Loving Her (Keeping Her) (2 page)

She pushed them both away
in desperation, jumping sideways out from between them, breathing hard with her
hands up to warn them back.  They both turned to look at her, standing
side by side before her with hungry eyes, fisted hands, and truly impressive
erections.

Cassandra tried to steady
her breathing, aware that she was shaking, aching, and had never been so turned
on in her life.  She placed her hands on her buttons, making sure she was
not as naked as she felt, and other than adjusting her collar and buttoning a
few buttons, she was fully clothed.  She would have looked down but her
instincts were telling her not to take her eyes off the dangerous predators
practically vibrating before her.  She opened her mouth to say something,
anything, and was grateful when instead, Clytie raced around the corner and
barreled her into a hug.

“You're here,” she
squealed.  Making Cassandra laugh despite the ache between her thighs.

“I've been here ten
minutes,” she said.  Finally feeling like she could take her eyes off the
boys.  “What have you been doing?”

Clytie blushed and then
glared at Demon, who was too busy glaring at Ben and Mac to notice.  She looked
around instead of answering.  “Where's your luggage?”

Cassandra cleared her
throat feeling cheeks that had just started to cool, heat up again. 

“There,” she said.  Going
for the porch and her twisted up bags.  Both Mac and Ben beat her to the
bags.  She stopped short of running into them when they turned with bags in
hand.  She very carefully did not meet their eyes.  “Thanks.”

“This is it?”  Cassandra
asked in dismay.  “I know you came mostly for my showing next week, but I
thought you had planned to stay longer?”

“As to that.  I need
to talk to you about something and I didn't want to do it over the phone.”

“What is it?  Has
something happened?” 

Cassandra looked around at
the men who were clearly all ears and she blushed again.  “Do you suppose
we could talk alone?” 

Clytie looked around at the
others. 

“Of course,” she said. 
Patting Cassie's arm.  “I'm sorry, have you met Mac and Ben?” 

Cassie cleared her throat,
careful not to look away from Clytie.  “We've met.”  Which made Demon
snort.

“Mac, can you guys put her
bags in the guest room?”

“Absolutely,” Ben
said.  Cassandra couldn't help but quiver at the promise he managed to infuse in
his voice.  Neither Ben nor Mac missed the tell tale reaction, luckily
Clytie was busy kissing Demon good-bye before leading Cassandra off. 

When they were out of
earshot, Demon turned on the other two.  “What.  The.  Fuck?!” he said
very distinctly.

Mac and Ben ignore him
however. 

“Security room?”  Mac
asked

“Security room,” Ben stated
emphatically.  They walked around a blustering Demon and headed for the
room with the surveillance set up that could monitor every room at will. 
Neither of them questioned why they felt such a strong need to know what
Cassandra was telling her cousin.  Instinct said what concerned her
concerned them and they were not about to question it.

Cassandra could breathe
again, now that she was no longer surrounded by temptation and testosterone. 
Though she could still feel everywhere they had touched, especially the
throbbing bite on her shoulder that Mac had made.  Jeez, they were potent.

“I can't stay here,” she
said, just a little more blatantly than she had intended.  “I mean, after
tonight, tomorrow I'm going to look for a place.”

“You mean you're moving
here?”  Clytie looked ecstatic.  Then her eyes narrowed.  “I
thought you loved Seattle.”

Cassandra dropped her
eyes.  “I did, I'm just ready for a change.”

Clytie narrowed her eyes. 
“You're lying.  You never lie.  What's going on?”

“Nothing.”  She
wouldn’t meet her cousin’s eyes.

“You are a lousy liar.”

In the security booth, Ben
snorted.  “She really is a lousy liar.”  Mac nodded his head; he kept
his eyes on the screen where Cassandra and Clytie were shown talking. 
Demon, who had followed behind them and now leaned against the wall with his
arms crossed in protest, had to agree with a rumble.

Cassandra laughed a little
desperately and then met Clytie's eyes.  Had she really thought she could
keep this from Clytie of all people?  She shuddered out a breath.

 “You have to promise
to keep this between us.  I do not want to hear any I told you so's or
sanctimonious sermons on the wages of sin from my mom if I can help it.”

Clytie snorted.  “As
if I would tell her anything after what she did to you last Christmas.”

That made Cassandra
smile.  “You mean when she called me the whore of Babylon for just talking
about getting my belly button pierced and you told her if she spoke to me like
that again you were going to help me post fake naked pictures of her doing the
wild thing with farm animals on the church website?”  Cassandra laughed,
falling back in her chair.  “Good times.”

“Belly button ring?” 
Ben leaned forward with interest.

“Mommy dearest is a
bitch.”  Mac said.

Demon, who was now leaning
over Macs chair, smiled at Clytie’s mirth.  “That's my girl,” he
said, making Ben roll his eyes.

Cassandra lost her smile
gradually, and Clytie moved forward to take her hand.  “Tell me.”

“Remember when I told you I
had finally met a guy I actually wanted to lose my virginity with?”

“Right.  Malcolm, the
cop.”

“Marcus.”

“Right.”

“Well, I slept with
him.”  She blew out a breath.  “This is where it gets hard.”

Clytie stood up. 
“Cassandra, are you pregnant?”

“Marcus?  What the
fuck is wrong with Mark.  Pretentious asshole.”  Ben's outburst was
so loud they almost missed the rest, but the word pregnant hit the room with a
boom.

“No, I'm not
pregnant.  What is this 1983?  I'm not an idiot.  I'm on the
pill and he wore a condom.”

There was a collective
easing of tension in the control room though temper was still obvious in both
Mac and Ben’s faces.

Cassandra licked her lips
and just blurted it out in a long rush.  “He wanted to get married. 
I said no.  I liked the sex, but marriage?”  She shuddered
dramatically.  "He got angry and accused me of some really ugly
things.  Apparently, nice girls don't have sex without marriage.  If
you can believe that crock of shit is still being served in this century.” 
She breathed deeply.  “He hit me."  She touched her face with the
back of her hand as if she was remembering.

A chair went skidding
across the room where Mac had kicked it. 

“Fuck,” Ben said, so
angry he was seriously thinking of taking something apart with his bare hands.

“Does he still have his
balls?”  Clytie’s voice was so cold and hard it made the guys look
up.  “And where can I find him?”

That made Cassandra laugh a
bit.  “He still has his balls, but I broke his nose...”  Cassandra
got a very scary look of satisfaction on her face.  “And then I put sugar in
the gas tank of his 1965 classic cherry red mustang.”

“Ouch,” Ben said with
feeling.

“Bastard deserved
worse,” Mac said with heat.

“No question.”

“Long story short, he
didn’t like when I left.  He started calling me all the time, leaving
messages.  He broke into my apartment and tried to force the issue. 
I got away, but it scared me.”

“Oh honey, did you call the
cops?”  Clytie asked.

This time, Cassandra's
laugh was forced and not friendly.  “I made a statement and I have no
doubt that it went from me to the trash bin.  Since I was unhurt and he
had a concussion from where I brained him with my lamp, it was suggested that
charges could be leveled against me.  After all, he is a decorated officer
above reproach, and I am the vindictive ex-girlfriend.”  She took another
bracing breath.  “I thought it best to get out of Dodge.  I quit my job at
the bookstore and here I am.”

“So you came here, and are
going to stay if I have anything to say about it.”

“That's really sweet Clytie,
but I was thinking more along the lines of getting another job and taking over
the lease at your studio for a bit since you decided to live in sin with your
stud muffin.”  Her smile turned wicked.  “Who is by the way, straight up
sexy, in a scary, I need a spanking, sort of way.”

Both Ben and Mac turned to
glare at Demon.

“What?” he said, with
a wicked smile of his own.  “She is obviously a woman of taste.”

Ben snorted.

“I'll give her a
spanking,” Mac said in a growl, “if she even thinks about leaving.”

“He is, isn't he?”  Clytie
beamed, falling back against her chair and fanning her heated cheeks.  “All
he has to do is breathe and I want to jump him.”  Then she gave a sultry
giggle that had Demon shifting in his suddenly tight jeans.  “Or walk
away; he really has the most bitable ass.”

“Oh.  Too much
information.”  Cassandra grabbed a loose pillow off the couch and chucked
it at Clytie, who ducked down and pulled it to her stomach.  Cassandra
smiled at her.  “You are so gone aren't you?  Over the big guy?”

Clytie was suddenly dead
serious.  “I'm scared sometimes, I love him so much, god Cassie, I have to
be touching him all the time or I feel like something is missing.  I
need
the smell of him on my skin or I feel naked.”  She pulled the pillow up to
cover her face, groaning into the softness.  “The way he touches me... looks at
me...”

“Sounds good to me,”
Cassandra said, pulling the pillow out of her cousins grasping hands.

“Sounds good to me too,” Demon
growled.

“Yeah, but what happens
when he realizes I would crawl through broken glass just for one touch of his
big dumb hand?  Where will I be then?”

“That's not it.” 
Cassandra said softly.  “What are you really scared of?”

Clytie shuddered out a
breath and met her eyes.  “What happens when he realizes I don't deserve
the way he looks at me?  That there are millions of women out there
prettier, skinnier, and sexier than I am.”

“Bullshit.”  Demon
barked out

“Bullshit.”  Cassandra
said a second later, making Ben laugh and Mac raise an eyebrow and smile
slightly.  “Get a grip Clytie.  You finally found a man smart enough
to realize what the others have missed.  That you are the best there is, bar
none.  If he's smart enough to love you like you deserve, he's too smart
to let you get away.”

“Damn straight.” 
Demon folded his arms and nodded sternly.

Clytie sniffed through her
laugh.  “He’s never said it.”

“What it?”

“That he loves me.”

“Please.  He’d have to
be an idiot not to and he didn’t look dumb to me.”

Clytie rolled her
eyes.  “You might be a bit biased there cous.”  Then Clytie pointed a
stern finger, “and don't think you've distracted me from the point.  You,
my dear, are staying here, at least until we get this stalker situation taken
care of.”

“That's sweet, but I really
think that would be a bad idea.”  Cassandra crinkled her nose, her cheeks
going red.  “Especially after what happened in the hallway.”

“Shit, we're dead.” 
Ben said.  Mac only watched the monitor.

“Does the saying 'train
wreck' mean anything to you?”

Clytie sat up steam
beginning to collect behind her eyes.  “What did they do?”

“It wasn't them... not
entirely.”  Cassandra swallowed hard.  “I sort of jumped Mac.”

“Huh?”  Demon grunted.

“Huh?”  Clytie looked
poleaxed.

“He was trying to help me
with my bags and I accidentally bumped into him and he smelled so good,” she
said with a slight shudder.  “It made me so nervous I tripped and sort of
took him with me.  Then we were kissing before Demon threw him down the hall
and I was kissing Ben.  I’m pretty sure they got the idea from how turned on I
was and since I really,
really
want to jump them both, it would be best
if I stayed somewhere else.”  Cassandra took a deep breath and sighed in
relief having gotten that out.

“I'll kill them.” 
Clytie said, standing up with purpose.

“Fuck,” all three of
the men said at once, standing.

“No, Clytie.  I told
you it was my fault.  You warned me they were sex on toast and I should
have been more prepared.”  Cassandra grimaced.  “I'm pretty sure I
was pushing buttons that should have been left alone.”

“Hah.”  Clytie
growled, slamming open the door.

“Clytie Persephone Jones,
if you embarrass me I'm going to walk out that door and never come back.” 
She yelled it and it had everybody in both rooms freezing.

Clytie's voice was harsh in
the sudden silence.  “Did you just Persephone me?”

“I did, and I meant it.”

“But I told them...”

Cassandra's eyes
narrowed.  “Told them what?”

Clytie winced.  “I
told them you were off limits.”

“Oh for the love of...you
are not my mother.”  She didn't know if she was more embarrassed or
angry.  “If I want to have meaningless sex with two hot studs, or fifty
complete strangers for that matter, you have no say in it.”

“Meaningless?”  Mac
growled out.

“Fifty complete strangers
my ass,” Ben cut in. 

They both left the room at
a march, Demon close behind.

They stopped in the hallway
when they saw the door was sitting open and both women were once again sitting
in the big chairs and laughing together. 

They went quiet when they
saw they had company, a becoming blush on both their cheeks.  However, they
tried to hide it behind over bright smiles.

“Perfect timing, we were
just thinking it might be nice to go out for a nice dinner since Cassie is
here.”

“Cly, I told you not to go
out of your way.  Whatever you usually do is fine.”

“Did you ladies straighten
everything out?”  Mac asked and Cassie couldn't help a shiver at the deep
gravely tones of his voice.  Clytie gave her an ‘I told you’ so look and
Cassandra shook her head in warning.

“Yes, actually,” Cassandra
said, her voice firm and her eyes on Clytie in warning.  “I am going to stay
here tonight, if it's alright with you, and then find other accommodations
tomorrow.”

“No,” Mac said flatly.

Cassandra opened her mouth
and closed it again, standing up.  “O.K.  If you can recommend a hotel
I'll go tonight.”

“No,” Ben said coming
to stand before her.  He was so close she tried to take an instinctive step
back, craning her head and finally meeting his eyes, which she had been
avoiding.  “What he means sweetheart, is that you aren't leaving
tomorrow.”

“I'm not?”

“No.”

“May I ask why?”

That seemed to stump them,
which made Cassandra look towards Clytie with an inquiring brow.

“Because,” Demon blurted
out, “Clytie wants you to stay.”

It was lame but it was all
they had.  Cassandra narrowed her eyes looking from Clytie’s innocent
expression to Mac and Bens determined ones.  She stepped forward so that
she brushed against Ben and waggled a beckoning finger at him.  He leaned
down so she could whisper in his ear.

“I'm not sleeping with
you.”

They were nose to nose when
he whispered back.  “Sleep, was not what we had in mind.”

Cassie swallowed. 
“We?”  She couldn't help peeking over at Mac, only to meet hot eyes that
seared.

“We,” Ben said
definitely.  His hand went to her chin, pulling her eyes back to his, then he leaned
down and kissed her softly, right there in front of everyone.  Lord help her,
she felt it all the way to her toes.

“O.K...  Well, I think
it’s about time I got Cassie situated.”  Clytie yanked her right out of
Ben’s arms, making Cassandra blink dumbly.