Chapter Three
Kissing Johnny was far from amazing, but Cassie kept at it, determined it would get better. She pressed her mouth over his again, keeping her eyes closed. The Big Bird costume kind of ruined the mood—she didn’t want to see it. But when she was about to press her lips to his one last time, nothing was there.
Before she could open her eyes, a pair of lips brushed against hers, and she knew immediately that it wasn’t Johnny. A hand cupped the back of her head, and a strong male body—without Big Bird padding—pushed her firmly against the fridge, one of his legs between hers.
She moaned. She couldn’t help it.
He slid his tongue over her bottom lip then dipped it into her mouth, and that sent sparks through every inch of her body. She hadn’t felt anything when Johnny touched her, but she sure as hell felt a lot now. The ache between her legs grew steadily with each passing second.
There was only one other man who’d ever made her feel like this when he kissed her. She’d thought it would never happen again, and yet…
She froze.
Wait.
Maybe it was him.
Before she could open her eyes, a low voice murmured, “Hello, Cassidy.”
Goose bumps broke out on her skin at the sound of that voice—at the same time as red-hot fury spread through her veins.
She looked up at his face, into his blue eyes. A smile touched his lips. He was wearing a cape, and a giant mask was pushed up on top of his head.
God, he was gorgeous.
And she hated him.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked through clamped teeth.
“I’ve come to take you home with me,” he said simply.
Her skin prickled. She hated her skin right now. Hated being affected by this man.
“I thought you lived on the other side of the country,” she said.
“I lied. I live in Ottawa.”
“Ottawa! That’s two hours away. You made me think you lived in Calgary or Vancouver.”
“I know what I did.”
“And now, over a year later, you show up out of the blue and expect me to go home with you?”
“I was an asshole. I won’t deny it. But I also know you’ll come home with me.”
Which only increased her anger. “Why would you say that?”
“Because we belong together.”
Once, she’d thought they belonged together. But he’d told her he was from far away, and he could only give her a week. The day before he left, she’d begged him to give their relationship a chance. She’d even been willing to move for him, wherever his home was.
Instead, he’d left without even giving her a phone number.
He’d broken her.
Completely.
But she was done pining for him. She wouldn’t give him the chance to break her again.
Unlike her mother, Cassie would not make the same mistake twice.
When her mother had been pregnant with her younger brother, her father had started sleeping with someone else. His wife was due to have a baby, and he was out warming some other woman’s bed. But Cassie’s mother had forgiven him. A few years later, he’d cheated again, with the town’s kindergarten teacher. That affair had become public knowledge, and the town had gossiped about it for months. Finally, her mother had kicked him to the curb, as she should have done the first time.
“Cassie?” Rachel said. “You want us to get rid of him?” Behind her stood Darrell, Theo, and Cole.
That’s what she should do. She should let her friends get rid of him and be done with it.
But she’d spent so much of the past sixteen months missing him. Longing for his touch. So even though she had no intention of giving him a second chance, she didn’t want him to leave, not yet. Not until she could give him a piece of her mind.
“No,” she said. “It’s okay. We have some things to talk about.”
She looked around for Johnny. Where was that big yellow bird? She couldn’t see him anywhere. She sighed. Well, this was great. Just great.
“You want some privacy?” Jenna asked. “A cowboy and a tiger just disappeared into the upstairs washroom, and someone appears to have locked our bedroom door from the inside, but the spare bedroom’s free. It’s filled with coats, but no one’s in there.”
Cassie’s skin tingled again at the thought of being alone with Blaine.
She really needed to get a grip.
He put his hand on her lower back and guided her up the stairs. Unlike when Johnny had touched her in exactly the same place, this touch nearly seared her skin.
Once they were in the bedroom, she shut the door and turned to yell at him, but the words died in her throat when his hands came up to cup her face, his thumbs stroking her cheekbones.
“Calm down,” he said. “It’ll all be okay. I’m here now.”
His words were like a drug. When he dipped his mouth to hers again, she didn’t protest. He was gentle, sliding his lips along hers, slowly adding pressure. He grasped her wrists and held them against the door. It didn’t hurt. No, it felt safe.
But this was anything but safe.
He spun her around so she was facing away from him. His body pressed against her back, his cock against her ass. She moaned.
Usually she thought of herself as an ordinary girl, but in his arms, she’d always felt so, so special. He was a passionate person, who found many things fascinating, and for whatever reason, he found her fascinating, too. When he turned all of that focus on her, it was irresistible.
His mouth dipped to her neck, kissing just below her ear before sliding farther down, a trail of wet heat across her skin. His arms were wrapped securely around her, one hand sliding under her T-shirt.
She had to resist him.
In the months after he left, she’d been a wreck. Crying all the time, except during the few days when she’d thought she was pregnant. She hadn’t planned to tell anyone about Blaine, but she’d needed to let Rachel and Jenna and her mother in on the secret, because it had been so obvious something was wrong.
“No.” She turned away before his mouth could touch hers again. “We can’t do this.”
“I was going through a very bad time in my life when I met you,” he said. “I’d been numb for months, and then I saw you. I loved you from that very first moment, but I couldn’t believe it was real. I assumed you were just meant to pull me out of my numbness. I didn’t truly believe it was anything more. But it’s been over a year, and I haven’t forgotten you. I’ll never forget you.”
She turned to face him, filled with conflicting desires. “I want to slap you.”
“Go ahead. If it’ll make you feel better, I’m happy to take it.”
“No.” She paused, taking in the details of his appearance, and frowned. “You’re in costume. Did you know you’d be going to a Halloween party tonight?”
He shook his head. “Your friends forced it on me. I’m supposed to be a villain.”
She couldn’t help a wry smile. “How did you find me?”
“Your neighbor told me you were at a Halloween party. So I drove around town looking for a party. It wasn’t hard.”
She pulled away from him. “I hate you.”
“It’s only temporary.”
“I don’t think it is.”
“In a way, I’m glad you hate me. It’s better than indifference. It means you really cared.”
“I did. But I won’t feel that way again.” She couldn’t. It was impossible. He’d hurt her too badly. “If you’d come to me two or three months later, it might have been different. If you’d come last Halloween, let’s say. But it took more than a year to realize you want to be with me? A year?”
“I wanted you the whole time, but I assumed I was just being irrational.” He paused. “Being without you…it felt all wrong. Like you kissing Big Bird.”
“Johnny is a nice man.”
“He’s boring.”
She snorted. “Unlike you? Who could probably talk about granite for an hour?”
“I could definitely talk about granite for an hour, but I won’t, for your sake.” He pulled her beaver tail with one hand before sliding his arms around her again. “It’s not so much that I think he’s a boring person by himself—I don’t know him. But the two of you together—it’s boring. That, I could tell.” He dipped his head to her ear, his breath hot on her skin. “I’m not going to give up. You’re mine, Cassie.”
“You presumptuous, arrogant ass. Are you like this with other women?”
“No. Only you.”
He backed her up against the door again, his chest pressing against hers. She gasped as his mouth captured hers, and he slipped his hand into her little brown beaver shorts and ran his finger along the lace at the top of her panties.
Oh God.
She was wearing pretty underwear today. Just in case she got somewhere with Johnny.
But instead, she was with Blaine.
He toyed with the lace for a long time, his kiss leisurely, his tall frame towering above her. He was lean, unlike her. There was something about his face that was a little aristocratic and severe, but that wasn’t how it felt when they kissed.
She whimpered, wanting to feel him inside her. But she refused to beg. That would give him too much satisfaction. Still, he must have been able to tell how desperate she was from the way she was squirming against him.
Finally, he edged his fingers under the top of her panties. He held his hand there, so close to her heat, before running the tips of his fingers over her folds, his touch unbearably light.
She inhaled sharply.
“Is it like this with anyone else, Cassie? I don’t think it is.”
“I won’t deny the sex was good,” she said, forcing herself to sound calmer than she felt. “If we do it now, I’m sure I’d enjoy it.”
“I won’t fuck you here. I’ll only fuck you if you come home with me.”
She groaned in frustration as his fingers pressed closer to her opening. She was wet for him. So wet. She spread her legs a little more.
“Not fair,” she said.
“Nothing in life is fair.”
Yeah, tell me about it.
He curled a finger inside her, and she let out a strangled noise. His face was impassive, but his eyes gleamed.
Like a villain.
And like a villain, he removed his hand just as things were about to get really good.
“How about this?” he said. “I’ll take you home with me tonight. We’ll spend the whole weekend together. We’ll fuck as much as you want. And at the end of it, I bet you won’t be able to walk away like I mean nothing to you. I bet you’ll agree to the relationship that I stupidly refused last time.”
One weekend in his bed. She squeezed her thighs together, her body craving what Blaine could give her. She’d only had sex twice since he left, and sleeping with Leo had been a mistake.
One hot weekend with Blaine. What could it hurt? He was an incredible lover. And she wouldn’t let her heart be involved this time. She hated him. It shouldn’t be hard to keep her heart safe as she let him use her body.
He was rough in bed. He expected her to do what he wanted. He took her to the edge of her comfort zone but not beyond it.
She loved what he did to her. It wasn’t like that with anyone else—that was true.
Her body felt empty without him. She needed him to finish what he’d started.
“Fine.” She squared her shoulders. “I will go to Ottawa with you. And at the end of the weekend, I will leave you. I know you don’t think I’ll be able to do it, but I will. I’ll prove there’s nothing left between us but sex.”
He stepped away from her. “You’re right. I don’t believe you. But I’d love to see you try.”
…
“You’re leaving with him?” Rachel asked, pushing up her flapper girl headband. “Are you sure that’s smart?”
“It’ll be fine,” Cassie said, in part to convince herself. “I’ll spend the weekend with him, get him totally out of my system. That’s all.”
“I don’t know if ‘getting him out of your system’ ever works.”
“It will.” Cassie grabbed a handful of jelly beans from the glass serving tray. “I’ll walk away on Sunday night without giving him another thought, the same way he did to me last year.”
“You sound vindictive. It’s not like you.”
Well, that’s what he’d done to her. Made her feel like she wasn’t herself anymore.
In good ways at first. He’d made her feel special and treasured and interesting. Later, she’d become a blubbering mess. That wasn’t like her, either.
She wanted him to feel every bit of the pain she had.
“Okay.” Rachel nodded. “Go have no-strings-attached sex. But I think this is a bad idea.”
Cassie gave her a weak smile. “You’re a good friend.”
Rachel sighed. “Jenna thinks he looks like Benedict Cumberbatch.”
“Yeah? I don’t think so.” To Cassie, he was unlike anyone else.
She would be fine this weekend. She would make sure of it.
“We were supposed to hang out tomorrow,” Rachel said. “Before Cole and I head back. But that’s okay. I saw you tonight.”
“Oh, shit! I’m sorry. Maybe Blaine can bring me around to your place on Sunday, since he lives in Ottawa.”
“Or maybe you’ll be too busy having sex in the shower.”
Cassie blushed.
“Did you have sex in the shower with him last year?” Rachel asked. “Or were you too busy getting spanked—”
“Rachel!!”
“What? I’ve seen those books you read.”
“Doesn’t mean that’s what I want in real life.”
Oh, the stories she could tell her friend. Rachel might be hard to shock, but if she knew what Cassie had done with Leo…
Rachel turned serious again. “Text me his phone number and address. If anything happens, we’ll know where to find you.”
“Will do.”
Cassie wiggled her beaver tail when she turned around, and Rachel laughed. She went out to the car to join Blaine, unable to stop the excitement pumping through her veins.
But it was only because she was looking forward to the sex. Nothing more.