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“Cass,” I said, smiling. I stepped aside to let him in. “I didn’t know if you were going to make it.”
He leaned down and gifted me with a roguish smile and a kiss on the cheek before moving into my foyer. Last time he showed up at my door unannounced, we had shared a passionate kiss that had been cut short by the necessity of Cass having to leave the High Court and patrol along the magical border wall between Alancia and Valencia. I had been worried that our kiss would make it weird between us, but him showing up on my doorstep unannounced and giving me a hard time felt completely natural.
“This is what you get when you wake people up from a perfectly good morning of sleeping in,” I replied, bumping my shoulder against his large body. I bounced off his muscled frame, and I doubt my attempt even registered with him.
“Come on, we’re going hiking,” he replied, ignoring my jape. He walked toward my bedroom like he owned the place.
“Ugh,” I groaned, following him to my room.
I found him digging around in my closet.
“Don’t you have anything in here that isn’t silk, lace, or see-through?” he quipped. He held up one of my more indecorous tops with a single finger and wagged his eyebrows at me.
I rolled my eyes and snatched the top from him. But now that he mentioned it, I didn’t know if I did have anything that was suitable to wear for hiking. I started digging for a pair of tennis shoes I knew I had left over from before Jay replaced my entire wardrobe.
“Okay. I’ll go hiking with you on one condition: Go make me some coffee,” I bartered.
“I accept your terms,” he teased, abruptly ceasing his rifling through a drawer of delicates and walking out of my bedroom toward the kitchen.
I heard him clanking around in the kitchen while I dug out a tank top and an old pair of shorts that I had not worn since I came to the High Court.
* * * *
“I’ve never been out here before,” I said.
We headed away from the Court in the opposite direction from the way I would have taken into town if I were heading to Bar Louie. The direction we headed in was the same way to go if we were going to Breakpoint or Harborview, but instead of heading along the main road, we immediately cut into the woods as soon as we were outside of the High Court’s perimeter.
“Yeah, you don’t look like you get out in the woods much these days,” Cass replied.
It was true. I had not gained weight despite having access to any kind of food and treats that I wanted, a luxury I did not have back home. Instead, I was about as thin as I had always been. But there was a softness to me that had not been there before, particularly around my chest where the top of my breasts had filled into mounds. Back home, I had been lean and wiry, probably from a combination of never having a lot of food around and having to walk almost everywhere. Plus, I used to be a little more rough and tumble, going hiking or for a run on the beach.
“I’m not complaining,” Cass assured me, noticing my analytical stare. “It looks good on you.”
“Where are you taking me?” I asked. I was beginning to work up a sweat already.
“There’s a watering hole over here, not too far,” he replied, holding a low branch for me to walk past.
I took the lead for a while, dunking under tree branches and watching for holes and loose rocks on the forest floor. It felt good to be active. The most physical activity I got these days was walking to and from Bar Louie, and that was only when Luke didn’t carry me.
I grabbed a branch to move it out of our path like I had done the last twenty minutes or so.
“Mandy, watch out—”
Cass tried to warn me, but it was too late. I had failed to realize that there was a wasps’ nest perched on the branch. I released the branch in my hand and the nest crashed to the ground at my feet. Angry wasps exploded from the pieces of the nest, swarming me and Cass.
“Run,” Cass yelled, taking the lead once more.
I took off, loping after Cass. The wasps buzzed around us as the watering hole appeared in sight. Cass threw our pack on the bank and kicked off his shoes. He dove head-first into the clear water. I managed to kick off my shoes before crashing into the water after him, fully clothed.
I was already out of breath from running when I began laughing. Fortunately, the wasps had finally decided to leave us alone. Cass emerged from the deeper water, running a hand through his dark green hair. His wet shirt clung to him, so that I could see his muscular pecs and defined abs underneath.
“You get stung?” he asked, his laughter fading. He ran his rough hands over my arms and back, feeling for stingers. A shiver that had nothing to do with the cool water ran down my spine.
“I don’t think so,” I answered, trying to shake off the chill on my skin.
He pulled his soaked shirt over his head, shaking the water from his hair. The full extent of the tattoos I had seen peeking out of his shirt before was revealed. His chiseled chest was covered in ink. The black, blue, and green ink melded together, making it difficult to make out distinctive features of any particular tattoo without having to stare.
“Take off your shirt,” he ordered.
