From Ashes

He smiled that heartbreaking smile and his green eyes lit up before he touched his lips to mine again, then my forehead. With a heavy sigh and frustrated look he turned toward the living room. “You gotta be kidding me. Can’t even sleep next to my girl?” He drawled, “Mama, you better be able to get a wedding together real quick.”

“Just give me the date.”

“Like . . . yesterday,” he said, clearly still frustrated.

“Will do, honey, sleep good.” Tessa turned to wink at me and looked suspiciously at my hand. “Did he propose? Did I miss something?”

I shook my head twice.

“He better get on with it then. That’s go

I nodded my head twice.

Tessa and I looked at each other for a moment and then burst into laughter.

“At least y’all can find it fu

Well, we couldn’t have that, now, could we? They thought Gage couldn’t last? Hell, I wouldn’t last. Hopping off the counter, I finally got that glass of water, drank it, and cleaned the glass before hugging both of them and calling out good-nights. After getting ready for bed, I talked to Amanda about Jesse for almost an hour before she passed out and I made my way to the sofa bed in her room, so ready to sleep. It had been a long, emotional day and I was so exhausted I didn’t think I’d be able to get the covers over me.

It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes later that I was woken up by Gage crawling into bed beside me and pulling me into his arms.

“Gage, your mom—”

“Darlin’, I need you in my arms tonight. I didn’t just miss sleep last night; it’s been a long two weeks.” He kissed the top of my head softly and curled his arms tighter around me. “Night, Cass, love you,” Gage managed to mumble before he fell asleep.

Seconds later, I followed him into the best sleep of my life.

“WAKE UP, DARLIN’.”

I burrowed my head farther into Gage’s chest and groaned. Too. Early.

He laughed and kissed a line along my jaw. “Gotta start my day. I’ll see you when I’m done.”

“You’re leaving already?” I turned to look out the window; it was barely turning gray outside. “Mmkay, Gage. Come back soon.”

“It’ll be a short day since Isabella and Jesse are here. Just go

“Not nice,” I grumbled when he pulled away chuckling.

“Go back to sleep, Cassidy.”

Rolling onto my back so I could look up at him, I pulled his lips down to mine one last time. “I’ll see you when you get back.”

TWO DAYS LATER I was in the kitchen with Tessa and Amanda, and we’d just finished lunch and were already working on di

“Oh, darling girl, I just knew I would see him find his other half before I went. I can now die knowing he’ll be taken care of.”

It seemed kind of morbid, but Isabella was thrilled, so I kept the smile plastered to my face. Later that day I’d accidently walked in on Jesse and Amanda making out in the laundry room. They were so into each other they didn’t even notice me walk in or step back out. But that night sure as hell was awkward, and they noticed that. I’d fallen asleep after spending another hour talking to Amanda about Jesse and was expecting to be woken up by Gage crawling into bed with me again as he had the night before. I’d been woken up by Gage all right, just not by his getting in the bed.

“WHAT THE FUCK? Get off my sister!” Gage’s voice boomed through the room.

I sat up quickly in bed, just in time to see Jesse scramble off Amanda’s bed and Amanda looking mortified that her big brother had just caught her. I sca

“Outside,” Gage barked. “Now.”

“Gage, no, no! Please don’t!” Amanda pleaded, and looked toward me for help.

Jesse just looked like a man who was about to face his executioner.

“Gage,” I whispered, but he pushed Jesse out of the bedroom door and shut it behind them.

“No!” Amanda whispered loudly. “Cassidy, please don’t let him do anything to Jesse!” She was struggling with her comforter, trying to get out from underneath it so she could follow them, but I stopped her.

“Stay here, Amanda, I got it.”

“Please, Cassidy, we were just kissing, I swear.”

“I know.” I smiled and left the room. Not like Gage could say much anyway. Amanda was a month older than me, and we were obviously doing much more than kissing. Looking down the hall and listening for raised voices, I tiptoed down the stairs and walked outside until I found the boys and sighed.

“ . . . my girl, and then you go for my sister? Are you insane? I don’t like you and I sure as hell don’t want you touching her.”

“Gage, man, just listen to me, it’s not like that with her—”

“No. You’ll stay away, get it?”

“I can’t,” Jesse said with an exasperated sigh.

“You can, and you will. Cassidy and my sisters are off-limits, Jesse.”

“Babe,” I said softly, and shook my head.

“Cass, no. He had his hands all over her and was in bed with her.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “And you happened to see that because you were coming to get in bed with me.”

“Whose side are you on, Cass?”

“Yours, Gage, of course,” I answered honestly, and took a few steps toward him so I could touch his arm. “But, Gage, I talked to Isabella.”

“So?” His eyebrows were drawn down, and I knew he wasn’t getting it.

“No, I mean . . . I talked. To. Isabella,” I said with a jerk of my head toward Jesse, both eyebrows raised this time.

Gage was shaking his head like I’d lost my mind, and then he stopped and he hissed, “No, no way. Not my sister. Not with him.”

I just smiled at him and nodded.

“Seriously?” He made an a

Jesse’s eyes and smile were huge when he looked at me. “You asked Ma?”

“Like you needed to know what your mom said for you to know your feelings for Amanda.”

Jesse’s smile widened even further until he looked at Gage.

“Damn it.” Gage sighed and glared at Jesse. “You hurt my sister, I’ll kill you.” And with that he grabbed my hand and led me back into the main house, up the stairs, and into Amanda’s room.

She was sitting on the edge of her bed with a worried expression, and when she saw me grin mischievously at her, it vanished.

“He keeps his hands to himself, all right?” Gage clarified while pointing his finger at Amanda.

Amanda nodded and rushed toward the door.

“Whoa, where are you going?”

“Gage, he’s leaving in the morning. I’m go

Gage started to protest, but I put one hand flat on his chest and squeezed his hand with the other. “They’ll be fine, Gage. Come on, let’s go to bed.”

He grumbled to himself as we crawled under the covers. “I don’t trust him at night with her.”

“Well, the way I see it, they’re doing us a favor.”

“How so?” he scoffed, still burning holes through the bedroom door.

I sat up and tore my shirt off. “Because now we have the room to ourselves.”

His eyes snapped to mine, then down to my bare chest, and his face lit up. “Be a shame to waste that.”

MY CHEEKS BURNED as I remembered that night, and I was really glad Tessa was facing the other way. I felt bad for going against her, and I’d vowed after that night to respect her wishes until Gage and I got married, whenever that would be. It would definitely be easier at night now, seeing as we’d gone into town yesterday and bought absolutely everything that we needed for our new place. What we couldn’t haul back had been delivered that morning and, with everyone’s help, everything was already set up. Gage had officially moved into our home today and would be sleeping there, while I slept here, a good five-minute drive away. During the day, however, I’d need to keep myself around Tessa so I wouldn’t find myself wandering over to break in our new bed, and the shower, bathtub, dining room table, couches, and every other surface. The blush came back full force just as Gage and Tyler came into the kitchen.