Love and Chaos: A Growing Pains Novel (32 page)

“Yours probably is.”

Jace stared at her. She stared back. Finally he flicked his eyebrows skyward. “Okay, ladies first.”

“Be careful of that mocking/condescending tone,” Peter warned, licking his thumb and turning a page slowly. “It means he’s about to be a dick about something.”

“I got this.” Cassie held the ball and gave him a bouncing serve.

Fast as lightning, his hand came up and slapped the ball back at her, the little white orb hitting the
end of the table and speeding past her. All she’d done was blink at it. She hadn’t even reacted.

That was fast.

“Are you…playing?” That smile on Jace’s face was irritatingly mouth-watering.

“I just wanted to make you fe
el like you were achieving something.” Cassie retrieved the ball from beneath a chair. She tossed it over to him.

“Should I be playing easy?” Jace pushed, a smirk making his eyes twinkle. “You know, because you’re a girl…”

The sound of a magazine page flicking was the only sound in the room.

“You ready?” Jace he
ld up the ball. “I’m going to serve now.”

“Not wise, Jace.” Peter flicked another
page. “Badgering her is not a wise strategy.”

Peter was absolutely right, it sure wasn’t.

Jace served the ball, the flash of white zooming low over the net. Cassie was ready this time, though. She smacked it back, hitting the back edge of the table. Jace fired it right back at her, a little too much arch in the volley, though. Cassie brought the paddle down with a snap. Not even Jace’s long arms could get there in time.

“Showed up, I see.” Jace shook his head as he went to retrieve the ball.

“I don’t like losing.”

“Then you should stop challenging me…”

“There’s that refreshing confidence I grew up with,” Peter said.

Jace did a double-take at Peter. “There’s that personality I didn’t miss…”

Cassie barked out laughter.

“Oh, great, yes. Lovely,” Peter remarked, scanning a page.

The game warred on, Cassie and Jace were pretty evenly matched, but Jace’s speed was just a hair faster than hers. They worked for their points, but slowly he pulled ahead, first by one point, then gaining another. And another. Finally, after they were both scowling in concentration, Jace slammed the ball home for the final point win.

Cassie straightened up, letting the paddle drop to the table. “Well, shit.”

“Jesus,” Peter said, watching the two of them. “You guys are really evenly matched. Jace usually just whoops people.”

“Congrats.” Cassie winked at Jace, trying to be a good sport, but really wanting to throttle him.

He came around the table, leaving his paddle behind him, as a small smile played across his lips. He glanced at the doorway before wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “Good game, baby.”

Cassie closed her eyes
despite herself and leaned into his hard body. Warmth seeped into her skin. Wetness pooled between her legs. She rested her head against his shoulder and put her arms around his middle. With a sigh she said, “Forgiven.”

His deep chuckle reverberated in his chest. “For beating you, you mean?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, you guys. We’re not alone in this house
…” Peter climbed out of his chair and stood by the opened door.

Jace backed off slowly, his arms lingering. The deep pools of his eyes beheld her, taking her to that special place where they drifted together, just the two of them. He leaned down to graze her lips before backing off completely. “Maybe we’ll try again tomorrow.”

“Oh, we’ll play again. I’ve got your number.” Cassie’s sassiness came back
en force
. She braced her hands on her hips. “Next time it’ll be my double-ya.” She made a “W” with her fingers to accent her proclamation.

Jace chuckled and headed toward Peter. “Where’d you find her?”

“In the aisle for psycho white women for hire.” Peter followed Jace.

“I can hear you two idiots, you know that, right?” Cassie
said, thinking pretty seriously about throwing something.

That night Cassie lay in bed next to Peter with her arms folded over her chest, staring at the ceiling. Quiet snores sounded beside her. While the sound was not enough to keep her up, the ache in her bod
y had her wide awake.

Images o
f Jace as he played earlier kept drifting through her memory, his solid body and ease of movement making her mouth water. She remembered his flashing eyes as he readied to smash the ball home and his congratulatory grin as she bested him. He might wield his confidence like a weapon, but he gave credit where credit was due, not caring one bit if it was a girl beating him, or a professional—he wanted to win, but he’d give respect if it was earned.

A lump formed in her throat. She loved men like that. She loved when a man wasn’t so insecure as to get threatened just because she had a vagina. Those men were small-minded and simple. Jace was not one of them.

Her gaze drifted toward the door. The man she yearned for slept twenty feet away.

She sucked in a breath and closed her eyes against the pounding between her legs. God she wanted him so bad. It was almost a complex.

Peter had mentioned before he fell asleep that he’d cornered Jace after ping pong, when Cassie had relieved Jenn of the baby for an hour or so, about staying with him and Marcus. Peter had said he’d already talked to Marcus, using his alone time in town earlier for the conversation, and Marcus was thrilled to have one of Peter’s family around. The condo was a three-bedroom, with an office neither of them used. Jace could have his own room with the run of the office, if he wanted, for as long as he wanted.

Cassie had stopped breathing, waiting for the verdict. Unfortunately, it never came. Peter said Jace had dug his hands in his pocket
s, hung his head, and thanked Peter for the offer.

“He likes to make his own way,” Peter had told Cassie. “He likes to firmly be in control of that kind of stuff.”

“Do you think he wants to?” Cassie had replied, her voice wispy and soaked with fear. She wouldn’t lie to Peter like she was continually lying to herself—she wouldn’t be okay with losing Jace. She feared his decision to stay put. To let her go without trying to keep this thing going.

Peter had hugged her tight and petted her head. “He really likes you, Cas
s. I can see it. I mean, let’s toss out some honesty—the whole house can see it. That’s part of the problem. When he makes up his mind on something, he’ll hold on tight. Just look at that last wench—she was Satan reincarnate, and he wouldn’t end it with her. He kept giving her chances to make amends.”

“But that’s if he had made up his mind…”

“He has. With you, I mean. He wouldn’t be all over you if he hadn’t. He’s not like that. He’s usually really slow to make a move. Always has been. For him to be this expressive, especially when it’s kind of taboo in the house right now…he’s into you. You just have to trust that he’ll work it out. Trust and have faith in him, Cassie. He’ll come through.”

It had been a good talk. Peter had made her feel better,
as usual. Uncertainty, though…many a woman went bat-shit crazy when hanging from the rafters of uncertainty…

Cassie heaved a sigh and thought about turning over, cuddling
into her pillow, and closing her peepers. That pull, though. The ache. The itch under her skin.

She didn’t even want to have sex with him—

She nearly scoffed at herself. Of course she wanted to have sex with him. But that wasn’t all. She wanted to be near him. Next to him. She needed to feel his arm pulling her close as she drifted off to sleep. Safety and warmth and
man.

I should go to sleep.

She sat up slowly.

I need to
lie back down and go to sleep. There are already enough suspicious looks from the family.

She swung her legs out from under the covers.

Roger and Demetri keep tabs on Jace and me every time we’re in the same room. They notice when we so much as look at each other.

She tiptoed toward the door.

I am so stupid.

The door swung open on silent hinges. She peered out
, finding the empty, dark hallway she expected. Silence reigned.

Not a creature was stirring.

She closed her door like she might be doing something as innocent as going to the bathroom. Instead, she veered, her heart thumping out of control as her palm met door handle. She wrapped her fingers around cold metal, grasped…and turned.

The door gave way, unfortunately (or fortunately?!) not locked.

Her breath rang off the walls and alerted the whole house to what she was up to (in her head, anyway). With her heart out of control, she slowly pushed into the stillness of the dark room. Trace amounts of light filtered in through the window, the soft glow of the moon only enough to illuminate a sliver of bedside table. The bed waited in the darkness, probably housing a gorgeous, manly, muscly, delicious man she wanted to club and drag back to her lair.

Or possibly
the bed was totally empty and she could expect him to creep up behind her with a machete and a bag full of secrets.

Her imagination wasn’t always such a wonderful thing.

With a glance behind her, just in case, she silently swung the door closed. And stood for a moment, hoping her eyes would adjust to the darkness. Obviously, since she’d just come from a dark room, that was a whimsical hope, but still, a couple more seconds might…just…

Nope. Still dark.

She took a silent step, wind milling her arms to balance so as not to topple over. Usually balance wasn’t even an issue—a girl didn’t get to the upper echelons of soccer without being able to pause on one foot. But trying to be sneaky really messed with her concentration.

She edged her foot forward another step, her whole body going catawampus when her foot touched a mound of something soft. Soft, but not squishy. Fabric. A shirt, probably.

Why did she breathe so loud when she was sneaking up on someone?

For that matter, why was she sneaking up on him? What was she going to do, stand at the edge of the bed
like a creep and watch him sleep? That wouldn’t set off warning bells if he woke up or anything.
What am I doing, you ask? Oh, nothing, just standing here with a hungry expression, watching you at your most vulnerable. Why?

She took two more careful steps, wind milling again when her foot hit something that felt like wadded up jean. Her balance drifted and she had to do a quick
shuffle to the side. The edge of her hand hit off wood, sounding a dull thunk within the silent room. She cradled her hurt pinky in her other hand and paused.

Wait…why was the room so silent? He wasn’t doing that heavy, deep breathing people did when they were sleeping.
Was he awake?

Suddenly terrified she’d be caught at her most psychotic, she bent like a cat burglar
on a roof. Waiting, though not sure exactly what she was waiting for, she held her breath.

“What are you doing, Cassie?”

Oh shit!

Without even thinking, she
shuffled toward the exit, a manic giggle exploding out of her. She slapped her hand over her mouth as she reached the door, nearly bursting through and sprinting to her room like a naughty kid. That would be weird, though…

She stood silently on the inside
of the room of a man she thought was sleeping, that she hadn’t been invited into, and waited. Which, thankfully, was not at all weird…

“Cas
s?”

Movement from the bed. She could just make out his shape sitting up, mostly dark moving through really dark. “You okay?”

“Um.” She didn’t let go of the handle. “Yup. I, ah…”

He didn’t speak.

“So, I was just going to come in and…ahm…see you,” she whispered. “How long have you been awake?”

“I heard you leave your room.”

“Ah.” She didn’t know what to say now. Or what she was doing, besides playing strange stalking games in his room in the middle of the night.

She was making this awkward. She should
really say something, but somehow, “Sorry I got dunked in the ‘sometimes imbalanced gene pool’,” didn’t seem like a good excuse.

“
Come here,” he said softly.

The awkwardness deflated like a balloon. Heaving a sigh
, Cassie crossed the room with the grace she could’ve used a moment ago. When her foot touched jean, she put out her hand to brace herself on the nightstand. She reached for fingers barely visible in the soft moonlight. And then strong arms grabbed her and pulled her in, clutching her tightly against his bare chest.

“You’re a crackpot,” he whispered softly, dragging her into bed with him. She felt his lips on hers, hungry and passionate. She opened her mouth, letting him fill it with his taste, as he tucked her under his body.