Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

D el shoved the botanical basket in with a lot more force than necessary.

"Hey, watch it!" BJ looked up from his clipboard with a scowl. "We don't have enough insurance on you to cover the hospital bill when I beat your ass for breaking the still."

He grumbled a half-assed apology to his brother. The equipment they worked with cost a pretty penny. Distilling did not come cheap. Between the stills, mash tuns, the chiller, proofing tanks, and all the other machinery they needed to turn grain to sugar to alcohol, they'd gotten a sizable business loan from the bank. Good thing people loved to drink what they'd produced because they'd paid back the loan years early. Still, buying a new still because he'd broken it in a fit of temper wouldn't exactly show his brothers he was mature enough to handle running a restaurant.

"You get up on the wrong side of your bed this morning or what?"

"Something like that."

He hadn't woken up in his bed. He'd had the distinct pleasure of waking up in Cassie's, and as far as he was concerned, there was no wrong side of her bed. Not while she was in it. The morning had started great, better than great. In fact, this whole week had been one of the best of his life. Hanging out with Cassie after work, talking, eating, watching dumb TV shows. And the sex, hot damn , who knew the woman would be so dynamite in the sack? She blew his mind every time. He kept expecting to get bored or freaked by the domesticity of the situation, but he wasn't.

Spending time with Cassie, with or without clothes, exhilarated him. Surprised the hell out of him, to be honest. He'd never been much of a one-woman kind of guy. Or a long-term guy either. He loved women; they were soft and fun, and as long as things didn't get too deep, he was game for whatever they had in mind. But things with Cassie were different. He couldn't explain the weird sensation he got deep in his gut whenever she was near, the warmth in his chest when she smiled or laughed, usually at him.

"Did you screw things up with Cassie again?"

He glared at his brother. "No, I didn't screw things up again." Because he hadn't screwed anything up in the first place. That whole story had been a lie they fed everyone. One he felt kind of bad about, but he shoved the prick of guilt away.

"You better not have," Ace commented, checking the charcoal run on the vodka still. "Charlie will kick your ass if you hurt her best friend."

He took a step toward his older brother. "Why does everyone think I'm going to hurt Cassie?"

She'd been the one to practically throw him out of her apartment this morning. All he'd done was ask her on a date, and the woman turned all Mr. Hyde on him. Confusing as hell. Weren't women supposed to like the whole dinner and a movie thing?

"Because you're you."

Ouch. Leave it to Ace not to hold back. Sometimes he wondered if the military had drilled all the feeling out of his brother.

"I think what Ace is trying to say," BJ stepped forward, holding out his hands between the two, "is that you don't exactly have a reputation as a long-term kind of guy, in anything. We're simply concerned."

Shit. This wasn't about Cassie at all. This was about the restaurant. His brothers still didn't think he could do it. They didn't believe in him. Would they ever? Sure, he'd jacked-off in his late teens and early twenties, but he was almost thirty. He had a degree—one no one knew about—he understood the gravity of the responsibilities he wanted to take on. Shit, would they ever see him as a man and not their snot-nosed kid brother?

"Despite what some people think," he threw back his shoulders, giving each of the twins a hard stare, "I'm not the same person I was at eighteen. I have grown up a bit since then, and I understand the responsibilities of the plans I undertake. All of them."

BJ tilted his head, a small smile curling the corner of his lips. Ace just stared him down. No smile. He didn't think his eldest brother even knew how. After a tense moment of silence, Ace nodded.

"Glad to hear it. We look forward to seeing the new you in action."

With that, Ace turned and headed back to the back office. BJ gave him a full-on grin.

"What?" Del said.

Large shoulders shrugged. BJ tucked back a loose strand of his long hair when it fell in his eyes. "Nothing. Just surprised you didn't call him a dick and tell him to kiss your ass."

"Wouldn't have done me much good. Everyone knows he's a dick, and I have someone much prettier than his ugly mug willing to kiss my ass, thank you very much."

BJ chuckled. "You do realize you just essentially called me ugly, right?"

"Naw, you're way better looking. Take after me."

"Since I was born before you, and Alfa and I are identical, I'd say you take after us. But in all seriousness," BJ continued, brow pulling down with concern, "are you and Cassie doing okay?"

Were they? He'd thought so, right up until she'd had her mini freak out and kicked him out of her place this morning. He still had no clue what he did to set her off. Couldn't have been the sex. She'd enjoyed the hell out of that, and he had the scratch marks on his back to prove it. Maybe she was upset he stayed over? The adorably confused wrinkle she got in the middle of her forehead when she'd asked if he'd moved in still stuck in his mind.

You moved in without asking, dumbass.

That had to be it. Cassie was just pissed because he basically started living at her place without talking to her about it. Women liked to talk about shit like that before it happened. He knew. He had a sister who needed to discuss things endlessly until every detail was plotted out in stone. Moving some of his stuff in without talking it over with her first had to be the reason for her outburst.

Right?

Something still felt off. She'd been surprised by his stuff at her place, but it hadn't angered her. What the hell was it?

"Yeah, we're great." They were great. Or had been that morning when he was inside her.

His brother gave him a skeptical glance but shrugged and went back to his clipboard.

Truthfully, he was better than great whenever he was with Cassie. Being with her made him feel fan- freaking -tastic. Things felt right when they were together, in a way they'd never been for him before. The thought should scare the hell out of him, but oddly it did the opposite. Thinking of spending time with Cassie, sharing a home, a life, didn't send him running for the hills. A small part of him wondered if being married to her, for real, wouldn't be such a bad idea.

He shook off the fantastical idea with a laugh.

Cassie didn't want to marry him for real. The woman was way too smart to chain herself to a guy like him for the rest of her life.

Still, that didn't mean he couldn't act like the dutiful fiancé. And when your future wife got pissed, what could a guy do? Simple answer: grovel with gifts.

Once he finished with work, Del headed over to the Lollypop Shoppe to grab a box of Cassie's favorite chocolate truffles. Fannie Tanner, the sweet old woman who'd run the store since it opened decades ago, handed him the box of heavenly smelling treats with a smile.

"I hear you're marrying Cassandra Brown."

"You heard right." Kismet was filled with dozens of tourists every day, but the locals were a tight-knit community, and the gossip mill ran as smoothly as the Platte cutting through the mountains.

He started to hand over the cash for his purchase when the elderly woman uttered two words that made him freeze in shock.

"'Bout time."

Hand suspended in the air, he tilted his head. "What?"

Ms. Tanner chuckled, grabbing the cash from his hand. "You can't fool me, child. I've been around far too long. The whole town's seen the way you two snipe at each other. That much friction can only mean one thing."

"It can?" He raised a brow when her wrinkled finger waved in front of his face.

"Yes. When people bicker and poke at each other the way you two have been doing for years, it means they're denying what they really want to do." Bushy gray eyebrows bobbed suggestively.

He didn't know if he was impressed by her observation or slightly nauseated that a woman who reminded him of his grandmother stood there talking about his sex life.

"I always knew you two would fall in love someday."

"Yup. We sure did." He swallowed the lump of guilt the words brought on. He thought this would be easy, but as the days went on, he found it harder and harder to lie to everyone. Perhaps the hardest person to lie to was himself, because he was beginning to fear Ms. Tanner could be right, and he'd been harboring some deep feelings for Cassie for a long time.

"I expect to get an invitation to the nuptials," she added.

Pasting on a charming smile he didn't feel, he tipped his head. "Of course, we could never leave you out, Fannie."

Tucking the box of chocolates under his arm, Del headed out of the shop and down the street to Cassie's house. His mind whirled with the knowledge that when they ended this thing, it wouldn't only affect them and his family, but possibly the entire town. He wasn't self-absorbed enough to think their marriage and eventual divorce would create chaos in Kismet, but it might divide people. In a town as small as theirs, not much went on. When something big happened—like a quicky marriage and subsequent divorce—people loved to gossip, speculate, and take sides.

No one would be on his side once the dust settled. He knew that with bone-deep certainty. When picking sides, there was no way he'd come out looking like anything but the bad guy. No one would pick him over the sweet, generous, hardworking Cassie. A problem he hadn't thought of going into all of this.

Didn't matter. The townspeople could think whatever they wanted. He'd take their disapproval, couldn't hurt his reputation any worse than it already was. Besides, he'd gladly take their disdain as long as none of it fell on Cassie.

Dammit, he was in deep.

He was on a dangerous slope with this woman. As much as the idea appealed to him, he needed to make sure he didn't slip and fall. Because he damn sure knew she wouldn't fall with him.

When he arrived at her house, he paused for a moment, taking in the charming old house. He could see why Cassie felt such a connection to this place. The white Victorian with yellow trim was so picturesque. Like something out of a storybook. He could see a family living in this house. The kids running around the yard while the parents watched from their relaxing spot on the front porch, rocking away in the deck chairs while sipping tea or a delicious Old Fashioned.

The image started to morph, shift into one of him and Cassie gazing lovingly at two little dark-haired children with their mother's trademark curls and his bright blue eyes. He shook his head, dispelling the daydream and heading up the front porch steps.

Oddly nervous, he ran a hand through his hair before knocking lightly. When the door opened, he sucked in a sharp breath. Cassie stood in the doorway in shorts and a T-shirt, hair haphazardly piled on her head in some kind of messy bun that made him want to pull it apart and run his fingers through her bouncy curls. She looked soft and comfortable and so damn sexy his body ached to take her. But that wasn't why he was here.

"Del? Um, hi."

Not exactly the warm welcome he'd hoped for, but after the way they left things this morning, he wasn't surprised.

"For you," he said, holding up the box of chocolates.

Her eyes lit with hunger. "Are those Fannie's dark chocolate raspberry truffles?"

"Yup."

She grabbed the box from his hands, bringing it up to her nose and inhaling deeply. "They're my favorite."

"I know." He chuckled as her eyes widened in surprise. "You keep a box of them in your freezer. I saw it was running low the other night."

"You bought me more." Her gaze fell to the box and then rose back to him. "Why?"

He shrugged, hoping to come off more casual than he truly felt. "I've heard the best way to apologize is with chocolate."

The corner of her lips quirked up in a small smile. "And what do you have to apologize for?"

"I'm not sure, but I do know whatever I did I'm sorry about it." He pasted on his most charming grin, the one that got him out of bad trouble as a kid and got him in fun trouble as an adult.

"Del." She laughed when he winked, but then her expression turned serious. "You don't have anything to apologize for. This morning I… I don't know, I guess the stress of everything just got to me, and I took it out on you. Which wasn't fair."

"What's stressing you out? Maybe I can help." He wanted to help, that was the weird thing. All his life he'd gone the easy route. Quit school when it got too hard, traveled around when he got bored, left relationships when they became too real. But he was done with all that. He wanted to do more. He wanted to be more. Finishing his degree was only the start. Now he wanted to prove himself with the restaurant, with Cassie. He wanted to help her, however she needed it.

"No. It's fine."

Bull. He had a sister. Fine in woman-speak meant anything but. He couldn't force her to talk if she didn't want to, so instead he asked, "You still up for that movie? We can grab a bite to eat too if you haven't had dinner yet."

She glanced down at herself. "I'm kind of a mess—"

"You look beautiful, Cassie." And she did. No matter if she wore a ratty pair of shorts and an old shirt, dolled up in a sexy dress, or nothing at all—his personal favorite—she always looked amazing.

She smiled, shaking her head. "You're just saying that because I'm your fake fiancée and you have to."

"I'm saying it because it's true."

Her smile faltered, eyes gazing into his, seeing something in them that caused her to let out a small gasp. He was trying to keep things light and fun, hide his confusing emotions, but he knew some of it must have shown because she swallowed hard, biting her bottom lip. He thought he saw some of the same struggles in her gaze.

He was too much of a chicken to ask. Whatever her answer was, he didn't know if he could handle it. Hell, he could barely handle the perplexing feelings kicking around his own brain.

"Just give me ten minutes," she finally said, motioning for him to wait in her living room. "I'll throw something more appropriate on and be right out."

Something in his chest eased. He hadn't screwed everything up. Good, because he was coming to realize hanging out, making love, even sitting around doing nothing with Cassie was a blast. Never had he felt this content around a person, like he could be his true self. Not even with his siblings did he open up as much as when he was with Cassie. With her, he felt comfortable, safe.

Shit, I am falling.

He startled at the realization, but oddly the thought didn't make him panic. It made him happy, and damned if he didn't want to do everything in his power to make Cassie happy, too.