WindSwept Narrows: #2 Cassidy, Abby & Mia

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  They could see the large stage area and began walking closer, Mac coming up behind them and looking around. “You ran her off already?”

  “She’s with Chloe…”

  “That can never be a good thing for me,” Mac announced to the laughter around him. He moved with them around people chatting.

  “You used to enjoy karaoke,” Bella said easily.

  “I think most guys have to be seriously drunk to karaoke,” Dylan commented from Kate’s side.

  “They play that guitar game thing…” Kate remarked.

  “That is about dexterity and skill,” Mac informed her sharply, rolling his eyes at the laughter. He heard the opening strains of the song they had chosen and quickly turned to leave when Chloe came running from the stage and grabbed his hand. “No. No I don’t…I haven’t…damn it Chloe…will you listen to me…”

  Cassidy began moving her hips and restarted the song. The boogie Woogie Bulge Boy.

  “It’ll come back to you…focus and count down…” Chloe positioned his hands. She was right, the swing dance came back to him and they moved around the stage while Cassidy belted out the song.

  “Well, hell…” Simon watched them, the twirls and lifts making his eyes widen.

  “They used to do that at contests in school…” Kate said softly.

  Bella smiled, listening to the clapping around the room, watching people move closer. Applause burst out when they finished. Mac came down from the stage, trying to not look so noticed. He lifted the soda and drank half of it, looking behind him for Cassidy. She had remained on the stage with Chloe, looking through the selections.

  “It’s a Christmas song…but it does rock,” Chloe said with a grin. “Christmas in June…I love it…” She slid a headset on and pressed the buttons.

  Bella and Kate burst out laughing. Mariah Carey would be proud, they decided, listening to Cassidy’s voice range.

  Several eyes turned to see Mac blush when it was obvious Cassidy was aiming the words of the song at him. He was grinning when a little three year old climbed the stairs and stood dancing with her, both of them twisting to the song as she belted out the lyrics. She picked him up and danced around the stage singing before handing him to a waiting dad at the end of the stage.

  Mac took the bottle of water with him to the stage when she stepped off to the loud applause.

  “Thanks,” Cassidy drained half the bottle, grey eyes twinkling. “Those were some wild moves there…”

  “In my younger days…” Mac began, ignoring the laughter. “You have some slick moves yourself,” he kissed her. He liked the feeling he had around her. Liked the love he saw in the eyes of his sisters and their chosen ones. His head went up with his name was suddenly shouted in the crowd. His gaze landed on the voice but took a little longer to register the person. “Izzy? Wow…talk about all grown up…” He accepted the slender woman against him with a twirling hug, wincing when she hit him in the arm. “What was that for?”

  “For not telling me you were headed this way!” Isabel glared at him.

  He pulled a springy curl. “It’s been in the works for months. Sorry…I guess I was a little distracted. Do you know Cassidy?”

  “I do now,” Isabel offered her palm. “Hi…Isabel Hightower…and this is my husband, Gabe…Cassidy and Mac…”

  “Nice to meet you…she’s told me about you…” Gabe said.

  “He worries about some…slight...indiscretions…in my youth,” Isabel chose her words carefully.

  “Slight?” Mac choked on his drink.

  “Well…let’s go find some food, Gabe,” Isabel announced quickly.

  “This promises to be an interesting chat,” Gabe laughed, his feet not moving when she tugged.

  “The problem with that idea,” Mac cleared his throat, glancing uncomfortably at Cassidy. “Is they have more on me than I have on them. Girls are devious creatures,” he confided ruefully. “And you don’t realize it until it’s too late.” Laughter went up around them.

  “I prefer to think of us as…resourceful,” Isabel told him with a broad grin, sliding her palm into the offered hand from Gabe. “You promised me food.”

  “I, my beauty, have promised you a great many things,” he whispered before leading her off, laughing deeply when her cheeks tinted a pretty shade of rose.

  Mac watched them walk off, memories of the frightened girl he knew making him nod in approval. “She’s beautiful,” Cassidy commented, watching them mix into the crowd of people there as friends for the weekend celebration.

  “She is…even more so, inside,” Mac said, carrying her palm to his lips. “You fit in here…I should have seen the logic of it…but you’ve messed with my circuits,” he led her laughing to a large table and gestured. “Sit…I’ll fetch us some food.”

  Cassidy watched him wander off, her head shaking.

  “You’re smiling,” Chloe sunk into a chair at the table, her gaze moving to Simon as he chatted with Mac at the buffet. “You two are good for each other. I’m glad he finally found someone…even more glad it’s you, Cassidy.”

  “I had no idea I could feel so free, Chloe…and so happy,” she leaned her chin on her palms. “He’s so incredibly sweet…and fun…I think we’ve talked about every possible something over the last six months.”

  “How come you never said? We’ve talked before you accepted the position at the Narrows,” Chloe asked, accepting the plate Simon brought to the table. Two plates with a bit of everything for them to eat. She grinned when Mac appeared with the same thing, two plates filled with various foods.

  “Thanks,” Cassidy lifted a cube of cheese. “I don’t know. I think maybe…I wasn’t sure what I would do…”

  “She was trying to talk me out of our first meeting,” Mac piped up with a wink at Chloe. “Nerves…”

  “Hey…there’s a lot on my nerves at the moment,” she returned with a glare.

  “Being a director of a huge security department would be on my nerves,” Simon said with an impressed nod. “I’ve talked to Logan and you made an exceptional impression, Cassidy.”

  “You know Logan?” Cassidy asked in surprise.

  “You know Logan?” Mac repeated, his gaze sweeping to Cassidy. “You’re working at the Narrows?”

  “I am,” she answered proudly. “Why? I told I was working for a new hotel in the area.”

  Chloe watched the exchange with a slight shake of her head at Simon, her palm sliding over and taking his.

  “That’s not just a new hotel, it’s going to be a reclamation like none other,” Simon told them.

  “Mac is working for the Narrows, too, Cassidy,” Chloe said with a grin. “He’s their new tech genius.”

  “Seriously?” Cassidy swallowed the mouthful of food and reached for her water. “I don’t…how did we miss…”

  “Guess there was a topic we missed,” Mac said with a laugh, meeting Chloe’s eyes and shaking his head slightly, the look in her eyes telling him she knew what he didn’t want talked about.

  “I can’t believe it…”

  “I’ll be able to haunt you during the day,” Mac promised with a pair of wriggled eye brows.

  It was almost midnight when they pulled into the parking lot of her apartment. Cassidy spun on her feet in a girlish twirl.

  “That was the most wonderful day…I love your friends…”

  “I think it falls into the category of our friends, now, Cassidy,” Mac chirped the car and stood at the bottom of the stairs. He caught her against him, strong fingers spearing into the free hanging silver hair and pulling her mouth hungrily to his. A low groan broke from his lips when her palms pressed against his sides and over his chest, her arms wound around his neck.

  “Don’t leave…Mac, stay with me…”

  “I have stuff in a hotel…” He backed up the stairs, her hands sliding to the buttons on his shirt as they went up. One button for each step.

  “So?”

  Cassidy pulled the keys from her pocket,
opened the door and dropped the keys to the counter. She heard him locking the door behind her seconds before she was swept into his arms and carried into the bedroom. She leaned on her elbows, watching the gleam in his eyes as he pulled her shoes free and dropped them to the floor before removing his own.

  “I’ll get some clothes in the morning,” he promised, peeling his shirt off and dropping it behind him before crawling slowly forward over the bed. She didn’t move when their kiss began, his mouth traveling over her jaw and onto her throat, hot, moist kisses that stopped at the well between her breasts.

  “We can travel to work together,” Cassidy said breathlessly, lowering her elbows and reaching to pull the shirt over her head. Her breath caught in her chest when his mouth resumed its exploring, around the lacy edge of the bra and through the satin fabric. Ten fingers speared the longish hair at the back of his head, her body arching when he drew wet circles over the fabric and biting tenderly into the pert nipple.

  “Beautiful and brilliant,” Mac murmured, his mouth trailing down her stomach.

  Her hands moved between them, opening his jeans and pushing her hands inside, her body arching and sending him to his back on the bed. Cassidy moved off the bed, standing up long enough to remove her shorts and bra. She kept her eyes on his when her palms pressed heavily over the line of his erection beneath the jeans.

  “God, Cassidy…” Mac groaned aloud, his body hardening a little more when she pushed his jeans low enough to free him completely. His head thumped back on the bed when she smiled and shook her head when he reached for her. By the time she’d finished teasing and arousing him, the condom was rolled down with a pace that made his body scream for attention.

  Cassidy crawled seductively over him, carefully seating him in the hot moisture that had collected when she began her game. She savored the strength in him, allowing her body to sink very slowly down his length, her groan breaking free when he sat up carefully, his mouth teasing and nipping at one breast.

  “Turnabout, wench,” he whispered sexily, sliding his palm over the flat of her stomach and teasing the nub she angled for attention.

  He felt the edges of her fingernails tense on his shoulders where she held on to him at the same time her body began it’s wild cascade, the strong ripples gripping him as he thrust enough to make them both fall over the edge.

  “Oh, Mac…” Cassidy shivered and clung to him, aware of his body responding to her orgasm, his arms tight around her as they sat entwined in the center of the large bed for several quiet minutes.

  Mac fall back to the surface slowly, carefully lifting her before heading to the bathroom. He climbed into the bed and pulled her back against him, their hands together as darkness covered them.

  Chapter Seven

  Abigal Murray stood just outside the triple set of canopies, looking along the series of white tents with her hands on her hips and a satisfied nod. She absently speared the spare pen into the bundle of chestnut colored hair at the back of her head. One finger tapped her cheek and she walked to the empty parking lot, comfortable two inch heels marking her pace in the silence of the morning. She knew it wouldn’t remain that way for long.

  People were lined up outside the gates and the guards were all prepared. Each would enter slowly and only after being given a numbered thick piece of round cardboard with the name of the resort emblazoned across the surface. No one would leave without turning one of those back in to the guards. That would be stressed to them.

  At thirty-four, she knew she had hit the jackpot when she nailed this job, thanks to some friends in the area. Her instincts and skills had led her through the oft times odd junket of human resources. But she knew how to organize. She could read people quite well and matched them to not only positions but supervisors. That was most often the trickiest part.

  She had twenty assistants all set up in comfortable areas. The applicants would come in twenty at a time. Only when one moved on to the lab section, would another be permitted inside the fenced area of the resort. And only after they passed the lab section, would they go into the security canopy.

  Abigal looked over the highly organized security area.

  Cassidy Parker walked to greet her, a bright smile on her face. They’d become friends over the last few days. Abigal liked her. She was honest and thorough and very good at her job. It helped that they also have a few friends on common.

  “Are you ready for this?” Abigal glanced in the direction of the building line.

  “As long as my guards can keep them from stampeding, we should be good,” Cassidy shook her head, long gypsy cut silver hair framed her face. “I have to admit, I’ve never been at this portion of a hiring fair. Have you ever seen so many people?”

  “Everyone says it’s just the way of life these days,” Abigal shrugged the silver colored shoulders. “Over half of them don’t have any qualifications we can use,” she confided sadly, fingers sliding into the open edge of the pockets on her skirt. “The redeeming factor in that, is we’re offering training to get them some skills. When you’re offering over a thousand possible jobs….I’ve got feelers out to all the tech and vo-tech schools in the area. We’ve got press on several radio talk shows and the news stations.”

  “I’m just glad we chose to do this in the summer,” Cassidy nodded to the brilliant blue sky above them.

  “No kidding,” Abigal drew in a long breath. “Okay…see you later, Cassidy.”

  A few people noticed the motorcyclist sitting back from the crowd. A black face plated helmet was still in place, the kickstand down on the bike and his arms crossed over his chest. A pair of dark grey eyes watched the woman pacing before the canopies.

  He hadn’t hired her, but he had been watching her. Her face was oval, her eyes dark and slightly tilted at the corners. Her nose and chin fit a sweet, feminine face and her skin looked like tanned crème. The sun caught a red streak in her chestnut hair now and then. No bangs, her forehead clear and she always wore her deep brown hair coiled against the back of her neck. She stabbed it on a regular basis, sometimes walking around with three pens in her hair.

  Her lips were full and always seemed to form a natural pout, usually tinted with a deep burgundy. There didn’t appear to be much makeup on her, the tint in her cheeks only from the sun. Today she wore a three piece outfit in a color that matched the chrome on his bike. The jacket was open and the vest form fitting and hugging her curves as she walked.

  The corner of his mouth tilted when she brought one hand to her lips, two fingers in her mouth and a long shrill whistle filled the air. His gaze shifted to the carefully controlled gate. Two guards admitted the first twenty applicants. All of the applicants were being handed instructions. The gates would close promptly at four in the afternoon and reopen in the morning at eight. All qualified applicants would submit to a drug test and a background and credit check. Some people left within minutes of reading the paper, most scrunching it, tossing it to the ground and storming off.

  Abigal knew it was warm beneath the sun. But she didn’t realize how hot she could get until she watched the large, shiny motorcycle come through the gate, one of the round tickets of admission in his hand. Her head snapped up, her shoulders back and her feet moving at a swift pace over the concrete. Both hands went into the air, waving at the motorcyclist and glaring at the guards on the gate.

  She came to a skidding halt when the bike did an abrupt turn and stopped inches from her feet. She swallowed the lemon lifesaver in her mouth and knew she was holding her breath, one palm up and on her throat.

  How would they explain to her mother that she got run over by a motorcycle while on the job? Would insurance cover that?

  “You can’t come in here with that,” she collected herself quickly, taking the one step forward, her hand absently on the chrome bar across the front. He wore gloves and a helmet and very black leather boots. Jeans and a plain tee shirt that showed off a large tattoo on his upper arm that said U. S. Army completed his look.

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nbsp; “Why not? I thought you were hiring?” Cade lifted the visor on the helmet, finally getting an up close view of the woman he’d been watching for a few days. He’d seen the swirling tornado head his way as soon as he cleared the main gate, bracing himself for the confrontation.

  “I…well, yes, we are…but…” she stepped back, head tilted and then shaking. She looked into a pair of deep grey pools, slightly hollow cheeks and a stubbornly squared chin. “Alright. Well...put that thing over there and come with me. Surely you’re old enough to know how to present yourself for an interview,” she said impatiently, foot tapping on the ground before she paced at his side. She pulled herself to her full five foot eleven when he swung one very long leg over the seat of the bike, the helmet removed and hooked on the front.

  “I thought this was all paperwork and tests?” Cade wasn’t sure why he was continuing the charade. But for the moment, it was entertaining. He liked the gypsy look about her, the naturally pouting lips and high cheeks.

  “Someone has kept you well informed. This way. I’ll get you started,” she turned and began walking, aware of him at her side. It was impossible not to be aware of a man several inches over six foot wearing thick soled biking boots. She cast a glance over at him, catching the casual shrug he offered.

  “I got friends,” was all he offered.

  “What kind of position are you interested in applying for?” She gestured to the seat beside a desk set apart from the others, her name on a brass plate pinned to her jacket. “Abigal Murray.”

  “Cade Rollins,” he countered, taking her smaller palm warmly inside his. He searched his memory. “Maybe floor manager in the casino.”

  Abigal felt the warmth, her hand gently withdrawn. She swallowed hard and bought out one of the prepared clip boards. She reached to her head absently and pulled a pen free. She didn’t notice the grin creasing his lips at the gesture.