Cupid

  He was emptying the dishwasher—and slamming the drawers and cupboard doors much harder than necessary—when a knock came at the door. Sighing, he headed towards the front door, ready to give the door-to-door salesman a piece of his mind, before pointing at the sign on the lamppost across the street which declared that he lived in a “No Cold Calling Area.” He wasn’t usually the argumentative or confrontational type, but he relished the opportunity to take his mood out on someone.

  Flinging the door open, Cassius froze in his ready-to-rant pose.

  Carina stood in front of him, smiling shyly and brandishing a jar of Cadbury’s instant hot chocolate and a bag of mini marshmallows.

  “Still up for that hot chocolate?” she said, looking hopeful.

  Cassius’s awful mood dissipated as if it had never been there. He sent up a silent prayer of thanks to any deity that might be listening, then stood back and gestured Carina inside.

  She removed her shoes and outerwear in the hallway, then moved into the living room at Cassius’s invitation and sat down. Cassius remained standing.

  “So,” he said, realising that in his surprise, he hadn’t actually spoken to her yet, “what brings you here? And how’s the ankle?”

  “Much better, thank you. I took your advice and rested up for the rest of yesterday. I woke up this morning fully intending to call in sick if I was still in pain, but I’m absolutely fine. And to answer your other question, I’m here to say thank you. Things went so fast yesterday that I didn’t get chance to thank you properly, or to have a hot chocolate with you. So I’m here to do both, if that’s okay with you. I’m not keeping you from anything, am I?” She looked around, as if looking for evidence of what he’d been doing before she knocked on the door.

  “As a matter of fact, you are. I was emptying the dishwasher—so you turning up is a more than welcome interruption.” He smiled and held his hands out for the hot chocolate and marshmallows. “You didn’t have to bring your own—you know I’ve got the ingredients.”

  “I know,” she replied, handing them over, her brown eyes sparkling, “but I wanted to thank you, so really the hot chocolate should be on me. But since I didn’t have your number to call and ask you out, my only option was to turn up on your doorstep.”

  “You were going to ask me out?” he said, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. Then, realising that wasn’t quite what she’d said, he added, “To say thank you, I mean.”

  Carina nodded, looking up him through her lashes once more. He felt his heart lurch in his chest, and a stirring in his groin. Fuck, but she was hot.

  “Cool,” he said, his voice a little too high. “Well, make yourself comfortable. I’m going to make another attempt at the hot chocolate. Don’t go anywhere this time, okay?”

  She laughed. “I’ll be right here. Looking forward to it.”

  With that, Cassius almost jogged into the kitchen, trying to get himself under some semblance of control. His body was acting like that of a teenage boy. Depositing the hot chocolate and marshmallows on the worktop, he pressed a palm to his burgeoning erection, willing it go away. Luckily, he was wearing jeans, so the denim would ensure at least that his cock wasn’t pointing at right angles to his body, screaming for attention. The last thing he needed was for Carina to think he was some kind of sex-mad pervert who got a stiffy every time he was in the presence of a female.

  That statement could hardly be further from the truth, in fact. He liked sex as much as the next guy, he supposed, it was just that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been with someone. The reasons were manifold; his regular job meant that although he met and talked to people every day, he didn’t exactly have meaningful conversations that could lead to liking someone; his hobbies rarely brought him into contact with suitable women; and finally, perhaps the biggest deal-breaker. His not-so-regular job meant that he wasn’t around on the day of the year that most people wanted to spend with their loved ones—and he could never explain where he was going.

  “Yes dear, I’m just going to the North Pole to transform into a reindeer along with eight other people, and we’re going to pull Santa’s sleigh around, delivering presents to the world’s children. Okay? See you when I get back.”

  He could just see the reactions he’d get if he came out with that. The best case scenario would probably be a slap. The worst, sectioning.

  So it was understandable that he both found it hard to meet women, and to maintain a relationship with one. He’d become so disheartened by the whole thing that he’d all but given up. True, he could have had one-night stands or meaningless, short-lived flings—if he could actually meet someone, that is—that would mean Christmas Eve would never be an issue, but he just wasn’t like that. So here he was, single and hating it, but feeling powerless.

  It was this thought process that almost talked him out of asking Carina out. What if she said yes, things went swimmingly and they ended up in a long-term relationship? The Christmas Eve thing would inevitably come up, every 365 days without fail, and unless he came up with a believable excuse for his absence, it would cost him yet another round of heartbreak.

  But then he thought about how long he’d been alone and how fed up of it he was, and he changed his mind again. He was damn well entitled to some happiness—and given it was early January, if he was lucky he could end up with a beautiful 11 and ¾ month long relationship.

  He closed his eyes and pictured the woman in the next room: her expressive face, adorable smile, gorgeous eyes, beautiful hair and a figure to die for. And that was before he even started on her wicked sense of humour, sassy attitude and intelligence. Cassius sighed. Fuck, he was halfway in love already.

  11 and ¾ months it was, then. All being well, of course.

  Chapter Three

  Several weeks later, Cassius was still delighted that he’d bitten the bullet and asked Carina out. Granted, he’d waited until she was about to leave before asking if he could see her again—he wasn’t brave enough to ask her as he handed over the hot chocolate, risking an awkward silence if she wasn’t interested—but her answer had been the one he’d been hoping for, and a couple of months down the line they were still going strong.

  Cassius was on cloud nine—not literally, of course, that would have to wait until he shifted on Christmas Eve—and he was fairly certain that Carina was equally besotted with him. He hoped so, anyway, because every time he saw her he had to bite back those three little words for fear of frightening her off, and it was only going to be a matter of time before they slipped out of their own accord. He also had the feeling it was going to be tonight.

  They’d been seeing each other for exactly two months—counting from their first proper date, not including the two times at his house—and they hadn’t yet gotten intimate. They’d indulged in some pretty heavy-duty kissing, of course, but it had never gone any further. Cassius had been so terrified of ruining what could be the best relationship he’d ever had by going too fast for her—despite knowing deep down it could never last—that he would never make the move to take their relationship to the next level. Eventually, Carina had called him out on it.

  “Cas, is everything all right?” she’d asked as he pulled away from a particularly heated session.

  “Yeah, of course. Why?”

  She’d looked down then, seemingly reticent to say what was on her mind. “It’s just... you seem to stop every time things get heavy. You do fancy me, don’t you?”

  Cassius couldn’t stop the disbelieving laugh that all but squeaked out of his mouth. “Are you kidding?! You are the hottest woman I’ve ever met.”

  “So why do you keep stopping then?”

  Now it was his turn to stare at his hands. After a beat, he looked up, summoning all of his courage to say the words. “Because I really like you, and I don’t want to fuck things up between us by moving too fast.”

  Cassius’ heart leapt as the sweetest smile crept across Carina’s lips. “Cas, it’s been almost two months. Ot
her people leap into bed after the first date. I’m not saying that’s what we should have done—but I’d really like to make love with you soon, if that’s all right with you?”

  “Uh... silly question!” He took her face in his hands and planted a long, sensuous kiss on her mouth before pulling away. “Just not tonight, okay? As much as I want to, if we do it now it’ll just seem a little... contrived, if you see what I mean?”

  Pulling his hands from her face and entwining her fingers with his, Carina replied, “I do, and I agree with you. So I think we should call it a night before I tear your clothes off, and maybe reconvene next time we see each other, yeah?”

  Cassius had agreed and taken his leave, but not before moving in for another kiss which had left them both flushed and gasping for breath.

  Now, a couple of days later, he was shooing Simon out of the house and making him promise to stay at his girlfriend’s house so he and Carina could have some privacy.

  “I know, mate,” Simon said as he climbed into his car. Winding his window down, he added, “tonight’s the night, eh? About damn time, too! You must have blue balls! How long has it been again?”

  “Just fuck off, Simon,” Cassius replied, with a good-natured grin. “Go and see your missus and leave me and my blue balls to sort ourselves out, all right?”

  With a rude hand gesture and a grin, Simon started the car, reversed off the drive, and was gone.

  And not a moment too soon. Cassius heard the beeping of car horns, and moved down the driveway a little to see what was going on. As he spotted Carina’s car heading down the street towards his house, he realised the two of them must have passed at the top of the street—hence all the beeping.

  Quickly untying the apron he was wearing, he balled it up in his fist and waited as Carina steered smoothly onto the drive beside his car and parked. He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face as he saw her. She really was beautiful. A pang of regret washed through him. As always, he pushed it away. There was no way he was going to dwell on the fact it would never last between them—he was absolutely determined to enjoy what they had, right here, right now. He had a chance at happiness—however temporary—and he was going to grasp it with both hands.

  He rushed to open the door for her, despite the fact she’d told him a dozen times there was no need. He always came back with the same response—that he was old-fashioned. Of course, she had no idea that rather than being old-fashioned, he was actually just old.

  She stepped out of the car, pulling a large bag with her. Cassius gulped. She obviously meant what she’d said about reconvening next time they saw one another, as unless he was quite mistaken, it was an overnight bag. He was just having an internal debate on whether to mention it or not, when she spoke first.

  “I take it Simon’s not coming home tonight?”

  Cassius shook his head. “No, I’ve sent him to Sophia’s with strict instructions not to come back until tomorrow afternoon.”

  Carina grinned and pressed a kiss to his cheek, before closing the car door and locking it up. “Just as well, because I don’t intend on going home tonight, either.”

  Their eyes met, and already Cassius felt a delicious heat unfurling in his groin.

  “I honestly don’t know how to respond to that without making an utter prat of myself, so I shall simply refer you to this.” He pointed to the huge grin, which was now on his face, then took Carina’s bag and moved towards the front door, indicating she should go in ahead of him.

  “Be back in a sec,” he said, dropping the apron onto the bottom step and moving up the stairs. “Go sit down in the living room.”

  His heart thumped and adrenaline coursed through his body as he dashed into his bedroom and deposited Carina’s bag on the chair. Despite having cleaned and tidied the room thoroughly that morning, nerves dictated he had to double check there were no stray socks or other unsavoury items lurking anywhere. Everything was ship shape, and he hurried back down the stairs, retrieved the apron and went to check on his most welcome guest.

  “Okay. Dinner’s on. Can I get you a drink?”

  “Yes, I thought something smelled nice. What are we having?”

  Having recovered some of his composure, Cassius replied, “Oysters to start, salmon for main course, and watermelon for dessert.”

  He watched as Carina frowned, then after a beat a smile spread across her face. “Ha ha, very funny. So desperate to get me into bed that you’re serving three courses of aphrodisiacs, are you?”

  “Yep,” he said, grinning. He loved the fact that Carina’s intelligence had resulted in her seeing through his joke almost instantly. They often teased one another that way; their senses of humour were very similar, as were their interests, and it meant they rarely ran out of things to talk about.

  Carina stood up and walked over to him, slid a hand around his waist and pulled him in for a searing kiss. Blood rushed to Cassius’s cock and he went from nought to naughty in less than ten seconds. He loved that she had such a powerful effect on him, but if they carried on much longer, they’d end up forgetting all about dinner.

  He needn’t have worried. Carina pulled away from their kiss before it got too heavy. Looking him in the eyes, she murmured, “I thought you knew I was a sure thing tonight?”

  After a desperate scrabble to get some kind of function back to his brain, Cassius replied. “I did. That’s why we’re having pate, beef wellington and cheesecake. And the second two are homemade.”

  “Really?” she said, giving his ass a cheeky squeeze before sitting back down on the sofa. “I never knew you were such a skilled chef.”

  “You don’t know that I am. It could be bloody awful. Speaking of which, I’d better go and check on it. Drink?”

  “I’ll have a glass of juice for now, then a red wine with dinner, if that’s all right?”

  “Most certainly. Orange or apple?”

  “Apple, please.”

  He nodded, then headed into the kitchen to check how his culinary creation was getting on. The cheesecake he’d made this morning was sitting happily in the fridge—where it had almost had a chunk taken out of it by Simon that afternoon. Thankfully, Cassius had caught him, and ended up having to placate his friend by promising to save him a slice. He probably shouldn’t have promised—if Carina wanted to eat the whole damn thing, he’d let her.

  After assuring himself that the beef wellington was coming along nicely, he grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and filled them both with apple juice. Walking back into the living room, he sat down next to Carina and handed her one of the glasses. She smiled her thanks, and they both took a couple of sips of their drink.

  A few seconds later, Carina broke the stretching silence. “What happened to the apron? I was hoping to see you in it.”

  “I don’t need it now. I’ve done all the messy stuff. All I have to do now is pull stuff out of the oven or the fridge and serve it up. Why?”

  She shrugged. “I dunno, I just thought you might look sexy in it. There’s something super hot about a man that can cook, you know.”

  “I told you, it could turn out crap. Well, the beef wellington could, anyway. The pate and cheesecake are a sure thing.”

  “Like me,” she said, winking at him.

  “Like you,” he replied, raising his glass. “I’ll drink to that.”

  They clinked glasses, then Cassius turned the conversation onto a safer topic for a while—work. It was a pretty dull topic, he knew, but their jobs had many similarities and he knew they could easily share anecdotes and moans and groans until it was time for dinner. After that, they could talk as dirty as they liked and the only thing that would get scorched would be his sheets. He chuckled at his own silly cliché—drawing a confused look from Carina.

  He shook his head dismissively. “I’ll tell you later.”

  He never did. By the time they’d devoured three courses of—mercifully delicious—food, the sexual tension was seriously high. Almost off the scale, in fact
.

  “Wow,” Carina said, pushing her chair back from the table with a satisfied sigh, “that was delicious. Thank you.”

  He grinned. “Good, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Can I get you anything else? Cheese and biscuits? More wine? Coffee?” He reached out to clear away her plate, but she grabbed his wrist.

  “Leave that,” she said, fixing him with a smouldering look, “we’ll do it in the morning. Right now, the only the thing you can get me... is you.”

  Chapter Four

  Cassius had to resist the temptation to pick her up and run to his bedroom. With the way she was looking at him, she clearly wouldn’t have minded, but he was determined to play it a little cooler than that.

  Instead, he gulped. Then took a deep breath and said, as calmly as he could, “After you, my lady.”

  Grinning, Carina released his wrist and stood up. She walked through the living room—with Cassius close behind—and paused at the bottom of the stairs. She turned and gave him a questioning look.

  “Top of the stairs, turn right ninety degrees, and my room is straight in front of you.”

  She gave a nod, then headed up the stairs. Cassius enjoyed the view of her wiggling arse as he followed a couple of steps behind. He could hardly believe it was happening—they were finally going to make love. He didn’t question his choice of phrase, because he knew that’s how it was going to be. Whether the sex was fast and furious, adventurous, or gentle and loving, he knew it wouldn’t be fucking, or shagging. It would be making love. For him, at least. That was the way he felt about Carina, and there was nothing he could do about it. Nor did he want to.

  And he still had the feeling he was going to tell her, tonight. He just hoped she wouldn’t run a mile.