Love and Chaos: A Growing Pains Novel (21 page)

Alas. He was the brother of her gay boyfriend. Impossible.

She wiped a stray tear that broke free and flashed him a smile. “I’m good. This too shall pass.”

His gaze searched hers. “When someone bounces back that fast, it usually means they just stuffed everything down deep so they can try and forget about it. But it doesn’t go anywhere. It’s still there. Trust me, I know from experience.”

Without thinking, just needing a little action, she stepped forward and playfully punched him in the gut. Her fist bounced off hard muscle. It wasn’t the mouth, but it still relieved a little stress.

“Oh…” Jace grunted, still connecting with her eyes on an extremely deep level, and unconsciously wiped the imprint of her fist away with his hand.

“Oh my god.” She pointed at the spot she punched. “Sean does that all the time! He gets so wrapped up in something that he just brushes away my awesome and extremely powerful punch.”

Jace’s
eyebrows formed a shelf over his eyes. He glanced down at his stomach and back at her. He shook his head in confusion. “You’re cycling through personalities too quickly for me to keep up.
What?
Where are we?”

She started toward the winery
, refusing to let that comment affect her. “You have jealousy issues, I have emotional A.D.D. We’ll be alone forever—I think I’ll start a cat collection, what about you?”

“But you have Peter…”

Oops.
“Yeah. And he’s terrified of me. So there you go.”

“Right. In other words,
let’s not talk about deep stuff.”

“Exactly.”

They entered the winery and sidled up to the nearest open counter space. Peter and Jenn were at another counter, chatting. The other boys and Rachel were nowhere in sight. Cassie half expected Jace to direct her toward Peter. And in all fairness, she really should go his way now just to keep up appearances. But he seemed utterly relaxed, talking with a smile and glittering eyes. He was opening up around Jenn, and wouldn’t like that he had to close back down if Jace came over.

“Why are you staring?” she said
, noticing Jace’s scrutiny out of the corner of her eye. The attention brought heat to her face and pleasure through her core.

“You seem like the kind of girl that likes being shadowed. Or, at least, having your man at your beck and call. Yet you aren’t going over to him.”

“Wow.” Cassie couldn’t help her eyebrows shooting up her forehead
, discomfort working into her already tumultuous emotions. “Is that how I seem to you? Needy?”

“Whoa.” He leaned back from the counter and put his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, no. Nope. Not what I meant. Please don’t punch me.”

“Hi, can I help you with something?” A man in his forties wearing a shirt with the winery logo smiled at them.

“Yes, I’d like to buy a case.”

Jace stood in silence as Cassie went about ordering wine, some of which she hadn’t even tasted. He couldn’t help but realize he’d hit off a nerve
with his comment. She went about her business with a cool efficiency, but she was distracted. He could tell by the way she jammed her hair behind her ear. She was, quite possibly, the easiest woman to read he’d ever known. And he’d hurt her.

When the employee had moved away to fulfill the order, he said, “Sorry, Cas
s, if I offended you in some way.”

“You didn’t.” She clasped her fingers in front of her and watched the
employee, wounded pride keeping her head up.

Jace thought back to their first meeting, when he’d mentioned how she jumped from one personality to the other. She’d been taken aback
—lost her confidence. And then again, outside. He’d struck a chord. He bet that she’d been accused of emotional A.D.D. and neediness by the immature idiots she’d dated. They obviously hadn’t understood the caliber of woman they had on their hands.

Peter didn’t, either. That much Jace was positive of. Peter didn’t understand her.
He gave her space when she needed attention. He left her to her own devices when she wanted someone to mess around with.

“Earth to muscle-head, come in muscle-head.”

“Reading you, loud and clear.” He leaned down and rested his elbows on the counter to match her
pose. “What’s up Pirate Princess?”

“
Pirate Princess?”
Her shapely eyebrows dipped. A smile worked at her lips.

Personality swap in three…two…

“Is that because I have the booty?” She laughed and handed her credit card to the man behind the counter. “Give me the gold, arg!”

“Just figuring you might benefit from an eye patch with your wine tasting method
.” Jace laughed as she received the credit card receipt to sign.

“You
haven’t said why you’re hanging out with me instead of pushing me toward Peter…Get over your fear of vaginas?”

He sucked air through his teeth in thought. “I’ve not gotten over the fear, no. Not quite. Pretty much anything to do with women still terrifies me.
”

“Just like a man. So?”

“He’s getting drunk. Thinks I’ll keep a better eye on you.”

Cassie barked laughter as she reached for the
case of wine.

“Don’t be an idiot.” He gently pushed her away and took her cargo.

“He’s basically setting you up for failure—you know that, right?”

He glanced down at her as they threaded their way through the meandering crowd toward their party. “How?”

“I am usually pretty level-headed—I didn’t appreciate that snort, Jason. Anyway, as I was saying, I am pretty level-headed—seriously, stop snorting, it’s true—but I can get a little…shall we say…”

“Wild? Insane? Bat-
shit crazy?” Peter smirked at them as they neared.

“Oh, you were in hearing range. Fantastic.” Cassie crinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at him
as Peter laughed with delighted.

“Hey, bro.” Demetri walked up from the side and gave Jace a hearty slap on the back. “We out of here, or what? Jesus, thirsty?”

“Good, let’s go.” Rachel waved everyone on, checking her watch. “I hope I packed the food well enough.”

“Why, babe, afraid of it escaping?” Demetri gave Jace a bleary eyed wink. “Wait, where’s Nick?”

“By the door, already.”
Jenn pointed to Nick, ahead of them, watching people walk by. He pushed away as Rachel bustled by.

“She gets really bossy and hot when she’s drinking.” Demetri laughed, giving Jace another slap on the back.

Jace smiled down at Cassie, feeling the heat of her arm as it brushed his. Feeling the pulse of his body responding to hers. He wanted to touch her so badly; to hold her hand and bask in her smiles. He wanted to steal her away and let her flirt with him before giving him a kiss. Just one kiss that he could remember for the rest of his life. The earth-bound angel that deigned to stoop and waste her smiles on him.

It wasn’t good. None of this was good.

But Lord help him, he wouldn’t back away. Couldn’t. Not right now with the sun in her hair and the sparkle in her eye… He couldn’t tear himself away from her beauty. Or her charismatic smiles.

He swung his shoulder forward. “
Mush, little doggie,
mush
.”

“Dude, Cassie, he just called you a dog.” Demetri sauntered forward with an evil grin. “A big, hairy dog. What a dick, huh?”

They filed out of the winery, stowed their purchases in the limo, and headed to the next stop. The attempt for a graceful crawl into the limo had long since passed. Mature adults clambered in like teens, too drunk to care. Cassie sat in her reserved seat, keeper of all things music. Jace fell into the seat beside her, as the last to get in the limo.

“Okay. Shall we rock this house?” Cassie
stared at everyone before dramatically tapping the face of her phone. AC/DC tore through the car, and everyone sang, drank, or attempted both.

“I need food.” Cassie leaned heavily against her seat and allowed her head to lull toward
Jace. “Did anyone bring snacks for the car?”

Jace stopped himself from matching
her lean, knowing that if he did get closer, he couldn’t be counted on not to let his hands follow. “We’re literally going to have lunch in ten minutes,” he assured her.

“Ugh.” Her vivid blue
gaze held his. “I’m drunk. But not yet drunk enough to make a huge ass of myself. So I’ve got that going for me.”

“How many glasses of wine until the huge ass asserts herself?”

“It’s tough to say.” She rolled her head back and forth on the seat before lifting up. “But you’ll probably know it when it happens. Isn’t that right, Peter?”

“What’
s that, doll? You need a lesson on awesome?”

“What are you even talking about?” Cassie yelled back. “I could give
you
the lesson.”

“
I
could give you
all
a lesson.” Demetri shot forward and waved his finger in the air. “And now I will dance.”

“I think you’ll have to compete to stand out.” Jace couldn’t stop lau
ghing. The absurdity in this limo was at such epic proportions it circled back into normal. It felt good to stop taking everything so seriously.

“Cassie, here. This one is good.” Peter passed along an open bottle.

“Tell Jace how he knows when I’ve lost the plot on the train
de
alcohol.” Cassie lurched forward for the bottle. Jace caught her before she spilled out onto the limo floor. He hauled her back up and grabbed the bottle.

“You sure you need this?” he asked softly.

“I absolutely do need that, sir.” Cassie held out her glass. “And you need one, too. That is a fact, and since I am the fact holder, I decree.”

“
Ri-
ight.”

“
Top signs Cassie is in the party spirit.” Peter scratched his chin with a grin. “She falls on her face and
does not care
.”

“Boom!” Demetri threw a point at her like it was a Frisbee. “Drunk.”

“She…forces alcohol on everyone else.”

“Boom! Two.” Demetri nodded exaggeratedly. Rachel rolled her eyes.

“She randomly punches people.”

“I do that sober!” Cassie yelled out.

“Permanent alcohol damage, honey,” Peter responded. “Next, she tries a lot of really terrible accents.”

Another wave of body guffaws ripped from Jace.

“Why are you putting me on blast like that?” Cassie planted one fist on her hip. “Just for that, I might play some Enya.”

“Don’t play Enya,” half
the limo groaned as Peter exclaimed, “You told me to!”

“What else?” Nick asked, laughing in Cassie’s direction.

“She has to look at you out of one eye.” Peter mimicked her, one eye squinted shut, the other unnaturally wide.

“There is no way I look like that.” Cassie pointed her nose in the air. “For one, I go to a decent
waxer for my eyebrows, unlike some people.”

“
What?
Amanda is
the best!”

“What the fuck is a
waxer?” Nick looked back and forth between Cassie and Peter.

“Throw out your balls and we’ll give you a demo.” Demetri rolled his hand in the air, as if rolling out a red carpet
for Nick’s balls.

“Did you sneak whisky or so
mething? How are you this belligerent?” Rachel demanded of her husband.

“I drank while you talked, my dearest, most understanding wife.”

Rachel gave Jenn and then Cassie a suffering expression.

“And finally,” Peter continued. “You know when Cassie is really, truly lost
? When…”

“Don’t tell them.”
Cassie shook her head animatedly. “Don’t do it.”

“I really shouldn’t ruin the surprise. Actually, you know what, I won’t. Because someone is going to get it, and I can’t wait to take a picture.”

Nick’s mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me right now? You can’t stop at that.”

“No, you can’t.” Rachel pushed forward in her seat so sh
e could get a clear view of Peter, sitting in between Nick and Jenn. “Spill it.”

Peter grinning, connecting eyes with Cassie. “
Nope. Surprise.”

“What?” Nick demanded.

“God, I need food,” Cassie groaned.

“Foooood.” Rachel gave a bleary smile, pouring herself a glass of wine. “I’m not as drunk as him, but this is getting to me.”

“
My man got a head start, but we’ll pull through. The women are losing the bet to the most drunk. The men will stand tall with my man Jace on our side.” Nick threw up his hand to Demetri for a high-five. Demetri shook his head where it hung between his legs.