She heard Ty suck in his breath and make a sound as if he was choking.
Okay, so he hadn’t known about the Incident. He did now.
Drew grabbed her hand, ignoring her when she tried to peel his fingers off hers. “Cassie! I love you! I’m not going to give up fighting for you.”
Cassie yanked her hand free, trembling with rage. “Get away from me.”
“Not until you give me another chance.” The lascivious jerk had a glint of cockiness in his eyes as if he knew she’d fall victim to his carefully orchestrated plea, as she always had in the past whenever he’d irritated her.
But this time was different.
It wasn’t about being annoyed.
This was about the essence of her soul.
Of her pride in being a woman.
“Cassie, just give me a chance. Lunch tomorrow. We’ll start over. I’ll prove you can trust me again.”
Ignoring Drew, she turned to face Ty. His eyes were too dark to read in the dim light. He was like a mysterious black hole that could hold danger, intrigue, friendship, passion.…She had no idea.
It was a risk she had to take.
With Drew’s incessant blathering rattling in her ears, she threw her arms around Ty and linked her hands behind his neck. She was uncomfortably aware of the look of surprise on his face, but she wouldn’t stop. Not with Drew standing there.
She pulled Ty toward her and kissed him. Hard. With all the passion of someone who wanted to prove she was stronger than she really was, and who was totally undone by the handsomeness of the man she was kissing.
2
TY FELT AS IF HIS WORLD was exploding. He’d seen the kiss coming and been ready for it.
Or so he’d thought.
He hadn’t been prepared for his blood to crash through his veins like a tidal wave trying to burst out of his body. He hadn’t been ready for the fire that was instantly ignited down south, for his hands to snap around her, anchoring her against him while he returned her kiss with a fervor more appropriate for a clandestine affair between lovers than a kiss engaged in only to make her ex-fiancé feel like the bastard he was.
Ty couldn’t stop himself from spreading his hands across Cassie’s back, feeling her shoulder blades move under his fingers as she tightened her grip on him, pressing herself closer. And when the delicate murmur of pleasure echoed from her throat, Ty couldn’t stop himself from responding with his own masculine growl of possession and passion.
He could feel Cassie’s breasts flattened against his chest through his suit jacket and starched shirt, felt his own body rise in response. And when the kiss became intimate in a way that an outsider could never see, his response was for her alone, for only the two of them. Only they knew he could feel the smooth surface of her teeth with his tongue and that she was responding with her own exploration, each touch sending the fire in his body escalating to new heights.
“He’s gone.” Leo’s amused voice broke through his fog.
Their lips froze, locked in the kiss like a pair of teenagers wearing braces.
“I said, Drew is gone.” Leo’s voice was louder now and even more amused.
Finally, Ty broke the kiss, but didn’t let go of Cassie. She kept her hands around his neck, staring at him with a look of startled awe. “I know,” he said.
Cassie blinked and finally appeared to realize what she was doing. Color rushed into her cheeks, turning them red through the bronzed tint of her skin, and she released him so quickly it was as if she’d been burned. Which was exactly how he felt. With regret, he let his hands slide off her soft sweater as she stepped away from him.
Leo moved into his line of vision, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “That looked like one hot kiss.”
Cassie’s cheeks turned even redder, though he wouldn’t have thought that was possible. “Um…Drew was being a jerk, so I, um, you know…I couldn’t let him…and Ty was being so nice…and Drew…idiot…so I guess I had to do something.…”
How could a woman capable of delivering a kiss like that be so genuinely embarrassed and cute afterward? There had been nothing “cute” about that kiss, yet now he wanted to wrap his arms around her and snuggle up with her to watch a movie in companionable intimacy. And then he’d take her to bed for some of that lovin’.
Hell, what was he thinking? He had no business letting his mind wander in that forbidden direction.
Cassie turned toward him, her eyebrows puckered in mortification. “Um, Ty, I’m really sorry about that.”
“No need to apologize.” No need at all. He’d take that kiss with him to his grave.
“No, really. I’m not the type to molest men I don’t know.”
“Or even men she does know,” Leo chimed in.
Cassie nodded. “Right. I don’t attack men. I swear.” She pressed her thumb and index finger into her forehead and shook her head. “I’m so embarrassed.”
Ty chuckled. “Trust me, any woman who can kiss like that has no reason to be embarrassed.”
She furrowed her eyebrows and pursed her lips, as if she wasn’t sure whether he was serious. Surely she’d gotten compliments before. No man could be the recipient of a kiss like that and not fall at her feet.
A strange pain in his gut surprised him. Was he actually bothered by the thought of her kissing other men as she’d just kissed him? He’d have to get over that and fast. Time to depart and get away from her influence.
There were certain things he didn’t want to know about himself, and his reaction to Cassie was one of them. Engaged men simply didn’t have those kinds of reactions to other women. Entirely unacceptable, regardless of whether the love between himself and his fiancée extended beyond friendship or not.
When he’d asked Alexis to marry him, he’d committed to her, and that’s how it was going to stay. So what if they both knew their relationship was based on friendship, not romantic love? When her parents had died, he’d vowed to take care of her, and he would. Committing to a marriage that had no hope of romantic love wasn’t a sacrifice. He’d never been in love in his life, so it wasn’t as if he was forgoing that sort of opportunity.
Or at least, he hadn’t thought so until Cassie’s kiss created a possibility that loomed most unwelcome.
“I have to go,” Ty said. “Nice to meet you, Cassie.”
He left the two women staring after him, Leo looking utterly delighted and entertained and Cassie still looking as if she wanted to crawl beneath one of the tables and hide under the paper tablecloth until everyone was gone. He wanted to stay to reassure her that she had nothing to be embarrassed about.…
Which was why he had to leave.
Now.
And consider buying a house in a different town.
Or a different state.
Or better yet, a different country.
He had a bad feeling that even Australia wouldn’t be far enough to make him forget about Cassie.
CASSIE WATCHED TY disappear through the raucous crowd, her cheeks still roasting.
“Wow. Was that kiss as good as it looked?” Leo folded her arms across her chest and wiggled her eyebrows.
“Depends.” It was absolutely astonishing that Cassie was able to speak coherently. She was