Page 102 of Just Between Us

Dark hair.

Cassie in Josie’s kitchen. Time to go inside.

Pushing through the back door, I’m met with chaos. People are everywhere. Abby is saying something to Jay before huffing a breath and stomping up the stairs. From the kitchen, Jackson and Cassie’s aunt laugh and the strumming of a guitar drifts from somewhere upstairs. I make my way down the hall to the tiny bathroom under the stairs when I nearly bump right into Cassie.

“Easy there,” I say, as her hands brace against my chest. When she hears my voice, her head snaps up.

Her hands fall away and I take a step back, my mouth going dry at the vision standing before me. Cassie’s dark green dress is made of some silky kind of material and it shimmers in the light. The front has a little swoop that shows off her dermals, pointing straight at the slightest hint of cleavage. What would she do if I leaned in and swirled my tongue around each one? And those tiny ass spaghetti straps are doing the bare minimum.

Her hair is draped across one shoulder and when she angles her head slightly I see she’d done it in some kind of pretty little sideways braid across the back leaving the ends loose.

“Liam,” she says, voice breathless.

After a beat I realize I still haven’t spoken. I don’t think I’ve even blinked.

“You look—” I stop to clear my throat and try again. “Thy beauty, such a wondrous thing, awakens the beast within.”

Pink rises onto Cassie’s cheeks. “What famous poet wrote that line?”

“Me. Just now. That’s what you do to me.”

She holds my gaze for the span of a heartbeat and whispers a quiet, “Thank you.”

“Cassie, did you find the sewing kit?” her aunt yells from the kitchen. “I think it’s in the side pocket.”

This brings us back to reality.

“Found it,” she calls back. “Liam, I’m struggling.” She turns her back to me and stretches an arm to point to her strap, which I now see has come unsewn from the dress. “I found the sewing kit in my aunt’s purse”—she waves the needle and thread in the air—“but this is a two-person job. I was actually looking for you.”

Some type of gold powder dusts her shoulders and for a split second all I can do is stare, my gaze trailing up the delicate curve of her neck.

She looks at me over one shoulder. “Can you help? Today is not the day for a wardrobe malfunction.”

Dumbly, I take the needle and thread. Of course I can do this. How hard can it be? A few stitches in soft fabric that rests against the warm, smooth skin of her back. Nothing to it.

I follow her to the bathroom, stepping in to examine the strap. Today she’s wearing some kind of perfume I haven’t smelled before, and I clench my jaw at the effort it takes not to lean in for a quick inhale.

Focusing on the tiny needle, I loop the thread through the material several times, careful not to stab Cassie. My knuckles graze her shoulder blade with each pass and it’s a damn delight when I see goose bumps rise on her arms.

I’m just tying off the thread when I realize I don’t have any scissors. Without thinking, I lower my mouth and rip the thread with my teeth.

Bad fucking idea.

This close to her skin I can’t help myself. She smells too good and what would it hurt? With the tip of my nose, I map a path up her shoulder blade, drag it up the side of her neck until I reach that tender skin just below her ear. On a deep inhale, I breathe her in, letting my lips barely ghost against her pulse point.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Cassie whispers on a shaky breath.

“Enjoying how good my girlfriend smells,” I murmur into her ear.

Cassie goes still as a statue, so still I’m not sure she’s even breathing. Then she slowly turns until she’s facing me in this tiny bathroom, our bodies inches apart, the air between us humming.

“Is there a question buried somewhere in that very presumptuous statement?”

I rumble out a deep laugh. Presumptuous my ass and she knows it.

“Cassandra James, will you be my girlfriend?” I feel like I’m in fucking high school again but I’d say it a hundred times if she asked me to.

Cassie tilts her chin and crosses her arms in a way that only pulls her cleavage higher and I’d bet all my poker winnings she knows the effect that has on me.