How Cassie Got Her Grind Back(Divine Creek Ranch 23)(3)

The funeral attendees shifted in their seats as the funeral director announced the service was over and they were welcome to travel in procession to the cemetery.

The brunette across the chapel drew his eyes again as she rose from her seat. Cassandra Villalobos had changed since the last time he’d seen her on the football field at Divine High School moments after their graduation ceremony. She’d changed in all the best ways, though. Her unique sherry-colored eyes sparkled as she spoke quietly with her friends. Judging by her posture and body language, she was probably making excuses as she slipped out of the pew. She glanced up at him, and her eyes flared as she realized he was watching her, and the sparkle was replaced by a more hunted quality as she looked toward the exit.

He recognized the pretty blonde standing beside Cassie. Grace Warner. He’d met her along with one of her husbands, Ethan Grant, when they’d joined Hazelle House. Joseph had laughingly informed him that he’d know them better if he’d pay a visit with him to the Dancing Pony in Divine every so often to break out of his work- home-BDSM-club rut. Divine. Not happening. He wouldn’t be there today, but Bunny had asked him to be a pallbearer, and there was no way he could turn the redhead down.

Before the funeral, when Joseph had realized Samson knew Cassandra, he’d mentioned she was the owner of a popular coffee shop in Divine.

Grace repeated whatever she’d said to Cassie, startling her, before looking his way and then back at Cassie, a speculative gleam in her eyes. She was a little matchmaker, according to Joseph.

Samson knew Cassie was going to flee, the little chicken heart. He had one big, burning question to ask her, but he couldn’t right then. His responsibilities came first. But he held her gaze, even though another blonde was tapping her forearm, trying to get her attention.

He felt a corresponding tap on his own shoulder, and Hank murmured, “Earth to Cutter.” He looked forward and realized the rest of the pallbearers had advanced several paces toward the front, and he took long strides to catch up.

“You remember her?” Hank asked a few minutes later after they’d passed the casket into the hearse. “You’ve hardly taken your eyes off of her since she got here.” Hank nodded at Cassandra, indicating who he was referring to as she spoke to her friends, flight evident in her body language.

The rays of the mid-morning sun streamed around her, casting her in voluptuous silhouette. Her long dark hair was free, and the breeze lifted strands that glimmered with red highlights off her shoulders.

“Of course I remember her. Cassandra Villalobos.” The name rolled off his tongue like a benediction. The great start or great end to any day, whether it was just a smile, a sweetly chaste kiss on the cheek, or a searching look from her brown eyes.

She was clad in an ankle-length black skirt that skimmed her hips, an unsuccessful yet typical attempt at hiding what he recalled were luscious rounded thighs and shapely calves tapering to delicate ankles. Her plum-colored top showed off her breasts while still being demure at the neckline.

The years have been good to you, chiquita. Oblivious to the solemnity of the occasion, his dick tingled in agreement before he got a hold of his thoughts.

“She goes by Cassie now, and her last name is Resendez, has been for years. Didn’t I ever mention that? You’d know if you came to the high school reunion  s.”

“Shit, not this again,” Samson muttered as Hank clapped him on the back. She was married? Well, dumb fuck, over the course of thirty years that happens.

“The thirtieth reunion   of the Class of 1986 is coming up in just a few weeks. You and Ivan still have time to get your tickets. I can sell them to you right now,” Hank added as he patted the breast pocket of his uniform, a wide grin on his face.

Samson shook his head, accustomed to the routine question Hank asked every time their high school reunion   rolled around. It was harder to turn him down in person, but there was nothing for him in Divine, and no reason for him to return to the painful scene of his teenaged past, pretending it’d been a great chapter in his life. It hadn’t been any such thing.

“This town holds too many bad memories, you know that.” His home in Morehead was close by, but Divine might as well have been light-years away.

Undeterred, Hank continued. “Now that I think of it, if you didn’t know Cassie had gotten married, then you probably don’t know she’s also divorced. She goes to all the reunion  s. Seems like I recall your brother used to hang around with the two of you a lot, didn’t he?”

“Yup.” Samson thought back to those days. Although Ivan had adored her, he’d disguised the fact because, back then, the admission would’ve gotten him lynched, spitted, and barbecued by her traditional, patriarchal family. But it had been clear what Ivan had felt for her had gone pretty deep—or at least as deep as a horny seventeen-year-old boy could go.