Cord’s Redemption by Jaxson Kidman
Chapter Six
Cord finally slidhis boots back on after a restless night of sleep.
All the reasons were obvious.
He stood up from the bed and carefully moved throughout the creaky house and down to the kitchen. There he set up to make some coffee.
He told himself to just stand there and watch the coffee drip and spit, second by second, leaving everything else be.
Before he could finish the thought, the heavy thuds of his boots echoed across the floor as he walked toward the living room.
He told Josie the night before she didn’t need to sleep on the couch.
There were three bedrooms in the house.
Two of those beds were unoccupied.
Josie insisted on taking the couch.
That’s where she still slept.
Turned, facing the couch.
An old ugly blanket was on top of her body.
Orange, purple and brown mixed together in some random knitted pattern. The blanket had been in the house forever.
Forever.
Cord reached down and tugged at the top of the blanket, pulling it up a few more inches to cover the rest of Josie’s shoulder.
She had slept in her clothes.
Only her shoes were kicked off on the floor.
Her left hand hidden somewhere, which was for the best.
The last thing Cord wanted to see was that diamond ring again.
So it’s all true, huh, darling? You’re engaged to Wade Ain?
Cord felt the urge to gently touch Josie’s head and stroke her soft hair.
It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d done that to her.
In fact, it wouldn’t have been the first time in this house. On this couch. Under this same blanket…
“You know, I had to lie to Na to spend the night here,” Josie says with a good morning smile on her face.
To Cord there’s nothing more perfect than this moment right here.
A cold fall morning with the love of his life curled up in his arms.
They woke up next to each other in bed and Josie wanted to come downstairs, sit in front of the fireplace and have morning coffee together.
Her hair was messy from the bed. From sleep. From all the activity of the night before. Her breath smelled like sleep. Her eyes were sleepy and beautiful.
To Cord this was the whole purpose of life.
“Why do you bother lying to her?” Cord asks. “You’re not young anymore, Josie.”
“Oh, I’m not?”
“We’re eighteen. We’re adults. Hell, I’ve been an adult for the last eight years of my life. Look around this place too. It’s not a dangerous place.”
“True,” Josie says. “If I was sneaking around with one of your brothers, that would be a whole other story.”
Cord nods.
A beeping sound echoes from the kitchen.
The coffee’s done.
Cord stands up from the couch and turns to look down at Josie.
She’s wearing his flannel shirt that he had been wearing when they arrived at the old house last night.
Before going into the kitchen, Cord pauses and tosses another log on the fire.
The plan for today is simple.
They’re not leaving the house. At all.
What Josie doesn’t know or realize is that he had been up here cleaning the house up for this moment.
They’d always come up to the house to sneak around and have fun.
They always played house too.
They’d cuddle on the couch, talk, laugh, maybe have something to drink.
They’d make food together, eat at the wobbly dining room table together, and there wasn’t a bad moment shared inside this house.
But the place needs some serious work.
In reality, there are other options for Cord when it came to living somewhere on the ranch. After all, his last name is Lynot. He wasn’t going to sleep in the bunkhouse.
This house meant a lot to him.
This was their house.
His and Josie’s.
In the kitchen he pours two cups of coffee.
He takes his black.
Josie needs cream and sugar in hers.
He knows the exact amount of each for her.
Back in the living room, he sits down on the couch and Josie cuddles up against him, holding her cup of coffee with both hands.
“I love you, Cord Lynot,” she whispers.
“You’re my whole world, Josie,” he says. “Nothing is better than this right here.”
“And this works? Forever?”
“This is forever. I’ve got the land and the ranch, darling. There’s more here than anyone could ever understand. But all I ever need is you in my arms right now.”
Josie sighs. “How does this feel so good?”
“I’m not sure. But we should just enjoy it.”
“For the rest of our lives?”
“For the rest of our lives,” Cord says.
They then sip their coffee.
They sit in silence.
They both don’t realize it’s the last perfect moment of their young love.
Cord stoodat the sink with a cup of coffee in his hand.
The mugs were different now. As was almost everything in and around the house.
The old mugs he set up out back, then he and Tripp shot them.
As far as the rest of the house went, it needed to be completely redone.
The wood was rotted. There was mold hidden behind the walls. The roof leaked.
It had been a disaster to get the house cleaned and fixed up.
Both his father and grandfather agreed to have a different house built but Cord insisted on this house.
This was his house.
He rubbed his jaw and thought about Josie showing up late last night.
Too many times he had secretly fantasized about that same scenario happening.
When Josie said she was going to leave town and go to nursing school, Cord knew he’d never see her again. Or at least he assumed that. He readied his heart for the inevitable smashing it would have to take. But he never stopped thinking about what if Josie comes back to me?
In his fantasy though she wasn’t wearing a diamond ring.
She was wearing a smile with hopeful and weary eyes. She had nothing but time and her body to give, which Cord would gladly accept and cherish for the rest of his life.
As Cord lifted his coffee cup toward his mouth, Josie appeared.
She stepped into the archway of the kitchen and leaned against it.
Her hair a little messy from sleeping.
The smile on her face could make the worst day of Cord’s life good again.
She had a sense of comfort about herself.
Confessing to Cord in silence that this house made her feel comfortable.
She hid her left hand, tucked to the side of her right breast.
Josie was a woman now. So much more than the last time Cord had her. New curves yet familiar shapes.
He quickly turned, reached for a coffee cup and poured Josie some coffee.
The same old routine hit him again.
Cream and sugar.
Which he never used, but he always had it here and ready.
When Cord faced the direction of Josie again, she was biting at the right corner of her bottom lip.
“What is it, darling?” Cord asked. “Do you not take cream anymore? Are you one of those who thinks that milk and dairy are bad?”
Josie smiled. “No, Cord. It’s the same as always. The same… as always…”
Josie sighed.
The look in her eyes…
Cord walked toward her and made the daring move of putting the coffee cup down on the kitchen table.
Then he kept walking.
Josie stepped toward him.
Her back straightened as he reached for her face.
What the fuck are you doing right now, Cord Lynot?
Cord swatted that logical voice not just to the back of his head but out of his head.
This was Josie Porter. This was his Josie Porter. This was the love of his life. The only woman he had ever loved. The woman he made a promise to…
Cord slipped his hand to her face and lowered his mouth to hers.
There was a quick second where Josie sighed.
Cord tasted her morning breath.
His lips brushed against hers at first.
That whole right and wrong thing really hit him in the heart.
Except that this was Josie…
Cord growled deep in his throat and properly kissed the woman he loved.
His tongue sweptacross her thin, bottom lip.
She tasted as good as he remembered.
Her eager tongue flicked forward, meeting his.
As he turned his head just a little, the kiss grew hotter. Deeper. His mouth commanding Josie’s as she fell forward, melting into him.
Cord ran his hands down her body. Over the firm swells of her breasts to her sides. There he forced himself to grip her tight and hold her close.
Josie reached up with her hands.
A piece of the morning sunlight threw itself against the diamond ring on her finger.
That was a quick punch in the face to Cord.
A dose of reality he’d been swallowing down from the second the moonlight hit the engagement ring the night before.
Cord growled again and stepped back.
His lips popped free from Josie’s.
Her mouth gently moved a few more times as she blinked fast.
She had no breath as her cheeks became flushed.
Her lips were now pouty.
Puffy and red from kissing Cord.
Just like they always used to get.
Hell, that’s how they always got caught making out when they were younger. They’d go for a walk in the woods and come back to Na’s house and she’d take one look at Josie’s lips and then spray Cord with water.
“Cord,” Josie whispered. “Don’t…”
Cord’s eyes moved to the engagement ring.
Josie hurried to move her hand behind her back.
As though that was going to make a difference.
She was engaged to Wade Ain. The man who wanted nothing more than to buy up all of the Lynot land and ranch. A war of money, power, tradition and new ways of life.
Before Cord could say anything that resembled the right words, the front door to his house flew open.
“I smell coffee,” Des’s voice called out.
Tripp was right by Des’s side.
They both froze when they saw Josie.
“I think I smell more than coffee,” Tripp said to Des.
“What do you two want?” Cord asked.
“Business talk,” Des said.
The door remained open and in walked Leroy.
“Coffee but no bacon?” Leroy asked. “I had a long night last night. I need some food.”
“This isn’t a fucking diner,” Cord growled.
“But I bet you had something delicious to eat for breakfast,” Tripp said with a grin.
Des elbowed Tripp.
“So there’s no food here?” Leroy asked.
Cord touched Josie’s elbow and leaned toward her. “Sorry about this, darling. Let me walk you out and make sure you get home safely.”
Those words pained Cord to say.
As he walked Josie through the house, his family stared at her. They all had the same look on their faces.
Each gave a nod or a quick hello.
It was the past walking by them again.
Some of the most intense moments in Cord’s life. Everything with Josie - good and bad - shaped him into the man he was now.
Outside the house Cord saw some of the guys were standing around.
Kemen, Max and Felix.
Annoyed, Cord walked Josie to the side of the house.
He felt like they were teenagers again, looking for a place they could sneak to. So they could be alone and kiss like the world was going up in flames.
Once alone again, Cord fought the urge and need to kiss Josie.
“I guess you’re busy,” she said.
“I’m going to have one of the guys take you home.”
“Cord…”
“That’s not negotiable. I need to know you’re home safely, Josie.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
Cord reached for Josie’s face again and stroked her cheek. “I hate this shit, darling. But that ring on your finger you keep trying to hide means something.”
“What if it doesn’t, Cord?”
Cord felt his heart tear into two pieces.
He saw himself kissing Josie. Pinning her against the house. Feeling her body against his.
“Seems like there’s business that needs to be handled by both of us,” he said.
Josie nodded.
“Come on, darling, I’ll make sure Kemen gets you home safely,” Cord said.
They started to walk and Cord paused again.
“Josie,” he said.
“Cord,” she replied with a smile.
“Why aren’t you a nurse? I can’t stop thinking about that. Seeing you at the country club as a waitress.”
“We have a lot to catch up on, Cord,” Josie said.
She swallowed hard and began to blush.
Cord gave the order for Kemen to get Josie home safely.
As she left, River showed up.
“Was that who I think it was?” River asked.
Cord gave a nod.
“You still love her, don’t you?”
Cord looked at River.
He punched his brother right across the jaw.
River laughed as he fell to the ground.
Love made men do crazy things.