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“Ryan McLeod . . . is that you?”
Cassie’s gaze darted to a spot over his shoulder, and her eyes narrowed. He turned to the woman behind him. Though vaguely familiar, he couldn’t place her face. He scanned the cream coat she wore cinched at her tiny waist. The garment concealed her body, but Ryan had studied enough female bodies to guess she’d have just enough curves to be seen as feminine but not enough to dare suggest she had an ounce of fat on her. Her blonde hair hung shiny and straight down her back, a few strands framing her angular face.
“It is,” he replied. “Have we met?”
Her mouth fell open as her blue eyes darted away. Behind him, Cassie made a choking sound. He glanced at her over his shoulder.
Shaking her head, Cassie took Ellie’s hand. “Let’s go get those marshmallows. Nice to see you again, Lana.”
Lana. Fuck! Lana.
They’d dated some in high-school, but that had been over a decade ago. Last he’d heard, she’d gone to school in Florida and never came back.
Once Cassie reached Ellie, standing by the s’mores cart with a stick in her hand, he turned to Lana. She stared fixedly at his daughter and her mother.
“You married Cassie Starnes? Of course.”
His stomach twisted as he shook his head. No. Cassie didn’t belong to him by law or vows, just in his heart.
Lana’s gaze swung to him. “The little girl, she’s your mini-me.”
He smiled, glancing over his shoulder at Ellie who supervised Cassie as she pushed the marshmallow onto the stick. He wanted to be over there, helping Ellie as she roasted her first marshmallow.
“She’s my daughter,” he clarified. “But Cassie and I have never been married.” After that first rejection, he hadn’t asked again, especially when she hadn’t so much as flirted with him in the past five excruciating years.
“You’re just, what? Together but not married? After what Levi did to her, I guess I could see her being skittish.”
Ryan’s fists clenched at the mention of the bastard who’d hurt Cassie. The man she would’ve married, if he hadn’t screwed up. And where would that have left Ryan? With no Ellie. No Cassie.
“We’re just . . . friends. We raise our daughter together, but we’re not . . .”
A smile curved Lana’s lips, reminding him of the wicked things she used to do with her mouth.
“Since you’re not together –”
The sound of laughter from the fire pit drowned out Lana’s voice. Glancing over his shoulder, he found Ellie’s face covered in sticky, white marshmallows. Next to her, Cassie threw her head back, exposing the smooth, soft skin of her throat as she hooted.
“Mommy,” Ellie chastised, but could hardly speak through her own giggles.
Ryan grinned in response. Turning back to Lana he said, “Sorry, if you’ll excuse me. I probably need to go help with that. Good to see you again.”
“I’ll be in town through New Year’s. Maybe we could hang out,” she called after him.
Waving a hand in acknowledgement, he jogged away from the other woman and toward his whole world. Ellie and Cassie’s laughter had died down, but the sound still reached his ears as he approached. “What did you do?”
Ellie looked up at him, her little face still shining with melted sugar. Her grin gripped his heart. Everyone claimed Ellie resembled him, but only because they didn’t know Cassie the way he did. When Ellie smiled at him like this, with her face filled with happiness and unconditional, innocent love, he remembered the way Cassie had looked at him before lust confused everything.
Cassie put her hand under Ellie’s chin and cleaned the last of the mess away. “There.” She kissed Ellie on the forehead and straightened.
Her gaze met his and her lips tilted up in a polite smile. He wanted to kiss her then. Just take her mouth with his and devour her, but of course, he couldn’t do that.
“Lana leave?” She crossed her arms over her chest, oblivious of the direction of his thoughts.
Nodding, he zeroed in on a piece of marshmallow on Cassie’s bottom lip. As he slid his thumb over the soft skin, she held her breath, swallowing when he sucked the sugar from the tip of his thumb.
“Got it.” His voice was low, guttural. Desperate.
Cassie watched him from dark, stormy eyes. “Th . . .” She cleared her throat. “Th . . . thank you.”
