Chapter 4

The next few weeks were extremely busy for Cassie as she had several weddings and parties booked at the store. Still, that didn't stop Kevin from stopping by every other day to take her to lunch or dinner. A few times, he'd even volunteered his services to deliver flowers when her regular help had called in sick and she was caught in a bind.

Cassie was becoming very comfortable with their friendship, and she had to admit, she liked having a guy around as a friend, someone she could depend on whenever she needed him, though she was still loathe to admit it. Her short-lived friendship with Kevin had been the main thing she'd missed a few years ago, and now she didn't know what she'd do without it. Even though there were days when she was severely tempted to risk turning it into something more, she held back because she didn't want to ruin what they had now. The mere idea of not having him in her life any more now terrified her.

The fact that she could admit that to herself was even more terrifying.

When Heather called and asked if Cassie and Kevin would like to join them for a night out, Cassie didn't even hesitate to agree. Unfortunately, she got held up in joining them at the country western bar they'd picked and was almost half an hour late.

"Sorry," she said, joining the three of them at the table they'd reserved and shrugging out of her jacket. "Tess had to leave early and I got stuck with some late customers."

"You should have called me," Heather chided.

"It wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Did you guys order already?" she asked, picking up a menu.

She wasn't surprised they'd waited on her, and they all agreed to split one huge pizza with some beers. Cassie settled back in her seat and sighed, glad to be with friends for a change, and not working or going to court or counseling sessions with Andi.

Once or twice, Cassie caught herself glancing at both Jake and Kevin as they bantered back and forth across the table. They really were great guys, and so much alike in a lot of ways.

"Are you two up for a game of pool?" Jake asked the women after the pizza was gone.

"Not me," Heather sighed, and Cassie agreed, "It's been a long day. I just wanna sit here and kick back for a while longer. You go ahead without us. Give us a chance to gossip."

"Suit yourselves," Jake said, and leaned over to kiss his wife. "Wait here while I go show Kevin who's king."

"King of the losers maybe," Kevin shot back and winked at Heather as he followed Jake to the pool tables.

"So," Heather said when they were alone, "are you and Kevin dating yet, or still trying to be 'just friends'?"

"How many times do I have to tell you - friends only," Cassie emphasized.

"Still trying to put up boundaries? How sad. I think you two would be great together," Heather said.

"You've made that perfectly clear, little sister." Leaning forward, Cassie considered her sister and then glanced to where Jake and Kevin were talking and readying their game of pool. "Can I ask you something, sis?"

"Absolutely."

She considered her words carefully, not wanting Heather to jump to conclusions. "When you first met Jake, did you know he was the one?"

Heather's eyes widened in surprise. "When we first met? Honestly, no. I mean, I didn't think anyone like him could be interested in anyone like me, so I had these walls put up, you know? I never even let myself imagine it. It took a lot of convincing from him before I realized he really did love me. One day I just realized he was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and I couldn't imagine my life without him in it. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering..."

Damn. Cassie could answer 'yes' to both those questions herself.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with you and Kevin, would it?" Heather smiled knowingly.

Cassie sighed, figuring if she couldn't trust her sister, who could she trust? "Maybe," she admitted. "I don't know. A part of me wants to take that chance, you know? But another part of me knows it just wouldn't work out. Besides, he deserves better."

"You'll never know until you try," Heather encouraged. "And he can't get any better than you, you moron."

Cassie just loved her little sister to death for saying that. Still, she wondered... did she have what it took to be the kind of woman Kevin deserved? Or should she just stick to the 'just friends' objective?

Heather glanced in the direction of her husband, and then grimaced.

Cassie followed her gaze and saw that two women were chatting up Jake and Kevin. Even she tensed, seeing that.

"Damn," Heather murmured softly. "I hate it when women try to pick him up, even when I'm around. Doesn't she care he's wearing a ring?"

"Does it really worry you?" Cassie asked, feeling a little worried herself, seeing the second woman flirt shamelessly with Kevin, who absolutely did not have a ring to hide behind.

Just then Jake turned and sent Heather a smile and rolled his eyes to let her know he wasn't encouraging the attention. Heather laughed and blew him a kiss in return. "No. Not really. He always finds a way to untangle himself. Just watch."

"Mmmm. Well, Kevin doesn't seem to be trying to get away," Cassie grumbled.

"Technically, he doesn't have a reason to," Heather pointed out. "Can I give you some advice, sis?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Walls don't keep other people out. They keep you fenced in. Now why don't we go over there and show those floozies to stay away from our men?"

Cassie did what she usually did. She reacted without thinking.

"Best idea I've heard all night," Cassie agreed, wasting no time in abandoning her drink and heading that way.

When Jake saw his wife doing the same, he excused himself from the woman trying so hard to flash her ample, er, assets under his nose. Uh-oh, Cassie realized, seeing the blonde just turn and focus her attention on Kevin, who was already being worked over by a redhead in too-tight pants. He lifted his eyes, saw Cassie coming, and looked... relieved?

Poor thing. Did he need her to rescue him from those two over eager bimbos? Just like the night of the bachelor auction, she recalled. She swore, if she didn't know him so well, she'd say he was gay.

Pasting on a wicked smile, she chuckled to herself as she got closer. Poor Kevin. He'd never know what hit him when she got done. She just pushed her way in between the two women and pressed her front up close against him, sliding one hand around his waist and the other up to play with the ends of his hair. "Sugar pie, honey dear," she drawled in her best - or worst - Southern imitation, just like Scarlet O'Hara or something. "Are you bein' a bad boy leadin' these poor women on?"

He stiffened, and she had to try real hard not to laugh at the flicker of merriment that suddenly lit up his eyes. The look he gave her said he was having the same problem. He exaggerated his own Southern accent to mimic hers, saying, "'Course not, love muffin." He slid an arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze too. "These two lovely ladies was just tellin' me about a party they were givin' for a friend."

"A party!" Cassie squealed. "Woo-hoo, I do love a party now."

Not to be left out, Heather, who was snuggled in Jake's arms, chimed in with her own atrocious Southern drawl. "Hot damn, honey, you know I'm always up fer a party too. Where's it at?"

The redhead was looking uncomfortable, but the blonde tramp just looked plain mad. Cassie toyed with them for a few minutes more before they just gave up and wandered off, seeking other prey. Cassie chuckled. When she went to slip away from Kevin, however, he wouldn't let her go.

"What's your hurry, sugar pie, honey dear?" he mocked with a big smile. "I do believe they are playing our song. Least you can do is offer me a dance now that you scared away all my dance partners."

She pretended to consider it, although she was thrilled at the idea of having a legitimate excuse to press up against him for a while longer. "Hmmm, well, sugar pie, honey dear, I guess I can do that."

They were playing some old country song, a ballad about lost love and heartbreak and twenty beers to drown it in, but Cassie barely heard the lyrics as she sighed and melted into Kevin's arms on the dance floor. How easy it would be to let go and fall completely in love with this man, she thought.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Jake and Heather were dancing too. They looked so comfortable together, and so happy. No one else in the room existed for either of them, from the looks of it. Cassie was glad. Maybe they would make it after all. She hoped so.

"Can I ask you something personal?" Kevin whispered, and his breath against the sensitive shell of her ear sent a thrill down her spine.

"Sure, love muffin."

She heard the smile in his voice as he asked, "Why did you really scare that woman away? Jealous?"

"You bet," she said without hesitation. "That woman had great hair. I wonder if I should dye my hair red," she added thoughtfully.

"Don't you dare," Kevin said and pinched her bottom in warning. "Seriously. Were you?"

She sighed, figuring she owed him nothing less than the truth. "I don't know. Maybe. OK, yeah, I was. I don't know why. We're just friends."

"Your rule, not mine," he reminded.

"I know." She turned her head on his shoulder, watched the lights gleam. "I should see a shrink."

"Plenty of people do. Doesn't mean you're crazy."

"Gee, thanks. You weren't supposed to agree with me."

"Hey, I like crazy. Crazy is hot. Really, crazy turns me on."

She felt his erection against her hip and thought, yeah, no kidding. She lifted her head and stroked her cheek against his. "Okay. Say you'd seen a couple of really hot guys flirting with me instead - would you have been jealous?"

She swore she felt his body tense and smiled to herself. "Hell, yeah," he agreed without hesitation. Then he was the one to sigh. "Difference is, you know I want to be more than just friends so it would have been justified."

She thought about that for a few seconds, wondering if her jealousy meant she would never be able to be "just friends" with Kevin. She smiled wryly at herself. Hadn't she been over this a thousand times in her mind already? If Kevin could promise her that adding sex back into their relationship wouldn't destroy their friendship, she would go home with him right now and give him a night he wouldn't soon forget.

She knew that wasn't a promise anyone could make though. She sighed, loudly and deeply. Heather's words came back to haunt her: "you'll never know until you try."

"Okay."

"Okay what?" Kevin repeated.

She just kept her head on his shoulder as she said, "Maybe we could try something... more."

His hands around her waist tightened, and he seemed to falter in his movements for a second. Cassie realized she was holding her breath, waiting for some sort of audible response from him as well.

A softly whispered "Damn" was her only reward.

"Damn?" she repeated, lifting her head and sending him a look that could kill. "All you can say is 'damn'?"

He simply pressed her hips closer to his with one hand and pushed her head back down toward his shoulder with the other. "Feel that? I was already turned on holding you, but what you just said made me hard as a rock. We're gonna have to keep dancing until I can get out of here without embarrassing myself."

"Oh." A slow, self-satisfied smile spread across her lips. She lowered her head back to his shoulder and relaxed again. "Okay."

In the end, Kevin had to excuse himself to use the restroom, and when he came back - quite some time later - he was less noticeably aroused, but not by much. Cassie hid her smirk behind her mug of beer and continued her conversation with her sister and Jake until Jake finally reminded, "Time's up. Gotta get home to relieve the sitter."

The foursome walked outside, continuing their banter and fellowship until the last possible minute. Cassie noticed Kevin was walking behind her, using her as a shield to hide his condition. Poor thing. She felt a thrill knowing she'd put him in that condition, and she was probably grinning like a fool too. Maybe it was the beer she'd drank, although it hadn't been much. Maybe it was the full moon overhead. Cassie even found herself doing something totally out of character by initiating a hug with her little sister in parting.

"Thanks," she whispered in Heather's ear.

"For what?" Heather laughed, squeezing back.

Cassie just shrugged. "Just thanks. That's all."

"Tell that kid of yours I'll take her canoeing next weekend if she's good," Kevin was saying to Jake, who gathered Heather close with one arm and waved goodbye with the other.

"Where are you parked?" Kevin asked Cassie and pointed out that he was parked in the back lot.

"Same here. The place was packed when I got here," she explained, wondering, 'what do we do now?' Should she ask that god-awful question, your place or mine? Or should she let him take the lead? Encourage small talk? What? She actually felt butterflies in her stomach for the first time in years! How ridiculous was that?

"So..." she said after the silence grew uncomfortable as they rounded the building. "Wanna go catch a movie now or-" She broke off when she saw something sharp come into his eyes, something reckless and thrilling that had her heart racing to a faster beat just from seeing it.

She felt her body jerk against his as he pressed her back against the brick wall behind the bar, hidden in the shadows. She didn't care. She just wanted his hands on her, and he didn't let her down. He slid them both beneath the hem of her shirt, slid them up the silk skin of her back as his mouth crashed down on hers. It was a hard kiss. A greedy kiss. It was easily a kiss that had been stored up inside both of them for the past four years, she reasoned as she pressed into him, giving every bit as good as she got. Her legs got tangled up with his. She lost track of whose hand was where. She just let it happen, not caring if the entire Chicago Cubs baseball team were to happen by and catch them at that moment.

Pulling back, breathing hard, Kevin pressed his forehead against hers and, after a moment, managed to say, "Sorry. I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist. You've had me so worked up all night..."

"Just all night?" she challenged, smiling, still breathing hard herself.

"Minx." He smiled back and admitted, "Okay, you've had me worked up since the moment I first laid eyes on you, sweetheart. Now what are we gonna do about it?"

She let her hands do some exploring and pressed her hips closer to his in reply. Yep, he was still turned on; she could feel him poking against her, more so than before. He growled in her ear. "Watch it, darlin', or I'm gonna end up taking you right here, right now."

"Would that really be so bad?" she teased in his ear at the same time her hand slid between the waistband of his jeans and his hot, hard skin.

He groaned. "Got any protection on you?"

She stopped what she was doing, yet again realizing the thought had never once crossed her mind. Why was it always like that with him, and only him? She regretfully shook her head. "No."

"Damn. Me either. I didn't want to risk you finding any on me and jumping to conclusions. Boy, was I stupid." He closed his eyes and said, "Just give me a minute."

Cassie thought about their situation and ways out of it, but only for a second. Then she put both of her hands to work - one to lower his zipper and the other to fish out his erection. She nipped his earlobe and smiled when he groaned and leaned more into her, a slave to his hormones. "Why don't you let me take care of this for you so you can be more comfortable following me back to my place?" she told him.

He seemed to look around, trying to see if anyone was around to spy on them. She already knew there wasn't - she'd already looked for herself. Not to mention, it was so dark where they were standing, no one would see them anyway. Either way, she was willing to risk it if he was. Still, he seemed to grit his teeth and say, "Nah... Wouldn't be right."

"If it was right, it wouldn't be so much fun," she smiled and just shoved him around until he was the one leaning against the wall, at her mercy. "Just lean back and enjoy the ride, cowboy. You can return the favor later."

"Cassie... oh god," he began to protest and then groaned when her hands, then her lips made contact with his very hard cock. His head fell back against the brick and he unconsciously arched his hips toward her. Swallowing hard, Kevin lifted his head, opened his eyes, and looked down at her on her knees and servicing him behind a bar.

As he watched her mouth slide up and down on his cock, Cassie heard herself moan a time or two along with him. She made love to his cock like she'd never done before, coating it gently with her tongue so she could slide more of him between her lips. She knew he'd already been so turned on, it wouldn't take long for him to cum. She really started to bob up and down, faster and faster. She felt Kevin grab her hair and say, "I'm close, Cassie... Better... stop," he gasped.

She started to feel his cock swell as she continued to lick up and down his long, hard staff. She'd never swallowed for anyone before - she didn't know of any woman outside of porn and erotic stories who actually enjoyed doing it - so she pulled back and finished him off with her hands.

When his breathing seemed to return to normal, she smiled a self-satisfied smile and straightened to lean into him. "Better now?"

"Damn, Cassie." He tugged her close and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm not so sure I can repay a favor as good as that one."

"Don't worry. Practice makes perfect, and I plan to see that you get plenty of practice," she told him and pulled away with the intent to get in her car and race home as fast as humanly possible. Now she was the one who was hot and horny and aching for release. She'd never given a guy a blowjob in a public place before, and for some reason, it had made her wet. Excited. Eager. But Kevin grabbed her hand and tugged her back before she could get a move on it.

"My place, not yours," he said with a grin. She wondered why the preference and guessed it must have shown on her face. He reminded, "Condoms," and she almost turned red. Yet again she'd let it slip her mind, and he did have that big multi-pack to use up. She had none to speak of herself.

"Okay. Your place," she agreed and turned to leave. He wouldn't let go of her hand.

"Wait, Cassie," he said, obviously not sharing her edge of urgency now that he'd gotten his rocks off. "If you change your mind on the way there... you know I'll understand."

She smiled and leaned in to kiss him, hoping to convince him she wasn't going to change her mind anytime soon. "Nice try, hot stuff, but you're not getting out of that favor you owe me. Now, will you just leave already or do you need an engraved invitation?"

He just smiled real big, obviously relieved and just as excited as she was, and when he said, "Make sure you follow me. I know a shortcut," Cassie knew she was in for a night she would never forget.

The 'just friends' rule had been tossed out for nearly three months, and so far, so good, Kevin couldn't help but think.

What a great three months it had been too. He and Cassie had been virtually inseparable since the night she'd caved in and agreed to add sex to their renewed friendship. She had not only stayed the entire night at his place that night without having second thoughts, she'd stayed that entire weekend. Then the next, and the next, and sometimes he stayed at her place too. Kevin hadn't exactly gotten her to say those three little words just yet, but he'd let them slip to her a couple of times now. He knew he loved her; he felt she should know it too. Sooner or later she'd accept he meant it and feel comfortable enough to share her own feelings. Maybe she felt the same. Maybe she didn't.

He was a patient man. He figured he could wait a little bit longer to find out.

Kevin sighed as he sat on the edge of the swimming pool behind his newly purchased house and watched as Cassie helped her niece stay afloat in the water. The woman was a bit of a distraction in that bikini, but he reigned in such thoughts, knowing it was hardly proper since they'd been entrusted with Faith for the weekend while Jake and Heather celebrated their wedding anniversary out of town. Still, he didn't mind looking. He knew Cassie had caught him staring at her with a grin on his face more than once. She was getting pretty good at pretending she didn't notice, but he'd caught her checking him out a time or two as well.