In the shower, I pressed my forehead against the tile and stroked myself as I thought of it again. I slicked two fingers and shoved them back to tease my rim, old fantasies and new ones flying through my imagination. It felt so good I shot my load after only a minute, gasping as hot water beat my back.
My literal fantasy was coming true. His kiss helped me accept that, and now that I did, there was no way I was going to mess things up.
I took my time getting ready. I’d been grooming myself carefully since Cass showed up at the house, but that morning, I enjoyed the process of it, instead of just worrying that my hair looked weird. I picked out my favorite shirt, a bright pink one with galaxies all over it, something I usually only wore at home, and then a pair of denim shorts. I had cut them from an old pair of pants but accidentally made them way shorter than I intended.
I never really wore them, but hell, it was hard to throw something away when you know you look hot in it.
After tousling my hair a little in the mirror, I grabbed a glass of lemonade from the fridge. I was still working at night, so I hadn’t gotten up until eleven, but I knew Cass would have been out under the sun for a while already. I made my way into the backyard, then paused before the clump of trees that blocked the house from the studio to give myself one last pep talk.
Cass had kissed me. That hot stranger with tattoos and cool hair had thrown herself at him, and still, he’d turned around and kissed me. I had to let myself believe him when he said that he liked me and that he cared about the things I cared about.
Because I trusted him. Cass had always been good to me, and good to other people, too. Even when he and Leo were raising hell together, they never hurt anyone. They were just trying to find their own way.
And if Cass’s way brought him to me, I wanted to be there to meet him.
I took a deep breath and headed to the studio. He was standing on the deck, which was bigger than it used to be, and staring at his phone with a scrunched brow. He had on his black work boots and a pair of cargo shorts, but as usual, he was shirtless, the sun kissing his golden skin and playing across his tattoos.
“Hey,” I called. “How’s it going?”
Cass turned to me with a startle. I laughed as he licked his lips, staring me up and down. “Good morning to you,” he said, rolling his voice deep. “Cute shorts.”
I felt myself blushing, but I didn’t try to hide it as I walked up the stairs, newly installed. “Lemonade?”
“Thanks,” he said, taking the glass. “I was just trying to figure out this drawing from your brother. He wants a roof over the porch here. Did he talk to you about that?”
I took the phone and glanced at the drawing, a series of totally nonsensical squares with the wordsporch roofwritten next to them. I chuckled. “Yeah, he texted me. I think a roof sounds nice. And based on this drawing, whatever you come up with will work fine.”
He nodded and took his phone back. “I’m glad I don’t have to ask the guy at the lumber supply where they keep their floating squares.”
I laughed, then turned to the studio. The door and windows were open, and some of the interior was torn out along the back. A big sheet was tossed over what I assumed were the drums. The exterior was brightly repainted, catching the sunlight, and the porch felt sturdy under my feet. “It looks really good out here,” I said.
“I’m tackling the roof next, extending it out,” he said with a nod. “We’ll get it all nice and insulated properly for your mom or whoever else wants to use it. And next time I head to town, I’ll order a shower so I can finish the bathroom.”
“Great,” I said. “She’ll be excited. I swear, she’s going on so many trips with her retirement group this summer, she barely has any free time. But she loves it up here during the rest of the year, and she’s always talked about using the studio again.” I paused. “How are your parents, by the way?”
Cass shrugged. “About the same. I see them once a year, Christmas day. Fly in that morning, fly out in the evening. We don’t really keep in touch outside of that.”
I remembered that Cass had never gotten along with his folks. They thought they were big shots around town. His dad was a manager at the local bank, and his mom was working full-time as a doctor at the hospital. Neither of them did much except for trying to climb the ladders of their careers. I always figured their absence had something to do with why Cass acted out in the first place.
“Sorry you all aren’t close.”
He nodded, his eyes over the hillside as his lids lowered. “There’s worse things,” he said, letting the topic slip away.
I wanted to reach out and touch his arm, but I wasn’t quite confident enough to do something like that. Instead, I remembered why I had come out there in the first place. “Hey, I don’t want to interrupt you if you’re busy, but I had an idea.”
Cass turned back to me. He looked me up and down, his gaze prickling on my skin. “Oh yeah?”
“Not that,” I said with a laugh, my cheeks warming again. “See, I put on this noise when I study sometimes.”
“This noise?” he said, cocking an eyebrow up. “I’m listening.”
“It’s recordings from deep space,” I explained. “When NASA sends satellites around the universe, they sometimes take recordings, too.”
“Shit,” he said. “What does it sound like?”
“Well, they’re actually data sonification of magnetic—” I stopped myself, realizing that part didn’t matter, and grabbed my phone instead. “Here, let me play some for you.”
“Plug it into my speaker,” Cass said with a gesture. “Turn it up.”
