Desired in December (Spring River Valley Book 12) (9 page)

“Cass, I want you
.”

She nodded, suddenly desperate to shed her clothes. God, she’d missed this, missed the
way they’d been with each other, young and eager and insatiable. Cassie wondered, as she reached for his belt buckle, what everyone would say if they knew the town matchmaker had only ever had one lover and that after she’d lost him, she’d stopped looking for anyone else.

“We shouldn’t do this
.” He practically gasped, pulling back from her suddenly.

Her heart lurched. “What? What do you—”

“Not here, not like this. We should do this right.”

She tilted her head back, smiling but frustrated by his sudden attack of propriety. “
So let’s get out of here.”

“We can’t go to my place
. My parents will ambush us. You don’t still live with your parents, do you?”

“Of course not. My place is on
Morris Court.”

“That’s five minutes away, let’s go.”

Having regained some use of her legs, Cassie ducked out of his embrace and headed for the kitchen. Halfway there, James grabbed her hand and spun her around to face him. “I love you, Cassie. I always have.” His voice broke, and Cassie’s heart thudded. The emotions would be too much if they gave in to them now. If they didn’t keep moving, she knew they’d both drown.

“I love you
, too, and I never stopped. Let’s get out of here.”

* * * *

The ride to Cassie’s apartment passed in a blur, but once they stepped into her bedroom, time crystallized into a moment that James wished would never end.

He had
won her back. The woman he never should have allowed himself to lose was back in his life and in his arms. The ultimatum she’d given him at her shop may have frightened her with its intensity, but it thrilled him. All or nothing was the easiest choice in the world for him right now and one he’d be happy to make the same way every day for the rest of his life.

Everything was perfectly clear now, and he saw exactly what his future needed to be when he looked into her eyes. She was his Cassie, unique, exotic, perfectly beautiful, strong and independent
, and willing to give all of herself to something she believed in.

And she was finally his.

They fell onto her bed, a tangle of limbs and half-removed clothing. He stripped off his T-shirt and flung it to the floor then set to work on the fly of her jeans. He growled in frustration as she writhed beneath him, and the tight buttons eluded his anxious grasp. “Hold still, I can’t get this open!”

“Bite it off!” she ordered, bucking her hips.

He laughed as he tried to still her movements. “It’s a brass rivet, I’ll break a tooth.”

She growled back, and tore at the fly with fingers much more nimble than his. Next she wiggled out of the tight-fitting denim, setting him aflame as she revealed her body to him.

There was just not going to be time to finesse this, he decided, diving upon her. He had to have her now, fast and hard, all or nothing, and then later, when he could control the wanting that had been bottled up for so long, he’d take his time with her and remind her of all the sweet, sexy things they used to do to each other.

“
Uh-oh.” She froze suddenly, just as James set his sights on the lacy edge of her pink panties.

He stopped, poised to continue at her slightest encouragement. “What?”

“Condoms. I don’t know where— Oh, wait, I do know where they are.”

“Thank God.”

She pushed him aside and scrambled off the bed to rummage in the top drawer of her bureau. A second later she produced what appeared to be a light blue polka-dotted condom, its wrapper attached to a crepe paper streamer.

“Wow,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Didn’t know you were into the kink.”

“Sorry, it’s left over from a bachelorette party I catered back in March. You think it’s still good?”

He wanted to say it was good enough, but the gentleman in him protested. “I can run to Krest’s and grab a
new box.”

“Krest’s closed. The
nearest drug store is National over on Route 12.” Cassie eyed the party favor, and after a moment’s hesitation, she shrugged. “This will do, for now.”

“Thank God.” He held out his arms
, and she fell into them.

When she looked up at him, the question in her eyes gave him pause. “James, just to be clear…”

“What?”

“You’re home. Forever. You’re here and you’re mine and you’re not going anywhere.”

Grinning, he snatched the condom from her hand and rolled her over, pinning her beneath him. “Just to be clear, Sassy Cassie Hall, yes. I’m home and I’m yours For. Ever.”

The Sunday morning sunshine turned the streaks of lighter blond in James’s hair to brilliant gold, and Cassie found herself staring, transfixed, unable to believe this magnificent man had spent the
night in her bed in the flesh, and not just in her fevered dreams.

She blushed at the thought that her fantasies of this impossible reunion paled in comparison to reality. In some ways, their lovemaking had been comfortable and familiar, something right that had been missing from her life for so long, and in other ways it had been like being with someone new. He was broader in places, more narrow in others, gentler as though he was afraid he might hurt her, and more demanding, like he’d learned a few things
, and she didn’t want to think about whom he might have learned from. He was hers now, hers again, and there would never be anyone else. There would never need to be.

She decided she had to slip out of bed quietly to avoid waking him and demanding a repeat performance of everything they’d done last night.
As she carefully slid one leg toward the edge of the bed, she noticed his upper lip twitch. Her gaze fixed on his mouth, she froze, hoping it was nothing more than the reaction to a pleasant dream, but after a few seconds, his skillful lips formed into a wicked smile. “You’re awake, you!”

He burst out laughing. “How could I sleep with you inspecting me like I’m a side of beef? I’ll have you know, I’m more than just a pretty face and a superhot body.”

In response, Cassie launched herself on top of him and silenced his false indignation with a deep kiss. When she broke for air, he regarded her from under half-closed eyelids, his body hardening beneath hers.

“Well, that’s one way to shut me up.”

“I can think of a few more.”

He groaned and rolled her beneath him. The friction of skin on skin drove her wild. She decided for the tenth time at least since they’d dived beneath the sheets last night, that she was never leaving this bed. She had five lonely years to make up for
, and she planned to do so from now until they wore each other out.

“You’ve got some more of those polka dot condoms, right?” he whispered while nibbling her ear lobe and inching his fingers along her inner thigh.

Distracted by lust, she nodded absently and pointed toward the bureau. “Oh, wait.”

He froze again, a question in his eyes.

She cringed. “We used half a dozen already, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, and I
was
actually counting.”

“I only had six left. Don’t you have any?”

He sighed dramatically and rolled to one side to let her up. “I don’t normally bring them to work with me. But…life lesson. I guess I should from now on, just in case the sexy lady I work for invites me back to her place for some
overtime
.”

She straddled him. “As long as I’m that lady.”

“Deal. So what would you like me to work on?”

“Oohh…” She bit her lip in anticipation of all the things they could manage to accomplish even without a condom. An electronic trill from beneath the bed derailed her naughty thoughts
, though. “Ah, I guess you should probably start by answering your phone.” They both lunged over the side of the bed to retrieve James’s pants. He searched through the denim to find his cell phone, which buzzed insistently in the front pocket.

“It’s
my
mother
,” he whispered, mouthing the last word. “What do I tell her?”

Cassie winked. “That you’re working
overtime
?”

James responded with a sly grin and answered the call. He had texted his family last night not to expect him home, but it didn’t surprise Cassie that Joanna Galloway would be looking for her son this morning. Five years of worrying about him night and day had left her a little hyper
-sensitive according to James.

“Hi, Mom,” he said, making an agonized face as Cassie slipped from the bed and wrapped herself in a lavender satin robe. While he explained to his mother that he didn’t plan on being home for Sunday breakfast, Cassie padded into the kitchen, intent on showing him another of the many skills she’d honed in his absence.

* * * *

After extricating himself from an awkward conversation with his mother and shimmying back into his underwear and jeans, James traced Cassie’s path from the bedroom to her kitchen.

He found her there, a blond goddess wrapped in shimmery drapes of a sexy robe, presiding over eggs already frying in a pan, toast already buttered on two plates, and coffee already brewing next to the stove. He’d never expected to be this lucky. The woman who owned his heart was not only drop-dead gorgeous and so sexy it hurt, she possessed a calm control over her busy, successful life that left him in awe.

“You look like one of those TV chefs,” he said, sidling up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and planted a kiss on her cheek.

“I don’t think too many of them cook wearing a bathrobe and nothing else.”

“Who needs a bathrobe?” he said
, reaching for the loosely tied belt.

She playfully slapped his hands away. “Stop distracting me. Go sit down
, and I’ll bring you a plate in a minute. I hope you’re hungry.”

“You’re just trying to fuel me up so you can have your way with me again, aren’t you?” he asked, reluctantly crossing the room to take a seat at her small table.

“Of course I am.” She poured glasses of juice and stirred the sizzling eggs. “How’s your mom?”

“She’s all right. I’ve got to get a place of my own very soon.”

In response to that, Cassie mumbled something through an experimental bite of the eggs.

“What?”

“I said, you could move in here.”

He stared at her
, and the color drained from her pleasantly pink cheeks. “Forget that,” she said. “I’m…that was the still-half-asleep me talking. It’s too soon to go crazy, isn’t it?” She bit her bottom lip in that sexy way that made his heart beat hard enough to jump out of his chest. Could she really have meant it?

“Too soon for crazy? How about too late for sane? I’m all for any plan that has you and me together in the same space, but I don’t want to rush you or crowd you or do anything that’s going to put pressure on us that we aren’t ready for.”

She nodded, her head bobbing in a way that told him she wasn’t entirely sure what she was saying. James jumped up and went to her, taking her hands in his.

“I just mean, I don’t want to do anything to screw this up.” He didn’t add that he might have proposed at that moment if he thought it was the exact right thing to do, but the last thing he wanted was to barrel headlong into something without being sure they were both completely ready.

She kissed him and rubbed a thumb along his lower lip. “It’s okay. I understand. We’re going to do everything right.”

He raised her fingertips to his mouth and kissed them, one at a time. “Everything. Now, about my family, I sort of told my mom I’d be bringing you by today.”

“What? She knows you spent the night here? Oh, my God.”

“It’s okay. I told her we spent the whole night talking.” He feigned a look of complete clueless innocence.

Cassie moaned. “Because she was born yesterday?”

“Don’t worry. She’s thrilled. She loves you
, and she can’t wait to see you.”

“Okay. It’s fine. I can do this.” After a beat, Cassie buried her face in her hands.

“You don’t have to work today, do you?”

She shook her head. “Not until tonight. I’ve got to make dog biscuits for Taylor’s clinic.”

“Oh, yum.” James made a face.

“You can help.”

He looked around the kitchen, which was overstocked with supplies for her business. He hoped most of the items would end up in her shop soon. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“What?” She casually stirred the eggs again, then moved around him to retrieve jars of jam from the fridge along with a pitcher of cream and a bowl of raw sugar for the coffee.

“All this. I talked to a lot of people at the party, and apparently everyone in town knows you. They call you the Cupcake Girl, or the matchmaker. It’s like you created this little empire all by yourself.”