Page 52 of Unsure in Love

Cass smiled. “I like her.”

“I bet she likes you too.”

From what I heard, Gracie loved Cass. My housekeeper had been with me for years. She was more than an employee. She was a friend and a mother figure who took it upon herself to go above and beyond to take care of me. The way Gracie treated me like one of her teenage kids was comical, but I appreciated her. Of course, she’d like Cass. She was a great judge of character. Despite Cass constantly putting up a tough facade, she was a sweet, vulnerable soul.

She wasn’t looking at me, so I took a moment to study her closely. I smiled, thinking about how I’d gotten to see another side of her that many didn’t get to see. Cass would be an amazing parent. I couldn’t wait to see her grow bigger with our child, couldn’t wait to watch her be a mother.

The smile tumbled from my face when I thought about her advancing in her pregnancy without me. In a few days, she’d be gone. How was I going to be a part of everything with her more than a thousand miles away?

Would I even be present for the birth of our child? How was I going to pull off being there for all our kid’s milestones? I’d probably miss his or her first word, first step… damn it. I didn’t like this distance thing.

“Are you alright?”

I blinked. “Of course.”

She gazed at me with her head tilted to one side. “You seemed miles away just now. Are you thinking about work?”

I snorted inwardly. Work was a distant memory. It was she who consumed my thoughts. I laughed. “Because I’m such a workaholic?”

“Yeah. I overheard Keneti lecturing you about forgetting about work for a few days. Then he said you should loosen your breeches and let your hair down to have fun once in a while.” Cass pulled her lower lip between her teeth. I suspected she was struggling to hold back laughter.

I looked skyward and sighed. Only Ken would tell me to do something like loosen my breeches. And what hair did I have to let down? “You heard that?”

“Your phone was on speaker,” she explained.

“Ken has been calling me out on being rigid and repressed for years. I hardly take the things he says seriously anymore.”

Cass snickered and apparently lost her fight to hold back her amusement. Her hearty laughter brought out my smile. I took her in, loving the way her features lit up and her eyes twinkled.

“So, he says things like loosen your breeches often?” she asked between giggles.

“Ken is a nutcase.”

“You two seem to balance each other.”

I shrugged. “I guess that’s why we’re such great friends. I need him to counter my tight-ass ways.”

Cass sobered. “Sounds like I need to show you how to have fun.”

My eyes jumped to her face. She was smiling, but maybe she was serious. “That’s something I’d be interested in.”

She smirked. “On second thought, I can’t right now.” She pointed her index fingers at her stomach. “But when I pop this kid out, you're in for a good time, Damian.”

Rubbing my jaw, I stared at her. She didn’t seem to realize she just implied we’d be a thing after she had the baby. Apparently, realization dawned because her eyes widened and then collided with mine. “I mean—”

“I’m holding you to that,” I said before she could take it back.

Red-faced, she chugged from her water bottle.

“Then again, why wait? I’m sure there are ways you can show me how to have fun now.”

She twisted in her seat to stare at me and the little teasing smile I wore dropped. Maybe I should turn the flirting down a notch. The last thing I wanted to do was come on too strong.

I was about to apologize when she spoke. “You mean, you’re still interested in… that?”

My eyebrows elevated. “That?”

Cass ducked her head, and her cheeks became redder than I’d ever seen them. “You know… sex.” She peeked at me through her lashes. “With me.”

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