Operation: Endgame (23 page)

She dressed in the slinky black dress he’d helped her buy. She remembered the heat in his eyes when she tried it on at the store, and hoped that boded well for her plan. For tonight, she opted to go without her arm brace. Her shoulder was still sore, but she thought if she was careful with it, then she would be fine without the brace to hold her arm in place.

The house was ready. Sinatra was singing
Winter Wonderland
over her speaker system in dulcet tones. She walked around the house and lit the various candles which peppered the surfaces to provide a nice festive ambience.

As she came around to the kitchen, she arranged the wine glasses on the counter and reached for a bottle of red wine. She hadn’t heard Jake walk up behind her, but now she felt his warm, callused palm rest on the bare skin of her back as he reached around her to grasp the neck of the bottle. “I can open that for you, if you’d like.”

Cassie closed her eyes as the musky scent of Jake and his cologne enveloped her senses. She turned towards him and took in his appearance. On a normal day, Jake looked beyond sexy in his worn jeans and t-shirts, but tonight he was wearing dark black jeans which cupped his ass to perfection. He had on a pressed button down shirt and his black cowboy boots. The entire look made this Texas girl’s heart go pitter-pat. He noticed her slow perusal and gave her a cocky grin as he reached around her waist to whisper in her ear, “You’re looking pretty fine yourself, Cass.” He pressed a slow lingering kiss to her jawline, which sent shivers down her spine, and then he turned. “Stop distracting me so I can get these wine bottles opened up for you.”

Cassie watched him for a moment, puzzled at the change in attitude towards her. She hadn’t missed the heat in his eyes and, while he kissed her in passing all the time, it was usually just on her forehead, not the sensual zone around her neck. They had a good day together, but there had been no indications he changed his mind about them having a relationship. She had to be imagining things. Her own arousal must have sent a vibe to her mind which wasn’t actually there. Right?

She looked back at Jake, but he wasn’t paying attention to her any longer. He was simply opening the wine bottles. She’d started out the night with full intent to seduce him, but was now feeling off-center and confused. Only Jake had the ability to keep her so off-balance.

She couldn’t dwell on it any longer though, because at that moment the doorbell rang. It was time to play hostess. When she opened the door, Penelope was standing there with her date…one who completely surprised Cassie. “Frankie?” Cassie looked over at Penelope in question. “I didn’t know you two knew each other.” Penelope had always been the free spirit of the group, but even the dreadlocked, tattooed Frankie was a surprise as a date for Penelope. She usually went for the new age, alternative kind of guy rather than the bad boy rebel style Frankie exuded. Her shock must have shown on her face because Penelope just smirked at her.

“Merry Christmas, Cassie.” Penelope handed her a bottle of wine and pulled Frankie into the house behind her. “How do you know Frankie?”

“He’s my tattoo artist,” She flashed her wrist at Penelope, “and a former student.”

“Tattoo?? Whoa, when did you do that? I never thought I would see the day when you had a tattoo.”

Cassie shrugged, “It was just something I needed to do.” She looked down at her tattoo. “Didn’t he do a nice job on it?”

Penelope gave Frankie an appraising eye. “Very nice. Hmmm, I may have to rethink my ink policy.” She gave him a wink.

He grabbed her around her waist and nuzzled her neck. “Anytime, darling, you just let me know. We could even tattoo some more erotic areas.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

Cassie was relieved when the doorbell rang again. They were bordering on the line of TMI. Some things even best friends didn’t need to know. “On that note, I need to go play hostess. There are drinks in the kitchen. Help yourself.” She nodded down to the covered dish Penelope was carrying. “You can put that in there too.”

Thirty minutes later, most of Cassie’s guests had arrived and she was standing at the fireplace chatting with War when Jake let Derek and his new girl, Melissa, in the front door. Cassie noted their arrival with a smile, but when War saw who she was smiling at, he literally growled, “Who the hell is with him?”

Cassie hissed at him, “War, you need to be nice to both Derek and his date. They’re a new thing and he wants to impress her. Don’t mess this up for him.”

Cassie looked back over at the couple. Melissa was a very attractive brunette. She wore her hair in a chin length bob. She was tiny, but obviously very fit. She was wearing a tight little mini with a silky button-down top which was perfectly festive for a holiday party. She was scanning the room taking everything in, like she was judging the peons in her midst. Cassie immediately had a sinking feeling about her, but Derek was obviously smitten. He had eyes only for her and was taking in all of her reactions.

War’s aggressive demeanor continued, so Cassie whispered a hushed, “Be nice,” as she left his side to greet the new couple.

As she walked up to them, Jake reached around Cassie’s waist in a surprising embrace. Cassie gave him a look of surprise, but shifted her attention back to Derek and his date. “Merry Christmas, Derek.” She extracted herself from Jake’s hold and gave Derek a welcoming hug before looking over at Melissa. “This must be Melissa. I finally get to meet the girl who’s kept Derek smiling the last few days. Merry Christmas, Melissa, it’s so nice to meet you.”

Melissa smiled. She glanced around the room like a shark eyeing its prey. “Thanks for having me. Your home is lovely.”

Cassie smiled. “Thank you. Make yourselves at home. There are drinks and food in the kitchen. We’re a casual group, so everyone pretty much takes care of themselves.”

As the couple wandered into the kitchen, Melissa continued to watch everything very shrewdly around her. Cassie nodded towards her and said to Jake, “She seems very observant, doesn’t she?”

Jake looked over at her. “Hmm, she does seem to be watching everyone pretty closely, doesn’t she?” Jake looked at Melissa assessingly. “I’ll keep an eye on her.” Then he turned back towards Cassie and put his arms around her waist. “I’d rather keep an eye on you though. Have I told you how sexy you look tonight, Cass?”

Cassie leaned back so she could search his eyes. “Where did this complete about-face come from Jake? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I just don’t understand it.”

“I just thought about everything you said. You’re right Cassie and I can’t fight my attraction for you any longer. I won’t. I’m just not strong enough to deny myself anymore.”

His words sent a chill up Cassie’s spine, but before she could respond, the sound of raised voices by the fireplace interrupted her. Derek and War were having some sort of disagreement.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” War looked furious as he yelled at Derek.

“You don’t have a say in it, War.” Derek yelled back.

War’s face was suffused with anger. “Like hell I don’t. The other night proves I have a say in it.”

He reached up to grab Derek’s upper arm, but Derek shrugged him off. “Don’t touch me.”

Cassie saw a flash of hurt cross War’s face before he hid it as she walked up to see what the problem was. “Okay boys what’s the issue in the sandbox here?” Cassie tried to judge what was happening, but suddenly neither one of them would meet her eyes. “Derek? War? What’s going on guys? This is a holiday party. No yelling allowed.”

Then Melissa rushed up and giving War a dirty look, embraced Derek. “Honey, what happened?”

Cassie could see War visibly clench his jaw and look away in anger, so she reached up to touch his arm.

Derek just looked at War and sighed. “It’s nothing to worry about, Melissa. I’m sorry for ruining your party, Cassie. We probably should go.” Derek gave one final lingering look at War before he turned and ushered Melissa out of the front of the house.

War continued to stand there still and tense as a statue. “War, I know you and Derek have never gotten along, but what the hell?”

His jaw remained clenched as he sighed loudly and ran a hand through his hair, which was shocking to Cassie. In all the time Cassie knew War, she had never seen him looking anything less than perfect. Every hair was always in place; every part of his appearance nothing short of immaculate. That he let his argument with Derek discombobulate him to the point of messing up his hair was saying a lot about how much it had affected him.

She tried again, “War?”

He looked at her as if assessing her. “The problem isn’t that we aren’t getting along anymore. The fact of the matter is we’ve been getting along too well and everyone’s a little uncomfortable with that.”

Cassie spoke haltingly, “I don’t think I understand.”

“I know and I’m sorry we made a scene. I probably should leave too. Merry Christmas, Cassandra.” He gave her a brief hug and then rushed out the front of the house.

More confused than ever, Cassie joined Penelope and Julie who were standing in the kitchen chatting. Julie looked up as Cassie walked towards them. “Is everything okay?”

Cassie shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea.” She looked back over to where the door had just closed behind War. A concerned furrow to her brow, but there was nothing she could do to help whatever the situation was tonight.

She turned her attention back to Julie. “Looks like things are going well between you and Dr. Hottie.” Cassie glanced back over to where Aaron stood chatting with Frankie and Jake.

Julie gave a secret little grin and a nod. “Yes, things are good, but we,” she looked conspiringly with Penelope, “are much more interesting in knowing what the heck is going on with you and Jake. I know he’s normally pretty touchy-feely, but there is a much more sexy vibe to it tonight, or are we imagining something?”

Cassie blushed as she gave a secret little glance over at Jake who just happened to be looking at her. She ducked her head and blushed again, feeling her face turn even more red. Darn her fair complexion. She turned back to the girls and smiled, “No, I don’t think you imagined it. If you did, then so did I.”

“So, tell us the scoop,” Penelope added. “What’s going on?”

“When I know, I’ll let you all know. Let’s just say we’ve been discussing things and getting some things out in the open that needed to be said.”

“Girl,” Penelope looked back over at Jake and leered at his backside, “if I had someone like that spending the night in my house every night, I would be doing more than just discussing things.”

Cassie laughed. “Don’t worry about me. I know exactly what I plan to do with him and I plan on doing it as soon as everyone is gone tonight.”

Julie looked at Penelope and smirked, “So I guess that’s the signal to gather our dates and go.”

“No way. That’s not what I’m saying at all. There will still be plenty of night left after the party when everyone leaves. No hurry, girls.” She gave another little smile at Jake as he caught her eye again.

Penelope chimed, “Aw, our girl is smitten.”

“Pen, you obviously haven’t been paying attention. This is way deeper than that and it’s been that way for a long time, for both of them. It’s just neither one of them would admit it. This time next year, I predict we’ll be planning the wedding.” Julie added.

Penelope laughed. “You’re probably right. And let me just state right now, as one of the two BFF’s, we need to have full consultation about what we’ll wear as bridesmaids. We need to look completely hot. Weddings are the perfect place to hook up and we need the best weaponry available for that.” She glanced over at Julie who just looked embarrassed at the thought. “Oh, and I am so in charge of the bachelorette party.”

Julie nodded her agreement, solemnly. No one debated that Penelope knew how to throw a good party.

“Let’s not get ahead of things yet. At least let us go on one real date first.”

“Isn’t the dating part kind of redundant?” Penelope asked. “You two have been best friends pretty much your entire lives. If you don’t realize yet that you get along perfectly, I don’t think you ever will.”

“Very true.” Cassie murmured as she looked again in Jake’s direction, to find he was sneaking up behind her.

“What’s true?” he asked as he walked up and reached around her waist and nuzzled the back of her neck.

Cassie couldn’t think straight with Jake standing this close to her and she cast a stricken glance at Julie to help her.

Julie stepped up to save Cassie. “We were just chatting about how nice it is to have you home this year.”

Jake grinned, “I have to admit it’s nice to be here. I just wish the problem which brought me home was taken care of.”

Julie looked back to Cassie. “Do the police have any more ideas about who’s been doing all of this?”

Cassie shook her head. “Not that I know of, but let’s not bring the party down with talk about that asshole.”

After that, the party slowly started to wind down, until finally Cassie closed the door behind the last of her leaving guests. She gave a gusty sigh as she leaned back against the locked door and looked over at Jake. He gave her a gorgeous smile as he leaned down to turn off the lamp at the end of the sofa. The room was filled with the glow from the Christmas tree, the burning candles, and the fire crackling in the fireplace. As he looked at her, Cassie felt a fluttering in the pit of her stomach. Desire filled his sparkling green eyes as he walked up to her.