Page 24 of Cassie
That’s who I am
Hoss
It had been over a week since her last major panic attack, and tonight he’d taken her out to dinner. Her tentative agreement meant Hoss spent hours planning everything out carefully, going over the schedule with her several times and then texting her the itinerary. Cassie had nearly backed out several times, and only her dogged persistence and strength made it happen. It had been everything he’d hoped for her. A private room in the back of Marie’s helped control the environment and gave her the confidence she needed to relax and enjoy herself, and having Tugboat join them with Maggie helped, too.
After the meal and conversation, they’d climbed on the bike to come back to her place. Just before they’d rolled out, Cassie had called his name and Hoss had turned, surprised when her mouth hit his with a heat and pressure he’d enjoyed exploiting for the next several minutes.
Almost as pleasurable had been the weight of her cheek pressing between his shoulder blades as he negotiated the streets to her house. Now they were inside the kitchen, and she’d turned to him, slipping into his arms as if they’d done this dance a million times.
He kissed her softly, lips caressing hers as she arched into him. His hand at her waist steadied her, and Hoss stroked along her ribs with his thumb, brushing against the swell of her breast. He groaned and felt her lips move underneath his in a smile.
Slow and steady, he reminded himself, just before her mouth latched onto the side of his neck, lips and teeth bringing him to the edge of control. Hoss made to pull away, and Cassie’s arms tightened as she uttered a quiet sound of alarm. He stilled and she froze into place, pressed close to him all along his front. Her breath was heated as it gusted across his chest, every inch of contact between them electrifying.
The memory of how it felt to have her lying beside him circled around in his head and his blood heated, rushing to his dick, bringing it to life.How did we go from zero to this?Twisting his neck, he grazed his lips across her temple and she gasped softly, then quickly relaxed, resting her cheek against him again.
How do I get more?Hoss tipped his chin and nuzzled, searching until he brushed across her lips. Touching gently, tenderly, mouth working side to side as she shifted to accommodate and give him better access. He found her lips a second time, then a third and fourth, each caress drawing a deeper reaction from her. Chaste kisses pulling breathless gasps that he captured with his mouth. It seemed like the connection he had felt from the first time he saw her was strung taut between them, anchoring him to her.
Twenty minutes later, he had steered her towards a counter, pairing a kiss with each slow step at a time until they stood pressed against the other, her once again folded into his arms.
“Cassie.” She tensed, and he paused, not sure where he was going with this ask. Her kisses had pushed him nearly to the point of not caring, because he wanted her badly. First time in forever he’d found a woman he wanted to bed, and damned if he knew how to get them there.
Hoss knew what he craved, had wanted since the first time he remembered seeing her. Since comforting her in her living room, surrounded by his art in her home. That feeling, this connection drawn acute by the shared experiences of the evening only made it more.
Even more, going back to the past few weeks.
The way she had trusted him, seated in the diner, her hand in his.
Her comfort with him at the lake.
Watching her laugh and cut up with Tugboat tonight, Cassie’s eyes sparkling when Maggie joined in.
Her giving him this affection now. He’d not made any secret of the fact, so she had to know, had to realize he was into her.Beyond. Hoss prayed she wanted this to go to the next logical place, but he knew enough to tread lightly. So, heart in his throat, he breathed the words, afraid of startling her or causing her to retreat. “Want to spend time with you, baby.God. I want you, Cassie.”
Her head came up immediately, and he tightened his arms, ready to stave off any attempt she might make of pulling away. Then her mouth was on his neck again, hot, frantic, but she didn’t stop there. Moving up to his mouth, her lips grazed across his in a kiss he promptly took control of, easing his way across as he licked along the seam of her lips, delving in with a groan when they parted.
“Stay with me. Please, stay,” she pleaded, and stretched up to press another kiss to his lips.
God, she tasted as good as he remembered, and he had spent a good amount of time over the past weeks with her in his mind.Fuck yeah. His tongue twisted with hers, control lost to the wind like songs on a ride. Gone, no stopping now.
They stood in the kitchen where the surfaces were all hard and high, not right for what he wanted. The living room, where her art was, had a couch they’d dozed on together, but he didn’t want their first time to be there, circled round with echoes of his past and her fears.Time to explore her space.
Keeping his mouth to hers, he slipped his hands down her sides and past her ass to her thighs, lifting. He gloried in feeling her legs wrap around his waist as if she had done this with him a thousand times.Made for me. Elbows on his shoulders, her head tilted, mouth working avidly on his in a way that stole his senses. Pulling back an inch, her teeth slid gently on his bottom lip, and she stared confidently into his eyes, hers hooded with passion. Night and day with how he would have expected things to go, but he’d take it.
Take anything she gives me.
“God, baby.”
Two treads at a time he took them up the stairs, rounding the column at the top and going to the only open door along the landing, hoping like fuck it was her bedroom.
Pushing it open, he saw an unmade bed, a small pile of clothes on the dresser, a tee laid across the covers. Knee to the bed, he moved them to the middle, leaning far down to rest her gently on the mattress.
Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and pulled him on top of her, lips and teeth working the column of his neck, driving him insane with the need to uncover every inch of her. Her hand twisted in his hair, pulling savagely to align their mouths. He covered her with his body, hips settling in between her giving thighs as she groaned, the sound vibrating into his mouth.
Too fast, this is too fast, he thought, shifting to lie at her side. “Cassie, honey, slow down.”
“No, don’t let me think. Hoss, if I think…” Her voice trailed off as her hands reached up to smooth the shirt under his jacket. “Just…please, let me feel.”
He propped himself up on an elbow and stared down at her in awe. Still in her jacket and chaps, she was a study of pale skin and black leather, bright hair tumbling around, pulled half out of the ponytail with tugs from his greedy hands. Eyes heated, she looked up at him with desire and pleasure, lips swollen from his kisses. Leaning over her, he lifted a hand and slowly undid the jacket, with her eager help drawing it down over her shoulders. Mouth to hers, he worked blindly at the waistband of her chaps while she finished the jacket, fingers sliding around her thighs to the zippers there, dragging them the length of her legs.
