Page 63 of Crazy Little Thing Called Love

“My sister would never do that. In fact, I’m pretty sure she’ll stop talking to me, not you. She’s always said she’d kick my ass to the curb if it got her a sister.”

She gave him a watery smile. “Charlie loves you.”

True, but his sister loved Cassie, too. The whole town loved Cassie.

I love her.

The thought popped into his head, freezing every inch of him. His heart skipped a beat, lungs closing off, even his brain seemed to shut down for a moment. Love Cassie? Hell, of course he loved Cassie, how could he not? Truth be told, he’d probably always been a little bit in love with her. But he’d never been ready for her, for this. Not until now.

He processed his newly discovered feelings, keeping them to himself for the moment because he knew they were not what Cassie wanted or needed to hear right now. The strange thing, though? He really, really wanted to tell her. He wanted to shout his love for her from the top of town hall. Sure, it was only three stories high, but it was the tallest building Kismet had. Never in all his twenty-nine years did he ever expect falling in love to give him this euphoria coursing through his body. He always figured he’d go down kicking and screaming. He thought love was for fairytales and suckers, but now that he was in it, he found it suited him.

I’m in love with Cassandra Brown.

Just saying it to himself had a smile curling the corners of his lips. Who would’ve thought?

“You’re right,” Cassie said, pulling him back to the moment at hand. “But she’s going to be so mad and hurt that I lied to her.”

Yeah, a lot of people would, but they’d get over it.

Unless there was no divorce to get over.

Could he make this thing with Cassie work? For real? He wanted to, more than anything he’d ever wanted in his life.

“Don’t worry about them for now.” He leaned back against the couch, stretching his arm out so he could rub the tension from the back of her neck. “What did the Blithe sisters have to say?”

“You know them. Olive had warm wishes and Apple was her usual gray cloud and dark warnings.” She groaned when he hit a particularly hard spot, working the knot out with his thumb. “They expect to be invited to the wedding and—oh, man that feels sooo good. Ooooh, yeah right there.”

He knew she was talking about the kinks in her neck, but the breathy way she said it, the soft little moans escaping her lips, sounded identical to the sex noises she made when they were making love. His dick stiffened, pressing against the zipper of his jeans, but he willed Little Del down. Cassie needed comfort right now, not for him to jump her like a dog in heat.

That could come later.

He had an idea. “Shouldn’t be too hard to have a gathering in the square for the town.”

“Mmm, hmm.”

Her muscles started to relax under his ministrations. He loved touching Cassie, even if it didn’t lead to the bedroom. Having his hands on her calmed a frantic part of his mind that always told him to get up and go. With her, he felt settled, at peace.

Yup, love.

“We don’t have to have the ceremony in front of everyone,” he continued, “but we could have a party to celebrate.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

Happy he could help solve her worry, hell just happy in general, he kissed the back of her neck at the spot right below her ear that made her purr like a kitten. “See? Problem solved.”

“One problem.”

“There’s more?”

She shifted on the couch, facing him. Tugging at her hair, she twisted a curl around her finger. “Olive said—she thought I should ask you to sign a prenup. To protect my money. I know we talked about not signing any official contract in case it got back to Mandy, but a prenup might not be a bad idea. Lots of couples today do them.”

A prenup? He knew they were common now, but he’d always found them to be a downer. Why get married if you already planned for the marriage to end? Felt like a romance killer to him. He understood why some people signed them, but he always thought if he got married, it’d be forever.

Except he was getting married, and it wouldn’t be forever.

And suddenly he knew. He wanted this to be real, him and Cassie. He loved her, and it didn’t scare him. It elated him. Marrying Cassie for real, getting to spend every morning waking up to her, every night holding her close, sharing their ups and downs and whatever life threw their way sounded freaking fantastic.

“I’m not going to take your money, Cassie. I don’t need it.”

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