Somehow, the tenderness, the concern in his voice just got to her. He wasn’t coddling her, he cared about her. Part of her that she’d closed off because it had simply been crushed into nothing by Terry, sparked back to life. And when it did, she felt what she’d been missing for four years. Not the intensity of someone’s attention that she’d mistaken for love and adoration from Terry in the early years. No, this was a man who truly wanted her to be okay. Thought about her feelings.
Tears blinded her as he changed his angle and his pelvic bone crushed into her mound and created friction over her clit. A deep moan broke from her lips.
“Baby? Those good tears or am I hurting you?”
She laughed through her tears and reached up to wipe them away with the back of her hand. “Good ones. Now shut up and fuck me.”
Her thighs began to tremble as each press and grind of his body against her clit brought her closer to orgasm.
“Cassie, darlin’, I’m really close. You with me?”
“I...” And it broke over her, shattering her into wordlessness, eyes blurring and back arching. She heard his muffled curse and felt his cock jerk and spasm deep within her as he came as well.
With a long, satisfied sigh, he rolled off her and to the side, quickly dealing with the condom and coming back to lie beside her. Panting, sweat cooling on their bodies, they both looked up into the night sky.
He reached out and linked fingers with her. “Thank you,” she murmured.
He turned to his side and looked at her. “Darlin’, the pleasure was all mine, I assure you. God, I can’t believe I fucked you on the ground. You deserve a soft bed and candlelight. I just had this vision of you, bathed in moonlight, making love to you with the sweet smells of night against our skin. I hope you don’t think I was disrespectful. I’m sorry.”
“Shane, don’t.” Tears laced her voice. “I can’t seem to stop crying. I hate that. You have nothing to be sorry for. It was beautiful. You were wonderful. Gentle and patient. I enjoyed myself, believe me. Twice.”
He laughed. “I’m sorry about that. It should have been at least three times but I had to have you. I’m usually more finessed than that.”
“Three times? Wow. Well, I’m quite pleased with two. Hell, I’m thrilled with one.”
He looked at her, shocked. “Do you know how fucking beautiful you look when you come? Your neck arched, eyes desire-blind, mouth slightly open, your nipples hard and pretty—just thinking about it right now makes me hard. Any man should want to see that as much as possible. Your ex needs his ass kicked. But then I suppose if he’d taken care of you I wouldn’t be here beside you now.”
“They aren’t very nice anymore. They used to be lovely. But time. Well you know.”
He sat up on his elbow. “No. I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”
Her hands moved to put her bra back in place but he stopped her, kissing each hand and putting them back at her sides.
“My breasts. They used to be higher. They’re sort of saggy. I’m sure you’re used to tight bodies and perky breasts. I’ve seen some of the women in town, the ones who give me the dirtiest looks, their bodies are nicer than mine.”
Shane exhaled sharply. “Cassie, how old are you?”
“Thirty-three.”
“And you think you have saggy breasts?”
She sat up and moved to fasten her bra and button up her camisole. “Yes. And my belly has this little pooch and my thighs are flabby.”
“Cassie, I’m just telling you so as not to spook you, I’m picking you up now.” And she found herself tossed over his shoulder as he walked her, bare assed, into his house.
“Hey! I don’t have any panties on,” she hissed.
“No one can see but me and I like your ass.” He took her up the stairs and into his bedroom and set her down in front of mirrored sliding doors in his closet.
“Now, I want you to look at yourself.” His hand smoothed over her hair. “Your hair is truly beautiful, thick, black, long, tousled from sex.” A thumb traced her bottom lip. “Luscious. I want to nibble it every time I see you.”
He moved behind her and unbuttoned her camisole and popped the catch on her bra in record time. He held her breasts in his hands. “Gorgeous.” And let them go. “They do not sag. You have large breasts and they’re not in a bra and you’re not twenty-one, Cassie. But your breasts are fucking phenomenal.” A finger traced the valley between them. “I’d very much like to put my cock here sometime in the future. I think about that. A lot.”
She shivered.
His hand slid down her stomach. “This is not a pooch. It’s your stomach. You are not flabby. You’re beautiful. Your thighs are beautiful. Your calves are beautiful. Your pussy is pink and pretty and beautiful. Your eyes are beautiful.”
He picked up her hand and kissed it. “Your hands are beautiful.” And paused. “Did you break your fingers?” He held up his left hand and the index finger was slightly crooked. “I broke it when I was twenty-five.”
In the year since the attack, she’d had time to heal. Time for physical therapy. But her middle and ring fingers still bore the scars of the break. Bore the odd bend of what she knew she was lucky to still have working fingers after he’d done so much damage.
“Yes.”
His face hardened and he met her eyes in the mirror. “He did this to you.” It wasn’t a question.
Her eyes closed for a long moment and she nodded. Shane brought her hand to his lips and kissed the fingers. “Beautiful. Cassie, one of the things that surprises me the most about you is how you don’t see your own beauty. You walk into The Pumphouse and men bump into things from staring at you. I believe book readership has skyrocketed in Petal since you started working at Paperbacks and More. You speak and I get hard. You breathe and I get hard. I get jealous. Even when I walked in and caught Sandra with my best friend, I wasn’t jealous. I was just betrayed and hurt and then pissed off.
“And let me clarify the jealous thing because don’t think I didn’t see the fear flare in your eyes when I said it. Yes, it drives me a little crazy to see men watching you and practically drooling. But I’m not going to hurt you over it. I may want to whack ’em in the back of the head with my pool cue, but baby, I want to cherish you, not hurt you.”
Gaze locked with his in the mirror she leaned back into his body. “If I try to talk about this right now, I’m going to cry. And I am sick of it. So, I’m not going to except to say thank you.”
He bent and as she watched in the mirror, he took her neck between his teeth and she gasped. “You’re so beautiful, I want you right now. Again. Show me, Cassie.” One hand moved up to cup her breast and roll and tug a nipple between his fingers and the other slid down her belly to her pussy.
Automatically, she adjusted her legs, widening her stance, and he put his thigh between them, enabling her to lean back against his chest. Unable not to watch, her eyes caught his fingers parting her and sliding through the still very wet folds of her sex.
She watched the pull, roll, tug of his fingers on her nipple and then two of his fingers disappear into her pussy and his thumb sliding from side to side over her clit.
Her eyelids slid halfway shut as the lethargy of desire stole over her. His eyes watched his hands on her in the mirror. Watched his fingers fuck into her and she didn’t miss the widening of his grin when she rolled her hips to meet his hand.
But she was past embarrassment. She wanted to come. She’d turned off her expectations of climax during sex with anyone else and the need came back, sharp edged and starving after so many years denied.
“Give it to me, Cassie. I can feel your pussy beginning to flutter around my fingers. I know you want to come, I can see it in your eyes.” His words were whispered into her ear and she shivered. “Let go.”
Even as she was getting ready to tell him she couldn’t
possibly come again, she did. Not the explosion of pleasure she’d felt on the grass outside but a muscle-deep series of contractions. Wave after wave of pleasure rolled through her until she was nothing more than a boneless heap of satisfied woman lying against him.
“Oh, I wish I had a camera.” He chuckled and she raised her hand in a half-hearted one fingered salute.
They cleaned up. He refused to let her reciprocate for the moment and ran outside to retrieve her panties, skirt and shoes which, to his disappointment, she put back on.
They stood side by side in his kitchen, made sandwiches and ate them. Later they brought root beer to his couch, snuggled and watched a movie. The normalcy of the moment fed her heart.
When the movie ended he stood up and stretched. “So, darlin’, you staying over?”
“I have an appointment in Shackleton at ten. I should probably go home so I won’t disturb you.”
“What do you have to run all the way over there on a Saturday for?”
“My therapist is there.” It wasn’t as hard as she’d thought, saying it aloud.
He sat again and nodded. “Good. Is it helping?”
It felt slightly odd to talk to him about it but at the same time, good.
“I think so. Sometimes I have all this stuff in my head and I can’t say it to anyone. But I can to her. She doesn’t know me or my family, she doesn’t judge me. It’s very freeing.”
“I imagine so. You can always talk to me you know. I’m not going to judge you.”
“No, but you get mad about stuff. And sometimes, having to deal with other people’s emotions over it is more than I want to. Sometimes I want it to be about me just saying it and being rid of it.”
He bit his lip against what he wanted to say. He did get mad at some of the things she told him. When he’d seen the damage to her fingers and she’d revealed it was her ex’s doing, a wave of rage so deep and dark swallowed him for a moment he was quite sure he could have killed the man over it.
Instead he nodded. “I understand. I’d still like you to stay over. We can get up early and I’ll run you home. You can shower here with me.” He waggled his eyebrows at her lasciviously, making her laugh.
“All of my stuff is at home. I’m very particular about my hair products. I know it’s terribly shallow of me. And I don’t have any night clothes.”
“Sleep naked. Or, I can loan you a T-shirt if you like. I’m sorry if I’m pressuring you. I just want to wake up with you in my arms tomorrow. But I do understand if you’d like to go home.”
She still had dreams, she had the scars. The weight of the hiding she’d have to do lay on her heavily. It warred with her yearning to be held in Shane’s arms all night.
“I can’t. I’m sorry. There’s...it’s...” She shrugged her shoulders, not able to find words, not knowing if she could trust him or herself to reveal more. “It isn’t you. I know that sounds like a cliché. But I can’t. Not yet. And I really do have to get up early tomorrow. Please don’t be angry.”
He pulled her against his body and kissed her temple. “Darlin’, I am not angry. I won’t say I understand because I don’t know all of it and I couldn’t possibly be in your place. But I do understand your wanting to go home and I’m not hurt or upset. I keep telling you we have time. And we do.” He moved to look into her face. “We do don’t we? I suppose I’ve just assumed that we’re in a relationship but I haven’t really asked you.”
“I told you, I’m not a casual person. But I don’t know what I have to give anyone just now. If you’re asking if I’d like to continue seeing you and that I have no interest in anyone else, yes. What I have to offer above that right now? I don’t know.”
He stood and helped her up. “That’s all I need for now. We can work through the rest as we go.”
The drive back to her place was quiet but comfortable. His hand lay gently on her thigh as he drove. When they got to her place he walked her to the door.
“Goodnight, darlin’. Would you like to come to dinner at my parents’ house on Sunday night? My momma’s been bugging me to bring you. I won’t lie to you, I think she’s got a bigger crush on you than I do. There’s a running competition to see who can talk about you more. She also tells me you’ve promised to come to dinner sometime soon. And I’d love for you to get to know them all better. Maggie will be there too.”
She smiled. “I did promise her. It wasn’t like I could do anything else. She’s called me twice about it. And I do like her, even if she’s the world’s worst driver and a total menace behind the wheel.”
“Yeah? And what about me?”
Coyly, she cocked her head. “You? Hmm. Well, it appears that your driving is decent. Safe enough. Clearly you didn’t learn to drive from your mother.”
He laughed, the sound echoing through the quiet of the post midnight evening. “My dad taught me. And you know that’s not what I was asking.”
“I know, I just wanted to tease you. I happen to like you too, Shane Chase. More than is probably wise.”
“Good. Wisdom is overrated. Now, let me come in just to be sure everything is okay.” Her back went rigid and he sucked in his breath, making an agitated sound. “Okay, so I didn’t really phrase that like a request. And I know I’m pushy and I know you don’t want to hear that I just want to protect you. I’m trying you know. Would it be all right with you if I came in just to check the place out?”
Her posture relaxed and she put a hand to his cheek. “Thank you for that. It means a lot to me. And I’d appreciate that.”
He did a quick check of the apartment and all was well. After kissing her goodnight, he told her he’d pick her up on Sunday and waited on her doorstep until he heard her locking all her locks.
Whistling softly, he jogged down the steps and to his car, entirely sure he’d not been that happy in a very long time.
Chapter Nine
When they pulled up to the curb in front of the Chases’ beautiful home, nervousness clawed Cassie’s insides. Sure, she knew Polly casually and she saw Matt pretty much every day, but this was like a meet the parents date. What if they didn’t like her for their son?
Shane grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips to kiss across her knuckles. “Darlin’, don’t be nervous. They already know you except for my daddy and he’s going to love you. Trust me. Now come on.” He jerked his head and she laughed.
He had to put his hands in his pockets to keep from going to open her door but the smile she gave him for letting her do it herself was worth it.
She took his arm though as they walked up to the porch and he wanted to shout to the whole neighborhood that Cassie Gambol was his. Long, curvy and absolutely astonishingly beautiful, he couldn’t believe this woman beside him trusted him as much as she did.
Before he could reach out and turn the knob, the door opened and Marc stood there, grinning. “Hey there, Cassie. My, that blue does only good things for you.” He leaned in quickly and kissed her, just a friendly greeting. But Shane felt her startle and stiffen. Putting an arm around her waist, he shot Marc a look and his brother stood back quickly.
Marc seemed to understand, winking at her but backing off to let them both in. She relaxed and he kicked himself for not talking to Marc about how to approach her. Matt, he knew, understood and Kyle didn’t hug up on any woman he wasn’t related to after he’d gotten together with Maggie.
“I thought I heard someone arrive.” Polly Chase came click-clacking into the hallway, wearing a big grin. “Hi there, honey. Welcome. Can I get you something to drink? Maggie and I were sneaking a beer in my sitting room. You want to come on in there after my Edward meets you? He’s been dying to after hearing us all talk about you nonstop.”
Shane tensed, not knowing how Cassie would react to his mother’s stream of consciousness, mile a minute chatter but she smiled and let his mother enfold her into a hug.
/> “Mrs. Chase, this is just a beautiful home. I love the period pieces you have. Are they family antiques?”
Shane wanted to laugh out loud. Now Cassie was in for it. She’d hit on some of his mother’s greatest loves. Antiques and the history of the house and the pieces in it.
“Polly. My mother-in-law is Mrs. Chase. I’ll give you a tour. Let’s go say hi to the boys in the family room. Dontcha know baseball is on and once the game starts you won’t see any butts moving from seats until dinner.” Polly took Cassie’s hand and Maggie came out of the sitting room and after a quick hug for Shane, followed Polly and Cassie into the family room.
Shane watched his father’s eyes widen when he saw Cassie. He’d told his father Cassie was beautiful but Shane saw his father really understand the full impact Cassie made. He waited for the voice.
“Well hello there. You must be Cassie.” His father, ever the gentleman, took her hand, giving her a courtly kiss. Cassie blushed slightly. “I’m Edward Chase. It’s very nice to meet you and see you in one piece after my wife welcomed you to Petal in her own special way.”
Cassie’s delighted laugh sounded through the room and Shane wanted to laugh himself as he saw his father’s eyes widen again and he snuck a quick peek at Shane.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Chase. My neck has recovered from your wife’s welcome and my car is good as new. I’m sure your insurance company is less thrilled than I am though.”
“Edward, please, sugar. And my goodness, aren’t you just a bundle of gorgeous? Shane told me you were beautiful but he was right that I had to see you, and hear you, to get the full impact.”
“Okay, Daddy, enough. You trying to steal my girl?”
“Oh no, my boy! Your momma is more than enough for me.”
Matt approached and paused a moment, making sure Cassie saw him before giving her a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Hi there, sweetie. You ready to run out the door yet?”
Cassie grinned. “Nah. I hear there’ll be cobbler. I can’t leave until after that.”