Real Challenge (Atlanta #2) (35 page)

This was all really happening! Soon, Scott would be by the pool full-time, she’d move up into a nursing position at the clinic, and the pair of them would stay together. So much can change in less than a year. Had it only been that long? How could so much happiness come to her in such a short time?

But in spite of how happy she was in nearly every aspect of her life, thoughts of her father plagued her more often than ever. The decision of whether or not to see him weighed heavily. But once again, she pushed that to the back of her mind. She only wanted to focus on Scott and their first official night together in
their
house. Her mind wandered through their entire relationship. She grinned to herself through every part, even their big fight. They came out even stronger, and because of that, even the fight brought her joy.

Her reverie was happily broken when she heard Scott walk in the front door. She heard every little part of their new domestic life. His keys hit the little table by the door. His computer bag dropped beside the table. His suit jacket softly swooshed onto the couch, and two marbles plinked in her jar. She could even hear his sock feet padding down the hall toward her.

Scott walked into their room with his tie loosened and his shirt half unbuttoned. He stopped and gaped at the sight of her smiling there on the bed waiting for him. “God, Cassie…you look…wow.” The candles softly flickered as romantic music played in the background. The curtains were drawn and offered intimate darkness for their celebration evening.

“Here, let me help you with that,” she said smiling as she got up on her knees at the edge of the bed. She pulled his tie out from under his collar and unbuttoned the rest of his shirt. She pulled the crisp white fabric off his shoulders and then his tight undershirt gently off his body.

He spent that same time getting out of his suit pants. Now standing beside the bed in his boxers, he pulled Cassie against his body and kissed her deeply. He let his hands wander over the cool satin of her negligee. “You are so beautiful in swimming-pool blue…”

Cassie giggled softly, “You noticed…”

Scott kissed her more deeply and eased her back on the bed so he could crawl over top of her. “Of course I did. My favorite color on my sexy girlfriend? Doesn’t get much better. I think I’ll leave it on you.”

He kissed all over her neck and shoulders while his hands pushed the satin up past her hips. A huge smile spread across his face at the matching blue crystal tucked into her navel. He ran his hands along the smooth fabric over her breasts while he kissed her sweetly. “I love you, Cass. And I want you…in
our
bed.”

“I love you, too, Scott. But as hot as you look in boxers, I think I
won’t
leave them on you.” She smiled and pushed them gently down his hips.
 

And sweetly that way they made love in the romantic atmosphere of their bedroom. Scott’s hands and lips moved softly over her skin and satin while Cassie squeezed his strong shoulders and wrapped her knees high up around his hips. “I love having you here in our house, Scott. I love you,” she breathed as he gently moved inside her.
 

“You gave me all of this,” he said as he looked in her eyes, still making love to her slowly. “All of it — everything happy is from you.
Everything
. I love you so much…”

Cassie smiled so softly below him, wrapping her hands around his ribs and pulling him down tighter against her body. She whispered in his ear, “You’re my happiness, too, Scott. Stay with me…don’t leave…
here
with me. I need you…”

“Forever,” he whispered.
 

Evening had fallen by the time the two were resting together peacefully in their bed. Cassie’s relaxing yoga music played on in the background while they held each other and simply let themselves breathe together. Scott’s mind was reeling. He was in love and sharing a home with the most dynamic woman he’d ever known. And because of her, he was dropping his miserable drive for showy success and heading back to the only place he loved as much as this house: the pool.
 

Still in awe of her, he looked over and saw that she had drifted to sleep. He saw that calm, serene look on her face. She rarely let that side of her show. He was fairly certain no one else ever saw Cassie that way. Maybe not even Marcus.
 

Marcus. He was another part of Cassie’s life Scott needed to think about. When Cassie and Scott were in the middle of those two awful weeks apart, Marcus wanted Scott bloody. The only thing stopping him was Cassie. Scott felt he needed to make amends with Marcus just as much as he had with Cassie, especially now that they were living together.

Scott also had an ulterior motive. He genuinely wanted to get along with Marcus, at least for Cassie’s sake, plus they needed to talk about the situation with their father. Scott promised he’d let Marcus know if she brought it up.

So the next morning he called Marcus to invite him for lunch. Wings Joint was a favorite of all of theirs, so they agreed to meet that day at noon. Scott could still hear the tension in Marcus’s voice over the phone, but at least he agreed to meet. That alone was progress.

“Hey, Marcus,” Scott said as he approached the table where Marcus sat.
 

Marcus nodded as Scott sat down. “Scott. Look, I know you and Cassie made up. She even told me about the new living arrangements. But you have to know. She may have let it go, but I haven’t.”

“Yeah, I figured. Did she tell you what the fight was about?”

“No. All I needed to know was the number of tears.” Marcus said pointedly. He hadn’t smiled yet. Scott figured he was having a hard time sitting there with him at all.

“Well, then I’ll tell you. It was about my priorities. I hurt her when I put myself ahead of her. She didn’t deserve that and it will
never
happen again. I really love her, Marcus, and now I understand what that means. It’s a hundred percent, all the time, and I get it. She’s first in everything, where she belongs.”

Marcus paused for a moment and regarded Scott with scrutiny. Scott didn’t back down at all. Finally, Marcus visibly dropped some tension. He apparently believed the truth of that statement. Scott knew better than to think they would be instant best friends, but they would be able to talk candidly at lunch. The waitress came and took their orders and Scott turned once again to Marcus after she left to get their drinks.
 

“Cassie mentioned your dad a few times, and I thought you should know,” Scott said. “She’s trying to decide if she wants to talk with him.”

“Shit. I was afraid of that,” Marcus said, shaking his head. All the tension came back to his face, and Scott was glad his anger was no longer directed at him. “What did she say?”

“She’s not sure if she wants to talk to him, but then she mentioned him again Monday. I don’t think she’s going to let it go.”

“Yeah, probably not. How can she even consider this?” Marcus asked the table as he shook his head. Then he looked back up at Scott. “What the hell is she thinking?”

“I don’t know. But she said maybe she should at least hear his apology. The quote was ‘My drunk father terrifies me, but a sober one might be worth talking to’.”

“Fuck,” Marcus muttered under his breath. “He’s not even worth
thinking
about.”

“Look, I know it’s not really any of my business what you do, but my plan is to support whatever she needs. I don’t like the thought of it either, but if she wants to talk to him, I’m going with her.”

Scott took a deep breath. Marcus had always been her protector, but now they needed to share that role. Scott didn’t think his involvement would go over well, but Marcus needed to know he was staying in Cassie’s life. Like he said before, nothing was more important than Cassie’s needs. “I want to help her, Marcus. I’m here to look out for her, too.”

“Fuck!” Marcus said a little louder with his hands up on his head. “I hate this. But yeah. If Cassie’s hell-bent on seeing him, there’s no way I can stop her and there’s no way she’s doing it without me. I guess not you either. And she’s
not
going back to that house. He can bring his worthless ass to us. But not at her house, either. She doesn’t need him ruining her happiness there. Not at all. Shit, I hate this.”

“Honestly, so do I,” Scott said. “Cassie gave me a pretty clear picture of what life was like for you two. I don’t want her reliving any of that. Or you either, for that matter. Even if only for Erin’s sake.”

The waitress came with their lunch and the two started eating in silence. Marcus stared at the table the entire time, obviously processing everything Scott said. Finally, Marcus looked back up at Scott. “Erin’s going to want to go with me, too. God! I don’t want any of this. He shouldn’t be near either of them.” He shook his head, visibly frustrated.
 

“Ok, what about this. All four of us meet with him in a public place. A park, maybe? Restaurant? That way he’s not near home for any of us, and you two have an easy out the minute you need it. But I won’t bring this up again unless Cassie does.”

“No damn restaurant. I’m not sitting for a meal with the bastard, sober or not. But, yeah, a park sounds better than home,” Marcus said before he muttered “fuck” again under his breath.

The two didn’t have much more to talk about after that and lunch was fairly awkward. As they were finishing, though, Scott was feeling a little more brave.
 

“Look, Marcus. I love Cassie and I care about Erin, too. I’ve heard what each of you has gone through and frankly I’m intimidated by it. I’ve never had to deal with anything like what you all have. I can’t even pretend to understand.”

Marcus looked at him appraisingly, listening closely to what Scott was saying. His jaw was set and his eyes were hard, but he listened nonetheless. Still brave, Scott continued.

“Still, I had different issues. Cassie blew them up. She got me out of my egocentric world and all the fake-perfect little people in it, Marcus, including my job. There’s a lot I understand now that I didn’t before, thanks to her. I know you don’t particularly approve of me, but I’m asking for the benefit of the doubt. I’m figuring things out as I go and I’d like us to get along for Cassie’s sake. I hope we can get past the animosity. I’m not letting her go.”

Marcus continued to stare, trying to find sincerity in Scott’s words. A few awkward moments passed, with Marcus and Scott each assessing the other. Even though Scott was intimidated, he didn’t break eye contact. Cassie was too important to lose the one ounce of her brother’s respect he’d gained that day, no matter how hard Marcus glared.
 

Marcus took a deep breath and scowled at Scott. “As long as we’re being honest, then no. I don’t really like you a whole lot as a guy for Cassie. I think you’re a pretty-boy snob and you hurt the hell out of my sister because of it. But I trust her. If she sees more in you, then I believe it’s there. For her. There’s your benefit of the doubt. I’ll drop the attitude, but don’t kid yourself into thinking I’m not watching you like a hawk.”

“I get it,” Scott said, resigned to Marcus’s hesitation about him. “And I’ll let you know if Cassie decides to talk to your dad. She’ll probably tell you herself, but either way, I’ll make sure you’re in on it.”

“Thanks. I’ll talk to you later,” he said as he got up, dropping a few bills on the table.
 

Scott noticed that Marcus hadn’t smiled once, but at least everything was out in the open. And he really didn’t blame Marcus for calling him a snob. Before Cassie, he was exactly that. But he was around for the long haul, so Marcus would have plenty of time to see the true Scott, the one Cassie saw from the beginning. This
new
Scott was the
real
Scott, and he was finally content in his own skin.

Chapter Nineteen

When Scott got home that Wednesday after work, Cassie greeted him at the door with a huge hug. She held him tight and buried her face in his chest. He wrapped her up tight and asked, “You ok?”

She pulled back from him with a warm and genuine smile. “I love you. Marcus called me today. He told me about your lunch and what you said. It means a lot that you did that.”

She kissed him and helped him shrug out of his suit jacket. “How much longer do you need these stupid suits? Have you heard back from Georgia Tech?”

“Just this afternoon, actually,” he said with a bright smile. “They said, and I quote, ‘Finally. When can you start?’ and then asked about winter semester. When I told them I could start as early as three weeks, they agreed. I can pick up the contract next week, Cassie. I can’t believe this is real.”

Cassie hugged him hard again with her widest smile yet. “I’m so proud of you Scott. I’m so happy! You and the pool, together all the time. I might actually get jealous.”

Scott smiled that dimpled grin. “Don’t be jealous. You’re still my number one.”

“Good to know,” she said, still unable to contain her smile.
 

“Can I take you out to dinner to celebrate?” Scott asked. “I’m still dressed up and you’re always beautiful.”

“I’d love to. How should I dress?”

“Let’s do fancy while I can still afford it. I can’t wait to see what you come up with to wear,” he smiled. He leaned down and kissed her deeply. He watched her walk back to their room as he put his jacket back on. He sat back on the couch and stared around at his new home, still smiling that this place was his. Even though no paperwork titles had changed, he knew this house was his anyway. Cassie gave herself completely to any decision she made. This was their home, without question. Knowing that made him twice as sure about the real reason for their evening.

Only a few moments later Cassie came out wearing that mini fringed flapper dress from their first date. This time, however, she dressed it up with her silver stilettos, and a silver scarf around her back draping from her elbows. She carried the silver clutch he recognized from their other fancy dinner out. Her hair was done up in some sort of an upside-down braid from the base of her head, with her long strands at the top twisted into a soft, loose knot. Like always, Cassie was beautiful. Lastly, he noticed her silver and turquoise bangle bracelet on her wrist. He grinned at that gift from so long ago. Who could have predicted from that date what would have followed? Certainly not Scott.