Rory (9 page)

Shit. Had that sounded as bitter
as he’d thought?

“So how are you keeping Cass
entertained at night?” asked Shane.

He was blushing. He could feel
his cheeks burning, and he wanted to run the cold beer bottle over his face to
hide the evidence. Did they know exactly how he’d entertained in the shower?
 
Of how he hadn’t stopped her from giving him
the dream blow job?
Their own baby brother’s fiancé.
 
God, they’d be disgusted.

They both looked at him in much the
same way they had as kids when they were waiting for some advice to roll off
his tongue.

“I watch TV, she reads. She’s
making jewelry. It looks like she has a real talent for it.”

“Does she like living in Tacoma?”
asked Flynn, taking a handful of peanuts and setting them down on the space in
front of his beer bottle.

“I guess so. She doesn’t talk
about it a lot,” said Rory.

“I think it would be great if she
moved back here so we could keep her eye on her just in case she ever needs
anything again,” said Shane.

“Yeah, like right now,” said
Flynn. “Makes me sick to my stomach to think someone could drive off knowing
they’d hit someone.”

“They’ll find them, don’t you
worry,” said Shane. He looked at his watch. “I guess it’s just about time to
collect the ladies.”

They’d left their trucks at Emily
and Me and walked down the road to the bar. As they headed outside, Rory pulled
up the collar on his jacket. A cool breeze had picked up since they’d been in
the bar. Shane waved to a few guys as they headed down the street.

“Lovely evening Sheriff,” they
called to him. “And we’ll be sure to vote for you next week.”

“Sure is,” he called back. “Be
snowing and ski season again before we know it. And thanks for the vote.”

Election, snow…ski
season.
Time did go by in the blink of an eye and so did your life when you didn’t have
anyone special to share it. He really was in a downer mood tonight. He had to
snap out of it.

Flynn opened the door to the
store and the sound of women chatting and laughing greeted Rory. The craft
parties had begun with just ten women, now it was up to thirty. He nodded to a
few of them as they headed out past him.

“Goodnight to you, ma’am,” he said
touching his cowboy hat.

Shane was now lifting Liam in the
air and making him squeal. Flynn was rubbing Natalie’s belly.
Sickening, totally sickening, but he so wanted to do the very same
things.

“Uncle Rory, you look sad. Are
you sad?” Emily pulled on his arm.

“No honey, I’m just tired.”

“Come and look at what Cass and
me
made tonight.”

She was a girl who wouldn’t take
no for an answer, so he let her guide him over to the table at which Cass was
still sitting at. She was putting the finishing touches to a blue stone
necklace. It was beautiful just like her.

“Hi Rory,” she said looking up.
She really was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen.

“We used this kit, but Cass used the
blue stones. Isn’t it pretty?” asked Emily.

“Most beautiful thing I’ve ever
seen,” he said still looking at Cass and not the necklace. She looked at him,
and all he wanted to do was take her home and make love to her.

“Why don’t you wear it,” Cass
told Emily.

“But you made it,” said Emily.

“Yes, for you. It matches your
skin and hair coloring perfectly.”

“Okay then. And next week we’re
making felted soap, so don’t forget.”

Emily took the necklace and then
leaned over and kissed Cass on the cheek.

Cass hugged her. Rory smiled. She’d
always been so kind to his niece, often shouting at people who made fun of her
because of her Down syndrome.

“Mom, Dad, look! Cass said I can
have the necklace…it’s so pretty,” said Emily running over to her parents.

“Did you have fun tonight?” asked
Rory, placing both hands on the back of the chair.

“I really did, and if you don’t
mind while I’m back in town I’d like to do this every Thursday night.”

“You sure can and maybe we can
convince you to stay and do it for the rest of your life.”

Chapter Twelve

Cass knew she had to keep up some
defense while she was living under Rory’s roof or she’d give in and not want to
go back to her life in Tacoma. She could easily fall under Rory’s spell and
stay but then realize that Timber Creek wasn’t her future and break his heart
when she left. That was something she’d never do to Rory.

She’d purchased two jewelry kits
at Emily and Me, and she didn’t know whether it was some sort of therapy for
her or not but she loved it.

“Earrings,” said Rory picking up
one of the kits. “You really have a talent for this sort of thing.”

“Maybe I should start a business
when I get back to Tacoma. I mean something on the side for extra money.”

For the first time since the
accident, things were beginning to look up instead of down. Maybe it’s because
she had Rory by her side.

“That sounds like a good idea. A
couple of people have told me to start selling my work online.”

“You should do that. Hey, maybe
we can have our own Web site, Rory and Cass.”

She wanted to add Malone. It
wasn’t that farfetched, after all, her name would have been
Cass Malone.

“You want anything to eat?” asked
Rory.

She shook her head. “I’m still
full. Your mom served lemonade and the best tasting scones I’ve ever eaten and
served them with Emily’s huckleberry jam.”

He smiled. He had three jars of
it sitting on the pantry shelf.

“If you’re going to work on your
earrings I think I’ll do some painting before I turn in for the night.”

****

Rory stepped back from the easel
and checked his progress. He hadn’t worked on anything since the call about Cass
and her accident, and now he was finding the ideal way to relax and get the
kinks out of his shoulders.
 
He had the
feeling that Cass now understood that nothing sexual could go on between them.
They could be best friends, family almost, but never lovers.

The sky needed to be just a tad bluer.
He mixed the perfect color on the palette and turned when he heard the door
opening.

“So what do you think?” she asked
pointing at her ears.

“Best looking ones I’ve seen.”

She hobbled into the room so he
could take a closer look.

“And this is beautiful,” she said
leaning over to look at his work.

Her t-shirt fell away from her
chest. She wasn’t wearing a bra. His fingers remembered every little contour of
them, the fullness and weight, the tightness of her nipples.

He swallowed, feeling himself grown
hard again.

“Maybe I should paint your
portrait one of these days,” he said hoping she’d stand upright and he could
forget about her gorgeous body.

“I don’t know if I could sit
still long enough,” she said, finally standing. “Have you ever painted anyone
naked before?”

“Them or me?” he tried to make
light of the question to take the edge away from where this might be leading.
Darn, he thought all the sexual tension was history.

“I guess both you and the
subject.”

She ran her finger down the side
of his face. With each little touch he grew harder and harder until sitting on
the stool was downright painful.

She glanced down at his crotch,
obviously seeing the bulge. Cass didn’t say anything but took off her t-shirt.
Rory swallowed. She wasn’t making this easy for a man.

His balls pulled and now his dick
twitched as she lowered her skirt and then dropped her panties and worked them
both over the cast.

“Make love to me,” she whispered.

“It’s not that I don’t want to
but…”

She stopped him from saying
another word but putting her index finger over his lips. She leaned over and
kissed him.

“I want you, and I know you want
me too.”

Rory moved her hand away. “You
were my brother’s woman, and I’m too old for you.”

“Ryan would want it this way.
A man who’s as wonderful as you, kind and caring, to do this for me.”

He was weakening. She was right.
His brother wouldn’t want her getting sexually involved with a guy who didn’t
care for her. And he cared for her all right.

She’d unbuttoned his shirt and
pulled it away from his chest before he’d realized it. She ran her hands over
his belly.

“Maybe we should wait until your
leg heals.”

“I can’t wait that long.” Her
breath was minty fresh as she spoke mere inches from his nose and mouth.

She unzipped his pants and pushed
her hand over his erection. That simple gesture had made him cross over into
the dangerous point of no return.

He stood, took off his shirt and
then pulled Cass into his body, hoping he wasn’t hurting her leg. He kissed
her, his tongue sliding over his lips, and then into her mouth.

She hadn’t been wrong when she’d
said he wanted her. He didn’t just want her, he wanted her
big time
.

Rory ran his hands over her butt,
pushing her mound against his erection, hoping she’d know just how much her
body excited him.

Condoms…bathroom…he’d have to
leave her for a few minutes to go get one.

“I’ll be right back just need to
go get some boy’s stuff.”

While he was in the bathroom, he
took off his jeans and boxers and then grabbed a condom and returned to his studio
where Cass was bending over looking at more of his artwork.

Shit. That ass, round and smooth,
stuck up in the air like that was a beacon to him.

He tore open the condom and
sheathed himself before creeping up behind her. He kissed her neck, rubbing his
hands over every inch of her body. He held her breasts while massaging his cock
up and down her crack, almost losing it in the process.

He playfully bit her earlobe
where the homemade earring dangled from it. This wasn’t quite how he’d
envisioned making love to Cass, but that view from the door had made him lose
his mind. This is how he wanted it to take her.

“Spread your legs for me,” he
said.

She slowly moved her foot to the
right and he eased his hand in between their bodies, slipping down her crack.
This time he fingered her pussy opening. She was wet, very wet. That was good.
He slid his finger inside her, feeling her heat and tightness.

Shit, she was so tight. The thought
of slipping his dick into that space almost made him come. He had to get inside
her ASAP.

“Bend over, honey.”

Cass leaned over and held onto
the chair in front of her. He glanced at her hands and noticed that her fists
were white where she was holding on so tight.

“You nervous?
Because if you
are…”
“Just fuck me, okay?”

He’d never heard her use that
word before. It hadn’t shocked him but in a way excited him more. It had
brought out the big alpha male in him. In one swift thrust, he speared her
pussy with his cock, but then realized something he never would have guessed
about her.

Cass was still a virgin.

Chapter Thirteen

Cass grimaced. She’d heard rumors
that the first time hurt like hell, and they weren’t kidding. She’d felt Rory’s
hesitation to continue after he’d entered her, but he hadn’t said a word and
began pounding away inside her. She’d raised her butt and pushed back, causing
more pain but letting him know she wanted him to continue, which he had.

She wasn’t expecting an orgasm
the first time around. Yes, another thing she’d read about a woman losing her
virginity.

She and Ryan had vowed to wait
until their wedding night. She’d believed that Ryan would be the one to take
her virginity. And now here was Rory, pulling on her nipples and thrusting and
groaning and turning her into a true woman.

His breath got more labored. He
panted while his thighs made loud slapping noises as they smacked against her
butt. She wasn’t going to come, not like last night in the bathtub, but there
was always the next time.

Rory grunted and then she felt
pressure inside her pussy, sensing that he’d come. He stopped thrusting, held
her, and kissed her shoulder.

“Honey, why didn’t you tell me
you’d never had sex before?” He pulled out of her, and she turned around.

“Because knowing you, you
wouldn’t have done it with me.”

He ran his hand down the edge of
her face. “That wouldn’t have been true, but I would have made it more special,
not doggy style like this.”