Cassidy's face broke into a smile. "This is so pretty!" She showed Lucian the invitation, with its intricate laser-cut borders and rose-gold foiled lettering. Flipping the invitation open, she scanned the names of the rest of the entourage. So far, all she knew was that William was Lucian's best man, and she was Audra's maid of honor, but as for the others...
Oh!
William's gaze narrowed at the way Cassidy's face lit up.
"The wedding photographer...I think I know him. Blaine—-"
"Fuck."
Cassidy was horrified when she saw William had accidentally given himself a paper cut. "Where's your First Aid kit—-"
"It's fine, love."
Even though the endearment still made Cassidy catch her breath, she forced herself to concentrate on the emergency at hand and quickly went round his desk to inspect the wound for herself.
"The bleeding's already stopped," William murmured.
"Let me see anyway." She reached for his hand, and her heart started hammering at the way William was all of a sudden staring at her with blazing blue eyes.
The heat of his gaze made her feel self-conscious, and yet at the same time...
There was that nagging feeling again, and they usually persisted in moments like this, when it almost made her imagine she was Red, Riding Hood and William the big, bad wolf...only this time he was under the guise of a mild-mannered nerd.
But...that was silly, wasn't it?
So she pushed the thought aside and focused on William's wound.
"Kiss it better?"
The words weren't something a supposedly socially bumbling nerd should be able to say so easily, but again Cassidy told herself she was just making a mountain out of a molehill. And while his voice did happen to be rather blatantly thick with lust...
Nerds tended to be horny 24/7, and as soon as the thought formed in her mind, Cassidy realized with a silent gulp that she, too, was feeling a little hot and bothered.
Glancing back at William, she reached for his hand again, and Cassidy felt a slight tremor run through him as she carefully lifted his hand up. She blew on the cut, and she heard her boss suck his breath. She pressed her lips to his finger, and she saw William clench his jaw.
It should have ended there, but it was as if she was no longer in control of her own body—-
Oh dear.
She saw William's blue eyes widen a fraction as her lips parted open—-
Oh my God, what am I doing?
But even as her mind started freaking out, her body didn't seem to give a damn, and there went his finger...
Into. Her. Mouth.
She started sucking his finger.
Hard.
And when she saw William shudder—-
Cassidy sucked even harder.
Harder and harder—-
Until she heard William bite out a curse, and the sound snapped Cassidy back into her senses.
Oh my God!
They hadn't even had their first kiss yet, so what the heck was she doing, sucking on his finger like a stupid lollipop?LUCIAN STANHOPE LISTENED to his cousin over the phone in growing disbelief. He had wondered why William often appeared rather socially awkward and shabbily dressed since coming to live in New York, and he should've known, if based on his own experience alone, that a woman would've something to do with it.
"And that's it? You're going to let her walk out just like that?" Lucian asked bluntly when William finished speaking.
"You don't know Cassidy like I do," William said wearily. "I'm lucky as it is that I fooled her into overlooking the things she'd normally hold against me."
"Tall, dark, and handsome, along with a billion-dollar fortune?" Lucian's tone was pithy. "I can see why she has sufficient reason to complain."
"Actually..." William's tone was one of amused resignation. "It's worse. Any guy who looks human and has more than a thousand dollars in his bank account rates as evil in her book."
Lucian started to chuckle, thinking his cousin was pulling his leg—-
"It's not a joke."
Lucian's laugh died an abrupt death. "Seriously?"
"Unfortunately - yes."
"Where does that leave her then?" Lucian was genuinely puzzled. "She'd either end up dating a homeless man or - worse - someone who still lives in his mother's basement—-"
"She never wanted to date at all, except..." William's jaw clenched as he remembered the background report he ordered on Cassidy and what he had to say about Blaine Mercer in particular.
"There's another man?" Lucian asked grimly.
"And I have to blame your wedding for it," William said.
Lucian frowned. "Explain."
"Your wedding photographer."
"That wimp?"
A humorless smile twisted over William's lips. "That wimp is her childhood best friend, just recently back from Spain, where he used to work as a volunteer for a protection center for women suffering from domestic abuse."
"Well, fuck."
"He also currently lives in his mother's basement by choice. She's diabetic, and he wants to help her get better."
"A fucking saint."
"And you know what's worst?" William asked. "Everyone thinks he's never had a girlfriend because he's carried a torch for Cassidy all these years."