“Before I broke up with asshole, who shall never be named, I ordered out all the time,” she said with nostalgia. That was back when her finances were in order and she could do whatever she wanted with her money. Now she had to carefully work her way back to that cushion and healthy account of the past. Every time she thought about it, she wanted to kick her own ass for being so gullible.
“So how was that trip?” Ivy’s eyes lit with curiosity.
Cassie hadn’t told her about where she was going, just that she had somewhere to go. Though Ivy and Ivan were friends with a shifter, she didn’t know what Massimo knew of the other world and wasn’t sure it was okay to discuss with anyone.
“The trip was okay.” She drizzled honey on a still-warm biscuit and took a bite. Her stomach sighed in happiness. This was what she’d been dying for. Now she didn’t feel so bad she’d ordered a dozen biscuits when she never ate more than two. The first one was gone within a second. She went through the same process with another and glanced up to see Ivy’s brows high. “What?”
“A little hungry, are we?”
She grinned. “I barely ate the entire time I was gone. So I guess this is my body’s way of making up.” At least she hoped it was, or she had more weight problems to consider.
Ivy nodded in agreement. “You’re probably right. Plus you barely ate when you were at your dad’s house. I noticed, but didn’t want to say anything.”
Her appetite had gone to hell for the duration of the trip. Veronica played the pregnant woman in need of pampering card well and she wasn’t even showing yet. Apparently she was like one month along or something.
“Veronica just gets to me sometimes,” she admitted. “She’s so spoiled. Which is strange because my father always taught me not to be that way. When she does her whole ‘I need someone to carry my handbag’ bit, it grates on me.”
Ivy frowned and continued eating. “I don’t know why. Your dad has been with her for a few years now. She’s not a complete jerk, just a pampered woman used to being treated like a princess. If your dad didn’t cater to her bullshit, she wouldn’t be the way she is.”
That was true. Her father had been the one indulging Veronica like she couldn’t do a thing on her own. “I’m still surprised over that.”
“Why?” Ivy asked.
“What do you mean why? My dad never did that with me. He made me take care of myself at all times.”
SIXTEEN
“Yes and that taught you to be a strong woman. But maybe, and this is just my own fucked up opinion which might be totally off-mark, he doesn’t want to do that with his wife. Maybe he loves her to the point he just wants to treat her like his queen and give her everything.”
She hadn’t thought of that. It was a very definite possibility that her father just wanted to pamper his wife. Give her everything he felt she not only was used to, but deserved out of love.
“Are you going to tell me about your trip and stop deviating? Did you meet any interesting people?”
“Um…”
Ivy widened her eyes. She stopped the forkful of mashed potatoes by her lips. “Cassandra Lys Grimaldi! You better tell me what that ‘um’ stands for.”
“I met a guy,” she found herself saying. She hadn’t wanted to think of Talen, but her body was still buzzing from their night together. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he stamped himself inside her like he claimed he would.
“Who? Where? Tell me everything!” Ivy’s words tripped over each other in her excitement.
“His name is Talen. Talen Arctos.”
“Wow. That’s such a strong and sexy name. Where the hell were you? Europe?”
She ignored the question and continued the story. “We had a night I can’t even describe. The things he did. The things he said. The way he touched me.” Oh, god, the way he touched her.
“Cassie, this is good,” Ivy squealed. “You met someone who got your mind off dickface. This is truly amazing. And you sound like he worked some magic on you in more ways than one. All that in three weeks.”
Cassie blinked out of her memories and glanced at Ivy. “Three weeks? We were gone three weeks?”
That couldn’t be possible. They’d been in Aurora for exactly three days. How in the world had three weeks gone by without her noticing?
“Yep. Three weeks. Well almost four to be exact, but who’s counting,” Ivy laughed.
She hadn’t realized there was such a huge time lapse between both planets.
“Did I hear you talking to Ivan earlier?”