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She squinted at him. “What are you thinking?”
He grinned. “I want to go home with you and Ellie. Your couch sounds much better than this party.”
Cassie coughed and her face turned bright red.
The couch.
Shit.
“I didn’t mean… Not that I minded… I mean I enjoyed… I wasn’t implying that—”
“Oh my God. Please. Stop.” Cassie pulled her hand away, covering her face.
“Let me take you home,” he offered. “I’ll stay off the couch, if that helps.”
Behind her hands, Cassie groaned. “I already called an Uber.”
“Cancel. Or better yet, let one of these other people use it.” Gently, he pried her hands away from her still flushed face. “Let me take you home. I want to see Ellie too.” He played dirty. Cassie would never deny him access to their daughter.
She sighed. “Fine, but I’m going outside. If my Uber shows up before you say goodbye to your date, I’m leaving without you.”
* * *
As the cool night air washed over her flushed face, Cassie sighed. The Patels’ house had been too hot, the air almost suffocating. Of course, that probably had more to do with the abundance of bodies than the actual house. Well, if she were being honest, it was more the crowd and Ryan’s comment about her couch being better than the party. Of course he hadn’t meant their half-conscious hookup, but her under-sexed imagination had gone straight to the memory of her orgasm tearing through her as she rode him to release. She’d hoped they could move on with their lives without ever mentioning the incident again. Apparently, the universe didn’t have the same plan.
Within minutes, the front door opened, laughter and chatter spilling into the night before Ryan pulled the wooden door shut behind him. “You ready?”
She checked her watch, then raised a brow. “That didn’t take long. I thought your date would try harder to keep you.”
“She’s not my date.” His hand pressed into the small of her back, ushering her down the slate walkway toward his waiting truck.
Warmth spread from the spot just above her jeans, through her chest.
“I told her my daughter was sick and I need to go check on her,” he continued, oblivious to the way his touch caused Cassie’s nerves to riot.
When they reached his truck and he removed his hand to open the door for her, she finally released her pent-up breath. “You told her you have a daughter?”
With one hand on the door handle, he stopped and looked down at her. “Of course I did. Why does that surprise you?”
She lifted her shoulder. “Just seems easier to get laid if you don’t advertise your fertility.” She smirked at him.
Speechless, he stared at her, studying her face as if trying to figure out what the hell to do with her. As far back as she could remember, Ryan had looked at her with that same confusion.
“What?” Glancing at her reflection on the side of his truck, she tried to see what had captured his attention.
Blinking, he stepped away. “Nothing.” He opened the door, helping her into her seat. “It just occurred to me, when I tell women I have a daughter, it endears me to them, but when you tell men…”
“Yeah.” The knowledge she came as a package deal rarely served as a turn on—at least for the men she’d met so far, which, thank God, hadn’t been many. “What’s your point?” She snapped the words out harsher than she’d intended.
Wincing, he shook his head. “Just an observation.”
Feeling like a bitch, she opened her mouth to apologize, but he’d already closed the door and jogged around the hood to the driver’s side. They sat in silence as he started the truck, then pulled onto the road.
Finally, he released a heavy sigh. “Not all guys feel that way about kids, you know.”
Curious, she shifted in her seat to study his profile as he drove. His shaggy hair fell over his forehead just above one dark brow. Intensity shown in the hard set of his square jaw.
“I know,” she conceded. “You wouldn’t hold it against a woman, but most men assume I’m looking for a long-term commitment from the first date. Like instead of wanting a boyfriend, I’m auditioning fill-in dads for my daughter.”
