Dream Wedding(131)

Desire slammed into him with the subtlety of a truck traveling at four hundred miles an hour. He half expected to be thrown into the wall and fall to the ground in a broken heap. He wanted her instantly. He wanted to pull her close and kiss her hard. He wanted to bury himself inside of her until they both—“Ryan? Are you all right?”

“What?” He blinked and realized that Cassie was holding out his mug of coffee. He took it from her and tried to fake a smile. “Sure, I’m fine. Thanks.” He raised the mug in salute, then sipped the steaming liquid.

“Have a seat. I thought you might be tired of cold cereal so I’m making pancakes.”

“Great.” Except he wanted her too much to eat.

He took his usual chair at the table. Sasha banged her spoon against her tray. “Me hungry.”

“I’m sure you are.” Cassie crouched in front of the child. “You can tell me you’re hungry and that you want your breakfast, but you’re not allowed to bang on the table.”

Sasha’s delicate brow furrowed as she struggled to understand the information. She raised her spoon to bang it again. Cassie shook her head.

“No. Don’t bang.”

Sasha stared, released her spoon. It clattered to the metal table. Cassie sighed. “I suppose that’s as much of a victory as I’m going to get this morning,” she said as she rose to her feet and returned to the stove. “Your cereal is just about ready, young lady. Give me thirty seconds.”

Ryan sipped his coffee. This scene wasn’t playing out the way he’d pictured it last night and again this morning when he’d awakened before dawn. Somehow he’d thought Cassie would be more upset by what had happened between them. He stared at her. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong. Was she really all right or was she pretending?

She filled a small, plastic bowl with warm cereal and placed it in front of Sasha. “Do you want a piece of bacon?” she asked the girl.

Sasha nodded. “Peas.”

Cassie shot him a grin. “One of these days I’m going to forget she has trouble with her L’s and actually hand her a bowl of peas. Imagine how shocked she’ll be.”

He couldn’t stand it anymore. He pushed back his chair, rose to his feet and crossed to the stove. She had several strips of bacon frying in a pan. On the counter, the electric griddle heated for pancakes.

“I’ll watch these,” he said, reaching for the pan.

“Thanks.” She stepped to the side and stirred the batter. “You usually want four pancakes. Does that sound right for this morning?”

“Sure. Whatever.” As if he cared about food. He stared at the rapidly crisping meat, then at his niece, who was happily eating, getting as much food on herself as in her mouth.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice low enough not to carry across the room.

Cassie poured pancakes onto the griddle, then looked at him. “Of course. Why do you ask?”

“You’re many things, Cassie, but you’re not dumb. You know why I’m asking.”

“Okay.” She turned her attention back to the pan. “I’m fine and I’m not just saying that.”

“Really?” He wanted to believe her. Knowing that she wasn’t suffering any aftereffects would make his whole life easier.

“Of course. You want the truth?” she asked, then continued without waiting for his response. “It was a very lovely kiss. One of the best I’ve had in a long time. But that’s all it was. We didn’t rewrite history or change the course of time. We kissed. I don’t really understand exactly how we got from chatting about our pasts to a passionate embrace, but this kind of thing happens. We’re two adults working in close proximity.”

“This is not common practice in my line of work,” he said, a little surprised she was being so sensible. Somehow he’d expected her to be upset.

“Mine either.” She grinned. “But then as a preschool teacher I would have many less opportunities than you.”

“So you’re really okay with this?”

“Sure.”

She turned the pancakes, then nodded at his pan. The bacon was done. He scooped the pieces out onto a paper towel.

“I’m realistic,” she told him. “Aside from Sasha, you and I have very little in common. We had a moment, now it’s over. No big deal.”

Her attitude annoyed him, even though he knew he should be thrilled that she was so calm about everything.

“We have more than Sasha in common,” he said. “We get along extremely well. We read the same kind of books, watch similar movies. We talk easily.”