Real Challenge (Atlanta #2) (2 page)

“May I return the favor?” He held out his hand for her phone and thumbed a few characters in. She laughed as she read his contact name: “
Imnotsure Whattosay
”.

She loved that he admitted his bewilderment rather than try to impress her again. Yep, there was more to Scott Merchant than she would have thought. Which was nice, because when he smiled, the only thing she wanted to do was kiss his dimple. Maybe at dinner she would.
 

Scott stayed at the party longer than the rest of the guests, but mostly because Cassie showed no signs of going and he had one beer too many to be comfortable driving. Wanting to stay longer surprised him. This was not his usual scene. The evening had been nice with nice guests, of course, but that normally would have bored him. Even the fighters Marcus knew weren’t the raucous crowd Scott would have expected.
 

He had no doubt, though, that everyone at the party noticed the most laughter came from himself and Cassie. The scene may have had the potential for boredom, but that wasn’t possible with Cassie Walker around. She probably brought life to wherever she was.
 

Even so, their chemistry was obvious, and he loved the challenge of dishing her attitude back to her. He found himself hoping that he stood out to her, too. She wasn’t throwing herself at him, but she wasn’t playing hard-to-get either. She was a riot and completely unlike his usual conquests. Either way, she made the whole party more fun, just by her presence.

When the last of the other guests left, Erin, Marcus, Cassie and Scott all sat at the little cafe table in the apartment. Since Scott was the newcomer to this group, they regaled him with tales of Marcus’s MMA fights and how Erin could only watch them with her eyes mostly covered. Cassie talked about her future career and how much she liked the medical assisting job she had while she was studying to be a full-fledged nurse.
 

Throughout the time snacking at the table and sipping their drinks, Scott noticed that Cassie’s attitude was not just a way of flirting. The bold persona was straight-up her, all the time.

“Ok, Marcus, so where’s all your stuff? Didn’t Erin let you bring anything with you?” Cassie obviously enjoyed teasing them every chance she got. “Geez, Erin, I didn’t realize you had my brother so whipped.”

“Shut up Cass,” Marcus smiled at his sister. “Lets see…the two plates I own are in the cupboard. I tossed my plastic silverware, but I did bring my fork and my steak knife. My whole armful of clothes are upstairs in the closet, and I almost burned that couch so no one would ever have to sleep on it again. I didn’t realize how uncomfortable that monstrous thing was until I had a real bed again. So, that pretty much covers my possessions. The furniture I left with George in case he wanted to let someone else stay in that little apartment.”

“Well, at least you got to bring the knife. What about your grill?”

Marcus smiled. “Out on the back patio.”
 

“Hey, speaking of sleeping on the couch,” Scott started. “I think I’ve had too many of these to drive home. You mind if I crash?”

He knew he shouldn’t be driving, and Cassie had been drinking at least as much as he had. He was glad to have an excuse to stay longer and have a chance to talk to her more.

“Go for it,” Marcus said. “Cass, you ok to drive?”

“Probably not,” she admitted, and then she turned and faced Scott with a wicked grin. “Last one to the couch gets stuck on the floor!”

He barely had time to react. He got up to jump toward the couch but she had already sprinted the five feet to the couch and literally dove across the arm, flipped in the air and landed butt-first ungracefully on the cushions. Scott was only a half step behind her and nearly crashed on top of her.
 

“Damn it!” he said, laughing at her sudden antics. “Can I at least have the chair?”

“I don’t care where you sleep, as long as I’m on the couch.” She grinned devilishly while Erin and Marcus laughed in the background.
 

“Ok,” Erin started, playing the final scene in her role of hostess for the evening. “There’s a bathroom under the staircase and extra sheets and pillows are in there in the linen closet. Help yourself to whatever you want. Same goes for the kitchen. Sorry for bugging out on you, but I’m worn out and I’m going to have to work tomorrow to make up for cleaning this place this afternoon. My supervisor can be a real jerk.”

Scott rolled his eyes at her and Cassie giggled at him as Marcus followed her upstairs.

Cassie and Scott were then left alone in the living room. Scott, like the rest of the evening, had no idea what to say to this hurricane of a woman. He was about to try some conversation when Cassie shouted up the steps, “I don’t want to hear any noises coming from up there!”

Instead of talking, he just laughed.
 

“What?” she asked innocently, talking more quietly as to not disturb her brother and Erin.

Scott matched her lower volume. “So how is it that you and Marcus grew up in the same house, as
twins
even, and are so different? He barely puts two words together. You practically don’t shut up,” he said, smiling.

“Ah, you noticed that I don’t shut up. Brilliant deduction,” she whispered playfully. “I think we’re different because of my dad. We both had it rough from that bastard, Marcus even worse than me. It let me see things as they really are. There’s a lot of crap, but you can choose to get past it. I see life after evil as beautiful and fun, but Marc got stuck with rage. It’s gotten a lot better since Erin, though. She’s perfect for him.”

“Yeah, I saw him beat down some asshole from our office. He was like an animal. But I saw him calm down because she asked him to. Erin’s great. Did you know I asked her out when she first started working at our office? I wasn’t her boss at the time so I thought I could get away with it.”

Cassie about choked from that comment. “Are you serious!?”

“Yeah. She was about as impressed with my pick up lines as you were,” he said, laughing at her reaction.
 

“I knew she was smart,” Cassie said with a big grin.

Scott noticed that her grin never really left her face. She honestly found fun in everything. He realized she was not just pretty in the physical sense. She was obviously very attractive physically, as well, but her positive energy drew him in completely.
 

He watched Cassie get up and pull two pillows and blankets out of the linen closet. She tossed one pillow and blanket over to Scott and tossed the other set to the couch. She walked over and dropped herself in the middle of the couch. Scott made a big show of trying to arrange the blanket and pillow on the chair to get comfortable, but made a bigger show of just how uncomfortable the chair was. The chair, of course, was plenty comfortable, but he was fishing for an invitation to join her on the couch. When his little scene didn’t work, he went for another tactic.

“Want a rematch on that race?” he asked.

“Not a chance, but you can sit here for a while if you promise not to whine about the chair,” she teased. “Nice performance by the way.”

“Scoot over,” Scott said, laughing that she called him out yet again.
 

“No,” said Cassie with that grin.

Oh, how he loved a challenge. “What if I made you?”

“Oh, please. You can try…” she said with a bigger grin, bracing herself in her spot.
 

Cassie tried to only whisper her squeal when Scott threw a strong shoulder under her arm and picked her up a bit with the other. He got her completely to the end of the couch, almost up on the arm of it.

“Victory,” he said smugly.
 

The two were laughing on the couch when Cassie turned to him and said abruptly, “What’s the best part of a first date?” She asked like it was a test question.
 

He liked where this could be going. Without hesitation, he said, “Easy. The kiss goodnight.”
 

“Very good, Scott. There’s hope for you yet. And this dinner you asked me to…it’s a date, right?”

“That’s what I intended, yes.”

“So lets skip to the goodnight kiss and have dinner some other time. I don’t feel like waiting.”

His eyebrows went up at her blunt request. He half laughed at the suggestion, completely caught off guard and unsure if she was serious. Then he realized exactly how serious she was when she moved over on the couch, straddled his lap, sat tall on her knees, leaned down, and kissed him deeply.
 

Hell. Yes.
 

Cassie felt his hands move around her waist while she kissed him. She held on to his face with both hands while she moved her tongue around his. She held his face firmly so he would stay exactly how she wanted him. She could tell from his reaction that he’d never let a woman take the lead like this. Setting him off balance again made the moment that much sweeter.
 

She felt him kiss back as much as he could with her holding him in place. She kissed him like that for a few minutes allowing him more freedom of movement as the kiss progressed in intensity. She could tell from his movements that he was very aroused. Score one for Cassie.
 

She was the one who broke the kiss. She let her legs ease downward and her bottom sank down to sit on his thighs. “That was adequate,” she said in an unimpressed whisper with a half-shrug of her shoulder. That kiss had been nothing short of amazing, but she enjoyed playing with him way too much to start gushing over him now.

“Adequate?” Scott whispered laughing. “I guess that’s better than disappointing. Do I get another try? I think I can improve.”

She grinned and nodded. She started to lean into him and was completely shocked when he held her back and gave her a scolding look.

“Stop.” He said this like a school teacher. “If I’m going to do better, I have to show you all my best moves. I’m sure they’ll work better than my pick up lines.”

Cassie was now laughing outright at his playfulness. God, he really didn’t seem to be bothered by her brash confidence. If anything, the worse she got the more he wanted to play along. His dimple was no longer the most attractive thing about him. She may have met her match in this guy. “Ok, where do you need me? Do I get to stay on your lap?”

“No, you have to stand up. If this is our first goodnight kiss after a date, you have to pretend I’m dropping you off at your door. You have to be feeling all awkward and nervous because you’re not sure if I’m going to kiss you or not.”

“Of course you’re going to kiss me. I was
delightful
on our date,” she said while standing up for him, completely amused by his little scenario.

“Oh, obviously. What was I thinking? So, you
know
I’m going to kiss you. Now shut up and let me.”

Scott stood up facing her, took her hands in his, and said romantically, “I had a really nice time tonight. You were
delightful
on our date.” This got a giggle out of Cassie, but she quickly collected herself so he could continue. She tried to look like she was in the moment. He took one of his hands and moved his palm up slowly to her face, and looked at her deeply. He moved his hand to brush her hair slowly away from her cheek, and he was almost ready to move in for the seductive kiss. She busted out laughing.

“God, do your dates really swoon over that?” she could barely keep her voice at a whisper.
 

He threw his hands up in the air. “I give up.” He was smiling in spite of himself.

“No…don’t give up! Keep going. I’ll behave. I’ll even swoon if your ego needs it.”

“Nope, you killed the moment. Now I’m just going to throw you down and kiss you because I want to, first date or not.”

He knocked her back on the couch, pushed his way over top of her and kissed her like he wanted to. It was full and lusty, no romance involved. When he finally pulled away, all Cassie said was, “A+”.

“Want to pretend that race ended in a tie?” Scott asked with a small, dimpled grin. Cassie just nodded and scooted sideways into the back of the couch so Scott could settle in beside her.

Scott woke up a little cramped from sharing the couch, but Cassie was thoroughly wrapped in his arms and he felt victorious. He was just getting started with her. She would be an interesting conquest to say the least.

 
He laughed a little when he heard her snore softly against his chest, and the temptation was too much to resist. She had already proven that she knew how to play. What could it hurt?

“Cassie!” he quietly barked out, causing her to jolt awake. He laughed at the surprised look on her face. “I’m so sorry,” he said, barely able to contain his laughter. “I just couldn’t help myself.”

“Not cool,” Cassie said groggily, laughing right along with him. “You’re not supposed to be more obnoxious than I am.”

“Is that a dare?” Scott just turned further toward her and dug his fingers into her sides to tickle her relentlessly. They were both in a fit of laughter when Marcus groaned a loud, sleepy “shut up down there” from the upstairs bedroom. “Some of us are trying to sleep.”

This just served to make Cassie and Scott laugh harder, but they tried to whisper their laughter more quietly. They settled back down into the couch with Scott on his back and Cassie tucked in on her side between him and the back cushions. He felt her head resting on his chest and he kept his arm around her.
 

“So,” Scott said. “How was the privilege of sleeping next to me?”

In her best impression of Scarlet O’Hara, Cassie said, “Oh, it was the best night in the history of my forever. Songs will be written and minstrels will sing of our story…”
 

“You’re a snot, you know that.”

“Of course I do. You think I don’t practice at it? If there was an Olympic event in smart-ass, I’d win gold.”

“That I believe,” Scott said honestly, but still with a smile.

“Ok, all kidding aside. I’ve never met an Olympian before. When did you compete?”

He couldn’t believe that she wanted to hear about his swimming after blowing him off so completely the night before. Still, from what he learned since then, she was a genuine person. She obviously cared a lot about her brother and Erin. It wasn’t such a stretch to imagine her being interested in people as more than just targets for her enjoyment. He smiled at the thought of her playing with him last night, but he still was glad to have the chance to tell her about competing in the games.