Page 27 of Shattered Veil

“The man who exposed your breast,” I stated the alternative phrasing, the reminder setting me on edge.

“You’re so courtly. I’m a stripper, Jay—exposed is a weird word to use in this context.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

Cassie paused, noting, “That actually bothered you, didn’t it?”

“It bothered me enough to break his fingers,” I confessed before I could stop the words from exiting my mouth.

Her dark eyes widened. “When did you—”

“When I pulled his hands off of you. Doesn’t matter. We’re not talking about him.”

“We’re talking about you?” Cassie asked, irritation back in her tone. “You wanna talk about you?”

“Yeah—I was rude.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Ya think?”

“I’m sorry, Cas,” I muttered. “I’m so sorry.”

Looking to the ceiling, she replied, “I don’t—I don’t get it. Do you have a problem with what I do for work?”

“No,” I replied in a sigh. Jealously from the thought of what she did for money aside, I truthfully didn’t. “I don’t. Really.”

She held her hands up in a shrug and let them fall by her side in exasperation.

“Then what?” she whispered.

“I…” I hesitated. “I was shocked, I think.”

Cassie murmured under her breath, “Shocked, you think.” She shook her head and returned, “I wrack my brain for the last few days, and it all boils down to that you were just a l’il surprised. Whatever. I’m just gonna…” she pointed at the door behind her, turned to begin to leave, and I rapidly moved to stop her by grabbing her wrist.

“Wait, I’m not—I’m not saying this right.” I squeezed my grip on her. “Please, wait for just a second.”

She let out a long breath, rotated to face me, and quietly replied, “Fine. What are you trying to say?”

I gathered my thoughts as well as I could, my fingers burned with the feel of her wrist against them, and I began, “I said it was you that was making me so…”

“Dickish,” she offered.

“Dickish,” I agreed. In the softest of tones, I said, “I wasn’t lying. It’s you.”

Her shoulders sagged, and she stated, “You’re not off to a good start here, Jay.”

The undercurrent of frustration in her voice was laced with disappointment, and as much as I had been struggling to apologize without launching into a full-blown confession, it dawned on me that it wasn’t fair for Cassie to be kept in the dark.

I breathed through the nervousness that clutched at my chest and admitted, “Not because I dislike you. Not because I have issues with your work. Because having you on top of me left me stunned, and I shouldn’t think about you like that, but I did, anyway. I do, anyway.”

Her anger appeared to have quickly withered away at my confession, and she breathed, “Oh.”

“I’ve been a bit too busy holding back what I feel for you, and I snapped. I’m sorry.”

“What you feel for me?”

Her recognition of the word was spot on, unlike how she had uttered it in disdain the last time I had seen her. When she repeated the phrase back to me, it was a whisper laced with such…such undisguised hope that it made my eyes flutter closed for a quick moment. I opened them, and it seemed as though we had gravitated toward each other. Cassie wore the look of a woman who wanted my lips on hers, and the mere sight made my chest wrench. Desire flooded my veins—desire to capture the strand of hair that had escaped from her ponytail and tuck it behind her ear—to cradle her jaw in my hand, pull her to me, and kiss her like I meant it.

And I almost did.

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