She nibbled her lip and dipped her chin. “That one’s my favorite.”
“I could tell. I could feel it in each draw of the bow. Such joy in the music. Such passion… I knew right then, I had to meet you. But I was scared to death to approach you.”
Her eyes flew to his. “Why?”
He shrugged. Heat scored his cheeks. “I didn’t know if you… Couldn’t be sure if it was just me. If I was alone in this.” He winced. How lame.
But she seemed to understand. She squeezed his hand. “You’re not alone in this. And Dylan, I do so appreciate your willingness to take things slow. I’m not… I mean, I don’t…” She blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t sleep around.”
Something in his chest warmed, thawed. It might have been his heart. “I didn’t think you did.”
“In fact, I’m very reserved. I can’t believe what we did. What you did.” She waved at the table. “I can’t believe I let you…”
“Worship you?”
“Is that what you were doing?”
“Most definitely. You deserve to be worshipped. Adored, Cassie.” He draped an arm around her shoulders and leaned back on the sofa, pulling her with him. And he kissed her. Gently. Reverently.
Heat rose between them again, though it had never been far from the surface. The program slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor. They both ignored it. She cupped his cheek then scored his neck with her nails. She’d done that before and again, it sent shivers of impatience shooting down his spine. They pooled and snarled in his belly. His cock, still hard, began to ache.
When her exploration drifted to his chest, his pulse leapt…and then she took it lower. He sucked in his breath and held it as she found his erection and molded it with her palm. He nearly lost consciousness at the pleasure of the delicate pressure.
“Oh, Cassie. I want you. Can you feel how much I want you?”
“I feel it. I want you too, Dylan.”
He deepened the kiss, exploring her mouth, her cheek, her neck, making a note of the spots that made her sigh or wiggle restlessly.
“Do you have a condom?” she murmured, and every muscle in his body seized, trilled, quivered with joy.
“I have a box.” He always had them. Was never without. He’d made a vow to himself long ago to never take the chance of creating a child again. With his history, it was the only option for his sanity.
“Oh, thank God.” She fumbled for the snap to his jeans. And as much as he liked that—loved that—he stopped her. Because, just then, someone knocked on the back door.
Cassie stilled. Her gaze flew to his. “Oh shit.” A delicate flush crept up her cheeks. “I knew this would happen. I knew it.”
“Lucy?”
“Most definitely.”
“We can ignore her.”
Cassie chuckled. “She’s relentless. If we don’t answer the door, she’ll come around the deck and see us through the windows.”
“We can go to the bedroom.”
She sighed. “Not like this. I couldn’t…I couldn’t relax.”
Dylan blew out a breath and steeled his spine, willed his cock to forget about the wet, steamy ride. For now, at least. “Come back later. For dinner.”
The knocking on the door became more insistent. Cassie glanced over her shoulder. “I’ll try.”
“You know what Yoda says.”
She blinked. “Yoda?”
“’There is no try. There is only do, or do not.’” He stood and offered her a hand. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet as well. Then he tugged her closer and pressed a quick kiss on her parted lips. “Do, do, Cassie. Do come for dinner.” He winked. “I’ll let you cook again.”
“Lucky me,” she muttered through a wry smile
“I have steaks.”
She smacked him lightly on the shoulder. “Tease.”
He shot her a wicked leer. “Don’t mind if I do.” He kissed her again, and then again, because he couldn’t bear to stop. “And even if you can’t make it, I’d love to see you again.”
“You mean a date?” This was slightly muffled, because his mouth was still on hers.
“Mmm hmm.”
A sharp rap on the sliding glass door resounded through the room. Both their heads jerked up, and Dylan’s saw Lucy and the other one—Emily?—standing on the deck with their mouths agape. Lucy’s face was puckered, and she had her fists on her hips.
“Uh oh. Looks like we’ve been discovered.” A snarl of satisfaction slashed through him. “Our secret’s out.”
“It wasn’t a secret for very long.” She went beet red, her expression awash with mortification.
He rubbed her back. “Relax. They had to find out sometime. Better sooner than later.”
“Oh, Lucy looks mad.”
“Go ahead. Let them in. Maybe we can placate her with bacon.”
Cassie gaped at him. And then she laughed, a full-bodied chortle. She cupped his cheek and went up on her toes and kissed him—only a quick buss, but he loved it. Because it was the first time
she’d
kissed him. And she’d done it in front of her friends. “It might just work,” she said. “You are rather Machiavellian, you know.”
“I do try.”
Lucy knocked again. This time stomping her foot for good measure.
Cassie sighed. “Are you ready for this?”
Dylan threw his shoulders back. “Absolutely. Bring it on, baby. Bring it on.”
Chapter Six
When Cassie opened the door, Lucy stomped into the cabin and rounded on her. “Were you kissing him?”
She shouldn’t have blushed. There was no reason to be embarrassed. Well, maybe a small reason.
Dylan cleared his throat, a low rumble resonating through the room that captured everyone’s attention. “I think I was kissing her.”
Cassie frowned at him. “No. I was kissing you. I was definitely kissing you.”
“Only because I kissed you first.”
“But I was kissing you just then—”
“Oh for heaven’s sake,” Lucy snapped. “It hardly matters who was kissing whom. The point is, you
were
kissing! And a man I—” She broke off and glared at Dylan then spun back to Cassie. “Bella’s going to flay you.”
Dylan hobbled over to Cassie’s side and wrapped a heavy arm around her shoulders. She liked its weight, the heat of his body at her side. “Bella has nothing to say about this,” he said. “
Any
of this.”
Lucy’s mouth opened and closed, like a landed trout. “But—”
Dylan didn’t let her continue. “As it happens, we discovered we have a lot in common.” Cassie glanced up at him with a question in her eyes, and he smiled down at her. “We both love…the cello.” She tried to look away, but couldn’t. She liked what she saw there, simmering in his expression, far too much. Her lips curled.
“Aw, hell. I knew I should have brought him those crutches,” Lucy muttered.
“It wouldn’t have made any difference.” Dylan dropped a kiss on Cassie’s lips. “Once I finally saw her, I knew I had to kiss her.”
“Finally?” Lucy gaped. “What do you mean, finally?” She shot Cassie an accusatory glare.
“He came to see me at Benaroya last month. Which, I might add, you did not do.”
Lucy grunted. “The symphony is so stuffy.”
“It’s magnificent,” Dylan said, again, gazing down at Cassie. “You’re magnificent.”
“Thank you.”
“Well, this is a fine kettle of fish. That’s all I have to say. Bella is going to have a shit fit.”
Dylan chuckled. “Bella is going to have to find a man of her own.”
“She’ll be so thrilled.” Sarcasm dripped like honey from Lucy’s lips.
“Maybe we should leave them alone.” This from Emily, who was grinning like a loon.
“Oh, I was on my way back,” Cassie said.
Lucy was not mollified. “Yeah. Looked like it.”
Dylan leaned down and whispered in her ear; his breath cascaded over her neck, and she nearly missed his words. “Don’t forget the bacon.”
“Oh. Yeah. Bacon.”
Two heads whipped around. “What did you say?” Lucy hissed.
“Bacon. Dylan has bacon.”
“Cassie made it.”
“I’d kill for some bacon.” Emily clutched her stomach.
“It’s in the kitchen.” Cassie disentangled herself from Dylan’s grasp and made her way around the breakfast bar to the plate of leftover bacon, which she flourished. “Four slices left.”
Emily took two slices and crunched into them eagerly, but Lucy lifted her nose and sniffed the air like a wary pup. “Mmm,” Emily murmured. “It’s good.”
Lucy stepped forward, fingers twitching.
“Do you want it?” Emily asked. “Because I could eat all four slices.”
“The hell you will!” Lucy lurched forward and snatched her share, shooting a guarded look at Dylan.
“There’s lots more in the freezer,” he offered slyly.
Emily sighed. “Bella wouldn’t let us bring any meat.”
“Bella’s a tyrant.” Oh! Who knew a Highlander could be capable of inciting sedition?
Lucy surveyed him for a moment, nibbling her bacon and then shrugged with one shoulder. “Yeah. She kind of is.”
He cleared his throat. “You can take some of my bacon with you.”
“Oh, we couldn’t,” Lucy sputtered. She leaned forward and whispered, as though Bella might somehow overhear, “What if she comes back tonight?”
“What will she do? Toss you in the dungeon?” They all nodded somberly and he barked a laugh. “Take it anyway. Live dangerously.”
“I’ll take it.”
Cassie’s eyes widened on Emily and her lips curved. “That’s a girl!”
Emily grimaced. “I’m damn tired of vegetables and tofu. I’m never coming on a vegan weekend again.”
“Me either,” Cassie said.
“We should form a cabal.”
“A cabal of dissension.”
“Definitely.”
“Oh, you two.” Lucy blanched. “Do you have any idea what you’re saying? First stealing Dylan—”
“She didn’t steal me.”
“—and now…
pork products
. Where will it end?”
“Hopefully with extreme satisfaction.” Cassie colored when she realized the double entendre of her words. Both her friends gaped at her, and she could feel Dylan’s heated gaze on her face.
“Indeed.” He leaned closer and whispered, “Now you have to come back for…dinner.”
“Dinner?” Lucy had the hearing of a big-eared bat. “You’re having dinner?”
Dylan nodded. “Tonight. I won’t tell you what we’re having.”
“Steaks.” Cassie had no such compunction. Lucy should suffer, at least a little, for yanking her chain about Dylan.
“Steaks?” Emily wailed.
Lucy ran her fingers through her hair which ended in a frustrated clutch of her platinum blonde locks. “Oh. My. God. What if Bella comes back tonight?”
“Did I mention she needs to find a man of her own?” On this, Dylan was relentless.
“She’ll smell it on your breath, Cassie. Don’t think she won’t. She’s like a bloodhound.”
“Huh,” Dylan grunted. “Good point.” He shot Cassie a playful look. “You’d better stay the night. You know. To be safe.”
Cassie couldn’t hold back her snort. Heavens, she was enjoying this banter.
Lucy let go an outraged squeak. “Okay. That’s it. I wash my hands of you.” She glared at them, one after the other. “Both of you. You can deal with Bella when she finds out. I’m pleading ignorance.”
“Excellent strategy.” Dylan grabbed the crutches and made his way to the fridge. He bent down and opened the freezer drawer at the bottom and pulled out a slab of sliced bacon. He held it out to Lucy who took it with a grumble.
“Why do I feel like this is a payoff?”
He offered an evil grin. “Because it is. And for the record?”
“Yes?” Lucy clipped.
“Bella and I would never have worked out.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because I, madam, am a shameless carnivore. Through and through.”
Lucy’s glare could have cooked the bacon.
“Stop muttering,” Emily said as they made their way along the beach toward the house. “He clearly loves Cassie. You need to get over it.”
“I wouldn’t say he loves me.” Why heat crawled up her cheeks, she had no clue. Well, maybe one clue. Her body was still tingling from their one-sided tryst and she was aching to even the playing field. Still, she’d felt compelled to return with her friends—they’d come all the way next door, after all. And she had no intention of letting all that bacon out of sight.
Besides, she was going back for their date. For dinner. And more. There was no maybe about it.
Lucy stomped up the stairs. “Who would have expected it? From Cassie, of all people?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She was a woman. With feelings. Real feelings. Strong feelings. For this guy.
Lucy rounded on her. “You’re the one who always plays by the rules.”
“There aren’t any rules.”
Lucy ignored her. “You kissed him. You knew I liked him. You knew Bella liked him, but you kissed him.”
“I liked him too,” Cassie offered gently.
“We have a code.” Lucy intoned the words as though they were chiseled in stone. “Besides, you never said you liked him.”
Emily rolled her eyes. “As though she could get a word in edgewise? Between you and Bella?”
Lucy paled. “Are you saying I’m as bad as Bella?”
Emily shrugged. “You are kind of bossy.”
“I am not!”
“Yeah. You are.” Lucy was a strong personality, and Cassie had never really defied her before. It was much easier to go along—all things being equal. But all things were not equal here. There was something about Dylan, about the connection simmering between them that demanded exploration. She couldn’t just walk away.
Still, Lucy’s wounded expression sent shards of guilt through her. All she could offer was a weak, “He came to see me at Benaroya.”
“And he loves the cello,” Emily added. Then, as an afterthought, “And bacon.”
“It’s like we’re a match made in heaven, Luce. I don’t know how to explain it. Something…wow, hot and steamy and amazing. And I really like him.”
Lucy blew out a breath. “Well, he is hot. I get it.”
“It’s more than that. I mean, I like him as a person.” Cassie wrapped her arms around Lucy’s shoulder and gave her a pat. “There will be other Highlanders.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Lucy put out a lip. “It’s just, ever since the divorce, damn, I can’t seem to catch a break with a guy.”
They reached the top of the stairs, and Cassie opened the slider. They all headed straight for the kitchen. “Weren’t you dating some guy? A hunky customer? Kristi mentioned it a few weeks ago.”