“I’ll put these away.”
“You’re as bad as Cassia, you know,” she told him. “You’re soaked through, I’m not. Go get dry.”
“Yup, in a moment.” He went to move the last crate from the foyer to the counter. His Gramma raised an eyebrow. He winked at her and headed to change, satisfied the heavy lifting was done.
Cassia was barreling downstairs as he started coming up. No doubt she was fixed on getting back to the mess they’d left. Without thinking, Aevrin stretched a hand out and grabbed her around the waist. She spun, tripping, and toppled into him.
“Woah, now.” He steadied them both as Cassia grabbed onto his rain-damp shoulders, startled and off-balance. Her hair was a darker shade of brown, damp and stringy from the rain. Her nose and cheeks looked pink from the cold. They stared at each other, her face gleaming from the damp. He was nearly overtaken by the sudden urge to press his lips hard against hers and show her just how he felt.
“You need more layers,” he said sternly instead, heart pounding as they held each other. Her top half was covered only by a light, cap-sleeved tunic. It was cold in the house, and Cassia’s arms were pebbled with chill.
It wasn't the only part of her pebbled. Even through her clothes he could see two hard points on her chest. He found himself staring a second too long, knowing it was wrong but unable to tear his gaze away from her.
“My warm things aren’t clean,” she said.
“C’mon,” he said roughly, and grabbed her cold hand. Aevrin led her upstairs, worried if he didn’t, she’d ignore him and run straight back to working. Or run into one of his brothers coming home, for that matter. He didn’t want them seeing her likethisand thinking the sort of thoughts running wild through his own brain. He was standingat half-mast as it was.
Pulling her into his bedroom, he yanked open a dresser drawer. Cassia shivered, arms crossed over her heavy chest, and looked around. From the positioning of her arms he thought maybe she'd noticed how stiff her nipples were. He hoped not; he didn't want her realizing he'd been rude enough to stare at her like that.
But Saints. He’d have stared way longer, if he could have. And if she looked at the bulge in his trousers, she’d probably realize he’d caught an eyeful.
“I really like that painting,” Cassia said. Tearing his mind away from thoughts of her breasts, Aevrin straightened with a long-sleeved, heavy-knit pullover in his hands and followed the direction of her eyes to the wide canvas over his bed. The oil painting of the house had always been one of his favorites. His father’s legs were even in the picture, sticking out from the rocking chair where he was taking a nap, his top half obscured in blue porch shadow.
“My mother did that.”
“Oh,” Cassia breathed. And then: “oh. All of them?”
“Most of ‘em,” he admitted with a smile, and turned back to Cassia. He offered her the thick brown garment, the warmest one he had. “Here. Might be a touch big.”
“Oh, Aevrin, you don’t…”
“You won it. But we gotta get you some better cold weather clothes. The temperature drops fast this time of year.”
“Yeah, sure seems like it.” She shivered as she took it. Cassia yanked it over her head as he peeled off his jacket and dumped it in the hamper.
“Kinda fits,” Aevrin laughed, once she had it settled. She was curvy enough that it wasn’t baggy all the way around, and Cassia wasn’t exactly short either, but the garment hung down over her thighs. The sleeves covered her hands entirely. She tugged herdamp hair out so it lay over her back. A small, pleased noise escaped her mouth and Aevrin found all his prior embarrassment was gone. She could laugh at him as much as she liked, so long as he could keep following her around.
“Thankyou,” she said, and pressed her sleeve-wrapped palms up to her cheeks with a radiant smile. “I should put up a fight, but, well. I’ll let you change instead.” Cassia slipped out of the room.
Still grinning and shaking his head, Aevrin stripped down to nothing. He palmed his stiff cock for a moment, imagining how it would feel to wrap his lips around those stiff nipples, then guiltily forced himself to stop. She hadn’tmeanthim to see that. Hell, she didn’t even want to kiss him, much less let him run his tongue all over her body like he longed to. He had no business daydreaming about her like that.
He dragged on warm clothes and patted his hair dry before heading back downstairs.
Cassia stood alone in the kitchen when he got downstairs, though the groceries were only half put away. The rich, hot smell of stew flooded his nose, making his mouth water. Cassia was at the kitchen table digging through one of the cloth bags and pulling the items out. She shuddered again.
“Still cold?” he asked.
“I’ll warm up soon,” Cassia said.
“C’mere,” Aevrin said. As she turned towards him he reached his hands out to rub her arms, intending to warm her up.
It was the biscuit situation all over again, in reverse. Not understanding, Cassia stepped right inside his arms and wrapped her own around him.
All the thoughts left Aevrin’s head as he slowly tightened his arms around her waist, heart beating hard and fast in his chest. So, they were hugging, he thought. That was… well, that was… justfine by him. Cassia’s curves pressed tight against him and she fit perfectly under his chin. She smelled like honey and flowers and rain. He was getting hard again.
“...Better?” he whispered, after a moment of holding her in his arms, her head resting against his shoulder.
“Yeah,” she whispered back. “How’re you so warm already?”
