Heidi was a bit clingier than usual when her gran picked her up, despite lots of talk about the dog. I promised a phone call at eight o’clock before bedtime and she made me double-triple promise. I was full of guilt, torn between thinking that the girls shouldbe back in their home, and Roe’s advice to keep them away for another night. Staying with Grandma was also Heidi’s routine, and I didn’t want to disrupt that any more than it had been. I also wanted to go on this date; Heidi and Mia deserved to see a healthy relationship, even if that wasn’t to be a forever one with Cas. She would have her own life to navigate, with a heart that would be given to others and maybe broken, ultimately mended by herself.
“You deserve to have a man in your life who cherishes you as much as Joel did,” my mother-in-law had said when she picked up Heidi and Mia. “And Heidi will learn that she’ll always be your priority, and people can love more than one person.”
“It’s a first date, Deryn. Not a proposal.”
Deryn shook her head and laughed. “It’s probably just as important. Remember, you are allowed to have at least one orgasm on your first date. Even two. Do you remember what to do?”
I’d glared at her and then got the girls into her car quickly, which had been completely her intention.
Cas was at my door an hour later, exactly on time. He was wearing smart jeans, a pale blue collar-less shirt with the top couple of buttons left undone and a smile that was dirty as sin and contained promises that were already stealing away my breath.
I was just about ready in time, my dress a simple summer one that I liked how I looked in, my make-up and hair tidy but not fancy, and everywhere on my body scrubbed and waxed just in case Cas put his hands anywhere.
Or everywhere.
“You look gorgeous.” He handed me a bunch of wildflowers, poppies and daisies that smelled of summer.
“Thank you. Did you pick these yourself?”
He nodded, his dimple making that dirty look in his eye look even more forgivable. “I did. I figured shop bought flowers were too conventional.”
“And you didn’t want someone else grilling you about our date?” Because that had been happening all week when people weren’t asking him about Mia. I’d also told Clover about my date with Cassian yesterday forgetting she had no volume control.
She’d blurted it out to everyone in earshot while we were sitting at a table in the park, watching Heidi perform acrobatics on the monkey bars.
Word had gotten round.
“True. I haven’t called a taxi yet – I wasn’t sure if you’d want a drink here before we left.”
I shouldn’t have bothered putting my dress on, as I had no doubt that within the next ten minutes it would be a puddle of material on the floor. He looked far, far too indecently hot and my mother-in-law was too much of a bad influence. For once, now, I wanted something for the grown-up, woman version of me.
“Drink?”
Cas nodded, his eyes not leaving mine.
Maybe it was because I hadn’t had decent sex for such a long time and what we’d done the last few nights had stirred me up for more. Maybe it was because it was the time of the month when my hormones were on steroids. Maybe it was just because something in the air between us was clicking, but that door was closed behind him and my back was against it in less time than it took Heidi to uncover where the chocolate was hidden.
Cas’ hands were braced either side of my shoulders on the back of the door, his mouth pressing against mine in a manner that made me feel as if I was being devoured. My hands got to work undoing the rest of his buttons on that shirt, pulling it awayfrom his shoulders and spreading my palms across his chest, the feeling of hard muscle underneath them, skin dusted with coarse hairs melting my underwear, that I suspected would be on the floor in a matter of minutes.
“What time’s the meal booked for?” I got the words out in between kisses.
Cas’ mouth had moved to my neck, nipping and sucking at the skin, his fingers searching for the zip at the back.
“Eight-thirty.”
The dress slipped off my shoulders, leaving me in just my bra and underwear.
“We have time.” My hands were in Cas’ hair, pulling at the neatly cut strands as his mouth travelled lower, one of the cups of my bra pulled down, exposing a breast that he took a second to study before his tongue flicked against my nipple, teasing it before taking it between his lips.
I didn’t recognise the keening sound that came from me; it had been so long since this, when I knew we’d go all the way. The rest of my bra came away, Cas’ hands toying with my tits, his mouth switching to the other breast.
Shivers ran through my skin, an electric current connecting my nipples to my clit, one of my hands reaching between my legs to apply pressure where I needed it most.
“No. You don’t get to do that yet.” Cas caught my hand and trapped it under his against the back of the door. With his other hand he pulled down my underwear, exposing me completely to his gaze.
He was still clothed, other than his shirt being open. I felt gloriously vulnerable, his eyes eating me up as he let go of my hand and dropped slowly to his knees, making it clear he was smelling my arousal.
“Put your hands on my shoulders. You only let go when I tell you, else I’ll stop.”
