“What’s holding you back?”
“Good question,” he answered with a sigh. “I suppose I haven’t had a reason to motivate me.” Would Cassie be his motivation? Would she give up the security of her apartment to live with him?
Christ. There he went again. Thinking of a future. With her.
Was it that farfetched?
“I’ve been saving. If I’m going to purchase land, I want a place big enough I won’t need to worry about someone moving in right beside me.” Or watching me from their window. He didn’t want another house within thirty miles of his. Fat chance of that happening. “I haven’t had the time or the inclination to actually purchase another property.”
“Would you sell this house or keep it?”
“I’d sell it. Dad’s happy in North Carolina. I have no attachment to the place. I’d use the money for a new house.”
Cassie took a swig of her beer and propped up her knee. “Tell me about the home you’d like to have.”
He stretched out his long legs and crossed them at his ankles.
A place like Shep’s.
“I don’t need anything fancy or big.” He remembered Cassie’s anticipation on the ride to his house. Did she want a big house?
All women did.
“A lot of land. Enough where I can’t see my neighbor.”
“Hermit.”
Mike angled his head and gestured with his bottle. “Would you like looking at that every day?”
“What do you imagine? Woods? Trees? Grass? Fences?”
“Haven’t really thought too much about it.”
“Why don’t you talk to a real estate agent? Just get an idea of what’s available.”
He thought on that for a good few minutes. If he wanted space, and land, and trees, and not freakin’ houses in his face, why didn’t he do something about it?
Chapter 22
The dazzling lights from the chandeliers illuminated Cassie’s beauty, exhibiting her soft features, her full lips.
Mike had worked himself up into a fine lather before he’d gotten to her door. Seeing her in a sexy blue top displaying her curvy breasts and a skin-tight skirt showing her long legs, he’d damn near swallowed his tongue. Now, here he sat across from her in the chic restaurant and he thought he might explode.
Not once this evening had his mind been on food. He couldn’t take his eyes off Cassie. Not while his mind created images of the two of them naked, tangled together. He kept envisioning her reclined across silk sheets, her long, blonde hair spread over a pillow, draped over her shoulders, her luscious breasts … He swallowed, jerking his attention back to the conversation. The crease on Cassie’s brow clued him in that he’d missed something.
She leaned forward, her generous breasts grazing the white linen. His eyes glued to her cleavage, his restraint damn near crumbled. He couldn’t wait to get the hell out of here.
“Mike. You look like a caged bear. Will you wipe that scowl off your face?”
“What do you expect? You looking like that is like pouring gasoline on an already flaming fire. I’ve got about as much resistance as a match stick right now.”
She snatched her napkin to cover her lips, but not before he saw her smile.
“You’re beautiful. The outfit you’re wearing is sexy as hell. You’d tempt Satan himself.”
“I only have one person I care to tempt.”
God, he loved it when she smiled at him like that. He reached across the table for her hand and rubbed his thumb across her dainty knuckles, wishing he could haul her onto his lap.