Chapter 35
The second Josie was out the door this morning my eyes landed on the flier taped to the window.
Everything in me said that would be the perfect way to spend the afternoon.
And I was right. Seeing Cassie’s cute as hell happy dance each time a match was made was enough to make me want to capture her mouth with mine right there in front of everyone.
But I played the part of a gentleman while my blood quietly simmered.
The two of us are oddly quiet after that moment in my truck.
I couldn’t begin to guess what’s going through Cassie’s head, but mine is spinning like a turntable, an anxious feeling swirling in my gut.
Rarely have I gotten that feeling with a woman.
I’m usually all swagger and charm. Right now though, I desperately want to get tonight right.
I want her to look back on tonight and remember how I made her feel.
But seeing Cassie bent over my freezer, ass up, one hand braced on the edge of the drawer while she digs through frozen dinners isn’t helping anything. Her shirt rides up to reveal a trace of skin, just a sliver, and I’m already thinking about what the rest of her looks like.
Within seconds she straightens, eyes lit up holding a box of corn dogs. The blue-boxed State Fair kind.
“Oh my god.” She clutches the box to her chest. “I haven’t had a corn dog since I lived behind the Sonic after college.”
“Corn dogs it is, then. I’ll pop ’em in the air fryer.” I tear open the cardboard and set the timer.
While we wait, I lean against the counter and I’m back doing what I apparently do best around this woman. Watching Cassie. I never took myself for a man into voyeurism, but I can’t seem to look away from her, no matter how hard I try. Not that I’ve tried much today.
Take right now, for instance. She’s doing the most mundane thing, filling a glass with ice, but I’m enjoying the view.
Specifically, the length and shape of her long legs all the way down to her bare feet on my hardwood floor.
What would it feel like to have those legs wrapped around me while my name falls from those pretty pink lips?
“You gonna sit there all night admiring how hard I’ve worked with my YouTube yoga instructor, or do you plan on eating?”
Busted. A big ass grin pops onto my face right as the air fryer dings. “Don’t see why I can’t do both.”
“Look all you want. I’m eating.” Cassie opens the fridge and grabs a bottle of mustard. She plates our corn dogs and squirts a large dollop on hers.
When I open the fridge for ranch dressing, Cassie’s face screws up in horror. “Please tell me you aren’t about to do what I think you are.”
I squirt a huge glob onto my plate, dip the corn dog in it, take an enormous bite, and toss her a wink. “Oh, I’m doing it, baby. Now let’s go watch our movie.
“There is only one acceptable condiment for corn dogs and that’s mustard.” She grabs her plate and hip checks me. “But you do you.”
We head to the living room and settle onto the couch. Cassie sits cross-legged, her plate balanced on her lap while I find the remote.
“Being Valentine’s Day and all, I thought tonight we’d watch a love story.”
“A romance?” Cassie’s brows shoot up. “Anytime you’ve picked the movie, we end up watching people blow things up.”
“Well…” I tilt my head back and forth. “There’s some of that, too. Just wait. You’ll see.” I find the movie I’m looking for and click on it.
Beside me, Cassie snorts. “Deadpool is not a romance.”
“So you’ve seen it? Because I promise you, it’s a romance.”
The slow-motion fight in the opening scene does nothing to convince her, but in my opinion, Deadpool is the most romantic movie there is. I dip my corndog in the ranch again and sit back to enjoy one of my favorite movies with my favorite person.
When Wade gives the cab driver his pep talk on love, I flick my gaze to Cassie and back to the screen. “Told ya.”
Her eye roll might as well be audible.
Corn dog sticks are all that remain of our gourmet dinner, and Cassie now sits with her knees tucked against her chest. We’re so close our shoulders brush, but when Wade drops the first I love you, twenty-five minutes in, Cassie lets out a soft “aww” and her head tips sideways to rest on my shoulder.
The clean, sweet smell of her shampoo is all I can focus on. I lift my arm and Cassie snuggles closer, resting her palm on my chest. Can she feel how fast my heart is beating? How every thump, thump, thump is because of her.
The movie continues to play but I’ve seen it so many times I hardly pay attention. The only thing I’m aware of is her body pressed to mine, the gasps and short laughs she releases at certain parts, and the feel of fingers gripping my shirt during the suspenseful scenes.
The credits roll, and Cassie’s warmth slowly disappears as she straightens, tears streaming down her face.
“Okay, you win.” She lets out a shaky breath and bats away tears with the back of her hand. “Deadpool really is a romance.”
“Told ya. Everything he went through was for Vanessa. That the kind of love people dream of finding.”
Cassie’s still wiping her cheeks and for a second neither of us speaks.
Her eyes, warm like honey, look back at me with an openness, inviting me to take what I want.
And because I’m so goddamn tired of keeping my restraint on a short leash, I allow my hand to go to the back of her head and tangle in her hair.
Cassie sucks in a quick breath, her lips parting.
“Have I ever told you how pretty you look when you’re crying?” I lean in and press my lips to one cheek, then the other, tasting salt. She lets out a wet laugh that vibrates against my mouth. “Or how pretty you are when you laugh.”
My lips trace a slow path to her jaw where I let my teeth scrape lightly against the tender skin there.
She tilts her head offering me more, more of this, a quiet little sound escaping her lips that makes my blood run hot.
Every part of Cassie entices me, a temptation I’m no longer interested in resisting.
I pull her closer until my forehead rests against hers and graze the tip of her nose with mine.
Our breaths grow shallow through parted lips.
How did I ever think I’d be able to resist her? We’ve been inevitable since day one. I see that now. My heart, shriveled and broken for so long, blooms at the thought.
“You’re also pretty when you’ve been kissed.” My thumb traces her bottom lip and her breath hitches. “Lips swollen, cheeks all pink.”
In the next heartbeat, my mouth slants over hers.
The sound she makes, such a soft little whimper, breaks through the last shred of restraint.
Her hands fist my shirt, pulling me closer, and her lips part, inviting me to take what I’ve been craving for weeks.
No, months. Her hands wrap around my neck, fingernails scraping lightly in the hair at my nape and fuck me this is heaven. This is what people write songs about.
When Cassie kisses she holds nothing back. She dives into the kiss like she’s jumping off Whippoorwill Bluff, with a surrender that drives me crazy for her.
I break the kiss to catch my breath, and she chases me with a small tilt of her chin that I love. I love that kissing me is something she wants to keep doing. That she reaches for me when I pull away.
My dick is throbbing, begging for release, but tonight is all about Cassie. Now that I’ve accepted that this is real and it’s happening, no way in hell would I be selfish with my own pleasure.
Slowly, I guide her until she’s on her back, head resting against a throw pillow, and shift so I’m braced on an elbow over her.
The sight of her beneath me, dark hair fanned out around her, lips swollen and parted from my kiss, is something I need to burn into my memory.
The TV is still casting soft light across the room, and she has never, in all the times I’ve catalogued her face, looked like this.
Dipping my head, I capture her mouth again with mine, slower this time, savoring the way her lips move with mine.
My thumb finds her nipple through the fabric of her shirt and she arches into me, closing the distance between us until there’s no space left at all.
A jolt of pleasure shoots up my spine when she circles her hips against my extremely hard cock, the friction so good my vision goes dark around the edges for a second. But then we both go still.
A beat of silence passes. Then Cassie, God help me, tips her chin up and says without cracking a smile, “Is this the or something you had in mind?”
My eyes bounce between hers as Cassie takes my hand, guiding me to gently slide down her leggings and underwear until they’re bunched around her ankles.
I shift so she can kick out of them, and as soon as her legs are free, I sit up to admire her, so pretty, slicked in wetness all for me.
The sight alone has my cock all eager and ready, and I have to take a few deep breaths to gain control.
She reaches for the hem of her shirt, but I stop her, my hand circling her wrist. “Leave it on.”
A little divot appears between Cassie’s brows.
“Angel, if I see your perfect breasts tonight there’s no stopping me. And tonight is about you.”
“What if I want it to be about you, too?” Her voice is lower, huskier, doing dangerous things to my resolve.
“No, baby.” I lean down, brushing my lips against the shell of her ear. “Please let me take care of you tonight.”
Then my mouth is back on hers while my fingers trace a deliberate path up her inner thigh to find the slickness of her center.
She gasps into my mouth when I curl a finger inside her, pushing in and out as Cassie circles her clit on the heel of my palm.
Adding a second finger, I lift my head to watch because the first time she cries out my name in pleasure needs to be stamped onto my mind for fucking ever.