Two of hearts, p.18
Two of Hearts, page 18
But no such luck. Cassidy was one step past Nat’s room when the door swung open.
“Hey! You’re home.”
She turned back to face her sister. “Yeah. Um …” She wracked her brain for a quick explanation. I just ran out to the store. I left something in my car. I went for a walk … in the cold. She could see Natalie’s eyes registering her outfit though. The black coat and boots, in contrast to Natalie’s jeans and turtleneck sweater.
“Just for the record,” Natalie began. “I don’t care what you and Matt do.”
“We’re just friends.” Friends with benefits. Contractually bound.
Nat shrugged. “Like I said, it doesn’t matter one way or the other to me.”
“Don’t tell mom and Becca, though. Please.”
“I won’t.”
“Promise? We’re just friends but …”
Natalie crossed her heart. “I know how mom feels about it. Also for the record, I don’t agree with her. And Becca is so lost in love at the moment, I don’t think she believes anything could ever come between her and Jack.”
“Wow. That’s cynical.”
Her sister shrugged again, apologetically this time. “Jack’s a great guy and all, but he did get her pregnant seven years ago.” Natalie put on her leather jacket. “I gotta go. I’m opening up the shop today.”
“Are you okay?” It wasn’t like Natalie to be quite this cynical. “I feel like we haven’t seen much of each other lately.”
“You’ve been busy. No worries. I’m fine. Gotta go.”
In the shower, Cassidy turned the water on as hot as she could stand it. She dunked her head beneath the spray, then spun around to let the tiny needles of water hit her shoulders and back. Her body felt different this morning, and it was no mystery why.
I had sex last night!
Matt had ended her dry spell. Well, technically speaking. She was surprised when he called her on the whole faking-an-orgasm thing. No one had ever noticed before. Or, if they had, no one had ever said anything. Even without the Big O, though, the night with Matt was easily the best she’d ever spent with a man. He had some mad skills in bed, no two ways around that. Skills so mad her body was still buzzing, skimming along on the edge of arousal.
She shampooed her hair, rinsed, and turned off the water. Just as she pulled the shower curtain aside, she heard the bleating of her phone from her bedroom. She grabbed a towel and ran across the hall dripping wet. By the time she got there, the ringing had stopped. She snatched the phone from her bed and checked the call log. Lauren.
Hmmm.
She called her back while simultaneously trying to squeeze the water out of her hair with the towel.
“Hey!” Her sister picked up.
“I was in the shower.” Cassidy sat her wet body down on the bed, toweling off her legs. “What’s up?”
“I’ve decided to come home for Christmas, after all.”
“That’s awesome. When?”
“Today. I’m at the airport now.”
“Today?” The towel paused in her hand. “What’s going on?”
“I need to get away, that’s all.”
“Did you and Cole break up?”
“No.” A long pause. “Not yet.”
“Oh Lauren.” Cassidy’s heart stung for her twin sister. “When does your flight get in? Which airport?”
“I’m flying into Dulles. I land around eight.”
“Do mom and dad know?”
“Not yet. I called you first.”
“You need a ride.” Cassidy didn’t bother to phrase it as a question.
“Yes. If you’re not working today.”
“I am, but you know mom will let me leave early if it’s to pick you up.”
“Can I ask a favor?”
“Always.”
“Can you pick me up by yourself? I know mom will probably want to come along but … I need to talk to you.”
Cassidy stared sightlessly at the giant metal baggage claim carousel, her thoughts bouncing back and forth between Matt (wondering what he was doing) and Lauren (wondering what was going on in her life). Well, what was going on immediately was that her sister was on a plane taxiing to a gate here at Dulles International Airport.
Outside, a light snow was falling. Normally, the first snow of the season never failed to lift her spirits, filling her with a sense of impending holiday cheer. Tonight, it was doing nothing for her mood. Whatever was going on in her sister’s life made her pathetic problems seem, well … pathetic.
I have a great job.
A great family.
I’m not homeless.
I’m waiting to hear back from business schools.
She cataloged all the things that were right about her life.
I don’t have a boyfriend but I am having sex with a hot firefighter. No pun intended.
Of course, that might not actually happen again—contract or not. Matt clearly hadn’t been amused by her fakery. She sighed. That had happened this morning, a time that now seemed like eons ago.
The baggage carousel chugged and stuttered to life. She watched as a lone suitcase circled round and round. This was the most depressing part of an airport, she thought. Waiting for your luggage so you could leave and go home. Most people liked coming home. Even if a trip had been wonderful, they still found it comforting to come back home. Cassidy didn’t. She preferred the leaving, the immediate future rife with the possibility and serendipity of new experiences, new places, new people.
She turned back toward the escalator, sensing that Lauren was on it. Seconds later, Lauren stepped off the bottom riser and Cassidy was shocked by her sister’s appearance. She was heavier through the waist and thighs, her face rounder, her hair bleached from the southern California sun. Maybe the differences weren’t enough for someone else to notice, but they couldn’t have been more noticeable to Cassidy if they were outlined in neon.
She ran to her sister, engulfing Lauren in her arms.
“Easy there, Cass,” Lauren mumbled into Cassidy’s shoulder.
“What is going on?” she demanded.
Behind them, the baggage carousel picked up speed and luggage was clunking out onto it nonstop.
“Let’s get my bag. I’ll tell you in the car.”
But in the car, Lauren was no more forthcoming than she’d been inside the airport. Cassidy steered the car onto the airport toll road for the drive east toward Washington and then beyond, to the Eastern Shore. The night sky outside glowed with the ambient light of the suburbs—office parks, the neverending miles of traffic, neighborhoods getting denser and tighter the closer they got to the city.
Cassidy glanced at her twin from the side of her eye. “You got new glasses.”
“Oh. Yeah. I’ve had these awhile, actually. I don’t like to wear my contacts on the plane. The air dries my eyes out.”
“They look good.”
“Thanks.”
“So Becca wants us to go shopping for the wedding next week. Did she mention that?”
In her peripheral vision, she saw Lauren’s head nod. “Natalie said something about it.”
“And Jackie’s coming in for a week.”
“How are things going with Jack and Becca?”
“Good. Things are going good.” How could having a simple conversation be so awkward with her sister? With her twin sister, for pete’s sake. “You haven’t spoken to Becca lately?”
“Spoke to her three days ago. Just asking for a second opinion, that’s all. Did you send your business school applications in?”
“I did.” She felt Lauren’s hand on her forearm.
“Good. I know you’ll get in.”
“I haven’t told anyone yet though.” Except for Matt.
“No worries. Mum’s the word.” She laughed softly at her double entendre. “So how’d that winter festival thing turn out? Mom said it helped make up for last summer, sales-wise.”
“It did. It turned out nicely, I have to say. I don’t plan to be around next winter to spearhead it again, but it was a good idea on the town’s part.”
“You and Matt Wolfe didn’t kill each other?”
“Apparently not.”
She shot a neutral smile at her sister. She and Lauren used to share every detail of their lives with each other, until Lauren dropped out of college and moved away. She missed the days when she and Lauren were closer. Nonetheless, she had no intention of bringing up her beneficial friendship with Matt Wolfe. It was bad enough that Natalie knew. Even that was one person too many.
Traffic thinned out on the other side of the city, but the snow was falling heavier.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
“Famished. All they fed us was those cracker and grapes snack boxes. On a cross-country flight!”
“Tell me about it. I can’t remember the last time I got something even halfway resembling a real meal on a plane.”
“I’d settle for something halfway resembling a sandwich.”
The bright lights of a fast food restaurant beckoned ahead and Cassidy pulled into the drive-through lane to order burgers and fries. As she turned to hand a bag of food to Lauren, she noticed her sister’s rounded stomach again. Oh no.
“You’re not pregnant, are you?” she asked quietly.
Lauren looked at her like she was crazy, then burst into what could only be called maniacal laughter. “Dear lord, no.” She managed to get out three words before she was overcome by a fresh bout of giggles. “I’m just fat.”
“You’re not—”
Lauren waved off Cassidy’s words. “I’ve been stress eating. It’s okay to acknowledge the obvious.” She unwrapped her burger and took a bite. Chewed. Swallowed. Contemplated the burger for another moment. “Once upon a time, I did think I’d have children with Cole. But that idea turned out to be just laughably ridiculous.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Cole is gay.”
“What?” There was no way Cole could be gay. “You two have been together for almost seven years now.”
“I know.”
“Is he bisexual?”
“He says not.”
“Well then … how did you two …?”
“Not well, that’s for sure.”
Silence expanded to fill the interior of the car as Cassidy struggled to process this new information. She had always liked Cole. Well, as much as she knew him. Which wasn’t all that well, even after seven years, come to think of it. She knew him mostly through Lauren talking about him. He rarely came with her on trips to St. Caroline.
“Why did you stay with him then?” Cassidy lifted her soda from the cup holder and took a long, cold draw to prevent herself from saying something she might regret later.
Lauren was quiet for several minutes, but Cassidy waited her out.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what? Him?” If Cole had ever hurt her sister, she was so turning this car around right now and driving back to the airport. She’d fly all night to California to chew his ass to shreds.
“Of being alone. All the way out there.”
“You could have come home.”
Lauren coughed on the last bite of her burger. “Come back with my tail between my legs? And have mom and dad say ‘I told you the acting thing wasn’t going to work out?’”
“Damn it. Who cares what they think?” But she knew Lauren was right. That’s exactly what their mother would say. Hell, Cassidy had heard her dance around the subject of Lauren’s career more than a few times over the years. They were disappointed Lauren never finished college. And while she made a living doing commercials, it wasn’t the grand artistic life Lauren had envisioned.
Impulsively, Cass flung a french fry at the windshield. The grease kept it stuck to the glass.
“Are you going to eat that?” Lauren said, after a long comedic beat.
They burst into laughter together and the comforting familiarity of having her twin next to her washed over Cassidy. Even their laughs were identical.
Lauren peeled the french fry off the windshield, rolled down her window, and tossed it out into the night. She took a napkin and rubbed at the grease mark on the glass.
“Well, that didn’t really help,” she said.
“I’ll clean it tomorrow.”
Cass’s phone buzzed inside her purse. Somebody had texted her.
“Want me to get that?” Lauren asked.
“No, I’ll check it later.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s probably just mom.”
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge was blessedly uncongested at this hour. They sailed across the eastbound span in no time, Lauren staring off at the lights of Annapolis to her right.
Cole gay? Cassidy turned that idea around and around in her head.
“I would never have guessed,” she said quietly.
Her sister sighed. “I had my suspicions.”
Chapter 20
“Are you even thinking about me, sweetheart?”
Cassidy’s attention snapped back to the man hovering above her. The naked man hovering above her. The naked man that was Matt Wolfe.
“Yes. Of course I am.”
“You are the worst liar.”
“Sorry.”
He rolled off her hip and stretched his finely-muscled body alongside hers. “So care to share what you were thinking about when you were supposed to be thinking about …” He traced his finger across the outline of her ribcage. “... me?”
“I was wondering whether everyone believed my story about having to go home because I had menstrual cramps.” Before coming to Matt’s cabin, she’d been at her parents’ house where her sisters had gathered for a welcome home dinner for Lauren. After dessert, Lauren pleaded jet lag and went upstairs to rest.
“Well, you didn’t have to come over. You can always say ‘no’ when I ask.”
A ticklish shiver convulsed her body and disturbed the pool of desire that was deep in her hips.
“Do you want to leave and go back?” he added.
Did she want that?
“No. I’d rather be here.”
“I don’t want to keep you from Lauren. I know you don’t get to see her that often.” He trailed his fingers right down the center line of her abdomen.
“I wasn’t getting to spend much time with her, anyway. Mom was monopolizing her company.”
“Imagine that. A mother wanting to see her daughter.”
She swatted at his hand. “I’m Lauren’s twin. I outrank my mother.”
He snorted. “If you say so.”
His fingers were getting perilously close to the pool of desire. She took a deep breath to keep her hips from pressing up into his hand. In response, he brushed his thumb over the point of her hip bone.
“Your body wants to be here. But your mind keeps slamming on the brakes.”
Her field of vision filled with his dark hair as he bent his head to her breast. His lips closed softly around her nipple, a sensation she’d nominate as one of the wonders of the world. She shut her eyes and tried to give herself over to it, to the exquisite flicks of his tongue against her skin, to the way his warm breath seeped into even the tiniest of her veins, to the pool of desire that was pulling her under. He slipped a hand beneath her bottom and rolled her over. She felt his weight press onto her back, his knee pushing her thighs apart, a kiss planted onto her shoulder.
She was safe beneath him. She felt that all the way to the very marrow of her bones. It was an odd feeling, this mix of comfort and desire, relaxation and blinding need. If she could just hold herself balanced at that unlikely intersection, she knew an orgasm would meet her there.
If only.
Matt shifted his weight to lift her right hip an inch, entering her and cupping his hand between her legs. Her cheek sunk into the pillow, her eyes rolled back into her head as he simultaneously rocked himself inside her—gently, rhythmically—and stroked her. If this didn’t send her spiraling into pleasure, nothing would.
But it didn’t.
It came close. Oh so close. Tantalizingly, torturously close.
But no cigar.
He could tell the exact moment she gave up. He felt her muscles go slack beneath him. Not slack in that post-orgasmic my-bones-are-now-officially-jello sort of way. But slack as in the white-flag-of-surrender way. He touched his forehead to her smooth shoulder. She’d been close. He knew it. The rhythm of her hips had made the switch from shallow, desperate chasing to the deep, measured climb to the top.
It should have been unstoppable, past the point of no return. But something had happened, and he wasn’t sure what. Had his angle veered off ever so slightly? Did his finger slip and press too hard? Matt held a near scholarly interest in the female orgasm. He was fascinated by it, and not just because it had to happen before he could take his own. Every woman had an entire repertoire of orgasms, as endlessly variable as his own fascination in them. And yet, they were as fragile as a butterfly’s wings.
“Don’t wait for me,” she whispered into his pillow.
The words made his soul ache.
Chapter 21
With its pale grey walls and glossy black floor, the Pearls & Lace Wedding Atelier looked more like a chic art gallery than a bridal boutique. Instead of canvases and sculptures, the hushed, spacious rooms were populated with headless mannequins wearing all manner of silks and satins, organza and tulle, seed pearls and lace. The color palette ranged from pure white to soft ivory, with the exception of one display of dresses arrayed along the side wall, away from the front window. Black dresses.
“What about this one?” Lauren circled one of the black gowns, a big-ass grin on her face. The dress consisted of a tight strapless bodice and a voluminous tulle skirt adorned with shiny silver studs along the hem. “I mean seriously, with black Chuck Taylors?” She bit her lip to keep some semblance of a straight expression on her face.
Cassidy piled on. “Or what about combat boots?”
Becca, who was dressed for shopping in a perfectly sedate pair of black pants and a green sweater, rolled her eyes. “Not my style anymore.”
