Page 29 of Defending Casey

She had always been beautiful to him, even when she considered herself a ‘horse-girl’ and hid away from her classmates. Now, as a grown woman and mother, he was always finding himself stunned by her.

“Well,” he cleared his throat, not really knowing what to say, “that kind of took me back. I guess we should go.”

She hid her eyes from him for a minute, and when she lifted her gaze he saw her gentle smile falter, just the tiniest bit.

He turned his head to look in the same direction and what he saw sobered his smile. People were looking.

Parents. Some that he thought he recognized from his past. Fool’s Gold wasn’t exactly a magnet for new residents and given the way people were openly staring at them, he had a feeling that he’d known them, or they felt they’d known him. They certainly seemed to feel like they had an interest in his life.

“You can’t blame them for being curious.”

He heard resignation in Casey’s voice. When he turned back to look at her, he saw that the becoming blush she’d had on her cheeks had paled.

“It’s just confirmed what they’ve thought all along.”

“About me? Us?”

“Absolutely. Hardly anyone actually came up to me to ask, but I could see the looks they gave me.” She stood up, pushing away from the wall, and started to walk in the direction of the truck. “I could see the wheels turning in their heads. I didn’t offer up the information, but I didn’t hide it either. They knew you were Nora’s father, even though you were gone, Hale. It didn’t make me love you any less.”

“Wait.” He jogged a few steps to catch up and take a hold of her hand.

She stopped and looked up at him. He could see the hesitation in her eyes. He had to tread carefully here.

“Case, we need to sit down and talk. Really talk.”

She blinked away a tear and he pulled her in for a hug.

The way she felt against him was like heaven, but the way she clung to him brought every protective instinct roaring to the forefront of his mind and heart. “Hey… hey… It’s not a bad thing, Case. I want to talk, that’s all. I want to understand what you’ve been through. I want to make it better. I want to make us better.”

She hugged him tighter, and he felt her breath hot against his chest. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“Baby, don’t cry. Not because of me.” He kissed the top of her head and shushed her. “Not ever because of me. Let’s go.”

Casey gave him one more tight, rib-aching hug and looked up at him. “Do you want to come to dinner tonight? At the house. We’d love to have you and after Nora goes to sleep, we could have some time to talk. You and me.”

He felt like a king. He felt ten feet tall.

There was no explanation for it.

It was just holding her, touching her, but it gave him hope.

Hale looked down into her face with a smile. “I could kiss you right now.”

She smiled up at him. “But…”

He looked around the parking lot and saw that a few people were still openly staring at them. “A lot of curious people staring.”

When he looked back down at Casey, he saw her wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. “Well-”

He didn’t want to wait. Couldn’t anymore.

Hale pulled her against him, close, but not as close as he wanted to, needed to. He pressed a gentle kiss against her lips and as he pulled away, he gave her another kiss, coaxing a soft sigh from her lips.

It took her a moment to open her eyes, but when she did, he smiled at her.

“I hope you’ll let me kiss you goodbye tonight.”

Casey’s lips curled in a slow, languid grin. “You better.”

---