by Mia Malone
“He did shoot you.”
“If Raz had been there ten seconds later, he would have killed me, Einar.” He stiffened and looked away, but I pushed at his cheek until he looked at me again. “Let’s not pretend, Black. He would have killed me, but Ice told me how you kept pushing for Raz to hurry, so you did what was needed to keep me alive, and he got there in time. It’s done. Don’t let it ruin what we have, baby.”
His face softened again, and his hand slid up to my cheek.
“I love you, Cassandra.”
I felt my tears spill over but tried to smile through the emotions running through me.
“I love you too, Einar.”
The kiss I got was sweet and soft, and then he leaned his forehead against mine with a soft sigh.
“Was going to tell you that morning before you left, Cas, but I thought it was too soon. Thought... I guess I was afraid.”
“I stopped for coffee to keep me going, Black. When he got me, you know? Wanted to grab a cup of coffee to keep me going so I could get home.”
“Yeah?”
“I wanted to get home to tell you I love you. You don’t have to be afraid of me, Einar. I won’t ever hurt you.”
He put his mouth on mine, and in no time at all, a familiar pressure started to build in my gut.
“Make love to me,” I murmured.
“No fucking way,” he said and looked unflatteringly appalled.
“What?”
“Not going to risk tearing your –”
“Black.”
“No.”
“I asked the doctors. If we’re middle-aged about it, there’s no risk.”
“No.”
“Blaaaack...” I crooned and slid my hands over his chest.
“Cassandra, no. What if I lose it? You know how we are, so what if things get out of hand and I can’t be middle-aged?”
I pushed him down on his back and slowly moved his arms up until his hands were by the slats of the headboard.
“Lie back and hold on. I’ll make sure everything is good.”
“Baby –”
Black stopped talking when I put my hand on his crotch, and then I started to slowly make love to him. He clenched his jaws when I nipped his nipple and rolled the bar with my tongue but hissed out a soft breath when I let my hands glide over his torso and further down over his belly. He was already hard, and I pulled his briefs down to take him in my hand.
“I have no willpower when it comes to you, Cas,” he murmured, closed his eyes briefly when I squeezed harder, and added a soft outdrawn, “Yeah.”
When he was moving his hips with every stroke, I slowly climbed on top and sank down on him.
“You told me once that you would like to watch me use my fingers,” I breathed out. Then I slid my fingers through my folds and started circling my clit. “Payback, baby.”
“Jesus,” he rasped out. “So hot, babe. God, that’s –”
I kept moving my fingers, faster and faster, watching the gorgeous man spread out underneath me, and then I started moving my hips, slowly rising and falling while it built for both of us.
“You there?” he rasped out when I moaned and I wanted to tell him I was, but it hit me.
Soft, long waves rushed through me, and I cried out when I came. He let go of the slats and pushed me down gently toward him so he could circle my torso with his arms.
Then I felt his cock jerk, and he groaned loudly into my neck, bucked his hips once and held me to him with strong hands on my behind while he came too.
We came down slowly, and I stayed on top of him as my breaths slowed down.
“You good?” he asked quietly.
“Feel fantastic,” I murmured into his neck. “I love you.”
“Love you too, Cassandra.” He was silent for a while and then he sighed softly. “Got a thing to tell you and I can only do it if you stay where you are.”
“Okay,” I said quietly.
He sounded weird, and I braced for what he had to share.
“I told you Lex was conceived by mistake.”
“Yes.”
He had told me the short version of it, and I hadn’t asked about the details because I didn’t need to know how he’d forgotten a condom or whatever.
Then he told me what Leeanne had done, and I tried to straighten but he held on to me, and I relaxed into him.
“That’s ra –”
“No.”
“It was.”
“Dad said so too, but you’re both wrong, and it wasn’t. Not really. It’s just...” His arms twitched, and then he whispered, “Haven’t had a woman on top of me in bed since that day, baby.”
“Einar –”
“Couldn’t do it. I could have said no to her back then, and I didn’t, but the way she made it ugly... Just couldn’t do it that way again.”
I was quiet for a beat and tried to control the fury rushing through me. If Leeanne had been in the room, I would have clawed her eyes out for making him sound like that.
“I love you,” I said quietly. “I’m sorry she did that to you.”
“I love you too and baby, I just couldn’t do it that way. Not until right now when you made it beautiful again.”
Chapter Seventeen
Boner
Cassandra
As the weeks passed, I got stronger. I went for longer and longer walks, and then we had a minor fight because Black was driving me out of my mind. He treated me like I was delicate china, and I knew why but I wasn’t. He was right, I was a survivor, and I’d asked the doctor. I could do pretty much anything I wanted again so we could have sex in a way that was a lot less middle-aged. And we didn’t, so I was getting frustrated.
“Black?” I asked from my place in the deck chair on his front porch where he felt it was appropriate for me to sit and rest for hours.
“Yeah, babe?” he asked from his place next to an old bike he was working on.
Autumn was approaching, and I liked the way the colors shifted on the mountains, but it meant that Black was wearing a flannel shirt on top of his tight tee, so I got to see less of his fantastic body which was a bummer.
“How long are you going to keep this up?”
“What?” he asked, but I saw how he glanced at me over his shoulder and knew that he knew what.
I also recognized the stubborn set of his jaw and sighed.
“Is there a dog-shelter somewhere around here? I want a dog.”
“Yeah?” He looked happy and straightened, making a gesture with his hand which I suspected was meant to either swat off a fly or indicate in what general direction the shelter was located. “I’ll take you there.”
“I want something that looks like a Westie.”
“A what?”
Again, I was pretty sure from the look in his eyes that he knew what, but I still showed him a picture on my phone.
“Okay.”
“Or perhaps a teacup poodle,” I added. “Definitely a white one.”
“Okay.”
I stared at him, and he watched me calmly.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I hissed when he still didn’t protest.
“What? You want a dog, we’ll get you a dog.”
“Are you insane? Would you walk a small, fluffy and very white creature around the compound?”
He shrugged, but I saw a muscle work on his jaw.
“I want you back, Einar,” I murmured. “Please, baby. I don’t know what to do to get you back.”
“You nearly fucking died, Cas, so I don’t know what to do either,” he barked, leaned forward slightly toward me a snarled, “I sat there by your bed, crying like a damned baby, and I thought I’d fucking die too.” He straightened, threw the tool he’d held on the ground, and muttered, “So, you’ll just have to suck it up, and wait until I’ve calmed down again which probably will take the next twenty years.”
Then he marched away with long, angry steps.
“Okay then,” I said to myself. “That went wel
l.”
Since Black wasn’t there anymore to nag me into sitting in a stupid chair, I walked over to find Ronnie, and we went off to take a look at the shelter. It took five minutes to find my dog, and we came home with a big two-year-old husky, lab, and probably a few other things-mix.
His name was Boner.
Black had calmed down by the time we returned, and he laughed for a full fifteen minutes when he heard the name, so I haughtily informed him that we would call the dog Bo.
I also informed him that this was a special occasion, I was cooking, Ronnie and Janie would help me and if he wanted, he could carry chairs for people to sit on.
He sighed, but we had dinner on his porch that night.
It turned out that the dog did in no way listen to anything but his given name, and they all laughed like morons every time I called for him.
I didn’t mind because Black laughed too, and I saw how he tried to hide that he kept an eye on me, but I decided to give him that. It was also nice to have someone carry every damned thing I wanted moved, even if it was just a bottle of wine or a cushion for his father who almost had a stroke when Black walked over with the flower-patterned thing.
***
Black
Black was happy when his son came for a visit but wondered about it. His boys stopped by, but they were grownups and lived busy lives so it wasn’t every month.
“Eye,” Black said and raised his head. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t look okay.”
The boy looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks.
“I’m good.”
“How’s the –”
“Yeah, that was a false alarm or whatever.”
Black figured this meant his upcoming grandfatherhood was canceled but narrowed his eyes and surveyed his son’s unhappy face.
“You look disappointed.”
“She wasn’t happy with it before, and she isn’t entirely happy about the situation now either, so she won’t talk to me.”
“You want her to?”
“Yeah,” Eye said with a sigh. “The fuck of it is that I do.”
Huh. His usually so calm son was fidgeting and looked out over the mountains with a set look on his face.
“Bring her here,” Black suggested, suddenly curious about this girl who had twisted his boy into knots.
“She won’t come.”
“Bring her here,” Black repeated, wondering if he hadn’t taught the boy anything at all.
“I should just –”
“You want her?”
Eirik sighed and looked at him under his brow.
“Yeah.”
“I waited for-fucking-ever and then I almost lost Cas. Life is fucking damned short, son. You want her, then you fight for her. Don’t sit there and sigh like a damned pussy.”
Eye snorted out a short laugh and shrugged.
“I don’t think you can change her mind. She doesn’t scare easily.”
“I’m not fucking stupid,” Black said calmly. “We’ll let Ice charm her, and then plant her in your grandparents’ kitchen with Mom and Cas.”
Eirik turned slowly and looked at him with brows high on his forehead.
“Huh,” he said. “That might work actually.”
Gee suddenly shouted something about assistance and waved at them from her porch, so Black looked at Eye with raised brows.
“Yeah, yeah,” Eye muttered. “Lazy old fart.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” Eye said with a grin, but paused. “Thanks, Dad. I’ll bring her.”
“You do that.”
That should be interesting, Black thought and was about to go inside to share with Cas that she was expected to convince an unwilling damsel to take a chance on Eirik.
Then his eyes slid to the side, and he muttered a low, “Shit.”
A baby-blue convertible came rolling through the gates, and at the steering wheel sat a hard-faced Leeanne. Black had expected her to show up and got off the porch with a sigh.
“Leeanne,” he said calmly.
“Heard you’re the president now.”
“Yeah.”
“The old goat should have stepped down years ago,” Leeanne said sourly.
“You might want to not call my dad an old goat to my face,” Black said calmly.
“I call him whatever I want,” Leeanne snapped.
At that exact moment, the door opened behind them, and Black winced because he knew who would step out on the porch.
“Excuse me,” Cas said casually. “You probably shouldn’t call Roddy that to my face either.”
Black turned to watch Cassandra walk down the steps and blinked. There was a look in her eyes he hadn’t seen before, and he took a step forward.
“Cas –”
“This won’t take long,” she said coolly, and he turned with her as she moved around him to face Leeanne who had gotten out of her car.
There was a long silence, and Black wondered if he should perhaps just lift Leeanne up, place her in the car and shove the whole thing back out through the gates.
“You’re Cas,” Leeanne said after a while.
Cas didn’t answer, and to Black’s surprise, his ex-wife suddenly took a small step backward.
Cas took a small step forward.
Leeanne turned to him and snarled, “I should have known you’d end up with someone just like your fucking mother.”
Black blinked in surprise and wondered what the hell Cas’s face looked like.
“Leeanne,” Cas said quietly.
“What?”
“You’re going to leave now. I pretty much want to rip off your nails and shove them down your throat, but I won’t do that since you are going to stay away from me and keep that stupid mouth of yours shut about the people I love.”
“You –”
“You’re not welcome here.”
“But –”
Black barked out a short laugh when he saw the confused look on his ex-wife’s face. Then it hit him.
He didn’t care. He wasn’t even angry anymore.
There was nothing for her at the Thor compound, and he had absolutely nothing to say to her.
“Leeanne, you’ve seen what you came to look at, so you might want to leave,” he said calmly.
“I got married.”
“So?”
“You don’t care?”
“No.”
“We have kids together, asshole.”
“I know.”
Those kids had not shared the news of her happy nuptials, so they had likely not been invited to the ceremony. Fucking bitch, he thought, but to his surprise, still without anger or bitterness. She was who she was, and he was rid of her.
“I loved you.”
“More than thirty years ago, perhaps you did, Leeanne, but that was a really long time ago.”
“You never gave us a chance.”
Was she insane? He would have if she hadn’t been such a lying bitch, but she was one so yeah. He hadn’t given them a chance, but that was on her.
“You messed shit up,” Cas said quietly. “He gave you what he could, and you messed that up too. Honey, just go.”
“You think you can make him happy?” Leeanne sneered.
“I know I can make him happy,” Cas replied calmly.
Leeanne looked at Cas for what felt like forever, and then she raised her chin.
“Maybe you can. God knows I never could.”
“You gave him three sons. They were raised to be good men, and it’s a pleasure to spend time with them.”
Leeanne’s face hardened even further, but she turned and got into her car.
Then she drove off without another word.
“Cas?” Black asked when the car disappeared around the corner.
“Yeah?”
“She didn’t raise her sons much, and they rarely talk.”
“I know.”
“Gotta give it to you, babe. You know how to hit b
ack in a way that hurts.”
“I do,” Cas said. Then she turned and narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized him. “You’re okay?”
“Yeah. Glad that’s done, now she can stay away until end of time for all I care.”
“She’s prettier than I expected.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Great makeup. Our age but looking a lot younger. Fabulous highlights that really works for her. Huge...”
She moved her hands several inches in front of her own breasts.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.” Cas shrugged and grinned at him. “Hate her fucking guts, but she’s pretty, Black.”
“Huh.”
“So, Eye is bringing a girl up here?”
Aha. Talking about Leeanne was apparently over, and she was smiling sweetly at him, so Black relaxed and grinned back at her when he realized she’d heard their earlier conversation.
“Yeah. That should be fun.”
“Is she good enough for him?” Cas asked.
“She’s a doctor but so is he. Guess it’s a match made in heaven,” Black snorted.
“Eye is a doctor?”
“Yeah. She’s a real one but Eirik has a Ph.D. in microbiology.”
“Seriously?”
“My boys might not be brilliant like Desi, but they’re not stupid,” Black said.
“You are not stupid, so I never expected them to be. It’s the microbiology part that I’m surprised about.”
“Why?” Black asked curiously.
“Eye doesn’t look like a microbiologist.”
Of course, Eye didn’t look like a damned scientist with his tats and long hair.
“What does he look like?” Black asked curiously and expected her to say bartender or bouncer or something like that.
“Not sure yet. An accountant maybe,” she said with a grin.
Black felt laughter quiver in his belly, but then three cars drove through the gates, and his brows went up.
“The hell are they doing here?” he muttered.
Cas squealed, and so did his sister and her friends. Or, the female part of her group of friends. The damned men were murmuring greetings and hugging Cas way to tightly if anyone were to ask him, which no one did.
“What are you doing here?” Black asked his sister, and she grinned up at him.
“Mom invited us. Said we’d have a party tonight.”