Chapter 2 #2
I grinned. “I have a tween nephew,” Whenever I talked to Conrad’s ten-year-old on the phone, he threw in words I swore he’d made up. He thought it was hysterical when I used them on him.
Apparently, she did too.
“He teaches me all the cool words. Like pink blob.”
Her lips began to turn up and my stomach dropped. I knew, in this bizarre moment, that a smile might undo me, so I looked away.
“Unbelievable,” she said. I could hear it in her voice. The smile.
Don’t look. Don’t fucking look.
But it was impossible. I turned back to her like the absolute sucker I was. And when I did, she was grinning easy and wide. It changed her face completely, making her blue-gray eyes sparkle. My insides went to jelly.
But it wasn’t just attraction. I realized at that moment I knew exactly who she was. This was Cassandra Kelly, CEO of the Rolling Hills resort. The same Cassandra Kelly who Lila and I were meeting later this morning.
Fuck.
I could be wrong. I prayed, desperately, that I was wrong.
In most of the photos in the dossier Brynn had compiled, Cassandra had worn her hair either neatly pinned or slicked back with some kind of hair gel, and she wasn’t normally smiling.
I remember thinking that serious look was sexy as hell, but her expression was guarded.
She looked like a sharky CEO, which she was.
Or at least she had been when she worked in Manhattan.
But there was one candid photo Brynn had included that I’d halted over, returning to again and again.
The photographer had caught her mid-laugh.
Her hair was loose and wavy, her blazer undone, her face tipped up.
She looked, I remembered, like Kelly McGillis in Top Gun, a woman I’d had a giant crush on from when I saw the movie as a kid.
No, I wasn’t wrong. This was Cassandra fucking Kelly.
I should tell her who I am. Right now. That the marriage isn’t what it looks like.
But things would get awkward fast. Maybe she’d even want to talk about business, and I wasn’t prepared for that.
I liked to make an entrance, to come in hot with the senior staff.
But more than that, she’d stop smiling. She’d stop talking to me with that playful tone I’d only just gotten to hear.
For the briefest moment—and the first time since getting into this mess, because that’s what it was, a mess—I thought about what it would be like if I had a normal life.
If I was able to just take a woman out on a date.
A woman like Cassandra.
Fuck.
“You okay?” she asked, stirring me from my muddled thoughts.
I blinked.
The thing was, Cassandra was out of the question even if I wasn’t fake-married to Lila. She was a client, and crossing professional boundaries with a client was just… messy. I’d seen it happen to colleagues. Things never went right, either with the job or the relationship.
“I should be asking you that,” I said. “I never asked if you were okay.”
“That’s because I came out of the water accusing you of… saving me.”
Tell her.
“I told you, you don’t seem like the kind of woman who needs saving often.”
“You’re right,” she said. “I don’t. But I did then. I was scared and I took it out on you. I’m sorry. Thank you for jumping in after me.”
“Anytime,” I said.
Tell her. There’s still time.
“Though you’re still not forgiven for calling me a pink blob,” she said.
“If it helps, you’re the most beautiful pink blob I’ve ever seen.”
Fuck.
Her smile dropped.
I shouldn’t have said that for a thousand reasons. Not least of which because she was in a vulnerable position here with a strange man. Alone.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t—”
“It’s okay,” she said softly, a pinkness rising in her cheeks. She wasn’t scared. “I’ll take it.”
Something crackled between us. She had a strip of hair plastered to her cheek, and I had the most absurd urge to brush it from her face. I even lifted a hand.
Then I remembered myself and pulled my cap off, running my free hand through my hair instead. “Guess that’s it for my fishing rod,” I said, trying to make my voice light.
“Seriously? That’s what you’re worried about?” She laughed.
My tied-up stomach relaxed slightly. This was safer territory.
“I like that fishing rod. It’s my lucky rod.”
Her lips did a strange twist, and she cleared her throat.
To my horror, my dick twinged. Not safer territory. Then my mouth ran away without me. “What’s so funny about my rod?”
Her mouth opened, but instead of being horrified, she laughed, sending a spasm tingling down to my toes.
God she was beautiful. My eyes went to her lips automatically, and that’s when I saw they had a slight blue tinge to them. There were goosebumps on her arms, too.
“You’re cold,” I said, my smile falling away.
“I’m fine.”
But now I couldn’t stop my hand from coming up to her, and I pressed my hands against her arms. The touch of her cool skin was like a lightning bolt shooting straight from my guts down low. I kept my eyes on hers.
What the fuck are you doing, Harrington?
But I didn’t stop. Her eyes seemed to deepen, the gray widening. I lifted my hand to her face like it was on autopilot. My thumb brushed against her bottom lip, like I could warm the cold that way.
Her eyelids fluttered at my touch. My dick definitely jumped then. We were standing partially obscured in some brush—but still exposed. My damp sweatpants didn’t offer any coverage for my rapidly stiffening cock. If she looked down, she’d know exactly how I felt.
Fuck. This was so bad. So so bad. But at that moment, I didn’t give a fuck. I leaned in toward her. “I—” I’m Blake Harrington. We’ve talked on the phone. Say it, motherfucker. It’s easy.
But I didn’t say it. I leaned in so that our faces were close; I could feel her breath on my lips. Her eyes were just closing when they darted sideways, over my shoulder. She craned her neck, her mouth falling open in surprise, and I dropped my hand.
“Oh shit,” she said, pulling away from me.
She crashed out of the brush, waving her arms. “Eli!”
There was a jogger up on the trail, the first one I’d seen since Cassandra. He slowed to a stop, looking around, confused.
Eli.
Eli Kelly. Cassandra’s brother, and Lila’s old college buddy.
Fuck me. Fuck, fuck, fuck me.
I came out after her. The jogger—Eli—drew to a stop, looking around, confused.
“Over here!” Cassandra shouted.
“That’s my brother!” she said to me. The joy in her expression made my chest hurt.
“I know,” I said, my voice stiff.
She was waving frantically but halted as she registered my words. “Wait, what?”
“Cass?” Eli shouted from shore. “And… Blake? The hell?”
Cassandra’s face went pale, her eyes widening. “Blake?”
“Blake Harrington,” I said, thrusting my hand out to hers. “Pleasure to finally meet you, Cassandra.”