Penmort Castle (Ghosts and Reincarnation #1)(85)
Author: Kristen Ashley

She was looking at him quizzically. “Two isn’t enough.”

He placed his other hand under both of theirs, turned her wrist and the tablets fell out of her now-opened palm into his own. He took two tablets and gave them to her, his fingers closing around the other two.

She accepted them but her gaze was still on his. “Cash, I’m telling you, two isn’t enough. Three isn’t enough. Only four will work.”

His eyes moved over her face and he saw she looked slightly pale and had a not-very-Abby-like pinched look to her mouth.

“Do you have a headache?” he asked.

“No,” she answered.

“What’s the matter?” he pressed when she gave no further explanation.

“I’d rather not say.”

“Do you often take double the recommended dose of medication?” he pushed.

“No, I don’t often take medication. Cash, I don’t get it, what’s the big deal?”

Cash sighed before saying, “Abby, if you tell me what’s the matter, I can call Tim and ask him what you should do about it.”

Her eyes went wide. “You’re not calling Tim about this!”

“What is it?”

“I’d rather not say.”

His hand came to her neck and he put pressure there while saying warningly, “Abby.”

“I’ve got cramps, all right?” Her eyes rolled to the ceiling and she breathed, “Geez.”

Even with his mind filled alternately with the vision of a panic-stricken Abby somehow gracefully flying toward him in high heels outside an A&E and the disquieting conversation he’d had with her best friend, Cash still couldn’t stop himself from roaring with laughter.

While laughing, he used his hand to guide her close until he felt her h*ps against his. When he was done, he looked down at her and she was scowling at him.

“Cramps aren’t funny,” she informed him irritably.

His hand moved from her neck, down her back to circle her waist.

“I’m sorry, darling. Are you in a lot of pain?”

“Yes,” she snapped.

He gave her a squeeze. “Does it happen every month?”

“No,” she replied shortly, “every other month. Apparently I have a testy ovary. Now can we stop talking about this?”

He smiled while he told her, “It’s perfectly natural.”

“Yes, I am aware of that, Cash Fraser,” she retorted. “I still would rather not talk to my new boyfriend about period cramps. Jenny, I could talk to, but I don’t converse with Pete, my handyman, who was also my grandmother’s handyman, who I’ve known since I can remember, about period cramps. Okay?” Cash kept smiling at her and she heaved an enormous sigh before asking, “Can I have my tablets please?”

He lifted his hand and dropped the two tablets into her opened palm. Keeping his arm around her, he watched her take them deciding tonight was not the night to talk about their future, a future which had limits. Limits that Abby had to understand before she embarked on any future with him.

They’d talk about it tomorrow.

Or, Cash thought, after his aunt and uncle’s anniversary.

Or, he thought (understanding his own selfishness but, with Abby pressed close, not caring), even later.

She put her glass on the counter and relaxed into him.

“That’ll work?” Cash asked softly.

“In about half an hour, yes,” she replied.

“I’ll let you get to sleep and finish up in the study,” Cash told her.

A look crossed her face that he could swear was disappointment before she nodded.

His hand not around her lifted to her jaw, his thumb sliding along her soft cheek. “I’ll be up soon.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

She tipped her head back and he knew she expected a kiss. Not just expected one but wanted one. And not a demonstration of passion, but rather one of affection.

His eyes roamed her face, memorising the beauty of it in anticipation of tenderness, before his neck bent and he touched his mouth to hers.

“Go to sleep,” he muttered against her lips.

“Don’t be long,” she whispered back and gave his waist a squeeze with her hands before she pulled away and walked up the stairs.

He wandered the room, turning off the lights and extinguishing candles when, at the last lamp, he stopped and looked around.

His arrival that evening had not been conducive to him paying much attention to anything but Abby. Dinner was more Abby, her delicious meal as well as a throng of women in his dining room.

So he hadn’t noticed until now how Abby’s simple touches had transformed the room from what had always been only living space to what was now lived-in space.

He pulled in a slow breath and on the exhale, he muttered, “Fuck,” before he turned out the last lamp and walked up the stairs to his study.

Now it was much later and it had taken him some time to regain concentration on his work. He’d finished that, switched off his laptop, the lamps, turned his chair to the window and sat brooding in his darkened study like a character out of a Brontë novel.

On that thought, he pushed out of his chair and walked upstairs to his bedroom, seeing Abby’s motionless form under the bedclothes. Cash could tell, even in the dark, she’d curled around his pillow.

He prepared for bed, pulled back the covers and slid in. Careful not to disturb her, he tugged at his pillow. As she was asleep, and he always had her in sleep, she gave up the pillow in favour of him, her limbs curving around him as she pressed close. He put his pillow behind his head and settled back.

“Cash?” she whispered, her voice sexy and husky.

“Yes, love, go back to sleep.”

Abby had not lied when she’d told him she liked her sleep. Therefore, he was surprised when she got up on her elbow and pulled her hair out of her face.

“Is it late?” she asked.

“Close to midnight,” he replied.

“Are you tired?”

No. He wasn’t tired. He was in bed with Abby and her voice was just-woken-up-throaty. However, she’d also started her period and was uncomfortable even talking about it therefore he had a feeling she’d not be thrilled with the idea of ha**ng s*x while on it.

Instead of answering her question, he said, “I have a meeting first thing in the morning.”

“We have to talk.”

His body went still but she didn’t notice it. She pressed into him, reaching across the bed, groping for a moment before she found the lamp switch and muted light filled the room.