I need to get her off this fucking couch. Now.
“We have to get out of here.” I shift so she’s off my lap, my cock feeling like it’s going to rip through my jeans any second.
She sits on the couch, looking like a sack of tossed potatoes, so I reach my hand out to her to help her up. As soon as she’s standing, I bend over and press my shoulder into her torso before standing back up.
She cries out loudly. “You did not just throw me over your shoulder! Put me down!”
“I told you not to challenge me, sweet cheeks.” I give her ass a hearty smack and squeeze as I walk through the kitchen and into my bedroom.
Kicking the door closed behind me, I toss her onto the bed and relish the view of her in my space. I don’t fucking hate it. In fact, I kind of like it. And I especially like that I didn’t have to climb a ladder to get her horizontal.
She looks dazed as her eyes adjust to the dim lamps glowing on the bedside tables. I pull my shirt off over my head when a horrible thought occurs to me.
“Fuck…I’m out of condoms.”
“What?” she chirps, propping herself up on her elbows.
I shake my head, irritated by myself. “I was going to stop for them on the way home, and Jess called, and I got distracted.”
“Oh,” Cassandra responds with a heavy sigh, her eyes glancing down to my cock bulging in my jeans. The sex eyes she’s giving me are not helpful.
I sigh and run my hands through my hair, aching to be inside her and cursing myself for being such a fucking moron. I look down at her with a pleading look. “If you stay here for the girls, I’ll go run to the store.” I adjust myself, willing my erection to go down so I can be seen in public.
Cassandra’s voice interrupts my efforts as she softly says, “I’m on the pill.”
My cock roars back to life as my gaze snaps to her. “You’d be okay going without?”
“When’s the last time you were tested?” She eyes me thoughtfully.
I have to shake the thought of going bare out of my head to think seriously. “Probably at my physical like six months ago.”
“Have you slept with anyone between now and then?”
“No,” I reply instantly. “But I also have never gone without a condom before.” And it’s true. Everly was conceived from a broken condom, and even after she was born, my ex was insistent on me wearing one while she went on birth control.
Her lips part as she adds, “I haven’t either.”
My mind rumbles with this possibility as I sit down on the bed beside her. We need to be responsible about this. Cover all our bases. “When was your last partner?”
She laughs and flops back to cover her face with her hands.
“Hey,” I tut, leaning down next to her to pull her arms down. “Eyes on me, remember?”
She bites her lip nervously, her emerald eyes vulnerable when they find mine. “Like a year, probably.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah.” She inhales deeply. “There was this guy from my job in Denver, but it was a long time ago now.”
“Denver?” I can’t help but ask, bracing myself for her to shut me down like she always does when I ask about her past.
She smiles and strokes my eyebrow. “My old corporate job.”
My head jerks. “You had a job in corporate?”
“Yes.” She frowns, and her eyes turn pensive. “But I really don’t like to talk about it.”
“Why not?” I inquire, splaying my hand over her waist, patiently waiting for whatever morsel of her past she’s willing to offer me.
She gets a sad look in her eyes and turns to stare up at the ceiling. “Because I didn’t leave on good terms, and it’s why I moved back home to Boulder.”
My mind whirls with these new puzzle pieces clicking into place. She had a job in corporate that she left on bad terms. What the hell happened? I can’t imagine Cassandra quitting any job unprofessionally. The few times we’ve discussed her performance here, she always seems oddly professional, despite her willy-nilly outlook on life.
A lot of things are making so much more sense now.
“I needed a big change,” she adds, turning back to face me. “A re-set.”
“Like a nannying job,” I offer, staring down at her thoughtfully. Her life philosophy, her casual laissez-faire attitude. Her intense commitment to making no plans. Her resistance to committing to the charcuterie business with Kate.
She’s not lazy…she’s recovering. From what exactly, I don’t know. I open my mouth to ask her more questions, but she rolls toward me and places her hand on the ridge of my cock.