How Cassie Got Her Grind Back(Divine Creek Ranch 23)(29)

Ivan had vivid recollections of the grumpy bastard’s poor people skills. It had amazed him the restaurant had always done so much business since the manager was so lacking in congeniality. He listened as Cassie babbled on, her cheeks flushing when she finally fell quiet.

Once the waitress had delivered their drinks, Samson took her hand in his and looked down at it. “Are you nervous?”

Ivan stroked her other hand, which was resting on the table, and felt the tension building inside him lessen when she wrapped her hand around his and squeezed.

She turned her sweet mahogany eyes to him and then settled her gaze on Samson and nodded. “I’m not sure why. I wish I could read your minds and know what you’re thinking. It’s like anticipating the first kiss on a first date.”

Samson lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles and then slid his hand down her outstretched forearm to her elbow. Ivan barely heard her sharp intake of breath over the music as his brother wrapped his hand around her upper arm and used it as leverage to reel her in as he leaned toward her. She licked her lower lip a moment before he laid his lips on hers. Ivan watched her in fascination, the rise and fall of her chest as her breathing accelerated and she lifted a hand to grip his shoulder, her fingers not able to find purchase because he was too big.

Satisfaction was in Samson’s eyes when he released her from the kiss, not leaning away from her. She sat there with eyes still closed and lips parted for a couple of seconds before blinking and smiling at him. “Wow.”

“How are your nerves now?”

“Better. You’re still a fantastic kisser,” she replied with a giggle before looking at Ivan. “I still don’t know what you want, though.”

“You,” Ivan and Samson both said in unison. Ivan stroked her hand with his thumb as she stilled her fidgeting and met Ivan’s gaze. She blinked a few times. Drew her brows together, shook her head, and then squinted at him.

“Did I just hear you right?”

Samson glanced over and caught his eye and grinned. Ivan gave her hand another squeeze to draw her attention and said, “Why are you so surprised? Samson has told me that you’re friends with several ménage groups, so I know it’s not that you’re shocked.”

“Uh…Actually, yeah I am.”

“Why?” Samson replied in a growly voice.

Snorting with wry humor, she looked between them and said, “Because you don’t know what all you’d be giving up, by wanting a ménage…with me.”

Samson gave her a crooked grin before brushing her hair back from her cheek. “All I can see is what I’d be gaining, honey. What would we be giving up?”

She took a deep breath. “You both know me well enough to know I’d never go for a fling. But if we committed to a ménage, there are things you’d give up that the men in the other ménage groupings have.”

“Such as?” Ivan asked.

“I’m assuming you want all the sexual trappings that go along with a ménage. I’ll be fifty years old in a couple of years, and…I have, or will soon have, issues that come along with aging, and I can’t have any more children.” As she spoke, her cheeks grew more and more flushed, and when she mentioned children, her voice broke. “Neither of you are a father yet, and you’re bound to want kids…and I can’t give them to you.”

“Hey,” Samson said in a soothing voice. “Cassandra, we want you. I want you. Ivan wants you.”

“But I’m not…” Her eyes darted around, as she seemed to search for the right word and then placed her hand against her abdomen. “Whole. I’m not whole anymore, which was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back,’ according to Bill.”

“What happened?” Ivan asked, taking her hand in his again, sympathy warring with protectiveness at the mention of Bill’s name.

“I had problems with my…cycles, which made sex a hit or miss thing, and it caused a lot of tension between us. On a visit to my gynecologist they discovered some…problems and…I had to have a hysterectomy. Bill acted as though they were removing my femininity with my uterus and said that was the last straw and he was done.” It was obvious from her hesitation and the dark flush in her cheeks she wasn’t used to talking about female health issues with a man, much less men. Where had Bill been all their married life?

Ivan could only imagine the stress of running a fledgling business, having a health scare, and her husband walking out on her when she should’ve had his support as she recovered.

Her hand in Ivan’s grasp had grown cool with her agitation, and Samson took her other one again and said, “Are you okay? Did everything turn out all right?”