by Bella Andre
Would it be the same if he were touching her?
She’d never wanted to know an answer more. Which was why she made herself drop his hand and say, “I think you’re ready to put the next piece on yourself.” She prayed that her face wouldn’t give away just how much being close to him was affecting her as she added, “I can tell that you’re a natural.”
His eyes seemed to grow even darker. “If you believe in me, I won’t let you down.” He turned his focus back to the wall and, in one deft move, had the candy in place.
“It’s perfect.” But she wasn’t looking at the candy structure anymore. She couldn’t look away from his face.
“Cassie—” He stared at her, his eyes even darker now, a sinfully beautiful pool of blue from which she couldn’t look away.
Oh God, what was he going to say to her?
Her doorbell buzzed, utterly obliterating the moment. “Cassie,” a woman’s voice called out, “I need you to try on the dress again.”
“Lola’s here.” Cassie instinctively moved away from Flynn. Otherwise, her sister was bound to start imagining things about the two of them again.
All the things Cassie could no longer deny that she so badly wanted…
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lola and Ashley arrived together, as it turned out.
“Hello again, Flynn.” Yet again, Lola looked straight out of a fifties photo shoot, from her hair to her makeup and clothes. “We thought we might find you here.”
“How’s Ruby doing?” Ashley asked.
“Really well. She loves spending time with your mom.”
“Kevin was the same way as a baby. Even at ten, he loves spending time with his grandma. And he hasn’t stopped talking about Ruby. I’ve never seen him with a baby before. He obviously can’t resist her.”
“That’s because she’s irresistible,” Cassie put in.
“I agree that Ruby is the sweetest little girl—and I hate to interrupt our baby lovefest—but I’ve got a dress to finish.” She shot a look at Cassie. “Why are you still dressed?”
“Because I’m not going to try it on in here.”
“No need to be shy.” She winked at Flynn, then said, “After all, we’ve all seen you in your underwear.”
Barely stifling a groan, Cassie grabbed the dress from her sister and took it through to her office. Lola followed her, leaving Flynn and Ashley alone in the workshop.
“How is your screenplay coming along now that Mom is watching Ruby for a few hours in the morning?” Ashley asked.
He didn’t know what Cassie had told them about her participation in his project. “I’ve decided to start again from scratch. Cassie has agreed to help me, actually.”
Ashley raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know Cassie had gotten into the screenplay business.”
Though Cassie had told him that her sister liked him, he sensed a wariness in her statement, one he couldn’t fault. Cassie’s family should be wary of a guy like him.
“I’m fleshing out some new character studies.” He gestured to the half-built Town Hall. “It’s hard not to be inspired by what your sister does.” Even a cynic like him could almost believe that anything was possible when Cassie said it.
“She’s amazing,” Ashley agreed. She gestured to Cassie’s work in progress. “I can’t even begin to imagine how she does it.”
“She was actually letting me put some of the pieces on when you walked in.”
Ashley’s expression shifted from wary to downright shocked. “Are you telling me she let you not only touch her work, but actually help too?” When he nodded, she shook her head as though she couldn’t believe it. “She never lets any of us help. Not even Mom.”
He wasn’t surprised to hear that Cassie was possessive of her work. He was exactly the same way. This was the first time he had ever let anyone be a part of his process.
It was, he realized, not only that he was inspired by what she did. It was also that he trusted her.
Trusted her in a way he had never really trusted anyone else.
If that was how she felt about him too, he was humbled. And confused.
What could he possibly have done to earn that much of her trust?
“You must really be special, Flynn.”
“I’m not.”
“I had a feeling you were going to say that. But the thing is, my sister is a great judge of character. She was dead-on about Kevin’s worthless father and also about every one of the guys Lola has gone out with. Though I’m usually inclined to reserve judgment, if Cassie thinks you’re one of the good ones, I’m going to trust her.”
“Cassie and I don’t—”
He had been about to say they didn’t know each other very well, but it was a lie he couldn’t tell. They might not have known each other very long, but that didn’t diminish the strength of their connection.
A connection that, amazingly, was already stronger than any he’d ever had with anyone else.
“Cassie deserves the best,” he said. Flynn wanted Ashley to understand that he would never hurt her sister. That it was the very last thing he would ever want to do. “Someone worthy of her. Someone who understands how amazing she is. Someone who will support her in everything. Someone who will give her a family like the one you all have.”
“It doesn’t sound like you’re putting yourself in the running,” Ashley said. “Honestly, I find that pretty surprising.”
Despite how uncomfortable Flynn was with Ashley’s forthright comments, he couldn’t help but respect her for speaking her mind. Beth and Ethan Sullivan had raised their daughters in a way he hoped he could raise Ruby—to stand up for what they believed in, to support the people they loved, and not to back down from difficult discussions.
Though she hadn’t asked him a direct question, he knew she was expecting a response. “It’s an honor just to be Cassie’s friend and learn from her while I’m here.”
Raised voices sounded from the office, then Lola came into the workshop, dragging Cassie reluctantly behind her.
“Cassie thinks the dress is too revealing. What do you guys think?”
“You’re gorgeous.”
The words were out of Flynn’s mouth before he could stop them. Cassie was beautiful in her regular clothes. She’d been incredibly sexy when he’d walked in on her in her bra and panties. But in the silk and lace dress, with a dusting of sugar across her cheek and icing in her hair, she was breathtaking.
“See?” Lola looked victorious. “I told you my dress looks amazing. You’ve got to get over your need to swaddle yourself in aprons all the time, and let out the goddess you’ve been hiding.”
Cassie closed her eyes in obvious mortification. “I’m not hiding anything, Lola. I just don’t want to show up to the awards ceremony looking like I’m interested in getting a piece of anything other than cake.”
“The dress is elegant, Cassie,” Ashley agreed. “You don’t have anything to be worried about.”
“Do you think I would send you off in anything but my best?” Lola asked. “When you win—” She held up her hands to forestall Cassie’s protests that her win wasn’t a sure thing. “—and they release pictures of you with your trophy, everyone is going to look at those pictures and want to know who you’re wearing. And,” she added a beat later, “they’ll be impressed with your confection, of course.”
Though Cassie had looked like she wanted to strangle her sister earlier, now she just laughed. “I’m going to change out of this before I get it dirty.”
When Cassie left to change, Lola stayed behind this time. “I hope Ash was grilling you while we were gone.”
He shook his head, knowing it could have been much worse. “She went easy on me.”
“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Lola pinned him with a serious look. “We have sixty seconds before Cassie comes back. That’s just enough for me to tell you that if you do anything to hurt my sister, I will personally come hunt you down.”
He might be six foot four with
a black belt in karate, but he wouldn’t want to face down a furious Lola Sullivan. “I feel exactly the same way. If anyone ever hurt her…” Just thinking of it made his chest clench.
She nodded toward the flowers. “Looks like you’ve already realized that she’d much rather have flowers than diamonds.” She graced him with a smile. “I have high hopes for you.”
Cassie walked in on the tail end of Lola’s sentence, looking between the two of them. “What are you hoping for, Lola?”
“Ash and I have to run. Flynn will tell you.”
Thirty seconds later, they were alone again. Cassie studied his face. “They were saying embarrassing things, weren’t they?”
“No.” He envied her, having so many people in her corner—including him. After he left Bar Harbor, he’d do his best, even from afar, to make sure no one ever hurt her. “Your sisters are great.”
“I agree, they are. But that doesn’t mean they won’t stick their noses in where they don’t belong. What did they say to you?”
“Just that they want you to be happy.”
She obviously didn’t believe that was the full extent of it. “Please tell me they didn’t ask what your intentions toward me are?”
When he didn’t immediately deny it, she dropped her head into her hands and groaned.
“Cassie.” He moved closer so that he could move her hands away from her face. “They can see that I like you. A lot.” Even now, just holding her hands was enough to start a fire burning inside him. “And I think they can also see that I’m not goo—”
Her mouth was on his before he could finish his sentence. Soft and warm and oh so sweet.
When she drew back, her cheeks were flushed, and there was something akin to shock on her face.
“I didn’t mean to do that. I just couldn’t stand to hear you say you’re not good enough for me—and that was the fastest way I could think of to stop you. But I know better than to assume that you feel that way about me.”
She was about to take a step back when he put his hands on her shoulders to keep her close. “You know I damn well do. Hell, that kiss should have taken away any and all doubts. The chemistry that you and I have—it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt.” He’d never wanted anything so much in his life as he wanted to kiss her again. “But there are things you don’t know about me. Things no one knows.” Only his sister had known the truth, and she was gone now.
“One day,” Cassie said in a soft voice, “I hope you’ll feel that you can trust me enough to tell me those things and finally get them off your chest. But I don’t need to know anything more than what I see in your eyes when you’re with Ruby.” She had so much trust and faith in him, he was awed by it. “And when you’re looking at me the way you are right now, even if you obviously don’t think you should kiss me again.”
No one in Hollywood would have dared speak so plainly. But Cassie would never lie. He knew that with perfect certainty.
He lifted his hand to her cheek, stroking her skin with the tips of his fingers. “You’ve already given me so much more than I ever expected to find. You’re right that I can’t let myself kiss you again. But selfishly, I can’t help wanting to spend more time with you anyway.”
She looked like she was going to argue with him. But then she said only, “Given that I sprang that kiss on both of us, I think it might be wise to put it on a back burner for a little while. Besides, I’ve still got plenty to show you—if you’re still interested in learning about me for your research, that is.”
He’d forgotten all about his screenplay. What if he was as honest as she was? What if he told her his interest in learning about her had a million times more to do with simply wanting to be near her than it had to do with his work?
Instead, what came out of his mouth was, “What are you planning to show me next?”
Her smile widened. “The way I figure it, if you’re going to create a character inspired by me, you should experience the things that bring me the most joy. Will it work with Ruby’s nap schedule to come by the cabin at two p.m. tomorrow? I want to take you both to my favorite hiking trail.”
He was amazed, yet again, at how easily she was able to move from serious to smiling. Everyone he knew in LA loved to wallow in their tortured souls. Cassie hadn’t denied that he might indeed be tortured, but she didn’t spend much time focusing on it. Instead, she simply turned her attention back to joy. Just as she had from the moment he’d met her and she’d been so joyful when meeting Ruby.
“Two o’clock should work great.”
“Good. Now wash your hands again, and we’ll get back to work.”
Heat continued to linger in the wake of their spontaneous kiss—as did the weight of their subsequent conversation about it. And yet, there was still a Town Hall to be built from candy. It was nice to have something concrete, something solid and real, to focus on. And to have a reason to work beside Cassie for a little while longer.
“Here’s my building plan.” She slid over a detailed architectural drawing that showed how each piece fitted together. “You’ll probably still be working on your section of the wall by the time you head off to pick up Ruby, but I thought you would like to see how all the little pieces add up to make the whole.”
It was the second thing she’d said today that gave him pause. First, that one small move after another was all you really needed to get where you wanted to go. And now, a reminder that big things were usually made up of tiny little pieces.
She had a knack for making the scary seem not nearly as frightening. The impossible, possible.
He’d always thought big parts of him were irreparably broken, not only because of how he’d been raised, but also because of the countless lies he’d told to rise up out of the trash heap. For the first time, he wondered if it was possible to take one little step, and then another, and another, toward real happiness. And, if he was really stretching, love.
An eighties boy band singing about love broke through his musings.
Before he could ask, Cassie said, “I find pop music helps me when I’m working on something repetitive like this wall. The cheesier the better.” She shimmied her hips to the chorus, but her face was a picture of concentration as she laid in more candy along the top edge of the wall. “Do you ever listen to music while you’re working?”
He got to work alongside her. “Never.”
“That doesn’t sound like much fun.”
“Writing has rarely been fun for me.”
“Then why do you do it?”
“Because it’s the one thing I’m good at.”
She shot him a disbelieving look. “You’re good at kissing. Although, hopefully, you find that to be a heck of a lot more fun.”
His hand stilled over his piece of the candy wall. “Two things, then.” Though he knew it would be a very bad idea to kiss her again when he couldn’t offer her the perfect happy-ever-after that she deserved, he couldn’t resist adding, “You’re good at it too.”
She didn’t say anything else, but she didn’t need to.
Her smile said it all.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Flynn usually wrote in the afternoons. Now, however, afternoons were the time of day when Ruby was the most active. And he loved the time he spent with Ruby. Whether reading to her from the picture books he’d picked up at the library, or taking her for a walk in the woods, or heading down to the waterfront and splashing around with her—every moment was precious.
Sure, there were sometimes tears when she got hot, or tired, or needed a diaper change, but he admired how easily she could let her emotions out. Even as a very young child, he hadn’t been able to do that. Not when his parents had been so unpredictable. All his life, he’d hidden his true thoughts and feelings.
Until Cassie Sullivan came into his life…and started to turn everything inside him upside down.
Sitting on his lap, Ruby gave a huge yawn. It was seven p.m. and they were reading an interactive version of The Wheels on the Bus whe
re she could pull on paper tabs to make the wheels turn or the windshield wipers move. He’d never sung in front of anyone before, but with Ruby he was more than happy to sing the song as many times as she wanted him to.
“Are you ready for bed?”
She leaned against his chest and stuck her thumb in her mouth. In her other hand, she held her favorite stuffed elephant.
Flynn’s heart was so full that he was sure it must be close to bursting. “We’re going to have a big day out with Cassie tomorrow,” he told Ruby. “She’s going to take us hiking.”
At the sound of Cassie’s name, Ruby made a little happy sound. As though she was saying, I really like Cassie. We should see more of her.
Flynn felt the same way. The more of Cassie he could get into their lives, the happier he and Ruby would be.
He didn’t want to think of what it would be like when they were back in California and Cassie was nearly three thousand miles away. Honestly, he didn’t like to think about going back to LA at all—back to his expensive but charmless house, to friends who weren’t really friends, to a world where people lied to your face without a shred of guilt.
He was pulled out of his dark musings by the press of soft little lips against his. Ruby’s hands were on his cheeks, and she was staring into his eyes, looking wise beyond her years. And then she gave him the biggest, sweetest smile.
He smiled back—how could he not?—then kissed her. “You and Cassie have a lot in common. She always knows just what to do to make me smile when I’m acting like a grumpy donkey.”
Ruby wrapped her arms around his neck as he got up from the couch to take her to her crib. Though he’d love having her sleep in his room, he’d forced himself to put her into her own bedroom, which she’d been fine with. He was the one missing her, wishing he could wake up in the middle of the night and know that he wasn’t alone, that there was at least one person he could count on to be there with him in the morning, no matter what.
Gently, he laid her in her crib, tucking a soft blanket over her. “I love you, Ruby.”