by Amanda Perry
“It’s… not great, actually. Look, Brendan, I’m so sorry to do this and I know I’ve no right to but everyone else I know is either out of town or I don’t trust them and I really, really need a favor. I didn’t know who else to call, I just…”
“Cassie, Cassie, ssshhh,” he soothed. “It’s all right. What happened? Are you ok?”
“Nick -” she began, but couldn’t continue. The strain of the recent events hit her like water rushing through a broken dam. Tears coursed down her face and she battled to speak through huge, wracking sobs.
“Cassie, I’m coming to find you,” Brendan said. “Are you safe where you are?” She gulped an affirmation that she was. “Right, then stay there. Text me the street name. I’m getting in the car right now. Just hold on.”
He hung up. Cassie sat on the curb, head resting on her knees, taking deep breaths and waiting.
Chapter 9
Cassie had never seen a more welcome sight than Brendan’s Dodge pick-up turning the corner and driving toward her. She collapsed into the cab and threw her arms around her rescuer.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“You’re okay though, aren’t you?” Brendan looked her over carefully. “You’re not hurt?”
She shook her head. “Nothing like that,” she said. “I’m ok.” Brendan waited patiently for her to explain.
Cassie sighed, “It’s just….When I got to Nick’s, at first everything was fine. But then I asked where his room was, and he said we were sleeping in the same room. I said I didn’t want that, that we weren’t in a relationship and shouldn’t be sleeping together, and he said...”
“Go on,” Brendan urged her gently. Cassie could see by the set of his jaw that he was angry but keeping his emotions in check.
“He said I had nowhere else to go and I should show a little gratitude,” she whispered. “Then he came toward me and I just ran! I don’t even have my purse. If I hadn’t had my cell in my pocket, I don’t know what I would've done.”
Good thing you did,” said Brendan. Cassie saw his jaw tense again as he cast a brief, angry glare toward the direction of Louisburg Drive. He hid it quickly, replacing it with a reassuring smile. “Let’s get you to my place and we’ll figure out what to do.”
Brendan’s home was a whitewashed clapboard house on a quiet street, cozy and compact. He left Cassie to settle herself on the overstuffed couch and returned a few minutes later carrying a sweater in one hand and two mugs held precariously in the other.
Cassie accepted the sweater with thanks and pulled it over her head. It was vast and baggy, hanging on her like a blanket. She snuggled down inside it.
“Tea.” Brendan pressed the mug into her hands. “None of your coffee nonsense here. Hot tea with two sugars and a little drop of rum. Best thing for shock.”
She looked at him skeptically. “Thanks, but I don’t usually drink tea.”
“Cassie, I’m a fire fighter. I’ve been specially trained in dealing with people who have been through traumatic experiences and on the first page of the manual, there's a recipe for this kind of tea.”
He regarded her solemnly. “And underneath the recipe, it says specifically not to stand for any objections, but to make sure the traumatized person drinks it. Now drink.”
She sipped the tea. It was strong and sweet, the sugary rum mixing with the hot tea. Whether it was the drink, the warmth, or Brendan’s calm presence, Cassie began to feel a lot better.
“Now for practicalities,” Brendan said, slurping his own tea and pushing a packet of Pepperidge Farm cookies toward Cassie. “You’ll need a place to stay tonight. I'll change the sheets and you can have my bed. I’ll take the couch.”
“I can’t do that!” Cassie said. “I’m imposing on you enough already! I can’t kick you out of your bed! If you’re willing to let me sleep on your couch, that’s more than enough, way more. Tomorrow, I’ll call my parents and arrange to head down to their place.”
She hesitated, dropping her gaze and staring intently at her mug. “Brendan, I’m really sorry. I made a stupid decision and you tried to warn me not to. I should've listened.”
“Ah, Cassie,” Brendan sighed, ruffling his strong hands through his hair. “If anyone needs to apologize, it’s me. I didn’t handle that well at all. I had my doubts, but I shouldn’t have expressed them like a two-year old throwing a fit. Even if I didn’t think moving in with Nick was a good idea, I should have talked to you properly instead of just going quiet like that. I’m sorry.”
Happy to have her friend back, Cassie put her arm around Brendan and hugged him close.
She found herself telling him how shaken she had been by the changes in her life lately, more than she had ever anticipated, and how her lack of security had led her to make such a bad decision.
“I just felt trapped,” she explained. “All my life I’ve known what I was doing, I’ve been in control. I’ve been lucky, I guess. Francine’s like a sister to me. When my parents moved south, it didn’t feel like such a big deal because Francine and I still had each other. I know she’s only a flight away, same as my parents, but none of them are here, you know?
So when the apartment fell through – literally – it was the first thing I’d ever had to deal with by myself. I really, really didn’t want to go running to mom and dad and have them solve my problems. I thought the better thing to do, the more adult thing to do, would be to accept the help I’d been offered up here. I thought I was a good enough judge of character to keep myself out of trouble.”
She gave a rueful smile. “Guess I was wrong about that.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it,” said Brendan, giving her a squeeze. “We all make mistakes.”
“I just…I thought I had made things clear enough. With Nick, I mean. I told him over and over that I didn’t want to go to bed with him. I told him I didn’t even know if I wanted a relationship with him. He agreed we would be friends and we’d talk about dating again once I was settled. Was I being ambiguous somehow?”
“Doubt it,” Brendan said. “You were clear enough with me.”
“Which is so stupid considering I actually want to be with you—” Cassie stopped herself in mid-blurt. Brendan was perfectly still, watching her and waiting for her to continue.
“Oh, God!” Cassie buried her face in her hands. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. I had no right to.”
“But is it true?” he asked, gently moving her hands away.
“I don’t know!” she said. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you ever since we met, and I wanted to say yes when you first asked me out, but I thought I shouldn’t because of Nick. I’ve never had two men interested in me before. I didn’t know what to do! I kept thinking about you and looking forward to seeing you, but Nick seemed so broken and he told me all about his ex-wife. She left him for another man, and it seemed so harsh to tell him that I didn’t want to date him because I thought I liked you.”
Brendan let her talk until she could talk no more, comforting her when she beat herself up, and reassuring her that Nick’s intensity and obsessive behavior were not her fault. He held her and stroked her hair.
Then somehow, neither of them knew quite how, his fingers were buried deep in her chestnut hair and he was kissing her. She relaxed into his arms, letting him pull her close, feeling the slight scratch of his stubble as she trailed her fingers down his face, breathing in the warm, masculine scent of him as his lips teased hers.
It felt thrilling and new, an experience Cassie had never had before – yet at the same time as natural and familiar as if they had been lovers all their lives.
He broke apart from her with a jolt. “Cassie, please forgive me. That was way out of line.” Brendan jumped to his feet and paced away from her. “After the day you’ve had, that’s the last thing you need.”
Cassie stood up and slipped her arms around him. “It feels like exactly what I need,”
she said, and pulled him close to kiss her again. His lips were warm and strong, and his kiss melted through her, right to her soul. Then something flashed in her memory and she pulled away.
“Oh, no,” she said. “You’re seeing someone. I forgot. I’m so, so sorry. It’s just that you never mentioned her again and—”
“Wait!” Brendan said. “Am I seeing someone? I think I’d remember that.”
“That night in the club. I told you I was seeing someone, and then things got kind of awkward, and then you said you were seeing someone.”
"Ah, that." Brendan tilted his head back and gave her a sly smile.
“I’m sorry, Cassie. That wasn’t true. I didn’t mean to lie to you. It’s just that it was awkward, like you said, and I felt like you’d just shot me down. So I was doing that stupid thing where you pretend you weren’t really asking the other person out, and then back it up by saying that you weren’t available anyway so it couldn’t possibly have been that kind of question, which means you weren't really turned down. It wasn’t something I thought through. It was out of my mouth before my brain had time to kick in."
He paused, looking at her. "There’s no one else. I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry,” Cassie said. “I shouldn’t have made you feel that way. I didn’t handle it well.”
He shook his head. “It’s not your fault. It’s my past, old fears and rejections kicking in.”
He sighed heavily. “All right, here’s the short version. Back when I lived in New York, when I was working on my Associate’s degree, there was this girl I really liked. Alice. I thought she was the most amazing, most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, and I was terrified of her. I wasn't the handsome, confident man you see before you now."
He hesitated, smiled, then lowered his eyes and continued. "First, we were friends. Then we were best friends, and it took me longer to work up the nerve to tell her how I felt than it did to finish my degree.
One day, I blurted it out and she shot me down cold. Said she just didn’t feel the same way about me and had actually begun seeing someone recently.
Our friendship kind of fizzled out after that and I’ve always regretted losing it. When I met you I felt like we really connected”, he smiled slyly “And when you shot me down, with almost the same line she used, it threw me off my game.”
Cassie winced, "Sorry."
“No worries” he said, pushing a strand of her wayward hair behind her ear. “We’d just met. It was much easier to pretend it was nothing, and make up a fictional relationship.
Then I promised myself I wasn’t going to lose you as a friend the way I lost Alice. I tried to forget about anything happening between us.”
"I'm glad you told me."
“Would you believe that’s the short version?" He smiled. "I left out a few car chases.”
“I’m such an idiot,” said Cassie.
“You’re not. But if you were? You'd be in good company.”
Brendan drew her close and kissed her again, gently at first, then with increasing pressure as she traced her fingers over his muscled arms.
Cassie felt both of their hearts pounding as he teased her tongue slowly with his, then worked his way across her cheek, one kiss after another, until he reached her ear. He caught her earlobe between his teeth and nibbled it, making her shiver with arousal.
She gripped two handfuls of his cotton t-shirt and pulled it up over his head, taking in the sight of his toned, sculpted chest. She smoothed her hands over his taut pectoral muscles and inhaled the musky, masculine scent of him, then leaned back while he removed her tank top.
He pulled her into his lap. She let her head fall back, and she felt his strong hands cupping and caressing her breasts. He unclasped and removed her bra, then circled his tongue around her nipple.
She felt him move to the other nipple as he unbuttoned her jeans. Impatient for the feel of his skin against hers, she stood and wriggled out of the jeans, standing before him in just her panties.
He locked eyes with her as he slowly slid them down her legs, then got up and lifted her off the ground. She wrapped her legs around him and let him carry her to his bedroom. He laid her on the bed and whispered, “Close your eyes.”
Her heart raced as she realized what he was about to do. His hands were on her knees, guiding them apart. The stubble on his cheek grazed her inner thighs. She felt his fingers first, and then his tongue, and she was once again reminded of her dream.
She began to lose herself in memories of the dream, but shook the memories loose to concentrate on the present. She could feel his tongue caressing her clitoris. His slow movements caused soft whimpers to escape her throat, and she buried her fingers in his comforter and gripped tightly.
Brendan slipped his finger inside her, moving it back and forth as though exploring, getting her used to his touch. Her whimpers became moans, and he added a second finger. He swirled his tongue around her clit, feeling her writhe against him until she gasped and tensed in an explosive orgasm.
“Oh, Brendan,” she murmured, pushing him down as she sat up. She ran her hands over his thighs, feeling the hard muscle encased in denim. Next she unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, pushing them down and out of the way.
Through the thin cotton of his boxer shorts, she laid both hands on his cock and felt his hardness. He stripped off the shorts and guided her, wrapping her palms around his shaft where she pleasured him with long, sensual strokes.
“Tell me, Cassie,” he said, his voice thick and breathy with desire. “Tell me that this is what you want.”
Cassie leaned down and kissed him hungrily. “More than anything,” she insisted. “I can’t wait any more, Brendan. I need you inside me now. Please.”
She stretched out beneath him as he touched her clitoris with the tip of his cock before drawing it down to the opening between her legs. Oblivious to everything but their lovemaking, Cassie cried out in bliss as he entered her, easing his way deep inside.
Her body responded instinctively, bucking and writhing beneath him as he withdrew slowly before plunging inside her again. Over and over, he thrust inside her, long and slow and languid, until pulling out completely.
“Turn over,” he told her. “Lie on your stomach.” She rolled onto her front, eager to learn his preferences, trusting him absolutely. He knelt between her knees and lowered himself onto her, slipping into her from behind.
She felt covered by him, protected, consumed. She closed her eyes, giving herself over to the pleasure of sensation as he pulled back, and then gave an involuntary scream of delight as he forcefully pushed inside her, hitting an incredibly sensitive area.
She wanted to ask him what it was, but before she could catch her breath, he was repeating the movement, again and again, an almost unbearably sweet pounding on the same amazingly pleasurable spot. All she could do was wrap her hand around his, hold on tight and continue to cry out with joy at every thrust.
When she was close to climax, Brendan slipped his hand beneath her and rubbed her clitoris firmly as the surge of his thrusts gathered in power and speed. She felt as if the sizzling, white hot rapture was too much for her body to contain, too passionate and intense.
Cassie heard him calling out her name, as she was pushed over the edge. As he came inside her, the maelstrom of delectable sensations broke over her and she called out in uncontrollable ecstasy.
The two of them collapsed back onto the pillows, panting and sighing, not wanting to let go of each other. Finally, when he had recovered sufficient breath, Brendan spoke.
“That was…that was something else,” he said, gasping for air.
Cassie had not yet regained the ability to speak. She nodded emphatically, then rested her head on his muscular shoulder until they both drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 10
“Good morning!”
The sound of Brendan’s voice hit Cassie’s ears at the same time the smell of fresh coffee hit her nose. She opened her eyes to see him standing
by the bed, wearing a blue robe, setting a coffee mug on the nightstand. He bent to kiss her.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, seating himself on the bed.
“Mmmm.” Cassie stretched languorously and smiled. “I’m great.”
“Are you sure? I know what you said about not doing that kind of thing, and we did that kind of thing.”
She wrapped her arms around him, laying her head against his shoulder and slipping her fingers under his robe to trail them across his firm pecs. “I am definitely, absolutely, completely ok.”
“Good. Because last night was amazing." He smiled at her. "I’m going to jump in the shower and then I’ll make breakfast. Do you want to get in touch with Nick? We can go over and get your stuff. You can bring it here or we can put it in storage, whatever you like. We'll figure it out over breakfast.”
Cassie put on one of Brendan’s t-shirts and went in search of her cell phone to text Nick.
I’d like to come by for some of my stuff later.
I’d appreciate it if u weren’t there when I did.
Please let me know what time works best for you.
I’ll make arrangements with u to get the rest tomorrow.
Cassie was back upstairs drinking coffee when Nick replied.
Come at three. Anderson will be here to let you in.
Over breakfast, Brendan offered to store Cassie’s belongings, promising that they’d find a way to fit them into his little house. He told her that she was welcome to stay if she wanted, but that if she preferred to go to her parents, he would drive her to the airport.
I can’t believe I’m doing this, Cassie thought. I’ve only ever slept with two guys before this. I dated my college boyfriend for almost a year before we had sex. With the guy after him, I held out for three months.I never thought I’d ever sleep with anyone I’d known for such a short time.
Then again, I never thought a super-rich guy would invite me to move in, and then I'd walk out with nothing but my phone, either. Considering everything that’s happened, I shouldn’t be feeling this relaxed, but…I am.
