His smile wasn’t from amusement, but because she’d never been the type to strut or show off. Lord knew she had plenty worth showing off. He continued watching as she hurried through the parking lot.
“Soon, Cassandra. Soon.”
He’d waited nearly thirty years. He could wait a while longer.
Chapter Two
“Why didn’t you stay and talk to him, Cassie?” Grace Warner asked, sitting across from Cassie and Grace’s sister, Charity Connors, in the corner booth at Divine Drip. “If you were interested in each other back then, why not at least arrange to get together later and talk?”
Cassie shrugged as she dumped a couple spoons of sugar into her black coffee and then added half and half to it, turning it a rich caramel color as she stirred. “I chickened out.” What she didn’t say was that the strong Alpha vibe he’d always exuded had strengthened with the years. “It was obvious he wanted to talk to me. I know it wasn’t intentional, we were at a funeral after all, but I felt ambushed. I didn’t know what to say.” She held her cup to her lips and breathed in the aroma of coffee mingled with sweetness and blew before taking a sip.
He’d surprised her when she’d looked up at the funeral home and spotted him across the chapel, dressed in a dark gray three-piece suit. He’d allowed his hair to grow out, and the thick black locks were liberally streaked with silver, especially at the temples, giving him a rugged warrior-poet appearance, despite the suit. The way her heart had lurched at the sight of him had taken her back to her teenaged years, to a time when she’d hoped he was the one.
Grace gave her a wry smile. “As one introvert to another, Cassie, I know it may be hard, but I think you should go see him, on your own terms, now that you know where he is. I don’t know him very well, but if I’d had any idea the two of you knew each other, I would’ve made sure you crossed paths before the funeral.”
After Cassie had mentioned knowing Samson, Grace had told her that she and Ethan knew him because they were members of Hazelle House, another revelation for Cassie. No way could she picture a man as thoughtful and kind as Ethan spanking sweet Grace. No freaking way. Considering that Samson had always been one to take charge, she was only mildly surprised he was a member, and she wondered what he did there. Security? Dungeon master? Something intimidating, she was sure. Strange, how the thought sent a warm shiver racing up her spine.
Charity nodded. “If you avoid him, you’ll regret never acting on this chance. Before the funeral, when you had no idea he was back in the area, how did you feel about him?”
Regret doesn’t even come close. “I’ve missed him since the day we graduated from high school and he went into basic training.” She could still see him and his brother walking away from her, their arms across each other’s beefy shoulders. They’d probably been talking about their next step together before they were across the field. “Even once I settled down, had the kids, and, later, when I started my business, I wondered…how he was.” –And how Ivan was, too.
Charity took another sip from her coffee, a thoughtful look on her face and turned to Cassie. “You graduated high school with Samson and his brother?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“And when we first got here, you were chatting with Hank about your thirtieth high school reunion coming up next month. You all graduated together.”
Realization dawned on Grace’s face. “Maybe he and his brother will come to the reunion .”
Cassie shook her head, relieved the reunion wasn’t something she’d have to worry about. “I’ve been at every reunion , and neither of them has ever come.” Not that I can blame them.
Not one to miss much, Grace leaned forward. “What? What is it?”
“Nothing,” Cassie replied. No good would come from sharing Samson and Ivan’s history. Both Grace and Charity were several years younger than her, but they might remember what’d happened in Divine back in the eighties. No point in dredging up old history, especially ugly history. “If he really wanted to see me—or his brother for that matter—they both could easily find me, through Hank…or Google. It’s not as if I’m hiding.”
She recalled the shiver that had gone up her spine when she’d made eye contact with him at the funeral. One look and she had been enthralled, as if thirty years of hard work, one failed marriage, and two great kids raised hadn’t all come to pass. Suddenly she’d been a nervous teenager again, sweating palms, racing heartbeat, and goose bumps shimmering on her skin, but she was all too aware that she longed for what she couldn’t have, though for different reasons, in the present.