8. Cas
CHAPTER 8
Cas
Caroline Bell is perfect.
She’s even better than I expected.
She came over for dinner after she finished at Grayson’s for the day and it’s been delightful. She and James chatted while James made a simple but delicious Mediterranean chicken sheet pan dinner, and I put Noah to bed.
Caroline told me stories about James in high school while we ate herbed chicken and vegetables sprinkled with feta cheese and olives and drizzled with a tangy sauce, along with crusty bread and wine.
We laughed and talked, and I loved watching James and Caroline—or Caro, as he calls her—together. They have a natural, comfortable chemistry that comes with knowing someone well for a long time.
He casually touches her lower back when moving past her, squeezes her hand when she tells a story, even reaches over and brushes an errant hair away from her cheek. She puts her hand on his arm and even his chest when she laughs at something he says. And whenever they look at each other, it’s with warmth and affection.
But when Caroline isn’t looking, I catch James studying her mouth, her ass, her breasts.
My husband is very attracted to his ex-girlfriend.
That’s awesome.
And if her flushed cheeks, hard nipples, and the way she also steals glances at him when he’s not looking are any indication, she feels the same way.
Game. On.
I also find her incredibly beautiful. I expected to. One of the things James and I have in common is, conveniently, our taste in women. But Caroline is seriously gorgeous.
Her long hair falls in waves to her middle back, her lips are full and my favorite color of pink, her breasts are fantastic—and she’s got hips and an ass I can’t wait to run my hands over.
She’s also funny, easygoing, and charming.
This will be such a fantastic way to fill the next few weeks.
It’s too bad she’s not staying longer.
No. I can’t let thoughts like that intrude. Her temporary status in Honeysuckle Harbor is exactly why she’s perfect.
“James was the best dancer in our class. Probably the entire high school,” Caroline is saying as I lead her to the couch.
I ordered mini-dessert parfaits from Frannie at Raw and have laid them out on our coffee table. I’ve also got another bottle of wine open.
James told me that Caroline doesn’t drink white wine, but I’ve been plying her with a delicious full-bodied red all night, and she’s on her third glass. She seems relaxed and happy. I refill her glass and hand it to her.
“But you were his date to Homecoming and Prom your senior year, right?” I ask her. “And for more than his dance moves?” I give her an easy smile to let her know I’m open to discussing their past. “We don’t have either of those in the Netherlands. Such a quirky and intriguing American tradition.”
She giggles. “Probably a dangerous one for virginity as well.”
James is standing behind where Caroline has propped herself against the pillow and the arm of the couch.
‘What are you doing?’ he mouths.
Caroline reaches for one of the lemon cheesecake mini-parfaits and I mouth, ‘ Trust me’ back to him.
“James, there’s a peanut butter chocolate mousse parfait,” she says, holding it out to him. “Come sit with us.”
He starts to move toward the middle cushion, but I quickly reach out, wrap an arm around Caroline’s waist and slide her to the middle.
She lets out a startled sound but doesn’t protest.
James drops onto the cushion on her other side, but he’s still giving me a ‘ what the hell?’ look over the top of her head.
“There, you fit well between us,” I tell her. I slide my arm from around her slowly, letting my hand slip over the strip of skin between her T-shirt and leggings where her shirt has pulled up.
“I’m not going to protest being tucked between two hot men,” she says, pulling her feet up onto the cushion and wrapping her arms around her legs. She gives a sigh. “It’s been a while since I was tucked against even one.”
“That’s too bad,” I tell her. Our hips are pressed together and her warmth seeps into my side.
“It really is,” she agrees. She balances her wine glass on one knee, holding it with just two fingers and the little parfait on her other knee. She digs the tiny spoon into the lemon cheesecake. “Thank God for sugar.”
I chuckle. “So you and James at Prom…were you the envy of all the girls?”
She nods as she licks the spoon clean, and my dick stirs, watching her tongue. “And some of the guys.” She smiles at James. “If only they’d known they had an even better shot with you than the girls did.”
“I wouldn’t say better shot,” James protests.
She nods. “Well, I’m so glad that I was…that you were…” She glances at me. “Never mind.”
I laugh. “I know all about you and James, Caroline.”
“You do?” She looks at James. “You told him?”
James grins. “Of course, babe. He’s my husband.”
She shakes her head and takes another bite. “I guess it’s not as awkward to have an ex over for dinner when it’s ancient history.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, amused. I know what she means, but there are some details Caroline needs to be clear on tonight. This is the perfect segue.
“He’s married to you, obviously. We were just kids.” She giggles, and it definitely sounds a little tipsy. “Though we did enjoy learning to be adults together.” She shoots James a smirk. “If you know what I mean.”
James gives her an affectionate smile and stretches his arm along the back of the couch behind her. “I certainly do.”
I laugh. “Oh, come on, J. Tell her how much you’re still attracted to her. This isn’t all ancient history.”
Caroline looks from me to James, her eyebrows arched. “You’re still attracted to me?”
James tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I definitely am still attracted to you, Caro.”
“But you’re married.”
I lean a little closer. Fuck, she smells good. “That doesn’t mean that we can’t appreciate what a gorgeous woman you are. Or that we don’t still want to… be with women.” I echo her words back to her. “If you know what I mean.”
She looks from him to me. “I think so? Are you saying that you still do?”
“Very much.”
She looks at James. He nods. “Yep.”
I lean closer to her ear. “So you are still very much of an interest.”
“Oh.” Her voice is soft. Almost a whisper.
She looks from him to me again, then back to him.
“So, is this awkward, then? Me being around?” she asks me.
“Definitely not the word I’d use,” I tell her.
“Oh,” she says again, as if it’s all sinking in. She takes the final bite of her parfait.
James takes the little container from her and sets it on the table.
She tips back her glass of wine, taking a big gulp. She blows out a breath. “How did you two meet?” she asks.
I look at my husband. We share a smile.
“A dinner party,” he says. “We had friends in common who were trying to introduce us for a few months. We kept missing each other, though. Then, one night, we were finally in the same place at the same time.”
“Was it love at first sight?” Caroline asks.
“Of course,” I say. “Look at him. He’s fucking adorable. He’s funny, sweet. He lets me boss him around in bed.”
James’s cheeks get a little pink, but he doesn’t deny it. My sunshine husband tells me exactly what he wants and needs too, but he does like it when I take charge.
I’m also aware of the change in Caroline’s breathing. Her chest is rising and falling faster, her nipples are pressing against the front of the simple cotton tee she’s wearing, and her cheeks are also a little flushed.
So, of course, I keep going. “He’s amazing with his tongue,” I continue. “He’s got all those muscles and is very flexible.” Caroline is staring at James. I drop my voice and say right by her ear. “And he’s got that huge cock. You remember, don’t you, Caro?”
She swallows hard.
“Jesus, Cas,” James mutters.
“None of that is a lie,” I say. “And you do remember, don’t you, Caroline?”
To my delight, she nods. “I do. Of course.” Then slowly she smiles. “And with the years of practice you’ve had, I can only imagine how much better you are with it,” she tells James.
James coughs in surprise as I grin.
“Oh, honey, you have no idea,” I tell her.
And then she giggles. “I might have a bit of an idea. I have a pretty good imagination and I read really dirty books.”
The tension—the ‘I-hope-I’m-not-pushing-too-hard’ tension—evaporates. All that’s left is the sexual tension.
“Can I tell you about one of my favorite dates with James?” I ask her.
“I’d love to hear it.”
James gives me another of those looks but this one isn’t ‘ what the hell are you doing?’ This one is ‘ are you sure this is a good idea?’
But it is. I’m sure of it.
“We’d been going out for about three months. It was getting serious. But there was one thing we both really liked that would have been missing if we became committed and monogamous. We’d talked about it a little but hadn’t really come up with a solution,” I tell her.
“What was it?” she asks.
I squeeze her knee. “Patience. I’m getting there.”
She presses her lips together.
I grin. “One night, I had planned the whole date for us. All James had to do was be ready at six. I had taken care of everything else. We were going to go to see one of his favorite classic movies in the park. I had the blanket, this amazing picnic with all his favorites, everything all set.
But it started to rain. A huge, unexpected thunderstorm. Ruined the whole thing. I was so bummed. Then James decided he was going to salvage the night. He drove us to a bookstore, said we had ten minutes to find our perfect idea for how to spend the rainy evening in front of the fireplace, and then we’d meet at the front door. Whatever we showed up with was what we were going to do.
We’re both bookworms and we both like board games, so I spent my ten minutes searching for a great book to read together—I was thinking a mystery or thriller. Rainy night, lights off, fireplace only. That’d be cool, right?”
Caroline is watching me raptly. She nods at my question. “Very cool.”
“I thought maybe he’d come back with a game or maybe a puzzle or something. We can be nerds sometimes.” I give her a self-deprecating smile.
James shifts on the couch. He’s not stopping me from telling the story, but he’s clearly a little nervous about Caroline’s reaction.
Yeah, me too. Not nervous, but curious.
We need to see how she responds to this.
“So I pick out a book and I go up front to meet James with what he picked out.”
I stop. Caroline looks from me to James, then back. “What did he pick out?”
“Come on now,” James said. “She wasn’t a ‘what’, Hannah was a who.”
Caroline’s eyes widen. “ What ?”
“Right,” I chuckle. “She was a who. Hannah. This cute, sweet little brunette who worked at the bookstore and who James had met there a month prior. And who was finishing work ten minutes later.”
Caroline sits up straighter on the couch and turns toward James. “You picked out a woman ?”
He grins. “Yeah.” He shrugs. “We were talking about what we’d like to do on that rainy night together…Hannah was the perfect answer to the question.”
Caroline’s eyes are still wide when she looks at me. “And what did you say?”
“I said, ‘it’s very nice to meet you, Hannah,’ of course. I’m a gentleman.” Then I give Caroline a wicked grin. “At least I can be a gentleman. Hannah was totally fine with me not being a gentleman from then on.”
Caroline just stares at me.
“You okay, Caro?” James asks.
She nods, still staring at me. “Yeah. Fine.”
“Be honest. Are you something other than fine, too?” I ask, leaning in. “Like…curious, maybe?”
She wets her lips. “Do you…did you…do that a lot?”
“That?” I ask.
Of course, I know what she’s talking about, but she needs to say it. We need to have it out on the table.
“ That . Like with Hannah.”
“What did we do with Hannah?” I ask. “What do you think happened?”
She looks at James. He smiles, almost encouragingly.
“I’m guessing you didn’t take turns reading chapters of a murder mystery,” she says.
His smile grows. “No. No, we didn’t.”
She takes a breath, then she looks at me. Our gazes are locked when she says, “You fucked her. Together. Right?”
I smile. “Good girl,” I say. “And yes. That’s exactly what we did.”
She blows out a breath. “Got it.”
“And no, not a lot,” I say, answering her previous question. “Sometimes. For fun. With full transparency and consent between all parties. We make sure the women know James and I are together and that we’re not looking for anything from them but sex, and we share limits and make sure everyone knows whatever they want or need to know.”
“But not now?” she asks. “Now that you’re married?”
I smile, but it’s James that answers.
“Sometimes now, too. Though not since we came back to Honeysuckle Harbor.”
She seems to be thinking that over. She’s just opened her mouth to reply when there’s a sudden knock on our door.
Caroline startles, and I frown. Damn it.
I look at James. He shrugs.
Begrudgingly, I get up and go to the door.
Grayson Ross is on the other side, his baby daughter in one arm.
“Hey, Grayson, is everything all right?” I smile at Evelyn and get a frown in return.
“Yes.” He sighs. “Well, they’re mostly all right.” He holds up a phone. “Caroline left this at my place. She mentioned she was having dinner with you, and I hoped to catch her.”
I step back and gesture for him to come in. “Yes, she’s still here. Come on in.”
“Oh, I don’t?—”
But Evelyn has caught sight of James and is squealing and reaching out her arms, her hands opening and closing.
My eyes widen as I look from the little girl to my husband. He’s already off the couch and coming forward with a wide smile. “Hi, Evie girl.”
He takes her from her father without even asking, and Grayson and I are both left standing with our mouths open, staring after them.
Caroline joins us, laughing. “Uh, yeah. They have a thing going.”
“You left your phone next door,” Grayson says as he hands it to her.
“Oh. Thank you.” Caroline sets it on the table inside the door where we toss our keys and daily mail.
“She’s like that with him all the time?” Grayson asks, still watching James and Evelyn as James sways in the middle of the room with the little girl, showing her one of Noah’s toys.
“She is,” Caroline confirms. She looks up at me. “But I thought she just liked men more than women. She didn’t smile and coo and bat her big blue eyes at you, though.”
“No, she did not,” I agree.
“Huh,” Caroline says.
We all look at Evelyn and James again.
Then Caroline looks up at Grayson. “That’s so interesting. She apparently doesn’t just like men and she doesn’t seem to have a type. You and James are so different.”
Grayson finally pulls his gaze away from Evelyn to focus on Caroline.
“Are we?” he asks.
There’s a change in his voice, and I swear a change in the electric current in the air.
What the hell?
“You are,” she says. “He’s such a sunshine. So laid-back and…nice.”
Grayson arches a brow. “And I’m…” He trails off, clearly inviting her to fill in the blank.
I’m guessing the look he’s giving her is one he’s perfected in the boardroom with other hard-ass CEOs. I’ve seen my share of I’m-the-alpha-and-you-will-kowtow-to-me posturing around conference tables and in courtrooms.
But Caroline just grins up at him. “Not those things,” she says.
She doesn’t even seem to mind that he is very in her personal space.
“I’m not nice?” he asks.
“Not the first word that comes to mind,” she says. “Or the first…” She pretends to think something over. “…twelve words that come to mind.”
Grayson studies her. Intently. Like she’s a puzzle he needs to solve.
Or an acquisition he wants to make.
Yeah, that last one feels more accurate.
“Good,” he finally says.
Caroline rolls her eyes. “Yes, big bad CEO man—no one thinks you’re nice. That’s such a good thing. Very scary.” She reaches up and pats him on the chest.
Grayson’s hand moves swiftly, covering her hand and flattening it against his chest.
Her eyes widen as he leans in. “Since you’re not scared of me, maybe next time you’re in my bedroom, you won’t run from me.”
My eyes widen along with Caroline’s.
Wait, what’s going on here?
His bedroom? She ran from him?
Oh.
Oh.
Well, fuck.
Something is going on with Caroline and Grayson.
That might fuck up all the plans I had for her, and me, and James.
Caroline pulls her hand from underneath Grayson’s. “That is not what happened,” she says.
“Yes, I suppose scared and intimidated can be two different things,” Grayson says.
“I wasn’t intimidated ,” Caroline says, sounding insulted. “I was being courteous.”
Then I’m shocked to see the big, bad, broody CEO smirk at her. “It’s a normal reaction to a brand-new situation where you feel unsure. Nothing to be ashamed of.”
Caroline squares up with him. “Are you insinuating I’ve never seen a naked man before?” Caroline demands.
Oh. Shit. Something is definitely going on.
“I’m simply responding based on the information I’ve been given,” Grayson says. “You acted like it was a new situation. Or at least, like seeing one like me, was new.”
Caroline scoffs. “Like you? What’s that mean? One with such a gigantic ego and huge head?”
Clearly, too late, she realizes how that sounds.
We all freeze. The apartment is completely silent for five beats.
Then James and I both snort at the same time.
Caroline rolls her eyes.
Grayson’s smirk actually turns into a full-fledged grin.
“Shut up,” she mutters. She turns to me and James. “I walked in on him…naked. Big deal. I’m taking care of his kid in his apartment. It just…happened. We’re all adults. It’s fine.”
“Sure.” I nod. “It seems just fine. You don’t seem rattled by it at all.”
Grayson smirks some more.
I might actually like this guy if he’s not as wound tight as I thought he was.
And clearly, we have the same taste in women.
The three men in this apartment obviously all want Caroline.
Her phone buzzes on the table, and she looks over at it.
“It’s been doing that a lot,” Grayson says. “It’s how I noticed it on the counter under the spit up cloth and the extra diaper.”
Caroline grabs the phone and swipes over the screen. Her eyes go wide.
“Everything okay?” I ask, peering at the screen.
“Uh, yeah. Just…”
“Are all of those notifications from a dating app ?” James asks, coming up behind her.
She presses the phone to her breasts. “No! It’s not…well…fine.” She pulls the phone away. “Kind of. It’s a networking app. The company operates in every state and most other countries. People like me, singles who are traveling alone a lot for work, use it to meet friends and people with shared interests and ways to be social in new places. It’s actually kind of hard to make new friends at our age.”
“So you’re meeting friends ,” James asks. “It’s not to find dates or hook-ups?”
“Well…”
James frowns. I look up and see Grayson is also scowling.
I wonder if these two men realize that they’ve already got it bad for Caroline Bell.
“I have dated people I’ve met through the app,” she says.
“And hookups?” Grayson asks.
She rolls her eyes. “A few. Nothing for a long time. But yes…sometimes the friendship turns into that. I travel a lot, and I never stay anyplace long-term, but I don’t want to just never go out or have…fun.”
“That doesn’t sound safe,” James says, frowning.
Grayson’s scowl deepens. “It sounds like a really bad idea, actually.”
Caroline looks from one to the other. “Well, thank you for the unsolicited advice, guys. I’ll be sure to tell my mother that she doesn’t have to worry or lecture me now that I have the two of you around.” She looks at me. “Anything you’d like to add?”
I’m a little smarter than my husband and neighbor. You don’t tell women what you think of their choices and decisions unless asked. And then, really, only if you’re a very close friend, physician, or therapist. And even then, very carefully.
“Just that if you need any non-self-induced orgasms while you’re in this location, just let us know. No need for an app.”
Her eyes widen again. Then she looks at James. He just shrugs and nods. Then she looks at Grayson. His scowl is even deeper now.
“Oh my God,” she mutters.
Then she steps past Grayson, pulls the front door open, and leaves.
Without a goodbye or even a look back.
At least she didn’t slam the door and wake up the baby.