by Lauren Dane
“Hey, Cassie.” Maggie waved and grinned as she approached them. “Come and sit, Shane’s been saving you a place.”
Cassie winked at Maggie.
Shane turned and when he saw her, the annoyed look on his face melted away. His features lightened and a smile tugged at the corners of the lips she loved to feel over every part of her body. He held his hand out to her and helped her sit down. Leaning in, he gave her a quick, but solid kiss. “Hi, darlin’. I’ve missed you today. You look beautiful.”
Cassie rested against him for a moment and waved at the whole Chase family, sprawled out on the series of blankets there under the tree. “Hi, Shane. Hey everyone.”
“I just brought back a whole bunch of food, Cassie. Eat up.” Edward indicated the pile of food in the middle of the blankets.
“And here, honey, iced tea.” Polly put a cup in Cassie’s hand before shooting another dirty look at blondie.
“You want to tell me who your fan club president is?” Cassie murmured into Shane’s ear.
He barked a startled laugh and kissed her again. “You taste good.” He winked. “I thought you were the president of my fan club.”
“Mmmm hmm. So?” But before he could answer, blondie moved in closer on his other side.
“Hello, I’m Kendra. And you are?”
“This is my girlfriend, Cassie Gambol. Cassie, darlin’, this is Kendra.” Cassie just tipped her chin and waited for blondie to move back.
“Your girlfriend?”
“Yes, that’s what he said. I take it you’re a friend of Shane’s?”
“You could call it that.” Blondie smirked.
“Oookay.” Cassie raised a brow at Shane and he moved closer to her. “Kendra, you really don’t need to be in our laps. We get it. Everyone within a mile gets it. You dated Shane before he met me. Oh, snap. Okay now, point is made.”
Shane tried not to smile but the corner of his mouth trembled a bit. He turned to blondie and said quietly, “Kendra, I’ve asked you to move back. You’re being disrespectful to Cassie and me and my family too. Come on now, don’t embarrass yourself.”
Maggie sighed and Cassie craned her neck to see her around blondie. “How are you today, Cassie? I really like your hair that way.”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kendra get up and storm off. “I’m glad you tried not to embarrass her, Shane.”
He looked surprised. “You keep doing things I don’t expect. I like that. And I like that you’ve got a big heart, even for people who don’t necessarily deserve it.”
She shrugged. “She’s got a thing for you. How can I not understand that? Plus, I’ve been told that I’ll have to deal with stuff like that all the time. They should suck it up now while I still have patience.”
Polly laughed in the background.
“You sure you want to keep her, Shane? Because I’d be glad to take this fine young thing off your hands for you.” Marc waggled his brows at them both and the tension was broken.
“Punk. You’ll see when it happens to you, Marc. And then we’re all going to tease the hell out of you.” Shane put his arm around Cassie and squeezed her against him.
* * *
And that night was what solidified Cassie’s entrance into the Chase family. Every Sunday she sat at their dining room table and shared dinner with them. Every Friday night she had beer and junk food with her friends while Shane played pool with his brothers. Toward the end of the night, she’d wander back and play a game or two with them.
The awful heat of summer cooled into the more moderate temperatures of autumn and Cassie realized that for the first time in nearly six years she was leading a normal life.
Penny hired her on to work full-time at the bookstore, which came with healthcare benefits, which was very nice. She kept busy and worked hard and began to feel like Petal was really her home and not just a place to wait until Terry got caught.
“Go ahead on and lock up, Cassie. It’s nearly closing and I know you’ll want to go and get ready for the Grange.” Penny smiled as she came out to the front of the store where Cassie was rearranging the front tables.
“Thank goodness for you, Penny. Every time I asked Shane about what to wear he’d do that guy thing and shrug. Oh you know, it’s just the Grange. Wear some skirt or something.”
Penny burst out laughing. “You do a great Shane impression.”
“Well, I do think it’s nice to have the community doing something like this for the local charities. I used to be more involved in charity work but I haven’t done much since...well anyway. I’ve spoken with Polly and she’s put me in touch with the woman who does the holiday drive for the soup kitchen and food pantry so I’m excited about that. And, I can’t wait to meet this mystery date of yours.”
Penny blushed. “I told you, he’s an old friend of my family’s. He went to school with all of us here. No big deal, he’s just visiting from Atlanta for the weekend and I bumped into him.”
“Yeah, old family friends always make me blush like a schoolgirl. I’ll see you tonight.” Laughing, Cassie squeezed Penny’s hand and headed out after locking up.
Cassie’s nervousness had been making her slightly nauseated all day. This Grange thing was a big community event and the Chases would all be there in force and it was like some big step for Shane to have her there with him. She’d gotten used to the stares in town of the jealous women but from what she understood taking a date to this event was a big deal for a Chase. None of them did it until Kyle brought Maggie.
Things had gotten very serious between her and Shane. As she put on her makeup, she realized that. Realized that she either spent the night at his house or him at hers at least five nights a week. They went out every weekend and saw each other or spoke on the phone every day.
In truth, she’d never expected to find love after her divorce and the attack. She certainly didn’t figure she’d end up with a man like Shane, strong and protective who also gave so much. He respected her space and continued to be nothing but gentle and kind toward her. They’d had some minor disagreements but she’d never felt threatened or worried about them. And he simply put up with her skittishness. How he did was beyond her. She knew she brought a lot of issues with her but he never made a big deal of it. He accepted and loved all of her, warts and all.
She also realized that the holiday season was upon them. Brian was coming back for Christmas but they’d been invited to celebrate with the Chases at their home. It warmed her heart to be included and thought of as one of them.
* * *
Shane showed up right on time looking and smelling positively fabulous. She’d never seen him so dressed up.
“Wow. You sure clean up nice, Shane Chase.”
He spun her in his arms and kissed her neck. “I have to keep up with you. It’s hard when a man’s woman is the most beautiful woman in town. You set a tough example. I love red on you, by the way. That dress is hot.”
She laughed, pleased by this compliments. “I don’t think I’ve been called hot since college.”
“Ah, there’s more where that came from. I’m a silver-tongued devil.”
Her eyes slid halfway closed at that. “Yes. Yes you are.”
He stilled and then looked toward the front windows. Reaching back, he hit the lights, leaving them both in the dark.
“What are you up to?”
“Oh, well. Just proving you right. Do you have panties on under that dress?”
“What?” She laughed nervously. “Of course!”
He moved toward her and she stepped back until she bumped against the kitchen island. He dropped to his knees and a soft moan came from her lips.
“No matter, I’m good with my hands too.” He slid his palms up her calves and stopped when he got to her thighs.
“Surprise.”
“You’re wearing stockings and garters.”
“We should be at the Grange in fifteen minutes.”
“You’d better be quick then, huh?”
His chuckle brought the brush of his warm breath against her thighs as he pushed her dress up. “You’ll be showing them to me later. In my bedroom with the lights on. I think you should leave the shoes on too.”
Her hands dropped to his shoulders as her upper body leaned against the island behind her.
He pulled the panties out of the way and she widened her stance as his fingers slid through her pussy, hissing when he found her hot and wet.
Leaning in, his mouth found her ready for him, her clit already swollen and sensitive. Her taste seduced him. He loved the way she felt on his tongue, loved the scent of her body, of her skin and the honey that rained on his tongue. Loved the long, lean flanks of her legs.
Two of his fingers pressed up and inside her as he took quick, whisper-light licks over her clit. A gasp tore from her lips and her fingers dug into his shoulders.
This was an appetizer, something to whet his appetite for her and get him through the next hours. When he got her back to his place he planned to get a better look at those sexy stockings as her legs wrapped around him.
He recognized the change in her taste, the tremble in her thigh muscles and the quickening of her breathing and knew her orgasm was on the way. He loved to give her a hard, fast climax, leaving her for a few hours, knowing he’d be back for more later on. Knew she’d be wet for him for the rest of the night and it was only fair because he’d be hard for her all night long too.
With a soft intake of breath and a long moan, she came with his name on her lips. He loved hearing it that way. Often thought of how it sounded during his day.
After her pussy had stopped fluttering around his fingers he withdrew them slowly and rearranged her panties before standing and kissing her. Hard and possessive.
He was glad they’d reached the stage where he could be a bit more dominant with her and it didn’t spook her. Just thinking about her made him want to grab her and head for the hills. She brought out something very primal in him and he liked it. No one else ever affected him on that level.
“You ready to go?”
Eyes opening slowly, she brought her fingertips to her lips. “I...uh yeah. What about you?”
He was glad she couldn’t see how predatory his grin must have looked there in the dark, as he thought about once they were back at his place. “Believe me, darlin’, I’ll collect later on.”
At the Grange, Cassie was sure everyone would know Shane went down on her with the drapes open in her kitchen in the dark. But if they did, none of them seemed too bothered by it.
That’s when she noticed Penny walk in with a tall, handsome man about their age.
“Ryan Betts. How are you?” Shane stood up and clapped the man on his shoulder.
“I’m good. Just squiring Penny around for the evening. It’s only taken fifteen years to get a third date with her. You look well, Shane.” He turned his green eyes to Cassie. “You must be Cassie. Penny talks about you all the time. I’m Ryan, it’s nice to meet you.”
Cassie took his proffered hand and shook it before turning her eyes to a very pink-faced Penny. “Nice to meet the mystery date. I’ve been bugging Penny for the last week but she kept telling me I’d meet you when I met you.”
“And you did. It’s a good thing you’re such a good employee because you’re a pest.” Penny’s laugh sounded different than Cassie had ever heard. It was nearly a giggle.
There were long minutes of back slapping and drink getting and a few toasts as Cassie watched them all. She hadn’t felt like an outsider for a few months but realized that’s what it looked like when you had lifelong friends.
She felt the edge of that divide rather sharply although she knew none of them intended it. Cassie didn’t have friends she’d known all her life. People left a lot. Her mother died, she went to boarding school for several years until high school. She did stay in LA to go to college at UC Irvine and then medical school at UCLA. The only permanence had been Brian.
“Why the long face, gorgeous?” Matt sat down next to her and put a mug of steaming cider in front of her.
“Oh nothing. I was just thinking about how I didn’t really have lifelong friends like all of you. I suppose I was just feeling a bit sorry for myself.”
Matt took her hand and squeezed it. “You have us now. And once you’re a Chase, you don’t want for company. Of course, that also means we’re always up in your business too.”
“You making a play for my girl?” Shane turned and smiled.
“In a perfect world, Shane, your lovely woman would realize what a tool you are and run away with me. But alas, the world is a flawed place and for some crazy reason, she loves you.” Matt put a hand over his heart dramatically.
“Come on, darlin’. Let’s grab a dance or two before dinner gets started.”
Cassie stood, taking Shane’s hand, and let him draw her onto the floor and against his body.
“You were meant to be here against me. You know?” he murmured into her ear.
“It feels that way, yeah.”
“God it makes me happy when you accept all of this. This thing between us.”
“It makes me happy too. I was just thinking tonight as I got ready about how lucky I am in you. You’re so good to me.”
Dinner was the usual Chase affair—organized chaos of arms and hands and talking in all directions. Cassie watched, amused as Penny and Ryan flirted and grew smitten with the other. She knew she’d be demanding the full story from her friend on Monday.
“You’re staying over at my place tonight, right?” Shane leaned into her and kissed her temple.
“I have to get up and out early. I haven’t done a damn bit of shopping for Thanksgiving yet. I’ll invite Penny I think.”
“Shopping for what?”
“Uh, food. I imagine you’ll be at Chase central all day. You can come over afterwards.”
“I can come to your apartment after I spend the day with my entire family eating turkey, ham and roast beef? Just stroll on in and say hey after I’ve done that?”
She drew back, looking at him. “What’s with the attitude?”
“I’ve got an attitude? Cassie, did you really think you weren’t invited to Thanksgiving at my parents’ house? And if you weren’t invited, did you really think I’d be with them and just come on over to your apartment after you ate by yourself? Is that how little you think of me and my family?”
“I didn’t want to presume.”
“Presume? And they say I’m the dumbass. My momma told me to invite you weeks ago but I assured her you knew you were invited. My manners are bad apparently. Well okay, that’s not a surprise. Anyway, you’re eating dinner with me at my parents’ house on Thanksgiving. Afterwards, we play cards and then you all sit on the porch and talk about us while we play football. It’s a tradition. You can’t buck tradition, Cassie.”
“Oh. All right then.”
He looked at her askance and then chuckled. “I wish you’d agree to everything that easily.”
“I do to all the important stuff.”
The way he looked at her made her all tingly.
“So you’re staying over then? Now that the Thanksgiving situation is all cleared up and all.”
She leaned in and put her lips to his ear. “I’ve been waiting for a while for you to take me. I feel how much you control yourself to keep from scaring me. Show me, Shane. I want it all.”
He sat very still, she wasn’t even sure if he breathed for long moments. Slowly, he turned to look her in the eye. His pupils were so wide it was hard to see the color. He turned to his family.
“Folks, Cassie and I are going to cut out early. I have a headache. We’ll see you Sunday for dinner.”
He stood and helped her up, grabbing her wrap and putting an arm around her, steering her toward the door.
“Goodnight, everyone.” She waved as they moved to leave. Everyone just looked at them, amused.
* * *
Shane didn’t say much as they drove to his house. Cassie watched the scenery pass through her window, smiling.
“What are you smiling about, darlin’?”
“I love the sound of your voice. It’s deep and masculine and so sexy. Sometimes it’s almost a growl. If you weren’t mine I’d be working to grab you every day.”
He pulled into his driveway and turned to her. “I...when you say stuff like that it does something to me. You held yourself away from me for so long and now to see you like this, saying I’m yours, it...” He took a deep breath as he shook his head, unable to find words.
“I’m sorry if I don’t say it enough. I’m smiling because my life is normal. Because I trust you. I’m smiling because I know you’re going to take me into that house and make love to me.”
“You got that right.” Leaning over, his upper body pressed her gently to the seat. Lips just above hers, his eyes stared deeply into hers. “I want you to tell me if I go too far or scare you. You have no idea how much I want to take you a dozen times a day against every conceivable surface just to know I’m the one making you feel the pleasure, just to hear the sound of you coming in my ears. But we need to go slow with this. I know that. All you need to do is tell me to stop or slow down, all right?”
Moving just a bit, her lips brushed up against his. “All right.” Quickly, they got out of the car and went into the house. “Bedroom.”
Cassie looked back over her shoulder at him and then took the stairs with a sexy sway.
“You’re playing with fire, darlin’.”
“Mmm, good. You’ll have to make me wet to put it out.”
He chuckled and she found herself tossed on the bed, his body above hers on his hands and knees.
Lifting her hands to his chest, she worked the buttons on his shirt and exposed his chest. His heart beat reassuringly against her palm as she slid it over the hard muscle of his pectoral muscles.