'Are you going to sit down with me?'
'All right.' She sat and held the roses in her arms as she would have a child. 'They're beautiful,' she said again. 'I should put them in water.'
'They'll keep a minute.' Curious, he tucked a hand under her chin and turned her face to his. 'What is it?'
'It's nothing. I was so worried,' she blurted out. 'I couldn't leave, and kept waiting for you to call. Devin, why didn't you call? I'm sorry,' she said immediately. 'I shouldn't nag you.'
One of the scars, he mused, and kept his fingers firm when she would have looked away. 'Don't be sorry. I did call, several times. Your phone was busy.'
'Everyone's been calling. I've heard a dozen different stories.'
'The truth's probably less exciting.'
'He had a gun, didn't he? You knew he had a gun when you went into the bank.'
'I had to do my job, Cass. He wasn't going to get anywhere, and even if he did, there was a canister inside the moneybag that would have spewed red paint all over him and the bills.' His grin spread. 'Actually, I'm kind of sorry we couldn't play that part out. It would have been some show. But he might have hurt someone.'
'He might have hurt you.'
'Well, then, you didn't hear about how bullets bounce off me.''
Instead of laughing, she pressed her face into his shoulder. 'I'm so glad you're all right. I'm so glad you're not hurt. I'm so glad you're here.'
'I'm happy to be all of those things.' Slipping an arm around her, he set the swing in motion. 'I'd have come sooner, if I could.'
'I know. You were on the news.'
'Yeah. So I hear.'
'You didn't see.' She turned her head. 'They'll show it again at eleven.'
'I know what I look like.'
Studying his face, she found something endearing. 'You're embarrassed.'
'No, I'm not.' He shifted. 'Maybe. Some.'
Not just endearing, she realized. Adorable. 'I'm awfully proud of you,' she murmured, and brushed her lips over his. 'Actually, we taped the broadcast. Connor was so excited. We can watch it, if you want.'
'I'll pass. I don't—'
She interrupted him with her lips again, and experienced an odd, sweet power when she felt his heart jump. 'I've watched it three times. I thought you looked like a movie star.'
'You don't get out enough.' His palms were damp, so he eased off the swing. A little distance, MacKade, he warned himself, before you explode. 'I've been thinking about that, too. I haven't ever taken you out. To dinner, or anywhere.'
'You took us down to the zoo in the spring, and to the fair last summer.'
Why was she looking at him like that? he wondered. She'd never looked at him like that before. With... Was that amusement, or lust, or— God.
'I meant you and me. I love having the kids, but—'
'I don't have to go out on dates, Devin. I'm happy with the way things are.'
'Still and all.' He couldn't seem to think very clearly, not when she was just sitting here, smiling at him, a bouquet of flowers in her arms. 'I, ah, brought all this food. Pies and cookies and cakes. People have been bringing them by the office all afternoon.'
'They're grateful.' With her heart tripping lightly, she rose. 'They want to show it.'
'Yeah, well, I'd never be able to eat it all. I gave some to Donnie, but I figured the kids might...' He backed up when she stepped forward. 'They might want some. I didn't see them when I came up. It's a little early for them to be in bed on a Saturday night, isn't it?'
'They're not here.' She blessed Savannah and Jared, and fate. 'They're spending the night at the cabin.'
'They're not here.'
'No. We're alone.'
He'd been prepared to leave, to spend a little time with her, then go. He wouldn't have asked to stay with her through the night, with the children in the next room. None of them were ready for that.
Now they were alone, and the night had just begun. A slap of desire whipped through him, painfully. He braced against it, and managed an easy smile.
'Then I'll take you out.'
'I don't want you to take me out,' she murmured. 'I want you to take me to bed.'
It closed his throat. 'Cassie.' His hand was very gentle on her cheek. 'I don't expect that every time I come here. That's not the only reason I want to be with you.'
'I know.' She turned her lips into his palm. 'It's what I'd like tonight. I'm going to put these in water.'
She left him, churning and speechless, on the dark porch. More than a little dazed, he followed her inside.
'I bought this at Regan's shop.' Briskly Cassie filled a green depression-glass pitcher with water. 'I'm still getting used to having a little extra money to buy pretty things. I don't even feel guilty about it anymore.'
'You shouldn't feel guilty about anything.'
'Oh, a few things.' With hands as gentle as they were efficient, she arranged the roses in the pitcher. 'But not this. And not you.' Her eyes lifted. 'Do you know what I feel about you, Devin? About us?'
He thought it was best not to try to speak just then, not with the way the blood was draining out of his head.
'Dazzled,' she murmured. 'You dazzle me. You make me feel things, and want things I never knew I could have. I'm almost twenty-nine, and you're the only man who's really touched me. I want you to touch me.'
He would, as soon as he could be sure he had his hands, and his needs, under control. If it had been anyone but Cassie, he would have thought she was seducing him.
Because he said nothing, made no move toward her, she was afraid she was doing it all wrong. It wasn't nerves now that plagued her, so much as doubt. And doubt had her shifting her gaze back to the flowers.
'If you'd rather not right now... if you don't want me—'
'God.' It exploded out of him, made her head whip up in alarm, made him bite back whatever might have come out next. 'Let's go for a drive,' he said quickly. 'It's a pretty night, the moon's coming up. I'd like to go for a drive with you.'
She was sure she'd made some foolish mistake, but couldn't put her finger on it. All she was sure of was that her system was in overdrive, and his wasn't. As a seductress, she thought, she was a miserable amateur.
'All right, if you like.'
He recognized that tone, the bright and false cheerfulness. He would have slit his throat before he did anything to cause that. 'Cassie, it's not that I don't want to make love with you. I do. It's just that... Maybe I'm a little more revved from this morning than I thought. I need to smooth out some of the edges before I... I can't touch you now,' he ended, his tone too sharp, too quick.
'Why?'
'Because I'm a little too needy right now, and it doesn't help for you to keep looking at me that way. I wouldn't be able to— I'd hurt you.'
'You're angry with me?'
'No.' He swore, ripely, showing her some portion of his frustration in the way he whirled around and paced. 'When I'm angry with you, you'll know it. You're driving me crazy. Look at the way you're standing there, with your hands folded and those big, gorgeous eyes watching every move I make. I can't breathe when you look at me like that. I used to be able to.' He shot the words out like an accusation. 'But that was before, and I just can't handle it as well now that we've been together. We've got to get out of here before I eat you alive.'
'We're not going anywhere.' It surprised them both, how firm and settled her voice.
'I'm telling you—'
'Yes, I believe you are trying to tell me. You think I'm too fragile to handle it. To handle you. Well, you're wrong.'
'You haven't got a clue what you're dealing with, not with me.'
'Maybe I don't. Maybe you haven't let me.' Suddenly strong, suddenly sure, she walked to him. 'Every time we've made love, it hasn't been for you.'
