Kassie blushed all the way to her hairline. He chuckled and walked out.
But as he walked upstairs, the smile faded and a moment of panic filled his body. He was really developing some feelings for her and it was nothing less than absolutely scary. Just over two days and he felt like he could really make something with her, something serious. She was nothing like he thought she was. Kassie was sweet, smart, funny and hot as Hell! And he knew that he was falling for her.
*****
Kassie picked up a few croissants, some cookies and a delicious looking cake at the bakery and stopped to the pharmacy for some girlie products. She slipped a bottle of feminine powder and some shower gel into her basket and turned to leave when her eyes caught a condom display. Kassie froze; she hadn’t bought condoms in years. But standing here, her mind went to Tim. Something was starting to ignite between them. She liked him a whole lot more than she thought she would. However, bringing home condoms was an open invitation and she didn’t want him thinking other ways about her.
Kassie forced herself to leave the display, grabbing the biggest bag of chocolate she saw on her way out of the aisle. If she wasn’t going to have incredible sex, she could at least have chocolate. But half way to the register she turned back, mustering up her courage and grabbing the first box of condoms she saw. Kassie practically ran to pay for them, afraid of chickening out.
*****
Tim looked up as she slowly pulled into the driveway. Griffin was rolling around in the snow behind him with his squirrel. Tim closed the gate behind her, he had shoveled most of the walk way.
“Wow you did a lot.” She said.
“And I cleaned up Griff’s deposits in your backyard.” He smiled.
Kassie chuckled.
“TMI but thanks.” She said. She gave him the bag with the rock salt in it. “I’ll be back to help. Let me just put the cake away.”
“Mmm. Cake.” He said, Kassie giggled and ran up the stairs. He watched her until she was out of sight. Tim opened the bag taking out the two five pound bags of rock salt and then froze in shock. In the bottom of the bag was a box of condoms. ‘What the hell?’ Tim thought to himself. His heart slammed against his ribs and a crimson tide of anger and jealousy clouded his vision. Who was she sleeping with? Did she care about him? Was it serious? Tim wanted to storm into that house and demand answers. He knew that she was going to be with someone again. Of course she was. The woman was beautiful and desirable, what man wouldn’t want her?
Tim forced himself to push his feelings down. Realistically this was his fault. That whole thing with Roxie had probably made her feel like he was just another unreliable man. Tim didn’t know if he was more angry with her or himself. He slowly closed the bag, rolling it down and put it on the steps, his stomach sinking into his shoes. He felt so much hurt. At the end of the day, what she did in her personal life was really none of his business, no matter how it hurt him.
*****
When she realized the box of condoms was missing, she panicked. Kassie didn’t want Tim to even know she had them. The last thing she wanted was him thinking she was some kind of slut. Kassie didn’t know why it bothered her so much or why she even cared what he thought about her, but it did and she did.
‘Maybe they’re in the car,’ she thought to herself. But how would she possibly get them and sneak the condoms into the house without Tim seeing them?
Kassie decided to play it cool, she wouldn’t bring attention to what she was looking for, and she would casually walk to the car and look for them.
Tim looked up as she walked out onto the porch. She looked a little flushed then all the color drained out of her face when she saw the rolled up bag. Her heart pounded in her chest. She looked up at him seeing the look on his face, it was curious and angry.
“Hot date?” He asked.
“Um no.”
“It’s really none of my business.” He said softly.
“You’re right.” Kassie said shortly. She picked up the bag and rushed inside. She felt so stupid for buying them. Like honestly what was she expecting to happen tonight and after her behavior just now, what made her think he’d even want to be with her now?
‘Good job Lawton!’
*****
Kassie didn’t dare show her face outside after the debacle she had caused. Tim shoveled her yard then his yard, coming in an hour later. He was absolutely silent as he walked into the kitchen. Kassie lowered her head, watching him from under her bangs. He quietly poured himself a cup of coffee. She looked up at him and swallowed hard.
“Thanks for shoveling my yard, I really appreciate it.”
Tim nodded.
“Is chicken ok for dinner?” She asked.
“It’s fine.” He said quietly.
Kassie sighed. She didn’t want this to turn sour.
He put a spoonful of sugar into his cup picked it up and walked out. Griffin gave her what she thought was a mournful look before following Tim upstairs.
*****
Dinner was so quiet that even Griffin felt the tension. He took his squirrel and went upstairs. Kassie barely ate and noticed that Tim didn’t either.
“How is the chicken?”
“Nice, very good.”
“I ran into that lady, what’s her name, Belinda . . . Belinda Cavanaugh, you know that snobbish one.” Kassie said trying to make any kind of conversation. “She held me an entire conversation about how her father built that pharmacy from the ground up, even boasted about the state of the art generators.”
“Mmm.” He grunted eating a little more of his chicken.
“I guess people will talk about anything that gets them a little bit of attention.” She said.
Tim put his fork down and wiped his lips.
“Mmm-hmm.” He grunted again.
Kassie closed her eyes as he stood to take his plate into the kitchen.
“Ok I’m sorry.” She said loudly, clutching her napkin. Kassie stood up and wrapped her arms around her. “I wasn’t being disgusting but I wanted to be certain just in case something did happen between us . . . not that I’m expecting something to happen.” She floundered, looking at the wall. “I mean there’s something going on between us and I, I . . . well, you feel it too, don’t you?” She asked, hesitantly meeting his gaze.
Understanding dawned in Tim’s eyes and Kassie felt embarrassment crawl up her face.
“Wait you bought those for us?” He asked softly.
Kassie saw the look in his eyes, the uncertainty, and shock in them.
“Oh my God.” Kassie murmured, straightening up.
“You didn’t buy them for someone else?” He asked quietly.
“I can’t believe-,” She was utterly mortified. She just wanted to hide.
“First of all, I like you Kassie, very, very much.” He said softly. “Secondly, let me buy the condoms. If or when we have sex that is my job.” Kassie lowered her head in total embarrassment. She’d so jumped the gun. It was a rookie move. “And at the moment, I wasn’t thinking of having sex with you.”
“Oh, oh I’m sorry.” Kassie was crestfallen for just a moment before quickly masking it. “I just . . . I’ve been out of the game, and I thought I was getting some vibes-,”
“I said I wasn’t thinking about it,” He said smiling wolfishly at her. “But damned if I don’t dream about it.” He picked up his plate and walked close to her. “By the way, Ultras are too small.” He whispered next to her cheek.
Kassie looked at him quickly; her eyes flew to the front of his pants for the briefest of moments before she looked back up at him, shocked. Tim grinned wickedly and walked into the kitchen. Kassie slowly sat down; she wasn’t sure what to say. Honestly, she was a little scared.
*****
Kassie kept her distance, staying in her studio. She couldn’t believe what she’d done or what he’d said. It was insane! She couldn’t even face Tim if she wanted too. Total embarrassment had declared war on her confidence . . . and was winning. Kassi
e decided to just hole up in her office and work straight through until bed time and then slink upstairs so that he wouldn’t see her. No sooner had the thought just come to her mind when the reason for her foolish behavior came knocking.
Tim tapped on the doorframe, Kassie looked up from her work and at him and he gave her a charismatic smile.
“I have two bowls of double fudge ripple ice cream with caramel sauce, salted peanuts, whipped cream and cherries with five, count them, five chocolate fudge cookies waiting for us.” He said. “Think you can ditch the work?”
She stared at him for a moment, her mind screaming NO! But the word that came out of her mouth was a mousy;
“Yes.”
She put her pencil down and followed him to the kitchen, her head hanging in defeat. Everything in her was betraying her to him.
Tim pulled out her chair and placed a bowl of heaven in front of her. Ordinarily Kassie would have jumped on it like a monkey on a cupcake, but tonight she was distracted. The music thing last night and then the condom thing, she was just so insecure right now.
Kassie silently poked at the mound of dessert and Tim wondered if she was still apprehensive about what happened earlier.
“My oldest brother was an asshole.” He said. Kassie looked up at him quickly. “Really, he still is and we don’t talk much . . . Dale I mean, not Tyler.” He cleared his throat. “Well one day I met this girl and I was batty over her, like completely in love. She had bucky teeth and she was a little chubby. She had dark chocolate hair that she always wore in weird, quirky styles. I loved her as much as any high school jazz band player could love a girl. But the problem was that I wasn’t just in jazz band, I was on the track team and a pretty good athlete, and people figured that I should date a better, prettier girl but I wanted Marissa, that was her name by the way, Marissa Finley.” He sighed softly looking up at her.
“My brother would make fun of her, he would call her ‘the fat little duckling’ and you’ve gotta understand for someone like me back then I just wanted to be cool. I wanted to be like Dale who was this classic rock loving, van-with-a-bed-in-the-back having, God of our neighborhood, kind of guy. I even wanted to be like Tyler, he was the sweet guy. The one girl’s would clamor over just to go on a date with him because they knew they were safe and he wouldn’t try to feel them up in the backseat of his car. Oddly he always got to third base and gladly shared every detail with me, though he would admit he rarely got waved home.” Tim said softly as he sipped his coffee.
Kassie ate a little ice cream listening to his story.
“Anyway, one night I took Marissa out on a date, a movie, and we went to this pizza joint where all the kids in town hung out. I was so in love with her that I didn’t care that people talked about us wherever we went, I didn’t pay any attention to it. So we’re in this booth, the guys across from us are making cow noises to her, and they’re throwing food at us. I got so angry I started to go over, but she stopped me, begged me not to. So I try to make her feel better by lightening the moment with a few jokes about myself. This guy throws a fry at her and it gets stuck in her hair. I took it out and cracked a corny joke about how food was so attracted to her beauty that it just fly’s wherever she goes and she giggled, she thought it was sweet. Those ass holes heard me say it and they turned it into me saying she was so fat she ate everything. She was so heartbroken that she cut our date short and broke up with me the week after.”
“Oh Tim that’s so sad.” Kassie said tenderly.
“The worse thing about it was that in myself I was grateful that she did breakup with me, it was draining defending her all of the time. I was a bit happy that we did call it quits.” Tim said. “I still thought about her, even after I hooked up with Nora in college. I always wondered what if. What if I had stayed with her, fought for her, would we still be together? Would we have kids? How many kids would we have? Would she still be so fat?” He shook his head pitifully.
“Pig!” She choked back a laugh.
“I got my answer though.” He said. “She’s Mari Fenton now.”
“The supermodel?” Kassie gasped.
“Yup.” He said softly.
“Kicked yourself in the ass, huh?” Kassie asked giggling.
“Oh yeah.” He took a spoonful of ice cream. “But still I’m glad it did end. I would have never met Nora, I wouldn’t have Nat, and I wouldn’t be sitting across from you right now.”
She smiled softly and broke one of her cookies. A gust of wind hit the house making the windows tremble.
“Wanna know something else?” She nodded, enjoying his stories. They helped to get her mind off of what happened earlier, which she suspected was the intent. “I was jealous when Nora started with Bruce. She was still mine in a sense. My Buttons.” He said.
“Buttons?” Kassie gushed. “How cute!”
“She was Buttons and I was Binky.” Tim said. Kassie laughed and he did too. “What was your pet name for Monroe?”
“Monroe.” Kassie said and rolled her eyes. “I tried, I called him puddin’ . . . and he hated it.”
“You can call me puddin’.” He said winking at her, Kassie giggled. “Was Monroe your only boyfriend ever?”
“Yes . . . my only true boyfriend. Honestly, after everything that went down with my step father, I wasn’t really big on being groped by some guy. I always kept my relationships as friendships and nothing more. Plus, when you live the way that I did, you kinda don’t have room for a personal life.” She took a scoop of ice cream and looked thoughtful. “After my Mom threw me out of the house, I knew that the only way I was going to save myself was getting a scholarship for college. I kept on the straight and narrow. When I went to college and didn’t even think about dating, until Monroe charmed me off my feet,” Kassie smiled to herself. The memory of how hard he had worked to get her filled her and it made her sad all at the same time. Why work so hard to have her then break her heart?
“Monroe may have been a dog, but he was an excellent lover, took care of me when I had no one else and provided me with everything I ever asked for.”
Honestly Tim was slightly jealous. He wanted to make her smile and didn’t like the idea of someone who hurt her still holding any part of her.
“You’re beautiful when you’re smiling. I like it . . . even if it’s for Monroe.”
“Thank You.” Kassie said tucking her hair behind her ear and lowering her head.
“I’ll try my hardest to make you smile.” Tim said.
“Somehow, as crazy as you are, you do that anyway.” Kassie said making him laugh. She giggled too; feeling lightness that she thought no longer existed, fill her.
*~*~*~*
Chapter 18
Kassie turned on her side looking out the window. It was snowing again and the sky looked pretty and bright. Suddenly the light from the bathroom spilled across the foot of her bed as the door opened. Kassie turned over to see Tim standing in her doorway completely naked. He didn’t say a word as he walked in and closed the door, simply slid his eyes over her with a possessive hunger. Kassie pushed the silk sheets off to find herself naked also, her body yearning for his touch. She held her hand out to him. Tim was suddenly on her, inside of her.
They pleasured each other into climax after intense climax. His lips never left her body; they ravished her lips, her neck, wrapped around her nipples, danced over her skin with a maddening pleasure that Kassie had no power or desire to stop. His hungry moans and growls were loud and powerful, shaking her.
Tim would kiss her and thrust deeper into her, each time finding some hidden spot and she would come again and again. She was like some wild thing kissing him, raking her tongue over his with deep unrelenting hunger, moaning, and whimpering with this crazy need to have all of him and Tim gave it so willingly.
She gripped his back arching and crying out as he climaxed inside of her.
“Mine.” He growled. “Mine.”
“Yes Timothy, yes!” She cried. “Oh . . . yes!” She scr
eamed tightening her grip on him as his hips pumped harder, faster and deeper, bringing her to heart stopping release.
Kassie shot up in bed so quickly she fell out and onto the floor. The house smelled like sausage, and maple syrup. Kassie looked down at herself seeing the pink and brown pinstriped pajamas she had put on last night.
“It was a dream.” She gasped to herself and closed her eyes. “Just a dream.” She clutched her chest as a small amount of disappointment touched her. That was the best damn dream she had ever had in her entire life. She only wished she could go back to sleep and hit rewind.
*****
Kassie walked into the kitchen to find Tim making eggs. He smiled at her as she slipped onto a stool at the counter.
“Morning sunshine.”
“Morning.” Odd . . . He was a little too chipper. “Good night’s sleep?”
“The best.” He smiled at her, his eyes flashed and he began to whistle as he scrambled the eggs.
“Ok what the hell is this?” She asked.
“What’s what sweetie?” He asked.
“Okay, stop messin’ with me.” He moved the eggs off the fire. “Did we? Last night?” She asked.
“What are you talking about?” He asked a slightly confused look on his face.
Kassie stared at him, starting to realize her mistake. Oh no it’s the condoms all back over again!
“Forget it.” She replied quickly.
Tim walked over to her and slid onto the stool next to hers.
“What?” He asked. Kassie lowered her head. “Kassie.” She looked into his beautiful eyes, too embarrassed to say anything.
“I thought that you and I did . . . you know . . . something.” She said.
“Like?” He asked.
She didn’t need to say. From the look in her eyes, he knew. Tim burst into laughter.
“Kassie, Kassie, Kassie.” He shook his head chidingly.
“You don’t have to be cruel.” She said. “It’s just, I had a dream and it seemed so real.”
“Oh?” He smiled. “Oh!”
“What?” This was becoming worse and worse.
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