Grump’s City Girl (Boots and Heels #2)

20. Cassie

Chapter 20

Cassie

M y insides felt upside down, and a part of me felt sick. Today had not gone how I had expected it to go, even knowing that Beau was set on us exiting the competition, but the jealous blow-up from earlier had thrown me off.

Honestly, I think it had thrown him off, too, because the moment the taping had been cut off, he had taken off like a bat out of hell. I didn’t know where he had gone, but my best guess was the stables.

The moment I was clear to go, I headed off to the stable, knowing we needed to have a frank conversation.

The bright pale moon lit the way to the stable, and dew was on the grass as I crossed to the place. It was getting familiar to me now, and I saw several horses in many stalls. The earthy smell of hay, horses, and leather washed over me.

In the middle of it, Beau was quickly going down the buttons on the front of his shirt, and as he let it slide off his broad shoulders, tossing it to the side, my breath caught as I saw the moonlight shining down on his sculpted body. He grabbed a spade and started to muck a stall out, and I leaned on the nearest wall, knowing he knew I was there.

Sweat was glistening over muscles that looked like they were chiseled from granite, and the few tattoos, and my mind began to shift from having a conversation to tasting the sweat on his skin.

He finished that stall, rested the spade on the wall, and turned to me. “I fucked up, Cassie.”

Levering off the wall, I said, “You were only trying to get us kicked off, but?—”

“No,” he grunted and came closer. “I fucked up with Rome because while we agreed for me to play the jealous asshole before for this fake relationship, I was really jealous. I fucking saw red when he was flirting with you, and while I have no reason to be, you’re not mine?—”

I kissed him.

I melted the second he wrapped those big, buff arms around me.

We were in our hazy world as we kissed each other hungrily like we’d been starving all our lives, clinging to each other in a frenzy of tongues and sweat. There was no way we were going to be able to carry on without one of us coming hard.

My hand slipped between us, and I cupped his hard cock, tenting his jeans so severely he would soon bust the button. His big hand found my breasts and kneaded my tits through the top.

In a heartbeat, he latched his hand around my butt and, lifting me, carried me into the stall he’d just cleaned. He pressed me against on the wall and closed the door with a bang. “This is going to be hot and fast, baby. I want to fuck you so badly.”

“Oh God,” I whimpered throatily, arching back. “Tell me you’ve got protection.”

“Always,” he replied while tugging my shirt up under my neck and undoing my bra. His hot mouth latched onto a nipple.

“Yes.” I threw my head back, and my moans filled the room as we panted between wet, open-mouth kisses. My pussy was slick, and I was craving his thick cock inside me. “Fuck me, Beau. Fuck me hard.”

I only had a pair of tights under the oversized sweater and swept those off in a second. I felt his fingers press on my soaking wet panties. “You’re dripping for me, baby.”

“Finger me, fuck me, suck me,” I panted. “Just let me feel you.”

His hand slipped past my pants, cupping my mound, spreading me open. I kissed him hard as he parted me and slipped a finger inside me, pushing with a hungry motion. I bucked my hips forward as his thumb found my swollen clit, and he stroked, sending waves of pleasure through me.

“Right there,” I rolled my hips, riding his fingers.

He worked me faster, using my wetness to stroke my clit before he slipped in another one, and I felt my body tightening, ready to explode.

“Do you think you could take three fingers?”

With my lust-drunk nod, he started pumping another finger inside my tight hole. When he sucked a nipple into his mouth, it started a whole chain reaction. My body shook as the massive orgasm took over. I let out a cry of ecstasy.

I barely felt Beau sliding the condom on, and I was still riding the wave of my orgasm when his tongue left my breast, and I felt the thick dome of his cock press into me. Spreading my thighs wider, he nudged himself forward, pumping his cock in and out, inching a little deeper with each thrust until he’d filled my entire depth.

He worked his hips, thrusting deep inside me. He leaned over and slipped his strong hand behind me, grinding in and out of me nice and slow. “Feels like heaven inside of you, baby girl.” He breathed in my ear.

Grasping my butt, he lifted me up and down his length. I took his face in my hands, kissed him, and dug my fingernails into his shoulders.

He took hold of my waist and started pounding with vigor. I wanted to cry out at the intensity of his thrusts, but I bit my lip to silence myself. I knew I would sound like a wild animal if I truly let go.

Beau was relentless, taking me for his pleasure but giving me pleasure in return. His eyes never left mine as he slammed against me harder and harder yet. The room filled with the sounds of our flesh slapping against each other, his grunts, and my stifled gasps as he possessed me with his cock.

“Come for me,” Beau ordered, and his fingers pressed on my clit. I released all my pent-up passion and came violently around him.

He immediately grabbed my hips and began stroking into me for all he was worth. I loved it, reveled in it, taking every second of his passionate pounding.

His body vibrated, and my name was on his lips when he pulsed inside of me.

I grabbed the back of his wet hair and flexed my hips, taking him as he continued to pump.

Beau’s big body shuddered as he finally reached the end of his orgasm.

His mouth nestled into my hair right above my temple. “I’m falling for you, Cassie, for real.”

My eyes clenched tight as my head fell to his shoulder. I’d had a lingering feeling that something like this would happen. Hell, I’d seen—and read—enough fake relationships stuff that turned into the real thing… the people thinking it was real.

When I saw those things, I sorely believed it was just hormones talking to each other, not love, not true love.

“I’ve asked myself a hundred times if I could really be falling in love with someone who I’ve only known just three weeks, someone from a completely different world than me, who had a different life, a different reality from me, but—” he gently pulled from me and set me on my feet to do away with the condom. “—I’m too far gone, Cassie.”

That was the problem.

This was fake.

We were playing parts.

We lived different lives, and I knew that very soon, my real life would come calling.

Jesus, I hated knowing what I was about to do.

I sucked in a shuddery breath, “Beau, I?—”

“You don’t need to feel the same way, Cassie,” he shrugged. “I guess my fool, lonely heart went and made decisions without asking you.”

My heart was hurting fiercely because this man, this lovely man, deserved so many good things, a fucking break from all the fists life had thrown at him, and a good woman… and I feared I couldn’t be that for him.

“Beau,” I held his face, his ever-present scruff on his cheeks. “I wish I could tell you that I feel the same—” I did, but nothing would come from it, so better to not even go down that road “—and I’m touched you feel that way for me, but we agreed this would be a fake thing, just some fun on the side.”

His lips twitched. “I know, and I’m sorry I blindsided you like that. I suspect that after you leave, these feelings will go with you.”

Jesus Christ, my heart broke for him. That had to be the most gut-wrenching thing I had ever heard in my life. I kissed him slowly. “We’ll be okay, Beau.”

After redressing, I left the stable, and the cold air washed over my heated skin in the most abrasive way.

If I had been anyone except the person I was, Cassandra Carrington, heiress to a multi-billion conglomerate, with a possible European royal husband in the future, I would have stayed with him. I would have kissed him slowly, told him I was falling for him too, and we’d find a bed somewhere for round two.

But no.

I got to my room, now empty without Sissy, and headed to the shower and peeled my clothes from my body, then stepped under the warm shower. I hated what I was doing to Beau. I hated misleading him, but as much as my chest throbbed with the pain of it all, I knew it was for the best.

We’d plunged ourselves into this fake relationship as if it was real, to fool the other contestants and the audience—but somewhere along the line, we’d fooled ourselves, too. The attraction was real. I could never deny that.

Beau was a smart, sexy man, but the life we’d spun around us like a spider’s web was as fake as a leprechaun’s gold at the end of the rainbow.

Now I felt desperate to get off this show as doing things that might give Beau even more fake hope felt wrong. I tilted my head up to the warm spray and let it flow over me as if it could wash away the problem.

Ten minutes later, I was out of the shower, dressed and drying my hair, when I spotted an envelope under my door. Plucking it up and flipping it over, I didn’t see anything where I expected my name—that was weird. Maybe it was from my dad.

Ripping it open, the handwriting took my knees out from under me.

Little Miss Cassandra Carrington,

A little birdie sang into my ear that you’d be on a ‘reality show’ with some hick cowboy posing as your ex-boyfriend. We both know it is not true. I honestly thought you were smarter than this.

I didn’t need a salutation to know it was Vigo. The bastard had found me, and while there was no immediate threat written there, I knew there was one. Staring at the note, I felt my hand tremble, and my ears were ringing. It was probably a good thing I had already collapsed on the floor because I would have fainted.

What did Vigo mean by this?

What was he planning?

Reality had come calling faster than I had expected.

I didn’t sleep that night. I’d tossed and turned until sheer exhaustion and worry dragged me down to sleep. I slept through—and ignored—the alarm and dozed off, trying to let sleep vanish the truth of my situation.

The relentless banging on the door dragged me out of my uneasy doze. Grumbling, I tugged on a robe and went to the door. Sleep-deprived and stressed out, I pulled the door open. “What?”

Nelly’s brows shot up. “Good morning to you, too.” She shoved a cup of coffee at me. “You missed breakfast and the new orders from the hosts. May I come in?”

I took the cup and stepped aside for her to enter. Then, I went to sit on the edge of my bed, cup in hand. “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I just woke up. I haven’t had time to brush my teeth yet.”

She snickered. “Believe me, you’ve got nothing on a cow’s breath. Are you doing okay? You’re not looking so hot, and to be honest, Beau looked torn up this morning, too. He didn’t even pretend to hide dropping whisky in his coffee this morning.”

“What?”

“No lies, he had the bottle of Jack two inches from his cup. He probably drank more Jack than coffee.” She shrugged while spinning the desk chair around and sitting on it. Resting her arms on the back, she rocked the chair forward. “I guess that blow-up is still affecting the two of you, huh?”

I took a mouthful. “We fucked last night.”

The back legs of the chair slammed onto the floor with a loud thud. Nelly’s jaw dropped. “What the—” she gaped. “Smack me on the face with a wet mop. Jesus, Cassie. How did that happen?”

Swirling the cup, I rubbed my eyes. “I don’t know. I went to talk to him in the stables last night after we were nearly kicked off, and he apologized for being sloppy and out of touch with reality. I don’t know… I suppose I fell into my feelings as well.”

I considered telling Nelly the truth and unburdening myself. How would she feel knowing we pulled the wool over her eyes for so long, that this thing between me and Beau had always been a massive coincidence, birthed from my fuck-up and his desperation?

But then, the attraction had jumped into the mix, a fucked-up decision to cross the poorly drawn lines with intimacy, and now… we were up shit creek without a paddle.

“Well, I dunno,” Nelly sighed. “It's not as if you were like me and Quentin, who didn’t know each other from Adam. You guys have history.”

I should tell her… but the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

“What’s up with you and Quentin?” I asked. “Are you together?”

“Well, the sex is good,” she blushed. “You wouldn’t believe me, but the man is a big ol’ freak in the bed. He took his tie off and hogtied me to his bed once." She stopped, trying to redirect me. "Tell me what your plan with Beau is”

“I don’t have one,” I confessed.

“Well, I hope you’ll figure it out,” Nelly replied. “I’ll help you any way I can. Oh, the challenge today is a strange one. They’re switching us up, and my new partner is going to be?—”

“Beau?”

“Yep,” she cringed. “You’ll be working with Quentin on a scavenger hunt. You’ll be looking for a few things around the ranch. I don’t know what these things are, though.”

I folded my legs and sipped the drink. “I’ll talk to one of the showrunners and see what’s going on.”

“Is Beau back in love with you?” Nelly asked blatantly.

“Yes,” I said. “And before you ask, no, I-I don’t feel it.”

Lies.

“That’s the problem,” Nelly sighed while swinging her leg over. “You’re going to rebreak his heart.”

I hung my head. “I know.”

After a shower and dressing, I had to go and find Liliana because I needed to contact my dad as soon as possible. Were they still watching Vigo? How was he able to get word about what I was doing? Was there a spy around here?

“Where can I find Liliana?” I asked a passing-by gaffer.

“She’s got a trailer out back, one of the major black ones with stars on ‘em,” he said, jerking his finger over his shoulder.

I headed out in the direction he pointed me in and found the line of trailers. There were three, and I assumed the other two were for Ariana and Sutton.

Knocking on the door, I looked over my shoulder as a stiff breeze fluttered my hair. There were no signs of the cowboys anywhere, and I didn’t know whether the feeling was one of concern or relief.

“Miss Carrington.” Liliana opened the door, her expression impassive. “How may I help you?”

“I need to call my father. It's urgent,” I told her, my voice slipping into my decisive boardroom tones, one that brooked no argument.

The PA opened her mouth, then seemed to think the better of it. She plucked a landline from a nook and handed it to me. “I’ll be outside. Take as much time as you need, and when you’re finished, I’ll update you on this “ week’s ” challenges, all right?” She even added quote marks to compound her words.

“Thank you.” As soon as she left the trailer, I dialed my dad’s number and prayed to God he was not in a meeting or having a powwow with the President so he could answer me. My gut was tight as I counted the rings. “Please pick up, pick up, pick up?—”

“Hello?” Dad’s grumbly voice came through.

“Dad, it’s me,” I said. “Look, I don’t have much time, but it's Vigo; he’s up to something. I don’t know what it is, but… I have a bad feeling about it.”

He was silent, and I prayed he was not going to read me the riot act—again. In truth, though, he had not had much to say the first time, as he too had approved of Vigo. It was when he realized about the sex tape that he’d lost his cool, warning me, again, about the lengths people would go to rip our empire down to shreds.

“He sent me a note, saying he knew I was on a reality show and that he thought I was smarter than this,” I replied. “He’s planning something.”

Dad grunted. “I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry, but when this farce is over, you need to come back here, and we have to talk. We need to get rid of him for good this time.”