by Pippa Grant
Other than follow her.
We haven’t talked again about her work situation, but I know she can’t work remotely forever. And she’s been conducting interviews for a general manager for the factory in Savannah’s absence, since it appears her sister isn’t coming back from the UK anytime soon. And while Cassie’s much more comfortable now with the factory’s products, her first love is still game design.
I finally locate her playing Ms. Pac-Man, which is where I should’ve looked in the first place. “Hey, you.”
She tilts her cheek to take a kiss.
“Hold on…one more…and got it!” She pumps a fist in the air and spins to grab my face and pull me down for a long smacker on the lips. I lift the lemonades out of the way and smile into her kiss. She’s in a tee shirt she designed specifically to promote the new Love Your Inner Sunshine app.
Hers is blue with the Sunshine logo hugging a cute brunette in glasses and a bouncy ponytail.
Mine’s black.
Jace and Blake both went for gray, and Ruthie May’s running around in a purple version.
Cassie’s eyes are bright and happy when she lets me go. “I beat my own high score,” she informs me.
“You’re supposed to be getting ready to make a speech.”
She wrinkles her nose. “You know there’s a reason I hide behind a computer screen as often as possible.”
“Yeah, and I also know you can do this. Here.” I hand her one sweating mason jar. “Liquid courage.”
“Is it the courage part or the lemonade part that makes this so delicious?”
“Both.”
We clink jars and each take a healthy gulp. She wraps an arm around my waist and leans her head against my heart. “Did I tell you initial projections suggest we’ll triple sales within a week?”
“That’s amazing. You’re amazing.”
“Nah. I’m just a girl who wants the world to get more comfortable with orgasms through gaming.”
“Cassie! Cassie! They’re waiting on your speech, hon.” Ruthie May swats at my arm. “Let go, Ryan. You can take her home tonight. The rest of us get her for a couple hours.”
Her eyes are twinkling as she pulls Cassie away.
I follow along behind them, nodding to Gerald and Maud as I pass them at the end of the bar. “Good to see you here,” I tell them.
“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Maud replies.
“Just being a good neighbor,” Gerald grumbles.
He’s also made a point of dropping off donuts or muffins once a week at the factory as they’ve been rebuilding the damaged section over this past month. I clap him on the shoulder. “You’re the best kind of neighbor.”
He blushes. Maud claps delightedly.
And I grab the bottle of champagne Jace hands over the bar, trading in my lemonade for something more festive.
I’m still worried about him and this baby and Ginger, but I probably will be for the rest of my life. Just need to get used to it.
“Hi, is this on?” Cassie winces. “Oh, wow, I’m loud.”
Chuckles echo around the room while Cassie tucks her hair behind her ear and pulls back from the microphone. She’s left her locks down tonight, and I can’t wait to run my fingers through them again tonight.
That happens to be one of my very favorite pastimes.
I rub at my chest, because this is it.
This is the last major project Cassie needed to finish for Sunshine Toys.
She’s been working hellacious hours to keep up with both her job back in San Francisco and to take Sunshine six levels higher than what it was when she got here. I have no idea what comes next, but I know it’s going to be big. For a wee thing, Cassie always goes big.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” she says. “To all of you. I know the factory isn’t the most popular thing in town, but the fact that you’re the kind of people to rally around your friends and neighbors to pitch in, even when it’s uncomfortable, is what makes Happy Cat so amazing.”
Ruthie May whoops, and Olivia lifts a glass containing a green gloop that suggests she smuggled in an avocado wheatgrass smoothie.
But I’m pretty sure she could smuggle in a live cow and do kombucha shots off its back and Jace wouldn’t say a word. He lets her get away with things I’ve never seen him tolerate from other people and there’s definitely a weird vibe between those two.
Cassie leans into the microphone again. “In the gaming world, we have big parties to launch new products, which is technically why we’re here tonight. To celebrate the Love Your Inner Sunshine app. But mostly, I wanted an excuse to have a party with you guys, the people who’ve been like family since I got back to town.”
She graces me with a warm smile that sends champagne bubbles rising in my heart. “And I have a confession,” she adds.
The entire room perks up, and I hide a smile. Nothing like a good confession to get people’s attention.
“When I first came home,” she says, “I was uncomfortable with Sunshine’s products too.”
I straighten, my eyes going wide, because if the next step is talking about what we did with some of those products the other night—
“But I’ve come to realize that there’s more to all this than just physical satisfaction. Savannah’s dream was to help women become stronger, braver, and more confident, and I think that’s beautiful. My wish for all of you is that you love yourselves—bravely and fiercely—imperfections and all. You deserve it.”
I sag in relief while everyone around me aawwwws.
“I didn’t expect to be here learning so much about myself, or to be having so much fun, but for the first time in my life, I feel like I belong. And I love every last one of you so, so much.”
“She’s been drinking, hasn’t she?” Ruthie May whispers.
“No, Ruthie May, I have not been drinking,” Cassie answers. “But I have been thinking, and every day, it becomes more clear that I need to make a decision about my future. Because it turns out working remotely isn’t something I enjoy much in the long term.”
My heart stops. Right there in the Wild Hog.
But then she smiles in my direction, and it starts beating again.
“When Savannah and I were kids, this was home part-time. But it feels like a full-time home now. So, y’all are stuck with me.” She stands up straighter, rolling her shoulders back. “So I want to take this opportunity to announce that I’m going into business for myself. If any Happy Cat business owners are looking for an app to draw in new customers or a snazzy new website, I’m your gal. I’m also going to start a coding class to get our kids ready to take on the world. Let’s put this little town back on the map for everything we’re good at as a community.”
“Ooh, me!” Maud’s hand flies into the air. “We want help at the bakery, Cassie! Dough on the Square first!”
“Get in line, Maud,” Blake calls. “My winery is opening next year. Family first.”
“I’m just as much family as you are!”
“Only if Cassie’s living at your brother’s house too.”
Everyone laughs. I head to the stage, because this announcement definitely calls for champagne.
“Since you know where to find me,” Cassie says with a shameless shrug and a smile tossed in my direction, “let’s keep this party going! Thank you!”
She puts the mic back and steps right into my arms.
“That was the best speech I’ve ever heard,” I tell her.
She laughs. “It was emotional love vomit.”
“And it was beautiful. Just like you.”
Blake jostles into us before I can kiss her. “Gimme that bottle. We’re popping the top and celebrating.” He winks at Cassie. “I knew you’d stay. Nice that you’re making it official.”
“I do still have to go back to San Francisco to clean out my apartment,” she says, “but I’ll be coming right back.” She looks up to me. “You want to come with? We can take a few days, and I’ll show you around. Give y
ou a taste of the big city?”
I don’t answer.
Not with words.
I’m too busy kissing the woman I’m going to love for the rest of my life.
Epilogue
Cassie
* * *
My feet are tired and I’m squeezed between too many people on the pier, but my heart is full and the late afternoon breeze is cooling my slight sunburn. We’ve had a long day playing tourist, and I feel like I’ve been introduced to a new side of the city I called home for so many years.
I loved seeing it through Ryan’s eyes.
I nudge him and point to one of the sea lions. “Look! He’s trying to push his friend off!”
We both laugh as the giant animals flap their fins and bark at each other on the docks. Six other sea lions sleep on, ignoring the commotion while another tries to get up on the wood shelf to sun himself.
Ryan tugs me closer with the arm around my waist, pressing a kiss to my hair. “The Golden Gate Bridge, the sourdough bakery, the Ghirardelli chocolate factory, and the sea lions. Today’s been incredible.”
“It’s not over yet, mister. We still have a baseball game. And wine country tomorrow.”
“Can’t get this back in Happy Cat. You sure you want to leave?”
“Yep,” I say, without a speck of doubt. “We can always come back to visit. But Happy Cat’s home. You belong there. We belong there.”
He bends down and captures my lips in a sweet kiss. “I love you, Cassandra Mae Sunderwell.”
I cup his stubble-rough face and smile, my cheeks stretched so wide they hurt. “I love you too, Ryan O’Dell.”
The sea lions all start barking, and we both laugh again. They’re as bad as George, interrupting us when we get too close. Though in George’s case, it’s because he just wants in on the love too.
Olivia might be right.
Maybe he needs a special lady of his own. Maybe then, he’d quit scratching at the door when Ryan and I are having private time.
Speaking of private time…
I tilt my head back toward The Embarcadero, the main drag beside the piers. “You know, we have about two hours before the game starts, and our hotel is right there…”
That’s generally all it takes to get Ryan hustling in the direction of home. Or a hotel room. Or anywhere we can find thirty minutes of privacy, really.
But he doesn’t move.
Instead, his eyes turn serious as he studies me.
“Do I have chocolate on my cheek?” I start to swipe at my face, but he captures my hand and shakes his head with a smile.
“No, you’re just—you’re absolutely perfect.”
Heat flushes my cheeks warmer. “I’m not perfect, but you make me feel like I get pretty close.”
“Then I’m doing something right.”
“You do everything right.”
He opens his mouth again, but pauses, his gaze searching mine again.
“What is it?” I ask softly.
“I just—it’s barely been two months, but I can’t remember a time when you weren’t a part of me.”
My already happy heart takes flight and bursts into song. “I know exactly what you mean. Like I found the missing piece I didn’t know I was looking for.”
“I worried this was too soon, but…” He trails off, taking my hands in his. And then he drops to his knee, making my jaw drop with a soft gasp. “Cassie, I always wanted to see the world. But when I’m with you, you’re all the world I need. I want to spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you make me. Will you marry me?”
I launch myself at him, shouting, “Yes! Yes!” almost before he’s finished. He catches me easily, and he kisses me, right there on our knees on Pier 39, with other tourists around us clapping and the sea lions barking out a celebration in the background.
“I don’t have a ring yet—” Ryan starts.
I shake my head. “I don’t need a ring. I just need you.”
“You have me, Cassie. Always and forever. Hook, line, and sinker.”
This man.
He’s given me a home. He’s helped me own my sexuality, love myself in a way I never did before, and have the courage to reach for my dreams with both hands. And now he’s giving me happily ever after.
I laugh as I wrap him in a tight hug. “We’re going to have the best life ever.”
“So long as we’re together,” he agrees.
I stand, pulling him to his feet with me. “Now can we go see about those two hours in our hotel room?” I whisper with a wink.
“Anything my woman wants,” he replies.
And just like the night he made love to me for the first time, he scoops me into his arms and carries me off into our bright, shiny future.
* * *
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The NHL’s hottest bad boy is about to fall for his best friend’s little sister…
Hot as Puck is out now.
Justin
This is it, the night I’ll look back on in fifty or sixty years and stab a finger at as the moment my life changed forever. Somewhere out there, in the throng of people wiggling to the club beat pulsing across the Portland skyline from the most exclusive rooftop lounge in the city, is the woman I’m going to marry.
Next summer.
In eight short months.
Because I’m dying to settle down, develop a food-baby where my six-pack used to be, spend Friday nights on the couch in my give-up-on-life sweatpants arguing about what to watch on Netflix and picking out names for the five or six kids my wife and I will bang out as quickly as possible to ensure we’ll have an army of small people to share in the grinding monotony of our wedded bliss.
Ha. Right.
Or rather no. Hell no. Fuck no, with a side of “what kind of reality-altering drugs have you been huffing in the bathroom?”
Sylvia is out of her goddamned mind! I’m twenty-eight years old—tonight, happy fucking birthday to me—and at the top of my game. I have zero interest in a long-term commitment to anything but my team.
The Portland Badgers are riding a ten-game winning streak, thanks largely to the fact that I bust my ass in the gym every other morning so I can bust my ass on the ice every time Nowicki spaces-out eighteen minutes into the period and forgets what his stick is for. That rookie’s untreated ADHD is a pain in my ass, but the rest of the forwards and I are taking up the slack and then some. I’m averaging over a point a game, leading the league in goals, and on my way to an elite season. Maybe even an Art Ross Trophy-winning season, though I don’t like to count my eggs before they’ve been scrambled, smothered in cheese and hot sauce, and wrapped in a burrito.
God, a burrito sounds good. I’m so fucking hungry. I would kill for Mexican right now, or at least something cooked and wrapped in something other than seaweed.
Nearly three thousand dollars in hor d’oeuv
res are being passed around this party on shiny silver platters, and there’s not a damned thing I want to eat.
I let Sylvia—who has very firm opinions about many, many things—handle ordering the food, and apparently she thought sushi, sushi, more sushi, and some weird, rock-hard, low-fat cookies that taste like vanilla-flavored air were all anyone would want to shove in their pie-hole tonight. Just like she thought I should get down on one knee and put a ring on her finger in time to plan a blockbuster summer wedding or she would need to “explore her other options.”
Explore her other fucking options. What the fuck? Who says something like that to a guy they swear they’re desperately in love with? If she were really that gone on me, wouldn’t I be the only option? The only person in the entire world that she could even remotely consider spending the rest of her life with?
I kind of want to hate Sylvia—what sort of person tries to blackmail you into proposing to them on your birthday? She should have at least waited until her birthday next month—but I just keep thinking about how lonely my bed is going to be tonight. Sylvia is clearly deeply deluded about how far along we are in the evolution of our relationship, but she’s also very pretty, gives the best head I’ve ever had, bar none, and smells really, really nice.
I have a thing about the way a woman smells. Not her perfume or her soap or her body lotion, but her. The woman herself. Her base note, the scent that rises from her skin when she’s lying in the sun or kissing me after a run or just hasn’t showered in a while.
Yes, with the right woman, I enjoy logging some quality bedroom time while she’s a little bit dirty. Don’t fucking judge me! It’s my birthday!
Anyway… No one smells as good as Sylvia does at the end of a long day on my boat, with sweat, sea salt, and sunscreen dried on her skin. Making love to her on the deck this past summer, with her long legs wrapped around my waist as I did my best to take home the trophy for most orgasms delivered in a single afternoon, I was convinced I’d finally met someone I could stick with for longer than a season.