She scanned the gourmet chocolate bars. “Desert and ocean.”
“Sweet and sour.”
“Open and…wait.” She looked up at him. “Which one of us is sweet and which is sour?”
“Well, I think your sniping speaks for itself.”
“I only snipe around you.” She smacked his arm. “Because you’re a dick.”
He watched her for a moment. And then he said, “But not anymore, right?”
She looked into those intense green eyes, took in his handsome features, and saw the man no one else in the world got to see.
And this feeling swept in, water coursing over parched earth, sunlight hitting frosted glass…forgiveness healing a broken heart.
“No.” She touched his arm. “Not anymore.”
The suite smelled amazing. Gigi had only stepped out for ten minutes to take a call from her manager, but Cassian already had something baking—something with onion and garlic. Yum.
She took a moment to watch him at work. Wearing a long-sleeve navy blue Henley—the sleeves pushed up to his elbows—worn jeans, and bare feet, he looked like a domesticated bad boy.
He glanced at up her. “Everything okay?”
“It’s only been four days, but so far everyone’s behaving. Maybe there’s hope for this third album after all.”
As he chopped an array of colorful, fresh vegetables like a pro, his muscles flexed. Those broad shoulders and taut stomach, his strong jaw and sensuous mouth...
Good God, the man’s gorgeous.
Stop staring. “Well, I guess I’ll set up the hors d’oeuvres.” She ripped open a sleeve of crackers, squirted some cheese onto one, and popped it in her mouth. “Mm.” She prepared another one and brought it to his mouth.
“Get that thing away from me.” Smiling, he twisted away.
As they worked easily together, she felt this rush of intimacy with him. She used to dream about moments like these. They’d be in their tree house, talking about any old thing, and she’d imagine them in their kitchen cooking together. Or her legs on his lap as they watched TV. Him shaving at the sink, while she showered...just being so comfortable together.
She never saw careers or kids or even what their house looked like. It was just random scenes with him. Easy, simple moments bursting with love. “Truth or Dare?”
“I’m going with truth since everyone’ll be here in less than an hour.”
She dumped the crackers onto a plate. “What’s your proudest moment? In your whole life?”
He didn’t even hesitate. “My first touchdown, freshman year.”
That made sense, she supposed. Her dad had turned a delinquent kid into a quarterback in under a year. She peeled the plastic off the Brie. “You’re prouder of that than being invited to play in the Pro Bowl? Making it to the Super Bowl? Being chosen MVP?”
He shoved the hair off his face with the back of a hand. “You remember the first thing I did when I crossed the line?”
Warmth spread through her. Of course, she did.
Chop chop chop. His fingers moved deftly. He didn’t look up from his task. “I looked for you. You were on the sidelines with your dad. I wanted to know if you’d seen me do it.”
“I did.” She’d expected—like everyone else watching—for him to do some kind of victory dance or jump into a huddle with his excited teammates.
But he hadn’t. He’d searched her out in the crowd—and when he’d found her, he’d looked almost startled, like Did I just do that? And then he’d given her a grin as shy as a little boy who’d just learned to tie his shoes. It had rocked her world, the way he’d shared that special moment with her. “But I mean your proudest. The one thing in life that—”
“I heard you, and that’s my answer. Up until then, I’d been angry and…defiant. Pissed at the world. I’d made life hard on everyone. But then I met you, and I wanted to be better.” He stopped chopping, shoving at his hair with the back of a hand. “It wasn’t about football at first. I didn’t know how to play, and the guys didn’t want me joining the team after the season had already started, so it wasn’t like it was fun. Most of the time, I felt embarrassed, because I kept screwing up. Coach didn’t have time for a new guy who’d never touched a football before. He needed someone who’d hit the ground running. So, making that touchdown, it meant…” When his hair fell forward, he shook his head in frustration.
Gently, she tucked the errant lock behind his ear. His whole demeanor softened, and she recognized the want in his eyes.
“What did it mean?” she asked quietly.
“It meant your dad was right. He’d heard from the gym teachers that I was athletic, so he’d taken a chance on me, and I was glad to pay back his investment. But it also meant I wasn’t a loser anymore, which gave me a shot at you. Gigi Cavanaugh wouldn’t want anything to do with a kid in detention, but if I were a winner, you’d give me the time of day.”
A week ago, she’d been a glacier. Now, this man’s words were melting her so completely the ocean levels would surely rise. “You were always good enough for me. If only you’d felt it in here.” She pressed her hand over his heart.
He dropped the knife to grasp it. “Your dad used to talk to me about being self-destructive. Said he was the same way before he met your mom, so he could see it in me. He said…” He looked away, clearly embarrassed. “He said he had it hard growing up, that his parents didn’t have time for him, so he didn’t have much self-worth. And he said, ‘Neglect does that to a kid.’ Until that moment, I’d never really seen myself that way. It made me think about my childhood, and…yeah, your dad was right.”
“I think that’s why he fell so hard for my mom. She takes care of people, and he needed that. I mean, right from the beginning, she was just so attentive to him. She dotes on him.”
“Yeah, they’re good together.”
It struck her, what her dad had inadvertently done. “How ironic, though, right? My dad helped you gain self-esteem, and then he took it right out from under you.”
“How’s that?”
“By telling you to stay away, he was saying you weren’t good enough for me. He might’ve said, Let Gigi reach her potential, but you heard, Keep your dirty, self-destructive hands off her.”
His features twisted into raw, unyielding pain. “I…” His jaw snapped shut. He swallowed. “Yeah. Guess I did.” He picked up the knife and started chopping again. Only, this time, his movements weren’t so smooth.
“You have to know he didn’t mean it like that. He thinks the world of you.” But her words couldn’t reach that deeply ingrained belief. As she washed grapes and set them on a plate, she wished so badly her dad hadn’t interfered. Who knows where they would’ve wound up?
Pulling a baguette out of its sleeve, she decided to tell him the truth. “I wanted your dirty hands on me. More than anything, I wanted all of you, and it killed me, because when I was alone with you, I was so sure you were mine, but then we’d leave our little cocoon, and you’d be with my dad, your coach, your teammates…or Melissa, Carrie, Jen…and you weren’t mine at all. It was just so confusing.” Hurtful.