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Oh, hell no. He wasn’t going to just let her be mad and not tell him what was going on. More than that, did she really believe he’d just leave her when she was this upset?
His hand smacked against the door as she tried to close it. “I’m coming in.”
Cassie stepped back and let him pass. Emily sat in her Pack ’n Play and chattered with a stuffed horse, oblivious to the world around her.
“I need to get Emily ready for bed.” Cassie maneuvered around him and picked up Emily. “I may be a while.”
Code for “I’m going to take my time and let you worry.” That was fine; he had no intention of going anywhere.
If Cassie was gearing up for a fight, he was ready. Seeing her pain, masked by anger, had a vise gripping his heart, and he cared too much about her to just brush her feelings aside.
Ian glanced around the somewhat tidy living area and started picking up toys before he thought better of it. He tossed them into the Pack ’n Play; then he folded the throw and laid it on the back of the sofa, neatened the pillows and took a plate and cup into the kitchen and placed them in the dishwasher.
By the time he’d taken a seat on the couch, he found himself smiling. Where had this little domestic streak come from? He hadn’t even thought twice about helping Cassie, and not just because she was angry. He found himself wanting to do things to make her life easier.
Ian had no clue what had happened with her life before he’d come along, but he knew she was divorced and assumed the ex had done a number on her.
Well, Ian intended to stick this out, at least for as long as he was here. He would make her smile again, because she deserved nothing less.
* * *
Cassie wasn’t jealous. Just because she’d heard Ian and Lily had had dinner didn’t mean a thing. Really.
But that green-eyed monster reared its ugly head and reminded Cassie that she’d fallen for a cheating man once before.
On the other hand, what hold did she have over Ian? He wasn’t staying and he’d never confessed his undying love to her. But she’d seen his eyes last night, she’d seen how he looked at her, and she’d experienced lovemaking like she never had before. How could he deny that they’d formed an unspoken bond?
Cassie quickly dried off Emily and got her dressed in her footed bunny pajamas. After giving her a bottle and rocking her gently, Cassie began to sing.
This was the time of night she enjoyed most. Just her and her precious baby girl. Cassie might sing off-key, she might even get an occasional word wrong, but Emily didn’t care. She just reached her little hands up and patted Cassie’s hand or touched her lips.
They had a nightly ritual and just because Ian was out in her living room didn’t mean she would change her routine. Before Emily fell asleep in her arms, Cassie laid her in her crib, giving her a soft kiss on her forehead, then left the room.
Cassie took a moment to straighten her tank and smooth her hair over her shoulders before she started down the hallway. As she entered the living room, she noticed that Ian was reclined on her sofa, head tilted back, eyes closed, with his hands laced across his abdomen. He’d picked up the toys and neatly piled them in the Pack ’n Play in the corner.
No. She didn’t want that unwelcome tumble of her heart where this man was concerned. She couldn’t risk everything again on the chance that he could love her the way she loved him.
Tears pricked her eyes as she fully confessed just how much she did love this man. But he could never know.
Her feet shuffled over the hardwood floors, and Ian lifted his lids, his gaze seeking hers.
“Thank you for picking up,” she told him, still standing because she intended to show him out the door.
Shifting to fully sit up, Ian patted the cushion beside him. “Come here, Cassie.”
She didn’t like being told what to do, but she wasn’t going to act like a teenager who pouted over a boy, either.
She was a big girl, but that didn’t exempt her from a broken heart.
Taking a seat on the opposite end of the couch, she gripped her hands in her lap. “What do you want, Ian? I don’t have time for games.”
His eyes locked on to hers. “I don’t play games, Cassie, and I have no idea what you’re so upset about.”
Of course he didn’t. Neither had her ex when he’d cheated.
She eased back against the arm of the sofa and returned his stare. “Do you know why I’m divorced?”
Ian shook his head and slid his arm along the back of the couch as if to reach for her.
“My husband got tired of me,” she told him, tamping down the sliver of hurt and betrayal that threatened to make her vulnerable. Never again. “The whole marriage-baby thing was cramping his style. Apparently he’d been cheating on me for most of our marriage and I was too naive and dumb to realize it. You see, I assumed that when we took our vows they meant something to him.”
