Sure,” I managed to reply.

“Becca, don’t do that.” Eva’s obvious disapproval surprised me. What the hell was wrong with swimming? Was she against that too?

“Why not?” she chirped as she began pulling her tank top over her head. WHOA.

“Then at least go strip in the shadows and not right here in front of everyone. Especially Jeremy. You’ll make him uncomfortable.”

Strip? Were we going skinny-dipping?

“It ain’t like Jeremy hasn’t seen me naked, Eva.”

What?

“Ugh, just go undress away from us,” Eva replied.

“I wasn’t exactly complaining. Becca Lynn has some nice knockers,” Jeremy piped in.

It came out of nowhere. I suddenly saw red.

I reached over to grab Jeremy by the collar and lifted him off his feet. “Apologize, now you stupid fucker.”

Jeremy’s wide-eyed expression told me I’d scared the shit out of him but I didn’t care. He was engaged. To Eva. What the hell was he looking at other girls’ tits for and talking about how nice they were in front of her? Asshole.

“I’m sorry Becca,” he croaked out.

“Not her you idiot! Eva! Apologize. To. Eva.”

Why the hell did he look confused? Was he a moron?

“Uh, sorry Eva. I didn’t mean to uh, say that,” he stammered nervously.

I felt a hand on my arm tugging at me but the blood pounding in my ears was drowning out everything else. I turned my angry glare off Jeremy to see Eva’s horrified expression as she screamed and pulled on my arm.

Focusing on her words I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down

“STOP IT! STOP IT NOW! CAGE.”

Slowly, I let Jeremy down and watched as Eva shoved me back and went to fuss over Jeremy like she was his damn momma.

“Are you okay? He’s insane. What was Uncle Mack thinking sending him here? I’m so sorry, Jer.”

Jeremy shook his head and gently pushed her hands away. “Eva, I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me. He was just offended by my comment and apparently thought you would be too.”

Well, hell yeah. Low would have killed Marcus with her bare hands had he said something like that about another woman. Eva was not reacting properly. She was mad at me. Me. Not Jeremy.

“Because he’s insane. He’s a drunk and he’s had too much to drink.”

That was it, “Excuse me Mother Teresa but this is my first damn beer in three days and I’ve only had half of it. This is not what constitutes a drunk. “

She opened her mouth to respond and snapped it closed again. Then she turned to Jeremy, “Let’s go. I’ve had all the fun I can handle for a night.”

Unable to control my mouth any longer I had to comment. “You don’t know what fun is Eva Brooks, but baby, I could show you a world of fun if you’d loosen up just a little bit.”

Her cheeks flushed bright pink and she stiffened her back before turning and stalking off into the dark. Jeremy shook his head and then followed her.

How was I the bad guy in this?

Eva

“Can you believe him? Is he crazy? I mean, he just snatched you up and you let him. Take up for yourself, Jer,” I was furious and just maybe a little turned on. Cage’s arms had some serious bulging muscles.

“He thinks we’re engaged,” Jeremy replied.

I froze.

“What?” Where did he get the idea that Jeremy and I were engaged?

Jeremy took my left hand and held it up. “You wear an engagement ring and the only guy you are seen with is me. It’s an honest mistake, Eva. He was taking up for you. Which I gotta say I didn’t get that at first. Then it dawned on me that he wasn’t going all caveman possessive over Becca Lynn but he was pissed that your fiancé had just made a suggestive comment about another woman. He was defending you.”

Me?

I replayed in my head everything that had just happened. Becca had been about to strip right there in front of us. I didn’t want to watch Cage’s appreciative gaze take in her very naked body. It bothered me. A lot. Then Jeremy had made the comment about her nice boobs. Which I knew he really liked. He had mentioned them more than once. Then… then… Cage had lost it.

Because he thought I was engaged to Jeremy. In a weird scary way he was defending my honor. It was… sweet. Well, crap. I didn’t need him doing sweet things for me. Especially weird, scary, sweet things. He could have hurt Jeremy.

“You get it now?” Jeremy asked, reminding me that he was standing there in the dark with me.

“Yeah. I get it. Although I don’t want him hurting you if he sees you with another girl. I need to straighten this out.”

Jeremy nodded, “I’d appreciate that. ‘Cause that dude is tough. He ain’t some spoiled pretty boy. He’d mess me up good if he thought I deserved it.”

“Okay. I’ll go back. You can stay or go. I’m just going to take the truck home after I talk to him.”

“You sure? I mean, he might opt out of skinny dipping with Becca and want to hang out with you.”

No. Cage might not be totally bad but he was still in no way good enough. Josh would never approve.

“I’ll just talk to him a few minutes then leave.”

Jeremy sighed, “Yeah, okay.”

I knew he didn’t completely get it. I walked over and gave him a quick hug before turning and heading back to the lake. The glow of the fire made it easy to get back. The crowd around the fire had dwindled and I didn’t see Cage anywhere. That meant he was at the lake. Maybe… naked.

Cage may not be good enough for me compared to what I had with Josh but I could still appreciate the beauty of his naked body. I’d never really seen Josh completely naked. I had never seen any guy completely naked.

I headed down to the lake staying just out of the light from the bonfire so no one saw me going down there. I didn’t want people making a big deal out of the fact Eva Brooks was going to the lake to skinny dip because I wasn’t. Not even close.

Turning the corner around the old oak tree, I stopped and slowly peeked around the corner. Splashing and giggling was growing louder from the water only a few feet away. Was Cage out there with Becca Lynn?

“You coming, Cage?” Becca Lynn’s voice was close and I backed up further into the shadows.

I worked hard to focus my eyes in the dark. Cage stepped out of the darkness. He reached up and threw his jeans over a low branch. The moonlight hit the backside of his body and I covered my mouth to keep from making a sound. Because DEAR GOD! His butt was unbelievable. The muscles in his back moved as he walked toward the water. He had muscles in his back!

“I’ll come in if you come out and get me,” he drawled. His completely naked front side faced the lake for Becca and anyone else who cared to look. He wasn’t ashamed at all. He knew they were looking and he didn’t care. Then again, when your body looked like that you wouldn’t mind who saw it.

Becca Lynn walked toward him, the water droplets rolled down her bare chest and stomach. I refused to let my gaze drop any lower. Cage’s hands slipped around her bare waist and he lowered his mouth to hers. That was all I could handle. My chest had a strange new ache and my stomach felt sick. I just wanted to go back home. I’d clear things up with Cage York another time.