I tapped my fingers on the counter, irritated. “What about Dave? He was a good guy!”
“Dave was taking extra vacation time and not getting charged for it. What do you say to that?”
I glared at him. I didn’t know about that.
“He was taking care of his grandma.”
“Not exactly. His grandma lives in Baton Rouge, and he was off at the gulf. Or so, his social media says.”
I drank again, annoyed that my arguments were now flimsy at best. “Fine, then. I’m glad there won’t be any more firings.”
He gave me a smile, this one slow and easy, and I looked away. Even his mouth was sexy. I’d never talked to him for this long, but now his mouth was all I could think about. I’d imagined him doing all kinds of things to me with it, and now it seemed like those fantasies could become a reality.
What did it matter? I could just lean over and kiss him, and none would be the wiser. No one from work would have to know. It’s not like he was going to tell them.
“What’s going on in that puzzling head of yours, Cassie?” he asked softly and gently, and I wondered if he was using a kind of magic on me.
Usually, I was the one taking control, but now I felt myself falling to pieces and wanting him to put me back together. If he kissed me right then, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop it. I wouldn’t want to.
* * *
BRAD
Nothing mattered in that moment except looking at Cassie, talking to her, trying to figure her out. She intrigued me in more ways than one, and I still hadn’t quite ascertained why she’d stalked up to me at the bar. She was saying vehement things she’d told me before, insulting me, but she didn’t slap me or walk away. She was lingering, and I thought I could see her eyes trailing to my mouth more than once.
“Nothing,” she said to my question, sliding a finger down her cool glass of cider.
Instantly, I looked there, and I hardened a little bit more, thinking about her finger sliding down other places. Clearing my throat, I decided to test her out a little bit. She was a bold girl, and I liked that. She also didn’t suck up to me. I liked that too, I realized.
Stepping just a little closer, I said, “Why did you come up to me at the bar, Cassie? It would have been perfectly easy to stay sitting there with your friends.” I looked their way for a second and saw they were both staring at us, but they quickly turned their heads.
My eyes met Cassie’s gray ones again. “But instead, you came up here to insult me again? Is that it? You’ve said all these things before, you know?”
I looked down at her mouth. Her lips, the lower one a little thicker than the top, were parted, and I clenched my teeth to keep from thinking about what it would be like to kiss her. If I started kissing her, I wouldn’t want to stop, and I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. At all.
She took a breath, and our eyes met again. Cassie Williams was the opposite of every woman I’d ever been attracted to. That’s why it puzzled me. Instead of blonde, she was dark-haired, and instead of fake tanned, she was pale. Instead of fake boobs and a fake ass, she had her own curves which were tempting me more and more.
And instead of her trying to please me, hoping to get me to like her so that she could get some of my money, she clearly didn’t like me at all. It was like I had no real idea what attracted me. The women in the past had been wrong, not right for me, and I ended up getting hurt and making mistakes. But this time, I felt a draw I’d never felt before, and I wanted to know if she felt it too. I had to know.
“Yes, I suppose I did,” she said softly, her chin still raised, her eyes still glimmering with challenge.
“Well, have you dispatched your duty properly, Cassie?” I asked, teasing her now.
I thought I spotted the corner of her mouth twisting up, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Not yet.” Her lovely eyes narrowed, and she bit the inside of her lip as her eyes moved down to look at my mouth. Again.
It was too much. I couldn’t take it anymore. I leaned in and put my mouth on hers. It felt like sweet relief, but it also jolted me to my senses, and I pulled back, only to have her hands clamp around my neck and pull me down again.
Thank God.
CHAPTER7
CASSIE
Brad’s mouthwas soft yet firm as I pulled him back. No way I was letting this moment go, even if Logical Cassie would regret it tomorrow. I gasped in delighted surprise as he took control of the kiss, angling his head and opening his mouth to mine.
Yes.