by Debbie Behan
He kissed her again. Her heart just about thumped out of her chest and her body wrapped around him, feeling every curve that she had missed so terribly. She groaned.
‘I love you. Come home, baby,’ he whispered. He let her go and got out of the spa.
* * * *
It was late when Woody and Jason arrived back. Cassie was still up, tortured by what had happened. She tried to act normal but what was normal? She was falling apart with guilt and old feelings. Jason took his leave and Woody came over to where she sat and put his arm around her. ‘What’s up, Cass, did you miss me?’ he joked, trying to break down the barrier he felt around her.
She looked affectionately at her best friend and wondered how she could ever break his heart and live afterwards. ‘Kayden came over today.’
‘He’d better not have upset you! No wonder the bastard was in such a good mood. What did he say?’ he asked angrily.
‘He came to get the boys to go to the horse races but they were busy with their girls so I went.’
‘You what?’ He stood up, angry. ‘He hates the horse races. I knew there had to be a reason why he started to sleaze back over here. He wants you back, doesn’t he?’ He paced.
‘I told him I loved you and was committed to our relationship but …’
He grabbed her by the shoulders and taking one look into her eyes, he knew. ‘He bloody kissed you, that sneaky son of a bitch!’ He was pacing again. ‘I’m going over there to knock some sense into him. He sent us off so he could be alone with you. That lying, cheating mongrel!’
Jason came out. ‘What’s going on, mate? What’s all the yelling about?’
Woody was furious. ‘We put her back together and she just gets happy again and his frigging highness comes over and tries to steal her back. Bloody kissed her as well! Of all the dirty tricks, he sent us off so he could spend the day with her.’
Jason shook his head. ‘You knew it would happen, Woody. We all tried to tell you a love like theirs would find its way back. I guessed it tonight when I saw that sparkle back in her eyes that has been missing for months.’
‘Thanks for the bloody support, mate!’ Woody growled angrily. He went over and swinging Cassie up in his arms carried her inside and up the stairs to his room.
‘Don’t do anything you’ll regret, Woody!’ Jason warned. ‘Let it go, for all our sakes.’
Woody laid her gently on the bed and lay beside her as they had done many times before. He looked at her for a long time and then rolled away, lying on his back and putting his arm over his eyes. She cuddled up to him, feeling his pain, while tears ran down her face for the hurt he was feeling. He felt her quiver with silent sobs and he cuddled her until she stopped.
‘I love you both,’ Cassie sobbed. ‘I’m sorry. He tricked me. I thought I’d buried all those feelings. You’re my most favourite person in the whole world and I can’t bear the thought of never talking to you again. Your friendship is so deeply set inside me. You’re the voice in my head and I can’t believe this is happening to you—to us.’
He kissed her gently as he had done so many times but he became more urgent and she let him, hoping he could change her mind. But as he started to take off her clothes, she froze. He flung himself back on the bed.
‘I’m sorry, try again. I’ll control it. Make me love you instead,’ Cassie begged him. She kissed him again but he went cold.
‘Your love for him is deep in your soul. You can only give me some of your heart and it’s not enough for me. I have to move on and find someone who loves me. The only way that is ever going to happen is to make a clean break.’
‘But I do love you. Please don’t take your love away from me. I’ll never see him again, I promise. Stay with me, Woody. I choose you,’ she sobbed as she begged him.
‘You’re breaking my heart, princess. But I’m not the one you want and I can’t see how I can ever get over you if I try to stay your friend while watching you with him. It doesn’t work that way and you know it.’
She leaned on her elbow, watching him. ‘Can’t we still be the same? What has to change? I’ve always kissed and cuddled you from the first day I met you. I’ve loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you. I thought you were so handsome, you blew me away. We’ve bonded like no other friends could; our friendship is strong enough to last many lifetimes. I’m willing to give up Kayden for that friendship. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? I’ll still see you every day and we can still have our alone time together. Please don’t run from me. You told me not to run and I stayed for you. Can we not work through this together? Let’s spend a couple of days on our own, just to talk.’
He pulled her into him. ‘I can’t think straight,’ he said. ‘Just let me hold you and sleep for a few hours and I’ll see how I feel when I wake up.’
She cuddled into him, not ever wanting to let him go and cried herself silently to sleep. ‘I love you,’ she whispered to him but he never spoke for the rest of the night.
In the morning they were still in each other’s arms and when she looked at him, he smiled at her. ‘I’ve been watching you sleep,’ he said, running his hand caringly over her face. ‘We are two of a kind, you know and it only just dawned on me. Cass, it’s not just you holding back. There’s someone I too have been holding onto and if I’ve learnt anything from you it is that true love never dies. I think it is time we both sat up and took a good look around us. We’ve both needed each other so much that we built ourselves a fortress and hid inside. Somehow we forgot the fact that there was a world out there and that we were really just a brother and sister leaning on each other until we found our wings.’ He sat up. ‘It’s time we let each other spread those wings and find true love. I was watching you before you woke, trying to imagine the love you had with Kayden and my mind went straight to Ella. She never gave up on me but I’ve hidden under the protection of your umbrella, maybe just like you and Kayden. I never gave her time to adjust and learn. I never trusted her. But you know, I think it’s time we trusted someone other than ourselves. I was wrong, Cassie. We will always be together. I want to share with you the lows and highs in my life like I always have and hope you’ll still do the same.’
She smiled and cried at the same time at his happy revelation. He wasn’t going to leave her. We will always be just how we have always been, best friends.
When they went downstairs, Jason could see they had worked it out. Woody told him he was taking her home and then he was going to visit a friend. He added that they shouldn’t expect him until the following day.
Cassie kissed Jason. ‘Thanks for being the best friend ever to both of us.’
As Woody dropped her off, Cassie kissed him and wished him luck. ‘Go get your girl,’ she said as he grinned sweetly at her.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Angel Gift of Mine
Kayden heard a car and went out, ready to face the music. He had kissed Cassie and begged her to come home and he knew Woody was there to take revenge on his dirty-arse tactics. ‘Hell, I even sent him off on a bogus mission to get him out of the way. I can just imagine how this is going to go down with his temper. Nevertheless, she is mine and he had better just start getting used to it. I found her, you bastard!’ he muttered as he watched the car approach. ‘She’s mine … mine!’
The nights he had agonised over the image of her asleep in Woody’s arms—not his—twisted his guts even now. He can smack my frigging head in if it makes him feel better but at the end of this day, I swear she will be mine again.
The car pulled up a little way away from him and Kayden watched, confused as Cassie kissed Woody while saying something to him. They were smiling at each other. What the hell! Don’t tell me she hasn’t told him yet. Jeez, Cass, he has to know! If you’re coming home to me I won’t be giving you back, ever! She’s my girlfriend, woman-thief. That’s right; I’m doing the thieving this time. Man, it
feels good. Bastard! Stop kissing my woman.
He stood, wondering how, if she had told him, he could hold and kiss her with so much tenderness and walk away with a smile, knowing he had lost her. I knew she was an angel but she must be a gift from above if she’s able to break up with someone so amicably. God hear me now, if she is coming back to me, I promise never to let my foolishness ever hurt one of your angels again. Please give me a chance to show you I’m worthy of such a gift.
Woody turned the car around, his face giving nothing away. As the dust shot out from beneath the tires, Cassie stood in front of him, just as he had found her that very first day, red dirt floating all around her. The powdery residue lightly settled onto her hair and her delicate, cream-coloured skin. She had the most adorable look on her face: so shy, so innocent. All that time and she hadn’t changed a bit. She was pure and sweet. God, I love her. His eyes filled up, knowing without her having to say a word that she had come home to him.
Kayden wrapped her up in his arms. Just the feel of her body against his broke his hardcore act and a very unmanly sob broke from his lips as he found hers. Her love poured into him with the magic she was capable of. It was like an explosion of dynamite bouncing off every wall inside his body.
She was waking him up from a long sleep and every part of his love dissolved back into her. For so long now he had not even been able to hold another woman and God knows he’d tried, just to get through the loneliness. But they were not her, he thought as he intensified the kiss and moaned from the pure pleasure she was able to give him.
Had she felt this good before? Yes she did, you goon, you didn’t appreciate just what you had. He cursed himself. Jeez, I can’t shut my mind off. He was so excited, yet he knew that they had to talk. Yet as they walked inside together, feeling as he did about her, he doubted either of them would be discussing anything rationale for a while. He shuddered as the tingle of the thought of making love to her made him urgently find her lips again.
Later that afternoon, Kayden knelt down and proposed for real, putting the biggest Goddamned diamond that he could find on her finger. So that every bastard in the universe knows she’s mine!
Not giving her a chance to get away this time, he called a local priest to come out the next afternoon and marry them. He asked if there was anyone special she wanted as a witness. Hell—today she can ask for the moon and stars! And she did. She asked for Aldebaran.
Jason offered to take the message which she handwrote so that her father would know it was from her—no tricks.
* * * *
Hi Pops,
I’m getting hitched tomorrow and would love you to be there. Nothing fancy, just with the friends you see me with. I would love to see Aqua again too if you wanted to bring her.
Love,
Your daughter, Cassandra xx
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Mr & Mrs Kayden Hunter
On Jason’s return, he and Kayden put their heads together to organise the wedding. All Cassie knew was that Jason had talked Kayden into holding the wedding at the boys’ home next door. With the gorgeous outdoor paradise set around the gazebo, she had to agree it would be perfect. She wasn’t allowed to worry about anything so while they huddled over the kitchen table she took a nice hot bath. She had so missed Kayden’s bath, his shower, his bathroom, his bedroom, his house, him! Well, everything.
She could barely wipe the smile from her face, Kayden was making her feel so happy. The only other thing that would make her day complete would be if Woody and her father turned up. Even so, she refused to let their absence spoil her day. She was marrying the man of her dreams and nothing could pull her down from the blissful cloud she was on.
Kayden had pre-organised everything from Cassie’s dress to the flowers and the wedding cake. He’d been planning it for weeks, waiting until he had it all organised before he came for her. Cassie was amazed at how patient he must have been, planning all this behind their backs and coming to visit, acting like nothing was happening. Seeing her with Woody must have been hard, yet he never showed it. He said she was worth waiting for and he wanted everything just perfect this time before he made his move.
‘How did you know I still loved you?’ she asked. ‘Even I didn’t know.’
‘The second night I visited I saw Woody kiss you in the kitchen, remember? And you looked up from his kiss, towards me, like you had just kissed your best friend or brother. I just about grabbed you there on the spot, I was so excited. You see, I know what your face looks like after you’re kissed by the man of your dreams and I realised right then and there that I was still that man and it was not too late. I went home and planned carefully how I would steal you away and make you mine forever.’
The next morning, their wedding day, they checked the horses before joining Jason at their place. Conor and Ethan had just finished cooking breakfast on the BBQ so they were just in time to enjoy a relaxing meal before they got lost in the day.
The house was already buzzing with hired hands bustling around with fine china and flowers. In fact, she’d never seen so many flowers. Kayden had been secretly working with a wedding planner who knew exactly what he wanted and had it all organised, just waiting for his okay to go ahead.
Cassie had thought Kayden was joking when he said he wanted to marry her straight away. She hardly believed anything could be organised so quickly. However, as he said, money could move mountains.
Today, he moved that mountain.
Hair stylists, nail technicians, makeup artists and the dress designer all fussed over her until she stood elegantly dressed and made up, standing in front of a full-length mirror. The luxurious, white-satin gown she wore was covered with super-soft see-through material and as she moved slightly, it glistened in soft pastel shades like the colours she saw when going into the clouds. The dress was off the shoulder: a snug fit to the hip line and then slightly flared and trailing out behind her. It was the prettiest, softest wedding dress she could have ever dreamed of being married in. It made her feel sexy and even more grown up. The image of a very elegant woman was reflected back at her.
Her hair was up with just a few curls twisted here and there to soften the look. There was no veil. Thank goodness. It would have so spoilt the look. Instead she wore a delicate tiara of diamonds that picked up the glimmer of the beading in the pretty gown. She had thought that the only way she would ever look so beautiful was by way of the magic horse but today she felt like a flower that had just bloomed and for once she really felt like a true princess. She had come from royalty and for once in her life she accepted her rightful place in the world: a princess on her way to marry her prince.
The wedding planner came to collect her, walking her down the stairs and out onto the patio.
The pool fence and tables had massive white flower arrangements tied together with soft bows that reflected the same pastels as her dress. The pool itself was covered in floating stars with candles, representing the skies they travelled in and the gazebo was stunning with the laser lighting forming the shapes that they saw before moving through the portal. Her man had thought about everything and the attention to detail was exquisite.
She felt every face turn as she stood viewing the enchanting décor. She noticed that not only family was here but that all their party friends had turned up as well. The guests went dead quiet as Cassie appeared before them. The only sound was the tweeting of birds and the flutter of their wings in the trees. She could see Kayden waiting in the gazebo and she finally grinned, the sight of him settling her nerves.
Her handsome man wore black pants with a satin white shirt under a white jacket. He looked stunning while calmly waiting for her.
Feeling more relaxed she glanced around, seeing her father intently watching her. Cassie had dreamed of this day, to be married and have her father walk her down the aisle. Well, maybe it wasn’t exactly an aisle but to have him share her special d
ay was more than she could have ever dreamed and she shed a tear of happiness as she held out her hand to him.
He patted Aqua’s hand that he held and let her go to be with his daughter. He smiled so affectionately when he reached for her that she knew their love for each other was real too. She knew he was going to be there for her regardless of their battles in the sky.
He kissed her cheek. ‘You look even more beautiful in your own world, Cassandra. Thank you for inviting me. I think you know how much it means to me to be here, don’t you?’ He was tenderly holding her hand.
She gave him a quick hug. ‘I really wanted you to be here, Pops. I love you,’ she whispered before letting him go.
Her eyes watered and he smiled. ‘Don’t you go spoiling your beautiful face with tears today. If I don’t see anything but smiles I’ll have to steal you from them and take you home with me where I will endeavour to make you smile for the rest of your life,’ he chuckled.
She giggled at him and his humour before slipping her hand through the arm that he offered her. He pulled her closer to him.
‘You’re not nervous too are you, Pops?’
He turned and let her see the love he felt in those big dark eyes. ‘I have dared to dream since you were born, that you would want me by your side on your special day. I’m in seventh heaven, honey.’
He kissed her hand and they walked along the glistening path covered in fairy dust that led to the man she wanted to spend forever with. As they walked, Cassie’s eyes drifted to Woody, her special friend that stood with Ella, his caring smile showing how happy he was for her.
She stopped and hugged him on the way past. ‘You look beautiful, sis,’ he said and she smiled, so happy they were okay again.
Letting him go, she faced Kayden, amazed when Aldebaran put out his hand and shook Kayden’s as he wished him every happiness for the future with his daughter. They were polite, which was all Cassie could ask for.