Chapter Thirty-Three
Thirty-Three
Nick was later than he wanted to be. He’d hoped to catch the sunset with Cassie, as the start of a new nightly tradition. But duty called and took longer than he’d expected. The new kid he’d hired for the summer was opening up tomorrow for the first time. So Nick took the opportunity after breakfast prep to revise the opening checklists—all the boring but necessary things so that he didn’t get a frantic phone call while he was out on the boat with Vince. By the time he’d locked up for the night and picked up dinner, the sun was low on the horizon and the streetlights were winking on.
It was heady feeling, walking right through Cassie’s front gate and up the steps like he had every right to be there. For most of Nick’s life, this house had been falling down and forlorn. That front window used to be a broken half pane of glass, and a good portion of the boards on this very front porch had been missing. Now the lights on the porch glowed in welcome, and it no longer looked like a place you’d dare your little sister to run up to and knock on the front door. Now it looked like a home. Cassie’s home. And he was finally welcome.
Inside looked like home too. The kitchen table was set with two place settings, and in the middle was a salad in a wooden bowl. But the most important thing was Cassie, barefoot in her denim cutoffs and oversize tee—her work-from-home uniform. Her smile was the warmest, most welcome glow of all.
“Now, I told them it was your first time with their fried chicken, so they made a fresh batch just for you.” He set the box of chicken next to the salad, and a Styrofoam container of fries next to that.
“I feel so special.” Her smile twinkled at him as she opened the box and pulled out a drumstick. The noises she made as she took her first bite bordered on obscene and made Nick forget all about food.
“I told you. Life-changing, right?”
“I maintain my allegiance to Publix, but this isn’t bad at all.”
Nick rolled his eyes good-naturedly and dug in himself. He had to remember that despite everything, she was still new in town. Plenty of time to bring her over to the right side of things.
He had very specific plans for after dinner, mostly including him and Cassie and her bedroom upstairs, but they had just started clearing their plates when a spoon perched on the edge of the table fell to the floor with a clatter. Nick bent to retrieve it, and when he straightened up the words television island were displayed in the middle of the refrigerator.
“What’s television island?” He dropped the spoon into the open dishwasher. “Does she mean kitchen island? You don’t have a television in here.” He was going to have to learn Sarah’s language if he stuck around, wasn’t he?
“She means Romance Resort .” Cassie loaded their plates into the dishwasher. “It’s her favorite show.” She looked sheepish. “I’m sorry. I forgot. I promised her we would watch it tonight. She went through a pretty bad ordeal, what with her husband and all.”
“That’s okay.” Nick could think of worse ways to spend an evening than next to Cassie on her couch. Besides, he’d been through an ordeal with Sarah Hawkins’s husband too. He understood.
After dinner, Cassie snuggled into him on the couch, her head nestled against his chest—oh yeah, he could think of way worse ways to spend an evening—and pulled up her library of recorded shows. “So it’s kind of like Survivor , but horny.” She flashed him a grin. “You’re gonna hate it.”
Nick wouldn’t say he hated Romance Resort . He was mostly astounded at the teeny-tiny swimsuits they all wore. Could they really show that many butts on network television?
“This is really what Sarah wants to do with her afterlife? Watch this crap?”
“Hey.” Cassie giggled as she lightly swatted at his chest. “Love me, love my ghost.”
Well, that was an easy decision. He caught her hand and pressed it to his heart. “Oh, I definitely love you.” He bent his head, laying a kiss on her forehead, her cheek, the tip of her nose. She closed her eyes, giving a happy hum in response.
On the television, a girl in a barely-there pink bikini pushed an overly muscled guy into the pool, declaring she was over his bullshit. But Nick wasn’t paying attention, because Cassie was warm in his arms, and the scent of her shampoo made him dizzy. He leaned down to catch her mouth with his, sinking into a kiss that didn’t need to be hurried. There were no barriers between them now; they had all the time in the world.
“I was thinking…” Her mouth moved against his, punctuating each word with another kiss. “That recliner of Elmer’s.”
“What about it?” How was Cassie thinking at a time like this? Nick wasn’t doing his job right. He kissed his way up her throat and behind her ear.
“I was thinking it might look nice over there…” Nick reluctantly raised his head to follow where she was pointing, over by the front window. “In that nook. Cozy, you know?”
Nick caught his breath while his heart continued to pound. Was she asking what he thought she was asking?
He swallowed hard. “You’re right. It would.”
“And I have a lot of space in my closet upstairs. I’m only using, say, half of it.”
“Really?” He hadn’t thought of himself as a domestic guy in a long time, but damn if what she was offering didn’t sound perfect. “I hardly have any closet space in my apartment.”
“Just something to think about,” Cassie said. Her hand lingered on his cheek, her fingertips tracing his cheekbone. She looked at him with wonder, as though she couldn’t believe he was there. Nick knew the feeling. Her mouth was right there, kiss-swollen and inviting, and he couldn’t resist another second.
It didn’t take long for Cassie to straddle him on the couch, their kisses becoming deeper, their hands wandering over and under clothes, rivaling the making out that was happening on the long-forgotten television screen.
“It doesn’t have to be tomorrow or anything…” Cassie gasped as he tugged gently on one earlobe with his teeth. Nick liked that sound. Would she do it if he bit the other earlobe? A worthy experiment. He grasped her chin, turning her head to the side and kissing a path to her other ear. Damn, she made the same sound there too. Incredible. “Just something to keep in mind, in case your place ever feels too small.” Her voice was breathless, her chest heaving against his, her fingers twining in his hair.
“My place is always too small,” he murmured into her hair. He skimmed his hands up her sides, pushing that soft T-shirt up to reveal even softer skin.
She pulled away and looked at him, her expression suddenly unsure. “Probably too soon for that kind of thing, huh?”
But the astonishing thing was, it wasn’t. It was just like the night Nick had kissed her for the first time. On paper, it was probably way too soon. Nick should probably be scared of this kind of commitment, but this was different. This was Cassie. And everything with her felt just right.
He shook his head and pulled her close. “Feels just in time to me.”
Much later that night, while they were sound asleep in Cassie’s bed, magnetic words moved to the center of Cassie’s fridge. A special message for Nick to find in the morning.
welcome home