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“I’ll take a rain check,” I said. “I’ve got a few errands to run.”

“Sounds good.” Dalton offered me a fist bump. Normally I wasn’t a fist bump kind of guy but I met him halfway. We might not be two of a kind but he was a friend and he was authentic. Plus if everything worked out the way I intended it to, then we’d technically be brothers sooner or later because I had every intention of marrying Cassidy Gentry and staying right beside her for the rest of my life.

“Until tomorrow,” I said. “Three o’clock, right?”

“Three o’clock,” Dalton confirmed and there was no mistaking the eagerness in his voice. This was a man who was obviously counting down the hours until he got to marry the girl of his dreams.

Once I was in my truck and heading for the freeway I couldn’t get to my apartment fast enough. The week had been a busy one on all fronts between the job and wedding preparations so romance had taken a backseat. And so had sex, except for ten magnificent minutes in an empty back closet at Cord’s tattoo parlor where both Cassie and I worked. We usually tried to keep erotic incidents out of the office but sometimes we slipped. And honestly, the quick and dirty blowjob had been her idea. It usually was. I could never say no to Cassie, especially not when she dropped to her knees, flashed me a sweet smile and took me in her mouth. Cord’s cousin and business partner Deck shot me a look when we crossed paths in the break room five minutes after I came between Cassie’s lips with my hands wrapped in her long blonde hair. Deck was perceptive enough to see through anyone and I started to feel a little guilty but then he just chuckled and elbowed me good-naturedly on his way out the door.

Cassie must have been tracking my travel progress on her phone. She flung open the apartment door before I had a chance to use my key. She wore a short black robe that slid down to the floor as soon as I closed the door behind me.

“Breck’s not home?” I asked, tossing the wrapped tux and my keys to the couch before I yanked my t-shirt off. My fifteen-year-old brother lived here with us but he had an active social life.

Cassie raised an amused eyebrow. “Would I be dressed like this if he was?”

“You’re not dressed at all.”

“I know.”

I dropped my pants and crooked my finger. “Come here.”

Cassie smirked and sashayed toward our bedroom, figuring I’d follow. Of course I followed. I’d follow her to the end of the earth.

By this time I needed to fuck her in the worst way but I also needed something else. Cassie’s blue eyes flashed surprise when I cornered her beside the bed, cupped her face in my palms and kissed her gently, savoring the taste of her soft lips and the low moan that escaped her throat as she slipped her arms around my shoulders and melted into me.

“I love you,” I said when we broke for air.

Her expression was soft and dreamy now while she gave me the beautiful smile that I lived to see. “I love you too, Curtis.”

My lips brushed across hers. “Cassie?” I whispered.

Her breathing grew hard as my hands strayed low. “What?”

Without warning I lifted her and threw her on the bed. Not too roughly, just hard enough to make her squeal. Then I wasted no time putting my mouth to work, exploring her tits and traveling down her belly. She giggled when I accidentally tickled her sensitive skin but she stopped giggling when my tongue ventured between her legs. Now she was writhing and gasping my name but I didn’t make her come, not yet. Instead I withdrew, propped one of her lovely legs up on each of my shoulders and slid inside her, choosing a slow and teasing rhythm until she whimpered and clutched the bed quilt.

“You’re so good,” she moaned, her eyes closed.

I rolled my hips. “You like that?”

Her back arched. “God, yes. Do it harder.”

Instead I slowed the pace. “You want to come, don’t you?”

Her eyes opened, full of blue frustration. “Please!”

I grinned. “Then tell me what I want to hear.”

She cursed a string of beautifully filthy words while I pumped faster and in a minute she came apart underneath me. Then I got serious, taking her rougher and without mercy and then when I couldn’t stand it anymore I let myself go. We were both covered in sweat when I collapsed at her side so I wouldn’t crush her with my weight.

Cassie’s sigh was full of satisfaction and her hand found mine amid the tangle of bed sheets. This was what I thought about all the time. Every fucking day. She was my muse. My queen. I wanted her even when I’d only just finished having her.

“I’ll miss you tonight,” she said sleepily and burrowed against my side.

I pushed her hair away and kissed her smooth forehead. “I’ll miss you too. First night in a really long time I’ll be sleeping alone.”

“I know.” She lifted her head and planted a kiss on my shoulder. “It’s only one night though.”

Cassie planned to sleep at her parents’ house in the bedroom she and Cami had shared while they were growing up. The twin sisters who had been an inseparable team since the day they were born would share their childhood bedroom one more time, both a nod to nostalgia and also common sense since they planned to get ready for the wedding at Cord and Saylor’s house. Cassie and I hadn’t spent a night apart since we started living together. My bed would be lonely as hell without her but I couldn’t begrudge her one night with her sister. And anyway I’d have her back tomorrow.

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