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“Cassandra, welcome home! We always wondered if you were going to come back or not,” Steven said, feeling awkward as hell at the moment. The kid was cute, looked more like his mom than his father, but it was clear there was some of Nelson in the kid. His name was Dennis. Right?
She moved into his arms and hugged him to her. He felt every inch of her slight form as she pulled him in close, telling him that she had missed him. Steven felt her ball of energy and the fire of her touch. He didn’t know what to do with it, so when she held on for a moment too long, he was ready to burst. She had the same smile in her eyes, though it vanished a moment later when he asked her how she had been. Steven was still holding onto her, not wanting to let her go. She felt too good in his arms, somewhere he’d always wanted her to be.
Nelson caught his gaze, his eyes on where Steven touched her. Steven didn’t move for a moment, finally releasing her and turning toward Nelson. “Good to see you, man. It’s been a while.”
Nelson looked like he was a happily married man. He hadn’t changed much, though now he looked at Cassandra less than he had before. Something was definitely going on between the two of them, Steven was sure of it. What was really going on and why were they back? Why was Cassandra and her son moving back to Hartford and not the doting father and husband?
Her brother was stiff when he turned his attention to Nelson. They hadn’t seen each other in a long time, and it was likely since Luke had found out about the secret wedding that took place in Vegas. It had been the wrong thing to do all the way around. Steven hadn’t forgiven him, and it was just his crush that made him hate Nelson. For Luke, it was different. Cassandra was his sister, and he knew that Nelson was a womanizer. It wouldn’t have mattered to Luke; anyone would have been better than a friend. It was that sentiment that had kept Steven from trying himself, the singular biggest regret that he had in his life.
“Thanks for bringing my sister home, Nelson.”
Luke acted like she had been gone for a couple of days and was now being brought back. It had been years.
“I’ve missed you, Luke.” He looked to Steven. “I’ve missed you both.”
Steven didn’t feel anything for the man, nothing good anyway. He would be happy when he turned around in that fancy little metrosexual car of his and got the hell out of town.
“Why don’t you stay a while? It’s been so long; it would be a shame not to catch up. You’ve been married to my sister for almost five years, and I don’t know anything about your life. Your kid.” He looked to Dennis and Nelson agreed. Steven was seething inside. He wanted him to go and didn’t think that he would ever be his friend. He had taken Cassandra away. Steven was never going to be okay with Nelson, past be damned.
Steven noticed the awkward way that Cassandra rolled her eyes when she heard her brother trying to get her brother to stay. Cassandra didn’t think that it was necessary for Nelson to stay. If her expression was right, she was about as excited for Nelson to stay as Steven was. And that wasn’t very much.
Chapter 3
Cassandra
Cassandra could feel the tension in the air, but she ignored it. She looked to her brother to see why he was asking Nelson to stay. It was not the usual for him, and she wondered if that was his way of telling her that he accepted the marriage. It wouldn’t matter because in not too long, they would be divorced. Cassandra didn’t want Nelson to agree to stay for even a little while, because it was going to make everything weird. She was supposed to keep her mouth shut about the divorce and how it was between them, pretend like the two of them were together, one happy couple. Cassandra knew that she wouldn’t be able to pretend such a thing for too long. Ever since she’d found out that Nelson had cheated on her, she had tried to look at him the same, forgive him and move on when he begged her to. She couldn’t though. Something inside of her clicked off for Nelson, and it was likely never going to go on again. She’d waited to feel something, but nothing happened.
Instead of looking at the two old friends getting reacquainted, Cassandra turned back to Steven. She could still feel the whisper of his hands on her, pulling her close, and it confused her. The way he looked at her then, all brooding eyes and dark thoughts, made it hard to focus. Steven never had liked Nelson all that much. Cassandra had overheard him trying to get Nelson kicked out of their little group. It hadn’t worked, but Cassandra liked that he was still looking at Nelson as the enemy. He was to her too, even if she wasn’t supposed to show it.
“So, how did my brother get you to drag yourself away from your business?” Cassandra studied Steven’s large biceps in his tailored suit. He was dressed well and just as buff as Cassandra remembered. Even in business attire, Steven’s body was perfect. His smile that was brilliant white and made him so much more handsome, was still just as bright. Cassandra had to look away from his natural charm. She hadn’t expected such a feeling from him. Not at all.
He turned pink for a minute, awkward like she wasn’t supposed to know. “Your brother told you about the company?”
Cassandra insisted that he hadn’t. “Luke and I haven’t really talked all that much. I kept up with you in the news. Quite impressive.”
He waved her off and said that her designs were commendable, and he had been keeping up with her as well. Cassandra couldn’t help but respond to the charm that was coming off of him in waves. Steven had always been gruff and rude like her brother, but both of them had hearts of gold. She had thought it was the same for Nelson. It wasn’t. He wasn’t all squishy on the inside like the two of them were.
“You like them, really? I wanted to show you a few of them, thought of you and that place we used to go in the woods.”
“The Caspian?”
Cassandra turned red with delight. She didn’t believe him when he said that he had kept up with her. She figured that it was just something that he said, but it was true. “That’s exactly the series I was thinking of.”
“You are very talented, Cassandra. Your brother and I always said that you should do something with it. I am so glad that you did. Your business is getting pretty big, from what I hear.”
Cassandra had to look away. The intensity of his green eyes was too much for her to bare. She noticed that they were getting attention from Luke and Nelson, so she moved away to catch her breath. What was she thinking, looking at Steven like that? Cassandra chided herself. Hadn’t she learned her lesson yet?
Nelson decided to stay, and Cassandra wasn’t sure how to feel about it. That feeling of aggravation was even worse when he was put into her room. Her parents didn’t know exactly why she was there, they didn’t know that she was getting divorced. Now, Cassandra had to keep a smile on her face and when they wanted the two of them to have some time alone, Cassandra felt like she was going to vomit. This wasn’t at all what the trip home was supposed to be. She was getting rid of Nelson; he wasn’t going to be her husband anymore. At the moment, it felt like that was never going to change, no matter how much she did to make it so.
The door shut and Nelson looked at her with guilt. “This isn’t what we agreed to, I know, but you know that I haven’t seen your brother in a long time, Steven either. It will be good to hang out with them for a while, don’t you think?”
Cassandra hoped that he was getting the picture crystal clear. She didn’t want him there; they were getting divorced. The last thing Cassandra wanted to do was pretend that they were together and sleep in the same bed as him. He moved toward her, smile on his face and hope in his eyes. Cassandra had to shut that down really quick.
“It’s not happening, Nelson, so don’t even look at me like that.”
He frowned, moved forward, and she avoided his attention. Cassandra wasn’t in the mood. She couldn’t believe that she was there in her old room, with him. Their son was down the hallway and was going to be even more confused by everything that was going on. “Seriously, Nelson, if you want me to keep this all quiet, you need to back off and rethink how long you are going to stay.”
“Maybe this is the sign to get back together. You always said that you were looking for a sign. Why can’t this be it?”
