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“I guess it’s just the two of us.”
Cassandra agreed and Steven was trying to steady his needs. His body wanted things to move to the next level quickly. He didn’t want to wait around for the buildup. He just wanted to be there. Other women didn’t mean that much to him, never had, but Cassandra wasn’t going to make it easier on the two of them. It would have been easier if he could have convinced her of his possession with his hands and mouth. He never would have had to utter a word, but Cassandra wanted something more. She wanted words, commitment, all the things that Steven lacked. Whether he was afraid to take it to the next level or he didn’t want to be greedy, Steven wanted to hold onto things as they were for as long as he possibly could.
“It’s nice though, quiet. Don’t tell my brother I said it, but he is just so loud, and you can’t get a word in edgewise.”
Steven grinned and said that he wouldn’t tell her brother anything, no matter how juicy the secret was. Cassandra wanted him to see that everything would be fine, no matter what was said. Cassandra wasn’t going to repeat any of it.
“I admit that I am very happy for Luke’s departure as well,” Steven said finally.
Cassandra asked why and he shrugged. “I want to see you without him. You are different now, and I think we should spend some time together. I thought you would call me by now to go out, but you still haven’t.”
Cassandra declared that she was going to take her being different as a compliment, and Steven told her that she should. She skipped right over the part where he wanted to know why she hadn’t called him for that date he’d asked her on.
“You are one of the most intriguing women that I have ever known, Cassandra. I have wanted you long since Nelson came in and took you away. I hated him for all these years, still do, but I had a feeling that one day you would come back my way.”
Cassandra’s face changed and she got a look that told Steven he had said too much, too soon. He tried to play it off like he was joking, but he hadn’t been. Steven was ready to move to the next level with her, no matter how high the stakes or how likely he’d thought he would do something like that before.
“You know that nothing could ever happen between us, Steven, don’t you?” Cassandra said, suddenly sober.
Steven didn’t know anything of the sort, and he wanted to know why she would be so convinced of such a thing. He wasn’t going to listen, but he should at least know what was going through Cassandra’s mind. Steven had played out many scenarios since Cassandra had come back to Hartford and he wanted her. It didn’t matter what stood in their way. He was thoroughly convinced that they were meant to be together, so it was going to work out one way or another.
“I just want you to know that, Steven. We can flirt and mess around like that in theory, but you know how Luke is.”
That was all she had to say for him to get what she meant. Steven did know how his friend was and how Cassandra was the line that couldn’t be broken. Steven wanted to, needed to, but she was right. There was no way that the two of them could ever really be together. She had dashed away hopes in a matter of a few words. It didn’t leave a good feeling at all.
He waved her off like it was nothing. “You’re like a sister to me, Cassandra, that’s all.”
The words were lies and neither one of them believed it. Cassandra agreed, but just because the alternative wasn’t very easy to swallow. They were better off pretending. No truth between them was going to make any of it easier.
Chapter 11
Cassandra
She was nervous to have the guys over again. It wasn’t her brother that she was worried about, but his friend, her old friend. Things had gotten strange between them, and Cassandra blamed herself. She knew that it had to do with how she felt about Steven. It also had to do with the fact that it had been so long since a man touched her. Cassandra hadn’t been with Nelson in years, and it was all starting to take a toll on her. Cassandra needed something and at the moment, it was Steven that was the one she wanted all of the attention from.
Both her brother and his friend had brought someone with them. Cassandra hadn’t been expecting the two of them to bring a date, and she especially didn’t like that Steven had someone by his side. How could he say and promise the things that he did to her, only to have some other woman in the waiting a few weeks later? It hurt her feelings and Cassandra tried not to let it bother her. They weren’t together, couldn’t be together, then why was she so worked up over it?
When it was almost time for dinner, she was hiding in the kitchen and Cassandra sighed loudly when she saw Steven coming in. Cassandra was not happy with his little girlfriend or him going into the kitchen to rub it in. Cassandra had said that the two of them couldn’t be together, but that didn’t mean that she wanted to see him with someone else either. “What do you want?”
Steven said that he just wanted to help, and Cassandra told him that he should go back to his date. It was the way she said it, she wished that it had come out better. It hadn’t though. She was jealous of the young blonde that Steven had brought with him. Her name was Stella or something like that, and she was gorgeous, but that didn’t make Cassandra feel any better. She actually felt worse in comparison, wishing she was as pretty. She was, but seeing the two of them together made her green.
“Why are you acting like this?”
Cassandra didn’t know how she was acting, but she wasn’t going to bring up anything more. She handed him the main dish and sent him back out there. “Can you run that out, please? I have a lot to do here.”
“You don’t want to talk?”
Cassandra just smiled and nodded, turning around and pretending to put more paprika on the deviled eggs. Steven took the hint, and she was able to breathe before she followed him out with the rest of it. She was grateful that she had made extra. She hadn’t expected two other women.
Her son didn’t see anything wrong with the people, and he was happy to spend time with his uncle and Steven and the two girls that showered him with attention. He was gushing over Steven and some of the card tricks that he had showed him earlier. Cassandra played along as her son showed her the trick. She was trying her best to not look at Steven or her brother with the hatred she felt. Why had they come if they were going to bring someone else? Why was Cassandra so worried about who Steven was with anyway? She had told him that they couldn’t be together, so what was she even doing worrying about it in the first place?
Steven kept staring at her and when Cassandra would look, he would turn away. It was hard for her to focus on anything when he was constantly eying her. She was doing her best to be a good host, asking the men and the new women how they liked everything. She wasn’t used to her brother having a girl around. They had only been dating a couple of weeks, but it must have been serious if he was going to bring her to Cassandra’s house. She wanted to ask Luke about Debi, but Luke was too busy. She hit it off with Dennis, everyone did really because he was so charming.
Cassandra did her best to ignore the looks from Steven, though she did notice that her brother kept watching the two of them. She wondered if he knew, had a clue. She doubted that he did. He hadn’t known what was going on before either. Cassandra had dated Nelson for months before they eloped in Vegas. She had found out she was pregnant, and they’d decided to get married. Cassandra, of course, questioned that decision daily, but she knew now that it was going to end so badly.
She watched Dennis talk and interact with Steven and Luke. They were pulling him into their stories and while Nelson was around sometimes, he wasn’t that good with kids. It was hard to tell what the problem was, just that they weren’t very compatible. Or her ex just didn’t try enough. Whatever it was, it was clear that Cassandra wasn’t going to be able to think about it too much. Steven was with someone else, and Cassandra needed to stop thinking about him in a romantic way. It was doing her no good. It was really just getting her hopes up for nothing.
Cassandra tried to stay out of the way, awkward in her own home and she went into the kitchen to catch her breath. Her brother was telling a story with his hands making motions. Cassandra had heard it before, but it was pulling in everyone. Her son was drawn to the orator and Cassandra slipped away. She leaned back against the counter and covered her eyes, rubbing her head. She had no idea what was going on and Cassandra wanted to be more mobile. She wasn’t used to the harness that kept everything together.
