The fact that she knew what he was going through, albeit for a very different reason. He could still recall the way she’d frozen yesterday. Gone pale. Retreated somewhere inside herself.
The sense of being seen and accepted and understood was…as disturbing as it was profound. Throwing him off-centre.
She re-emerged now with cups of coffee and he took one. ‘Thanks.’ He noticed she’d put on shorts. He’d never been in this situation with a lover before. Because he didn’t hang around or encourage them to hang around. And yet, in spite of exposing himself so spectacularly just now, he didn’t feel the need to get away from Cassie.
To his relief, he felt something start to eclipse the cold clammy dread as it receded. Awareness. Heat.Desire.
Last night…had been amazing enough to distract him from his surroundings. Not even sex would have done that before. But with her… Something uneasy moved through him.She’s different.
Yes, because she was so out of bounds she might as well be from another planet.
‘Last night,’ he said and stopped. Not sure what to say.
But Cassie spoke. ‘You don’t have to say anything.’
‘I don’t?’
She shook her head, her hair slipping forward to hide her face. ‘I’m sure it wasn’t what you’re…used to.’
Ares huffed a laugh. ‘You can say that again.’ He absently rubbed his bare chest. He had to acknowledge that it felt as if something had freed up in his chest. Some resident tightness.
Cassie stood up and rounded on him. ‘Well, there’s no need to be rude about it. I’ll dock this boat as soon as I can and you can sign me up with another babysitter, OK?’
It took Ares a moment to compute the hurt on her face. She went to go back down into the cabin and Ares caught her arm. ‘Woah!Wait just a second, where are you going?’
He saw the turmoil on her face and it lanced him right in the gut because he could see that she knew if she went downstairs he would find it hard to follow her. She pulled her arm free. ‘That’s the problem, there’s nowhere to go.’
A moment ago Ares had been thinking that last night couldn’t happen again, she was out of bounds and maybe it would be best to just let her dock the boat somewhere and put in a call to have someone else take over, but now that she was saying that, he found it unpalatable. More than unpalatable. Downright impossible.
‘Cass, look at me.’
It took her a second but she did, eyes flashing, jaw tight. He took the coffee cup out of her hand and put it down and then took her hands and tugged her towards him until she fell into his lap.
Yes. She belongs here. With me.
‘Ares?’ She was rigid in his arms, on his lap, where his body was responding to her luscious ass pressed close to his body.
‘Cass, last night wasn’t what I’m used to…in a good way.’
She relaxed into him a little. ‘Oh.’
‘How do you think I was even able to do that if you hadn’t taken all of my attention?’
‘There was a storm, we couldn’t have stayed on deck… Maybe you were just looking for something to distract you.’
‘I tried to resist you, remember?’
Her face went a pretty shade of pink. He saved her. ‘You tempted me from the moment I laid eyes on you and judged you to be a spoiled party-girl brat.’
‘I’m not a brat.’
‘No, you’re not.’ She wasn’t. Ares knew that now. She was genuine and sweet and more self-sufficient than most people he knew. And she was going to be taking on a job that would demand everything of her. For the rest of her life.
‘I should be asking you if it was everything you’d hoped.’
She looked at him, suddenly shy. Bit her lip. ‘I…’ she said. ‘It was the most… I never expected it would be so… Is it always like that?’
He shook his head. ‘No, but with you…? I think so.’
