AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Cassie. Stop.”
25
CATAPULTING AND HURLING
JOSH
The dumbass bouncer grabs Cassie's arm. He's Billie's cousin. Otherwise, I'd have fired his hick ass long ago. She yanks herself free of his grasp and catapults herself forward.
I hear him call her a bitch under his breath, and if I weren't so worried about her, I'd have stopped long enough to kick his ass. That will have to keep, but trust me, I won't forget it. He doesn't need to treat any woman like that, especially mine.
Yeah, I still think of her as mine. I suppose I always will.
Cassie stumbles to the curb and drops onto it, straight on her ass, elbows on her knees, head hanging.
Forgoing stealth for speed, I hasten to reach her. She turns her head slightly, looks at my boots—does she recognize them?—then turns back to staring at the asphalt and pebbled excuse of a parking lot.
Seconds later, Billie's calling me. I wish she'd quit acting like she's my damned mother. Or even my big sister. She keeps calling my name. Persistent.
I grunt and more or less tell her to go away. I was probably gruffer than I needed to be but damn, like I said, persistent.
I turn back to Cassie and try to talk to her, but before we can even begin a conversation, she's puking all over the parking lot, herself, my boots.
After that bout, a sob is wrenched from her, and she begins to cry. I'm talking ugly cry.
Of course, I help her. I take her to my dump of a place and help her into the shower. Even with raccoon eyes from her makeup and with her hair hanging all stringy-like and tears staining her cheeks, she's hands down the most beautiful woman in the world—
Ah hell. Now she's making moves that no man could resist. Not even a superhuman one. And I'm damned far from superhuman.
26
FIREWORKS AND REVELRY
CASSIE
Of course, Josh is stopping me.Billie. He’s got someone.Even though he said she was no one.
“You’ve been drinking, Cass. I don’t want to—”
“I’m fine.” And oddly enough, I am. I don’t feel drunk. Maybe vomiting everything up helped. Maybe the passage of time helped. Who knows. “You didn’t stop me last week, on the boat.” I feel bad for saying that, but jeez.
Okay, maybe I don’t feel bad.
He doesn’t respond to my catty remark, instead he pulls on my skirt, tugging it over my hips. It doesn’t want to give. That’s when he unzips it. Thank goodness. I mean damn, I have hips. There was no way it was going over these hips without being unzipped.
Now I’m in panties and a bra. And it’s Josh. And drinking or not, vomit breath or not, I want him. I need him. I breathe him. I can’t live without him. It’s Josh.
He stands up, crumples the skirt into a ball, and tosses it into a corner. “I’ll get that cleaned for you. You can borrow my clothes for tonight.”
He’s all business, but there’s a fire of lust in the depth of his eyes. And his jeans are a little fuller.
I lean in, letting my body rest on his, his hard chest against my breasts. My nipples announce their presence, pushing into his pecs, searing my body where it contacts his, even though he’s got a shirt on.
I feel his hard-on. It’s pressing against my abdomen, becoming more insistent, even though I’m not doing anything to make it more so. Well, not anything more active, anyway.
“You’re making this difficult for me.” His whisper is hoarse. He puts his hands on my hips, pressing me closer. “Let’s get you into the shower.”
Reaching behind me, he unhooks my bra, but it doesn’t fall, it stays there cupping my breasts, covering them with lace that doesn’t do much to hide the rosy, pebbled peaks my nipples have become.
