by Starla Kaye
Cassie set the white box on the counter and opened it to find two chocolate éclairs and two fat crullers. “I really shouldn’t have one.” She snagged an éclair and almost felt the extra pounds adding to her waistline. “So I’ll have one of each. I’m weak.”
Before she could take the first decadent bite, Rachel pressed, “Dalton? You? A problem?”
With a curt nod, Cassie took a bite. A tiny moan of ecstasy escaped as she closed her eyes in bliss. She didn’t want to talk about their problem, or even think about it.
But Rachel didn’t give up easily. “He’s upset with you running for mayor again, isn’t he?” She stepped closer with two cups of steaming coffee.
Reluctantly Cassie licked frosting off her lips and glanced at the slightly older woman, who looked perfectly groomed as always. She had two pretty wild boys, yet she never appeared stressed, never looked frazzled with even a hair out of place. Cassie, however….
Rachel stood quietly, waiting patiently for an answer.
Cassie weakened and admitted, “He had something else in mind.”
“Like getting married? Like you both living in one place, at the ranch?” Rachel picked up a cruller and took a bite, looking pointedly at Cassie.
Her stomach fluttered with nervous butterflies. “Exactly, but I’m not ready,” she answered quietly. “I want to be.”
She had strong feelings for him. Okay, she loved him. But the idea of getting married again still terrified her. She knew it was stupid.
“I may end up losing him.” Just saying the words had a painful lump forming in her throat.
Rachel put her partially eaten cruller back in the box and moved to hug Cassie. “Oh, sweetie.”
Cassie stepped out of reach. “No, I’m a mess.”
No longer hungry, she set her éclair in the box, too. She didn’t want a hug either; she was too fragile right now.
“Dalton Reede loves you. You know it. Everyone who has ever seen the two of you together knows it.” Rachel leaned against the counter, grimness in her expression. “You have to let it go. He is nothing like your ex. He’s a good man.”
Even though she had only told Rachel parts of the horror she’d lived with, her friend understood enough to get the overall idea of what a horrible man Will Davis had been. No, Dalton was not at all like him. She knew that, yet….
“He’s divorced, too. So he isn’t perfect.” That was a lame excuse for her troubled feelings.
Rachel glowered indignantly at her and went into lecture mode. “Don’t you go thinking Dalton did something wrong in his first marriage! I happen to know he did everything he could to make it work. He even insisted on trying marriage counseling, which she resisted.”
She heaved a deep breath of frustration. “Poor Dalton even moved away from the ranch for a year because Brittany claimed she could only be happy living in Dallas, near her family. His sacrifice didn’t help. She wanted out, plain and simple.”
Now Cassie felt worse. She had known he’d been married before and that it had ended bitterly, but he hadn’t told her the specifics about what had happened. He kept his problems to himself. Yet he’d managed to get a lot of details about her disastrous marriage from her. In truth, she didn’t want to know too much about his first wife. She didn’t like thinking about him having been with another woman before her, which, of course, was ridiculous. He’d no doubt been with many women over the years and he hadn’t been married all that long.
“I’m sorry. Really. I just… We just…”
Cassie glanced at the éclair again then took another bite. It didn’t taste as good as it should have. Maybe she should call Dalton on his cell phone. No, he probably still wanted time and distance from her. Hadn’t he told her they needed a couple of days apart? What frightened her was that he might end up wanting much more than that.
Rachel picked up her cruller and took another bite. There was obviously more on her friend’s mind than she’d yet said. She also appeared hesitant to say it.
Cassie shoved her troubled thoughts aside to deal with later. “Besides trying to ruin my diet, why are you here?”
“The picnic. I need help.” She licked off her fingers one at a time. “I know there is a small committee, but… Well, you know it’s made up the three oldest—and I’m talking ancient—widows in town.”
She looked concerned. “They’re sweet, but they aren’t very useful.” She worried her lower lip a second and then continued. “It’s just that they’ve been the committee since Grangeville first started the picnic day. No one else wants to usurp them, and only a handful of people are willing to even work with them.”
Rachel turned pleading eyes at Cassie. “Please. I’m begging you. Help me.”
How could she turn her friend down, especially when she’d been very vocal lately about the importance of keeping these community events going? A growing number of people wouldn’t mind seeing it all fade away—including Dalton and Jim. And that was another sore point between them. A problem for another day.
She understood exactly what Rachel had said. Nobody could deny that Elvira, Annabel, and Mabel were sweet little old ladies. But they were also inflexible about having their way. “Things should be done the way they’d always been done.” That was their motto. Oddly enough, they all got along well with Cassie and she might be able to get them to accept a few tiny changes. Heavy on the tiny. But should she get involved?
“Dalton would be unhappy with me if I got involved in the picnic project,” she admitted. She shook her head sadly. “But then he’s already less than happy with me.”
Defeat slipped into Rachel’s expression; her shoulders slumped.
No, darn it! This was important to her closest friend in town.
Cassie thrust out her chin. “Count me in.” She’d deal with Dalton’s displeasure, even if it meant enduring another spanking from her determined alpha man.
Rachel looked uncertain for a second and then beamed. “Great! Let’s call a meeting Wednesday afternoon, at my place. I’ll let the ladies know.”
Wednesday? Something about the day nagged at Cassie. She’d committed to something else, she was almost sure of it.
“I’ll have to check my calendar, but I can probably rearrange my schedule.” Still, that “something” worried her. What the heck had she committed to?
“I hope you can, because we really need to finalize the plans. After all, the picnic is only two weeks away.” Rachel studied the box with the two remaining pastries and looked resigned. “You keep those. My hips certainly don’t need them. Besides, maybe they’ll give you strength to finish up whatever room you’re painting.”
“My bedroom,” Cassie admitted. Their bedroom when Dalton stayed over. He wasn’t going to be particularly fond of a lemon yellow room, being more of an earth-tone fan. Too bad, so sad. She’d been in the mood for something cheery, even if the paint had originally been bought for one of the spare bedrooms.
She followed Rachel to the front door, already not excited about finishing painting the room. She forced the thought aside. “I’ll try to think of some subtle ways to get the ladies to be daring for once, to take a chance on trying something new this year.”
Rachel hesitated at the door and gave her a wary look. “It’ll work out, Cassie. I know it will.”
Cassie smiled weakly, knowing her friend was talking about her and Dalton…not about the picnic. She hoped Rachel was right. But her stomach had knotted again. He wanted time away from her. That hurt.
***
Dalton leaned against the dust-covered, battered ranch work truck and tried to absorb the brief spurt of wind blowing over the field. His clothes stuck to him and he smelled of sweat. Still working on setting the new fence post a dozen feet away, his brothers were pretty rank, too. A shower would feel damn good to all of them. After that, he needed a cold beer or two and some drop-dead time on his bed.
He frowned, ground his teeth. He hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours last night after leaving Cas
sie. Normally after working the ranch on the weekend with his brothers, he’d be crawling into his bed and cuddling nice and close to her. She’d rub his aching muscles, make his world all better, and then….
Shaking off that pleasant memory, he cursed under his breath. He couldn’t remember the last time she hadn’t been at the ranch with him for the weekend. It felt all wrong. Even his brothers had commented on her absence at breakfast early this morning. They’d asked him why she hadn’t come with him. His growled “I don’t want to talk about it” had stopped their questions. It had also kept them at a wary distance from him all day. It had been a smart move on their part.
Finished with the fence post, Craig lifted his hat to swipe at the sweat on his brow with the back of his shirtsleeve. He walked in Dalton’s direction. “This is exactly why I’m not interested in getting serious with some woman. Grief. That’s what they give you.”
“Some darn good loving, too,” Parker countered, walking over and pulling off his leather gloves. He glanced at Dalton. “Except when you’re on the outs with your woman.”
Dalton pinned his brothers with a warning look. “I’m not talking about Cassie or about us. Understand? Just let it go.”
He walked to the truck bed and reached into the cooler for a cold bottle of water. Then he grabbed another one and tossed them at his brothers. He grabbed one for himself, too. Pulling off the top, he took a deep drink. It didn’t come close to cooling him down.
Focusing on Parker, he asked, “You’re still planning on filling in on Wednesday for me at the sheriff’s office, right?”
He had two deputies, but he always felt better when his brother helped out in his absence. Parker was an ex-Seal, ready for anything…not that anything ever happened around here.
Parker nodded and then looked worried. “Are you and Cassie going to be on speaking terms again by then?”
Dalton didn’t want to think negatively about their current situation. As far as he was concerned, this was a bump in the road. “We are on speaking terms. We just needed some space this weekend.” Okay, he had been the one who’d wanted some time apart. Or his wounded ego had.
He looked at the fence they’d worked hard on all morning rebuilding. “I had things to do here. She has paintings to finish up for her show.”
He sensed their concern, although, fortunately, they kept further questions to themselves. He didn’t pry into their personal business, and they—mostly—didn’t pry into his. What he’d said was partly true: he and Cassie both had tasks to get done this weekend. But it was also true that he’d basically told her not to come here. He’d been angry with her decision, with her not bothering to talk about changing her mind. They’d had an agreement, dammit. Or so he’d thought.
In his frustration and need for some kind of control again, he’d busted her butt for that snap decision. He hadn’t hurt her too bad, but he did feel a bit guilty for spanking her. He was damn lucky she put up with him.
He thinned his lips, upset with the whole blasted situation. Cassie was a good mayor, he admitted that. But it took up too much of her time. Time he wanted with her. Okay, he could be a selfish bastard when it came to her.
He took another long drink. He’d needed time to get his head straight about it all. He’d support her, naturally, but he had to get over this latest blow to his plans. She hadn’t said as much, but he had a bad feeling that she was backpedaling again from the idea of settling down permanently with him…of taking the chance of marrying him.
Damn, damn, damn! He sure would like to kick Will Davis’s ass good and hard, rearrange his face a bit, too. Sorry thoughts for a man supposedly the temporary sheriff around here.
Back molars locked, he turned away and kicked the rear tire, hurting his toe, which he deserved.
“What did she do now?” Craig asked quietly.
After a second to calm down, Dalton faced his brothers, who hadn’t been at the party the night before. They would find out sooner or later, so it might as well come from him.
“Cassie is running for mayor again.” Had they heard the bitterness in his tone?
Parker blinked in confusion. “I thought you talked your buddy Jim into taking on the job. I thought you said Cassie had promised not to…” He slammed his mouth shut, evidently realizing why Dalton was in such a snit today.
“Maybe you need more than the weekend to cool down,” Craig suggested. “Maybe you should change those get-away plans for Wednesday. It sounds like the timing isn’t real good.”
Dalton had been thinking about cancelling out on the Kansas City trip, but he didn’t want to make the situation worse between them. He figured she’d been looking forward to their getting away even for just the one day. No, he didn’t want to disappoint her…especially after he’d insisted on having time apart this weekend.
He shook his head. “No, I’m taking her to KC. We both need to get away from our commitments around here.” He sure needed time away from the ranch, his well-meaning brothers, his part-time sheriff job, and the community all getting excited about the month of celebrations.
“Actually, boys, I think I’m heading back to town tonight.” Now that he’d said it, he was anxious to get cleaned up and go do some making up with the woman he loved. “Come on, you can drop me off at the house. Then you can do whatever else you had planned today.”
***
Dalton unlocked the door and, as he always did when she didn’t meet him there, he called out, “Cassie! Cassie, I’m here!”
No answer. But her car was in the driveway and he heard water running in the pipes. He figured she was upstairs taking a shower. The mere idea of her standing naked beneath a spray of water had him rock hard in an instant. Making up to his woman in the shower stall that he’d insisted on having built special for the two of them, had him taking off his hat and hanging it on the antique halltree in the entry. Then he toed off his boots. A second later he took the stairs two at a time, heart racing in anticipation, vivid images racing through his mind.
When he stepped into her bedroom, he heard Cassie singing a country western song in the shower, off-key and at the top of her lungs. It made him smile. He didn’t care a bit that she was clearly tone deaf or that she got the lines all mixed up. She was warbling about some guy riding in his truck and a gal waving her arms. All he could think about was his lady all nice and naked, water caressing her sweet body…
The apology he’d rehearsed coming here got lost somewhere in his lust-filled mind. Maybe later he’d remember it.
Praying she’d stay in there a little longer, he stripped off his clothes and tossed them at the bed in the middle of the room. What the hell was that about?
Not really caring at the moment, he started for the bathroom. At the last second, he spotted the nightstand also now in the middle of the room. With a sigh of regret, he grabbed a condom from the drawer. It frustrated him that they couldn’t be making a baby right now. He was more than ready to start a family. But Cassie wasn’t. So he shoved the idea aside, yet again, and put on the protection, and continued on to his goal.
Of course she screamed when she spotted a man suddenly appearing there through the fogged up glass door.
Idiot! What the hell were you thinking? Well, he hadn’t been thinking, except about how soon he could have his way with her.
Then she recognized him as he hurried closer. She pulled open the door and a myriad of emotions crossed over her face: relief, pleasure, anger, pleasure, and finally annoyance. Still, she seemed to have trouble looking up from his very interested cock, and that gave him some hope this little plan would work out.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in a semi-cool tone.
Still, she hadn’t told him to get the hell out or tried to cover herself up. He took that as a good sign. “Do you need some help, darlin’? I’m real good at…” He gave her his best sexy grin, waggled his eyebrows.
As she drew in a deep, shuddery breath, her plump breasts rose and fell. Eyes warming, she still
managed to snap, “No, I don’t need your help.”
Disappointment hit him, though his cock didn’t get the message. It remained hopeful.
An instant later, she heaved a sigh of resignation and that hope grew—so did his cock.
She inched back and motioned him into the over-sized shower. A sassy smile tipped up one corner of her mouth. “Actually there are a few places…”
Thank the good Lord! He was in the shower stall before she could finish the suggestion. First thing he did was turn off the water. No sense them drowning while he begged her forgiveness in the best way he knew how. “I’ll scrub you down real nice…after.”
“After?” But her gaze was locked on the thick fullness he held in his hand, slowly stroking it. “Okay, after.” She licked her lips, her body quivering.
Having done this a time or two or more—who the hell knew how many times, she turned to the front wall. She put her arms up and flattened her palms on the wet tile. Water dripped down her long hair, down her back, and she shivered. But he figured it wasn’t from being cold, more from eagerness. Then she pushed her sweet ass out.
“Ready, cowboy.”
Words were pretty much beyond him. He reached down to make sure she was as ready for him as she’d said. He grinned, finding she was. It only took him another second to slide slowly into her more than willing body.
Agreeably, she bowed her back, pushed at him.
“Oh, darlin’,” he crooned and moved slowly forward, even deeper.
Cassie pulled in a long, shuddery breath as her body gladly accepted Dalton’s shaft. Torture. Pleasure. Each slow thrust made her give a tiny moan, made her wiggle and demand more. This was what she’d wanted last night.
She moaned again, struggling to keep her hands on the shower wall. Well, maybe not exactly this, but something equally enjoyable. Not going to sleep with a hot bottom after the spanking…not alone without his comforting.