Page 64 of Cass

Everyone is dancing. Darian and Jackson are putting on their normal dance floor show, leaving little to the imagination. I see Reagan and Skylar rolling their eyes. Harley is in her own world with Brody, barely noticing anything outside of him. I’m sure she’s enjoying an adult evening with him. He’s loving showing her off to everyone from his hometown. I don’t blame him. Harley is the full package.

Trevor pulls me close to him. “It’s nice to finally be able to touch you in front of my family.”

I look around. “I feel like people are staring at us, Trevor.”

He stops dancing and tilts my face up so our eyes meet. “Will you stop. People are self-absorbed by nature. No one gives a shit. I know you think we look mismatched, but we don’t. We both know I look much older than I am, I always have. You don’t look a day over thirty-five.

I give him a look of disbelief.

“Okay, maybe forty.” He smiles. “If people are staring, it’s because you’re a beautiful woman, Cassandra. We’re going to be together. You need to move past this. I want theI don’t give a shit what people thinkCassandra back.”

I nod. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”

I pull his face to mine and briefly kiss him. He pulls me close and deepens the kiss as if no one else is in the room.

When it eventually ends, I look around. He’s right. No one notices or cares. Except maybe Reagan, but I just wink and smile at her from across the dance floor. She laughs.

Trevor looks down at me. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Oh shit. No more questions. Don’t you know everything at this point?”

“You’re a complicated woman, Cassandra Blackstone.” He thinks for a moment. “Tell me why you like to videotape yourself having sex.”

“I don’t know. I guess I get off on watching it after the fact.”

“I think there’s more to it than that. How often do you watch the videos?”

I smile. “It varies, depending on what’s going on in my life. When you were in New York City? Every day.”

He smiles. “Which videos? Mexico? Restaurant bathrooms during family dinners? That time at the Liberty Bell? The Art Museum steps?”

“I guess I’ve watched them all, but the one I like the most is in your car, just after Harley and Brody’s wedding, when I was sucking on Secretariat.”

He smiles at the memory. “Really? Why that one? A car is kind of ordinary for us.”

“I like the way you were looking at me. It wasn’t just what I was doing to you. There was something about the way you look at me in that video that gets my heart racing and my blood pumping.”

“And your pussy wet?”

“Yes. Very.” He gives me a knowing smile. “What’s that look?”

“I remember that night. That was the moment I realized I had fallen for you. That I didn’t want anyone else doing to me what you were doing. After that night, I didn’t touch another woman until after you dumped me for that Neanderthal.”

I roll my eyes. “I didn’t dump you. You needed to go to New York, Trevor. I did what I thought was best for you.”

“You’re what’s best for me.” He kisses me again. “Now tell me. Tell me why you like to have the videos.”

“The story is kind of cliché. It’s nothing remarkable.”

“I still want to hear it.”

THIRTY-FOUR YEARS AGO

“Cassandra! Telephone!” I hear my mother coughing as I run into the kitchen for the telephone.

“Thanks, Mom. How do you feel?”

“I’m okay. I can’t shake this cough though. I should probably head to the doctor after the weekend if it still hasn’t gone away.” She coughs again. “Danny is on the phone for you.”

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