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But this was no fairy tale. Jack wasn’t hers, any more than Noah or Ellie were. Cass rose quietly from her chair, putting the book back in its place, and walked out of the room, leaving Jack to draw the covers over his sleeping child.
The air in the kitchen was cool on her face. She stacked the dishwasher and tidied up, then heard a noise at the doorway.
‘Oh! You surprised me.’ Despite all of her efforts to bring herself back to reality, Jack still looked like a handsome prince. ‘How’s Mimi?’
He nodded. ‘Very drowsy, and a bit incoherent at times, but that’s just to be expected. She’s doing well. Thanks for looking after Ellie.’
‘It’s no trouble. How about you—are you okay?’
‘I’m fine.’ Cass sent him a querying look and he flashed her a smile. ‘Really.’
Cass nodded, picking up a cloth and giving the worktop a second wipe. Jack didn’t move and the silence weighed down on her, full of all the things they’d left unsaid.
‘Would you like a pizza princess? There are some left over in the fridge. They don’t actually look too much like princesses...’ She was babbling and closed her mouth before anything too crazy escaped.
‘I’d like to thank you—for what you said the other night.’
When she turned, the warmth in Jack’s eyes seemed more like heat now. Delicious heat.
‘I’ve been re-evaluating. Giving the believing thing a try.’
Something caught in her throat. ‘H... How’s that going?’
‘It’s...different.’ His gaze dropped to the floor. ‘Can I believe in you, Cass?’
She didn’t know how to answer that. But it definitely needed an answer. She touched his hand and he gripped hers tight, pulling her towards him.
‘I want you to know...’ He shook his head as if trying to clear it. ‘I didn’t ask you here for this.’
‘Anything can be re-evaluated.’
For a moment they were both still. As if the next move would be the deciding one, and neither quite trusted themselves to make it.
‘I can’t promise you anything, Cass. I’m not the man you want...’
He was exactly the man she wanted. No lies, no strings and none of the attendant heartbreak. He was saying all the right things, and making her feel all the right things too.
‘Then we’re even. I won’t promise anything either.’
It was all either of them needed to know. There was no need to hide any more, and the air was electric with whispered kisses.
Then more. Much more, until the kitchen was no longer the place to be and the bedroom was the only place in the world.
They tiptoed up the stairs in an exaggerated game of having to be quiet. Jack looked in on Ellie, closing her bedroom door, and then turned to Cass.
‘Asleep?’ She allowed her lips to graze his ear.
‘Fast asleep.’ He led her to his own bedroom and as soon as he’d shut the door behind them, he pulled her close. ‘Be quiet, now...’
That wasn’t going to be easy. His kiss was just the start of it, and when his hand found her breast Cass swallowed a moan.
‘Keep that up and I’ll be screaming...’ The thought of being in his arms, all the things that he might do, made her want to scream right now.
‘No, you won’t.’ His body moved against hers, his arm around her waist crushing her tight so that she could feel every last bit of the friction. ‘You’re not going to have breath enough to scream.’
She could believe that. Cass fought to get her arms free of his embrace and pushed him backwards towards the bed. He resisted the momentum, imprisoning her against his strong body. ‘Oh, no, you don’t...’
Cass relaxed in his arms, letting herself float in his kisses. Balancing her weight against him, curling her leg slowly around his.
