Loving Cassie

She Let Herself Go

She Let Herself Go

Cassie

Nearly three weeks later, I was packing a bag for me and little man. Dad had invited us to the lake house for a weekend getaway. I was really looking forward to it. He had offered to put up Jack and Donnie, too, but they'd had plans for the weekend. Dad would've loved it since he and Donnie got along famously, something we'd discovered just over two weeks ago when he had surprised me at work. I'd had to pry Daddy out of the bakery so Jack could lug Donnie home at a somewhat decent hour and I could get a fussy Walker to bed.

The last few weeks had gone surprisingly well. I'd had Ward over at least twice a week for dinner and from the instant he had met Walker, he'd been smitten. While I cooked a wide array of dishes (that I'd been compliment on every time) he had kept Walker entertained. Bouncing him up and down, making goofy noises, playing peek-a-boo. It was a sight for sore eyes. As I served dinner one night, Ward had even begun to feed Walker before I had the chance.

I'm not proud to say that I nearly cried and had to excuse myself for a few minutes.

Ward kept us company more nights than not and I was glad for other adult interaction. I knew more about him that I felt like I'd ever known about Dalton and I sincerely enjoyed simple nights around the house with him over. I was a little ashamed to admit that my crush on him had only grown and I still had a hard time fighting a blush where he was concerned. Additionally, I was lucky enough to have Donnie and Jack at work, but we hadn't had the chance to get together outside of the bakery. Donnie kept promising we'd find a babysitter and spend a night emptying a pitcher of margaritas. My relationships with all three men had only blossomed in the last few weeks and I was starting to feel like the old Cassie again, which was an indescribable sensation.

My little man was also progressing fully, finally seeming to have mastered the art of crawling and was beginning to speak more often. This meant he was going everywhere and I had an overwhelming desire to make sure the floors were picked up well and extremely clean. It was wonderful yet saddening to see my little man flourish so brightly.

With the last of our necessary items packed and placed by the front door, I went to grab Walker. Just as the door opened, my heart stopped before shuddering to life again. Ward was standing there in all his gorgeous glory, his tanned fist poised to knock. In his arms there was a colorful brand new Fisher-Price toy, one I knew made more noise than all of the people on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras. I wanted to groan. This would make the third toy he'd bought for Walker, who was eating it up. Ward was definitely spoiling my baby.

"Ward," his name was a whisper slipping from my lips and I couldn't help but blush when he smiled brightly at me. It never ceased to make my knees weak.

"Hey, beautiful."My heart raced as I heard him call me beautiful. Ward was a charmer.  "Y'all leavin' me already?" Never, I though fervently, but knew he was only teasing. Then I realized why he asked. The bags.

"Oh, we're goin' to a big barbecue this weekend at my favorite uncle's lake house."

"Well, shoot. I was lookin' forward to our zoo date this weekend." He said, and I took note of the deflated expression in his slate colored eyes. I had completely forgotten about our plan to take Walker to the zoo. "No worries though, gorgeous. I'll see y'all when you get back, hope y'all have fun. Please text me when you get there, alright? I'll worry myself into a stupor if I don't know you're safe." He flashed another smile at me, this time it was brief and it wasn't nearly as sincere, before he turned to walk back to his apartment. Disappointment stirred in my gut. I didn't want him to go.

"Hey, Ward?" I blurted out, sure my face was the color of a fresh sunburn, but I couldn't help but continue when he faced me. "You wanna come with us? Daddy won't mind."

* * * * *

The drive to the lake house somewhere around two hours and since I was sure that Ward wouldn't fit in my 'cute' little car, we'd opted to take his overwhelmingly large truck. He'd outright laughed when I'd offered to pay for gas in his beast, since we were car pooling. When I had demanded to know why he was laughing he'd simply said: "Princess, I haven't let you pay for a single thing since we've met. You think I'm gonna start now?" His tone was light and teasing, but I knew he was serious. We'd taken a last minute trip to the Wal-Mart in Cedar Pond last weekend and he'd outright refused to allow me to pay for any of the items I'd placed on the conveyor belt. Ward was a gentleman through and through, one who still opened doors for a lady and refused to allow me to pull out my own chair. He had also taken to calling me pet names, though I had to admit that princess was my favorite and sweetheart came a close second.

We still had a twenty minutes to go before we arrived at the lake house and I was glad that my little guy was so car friendly. He'd munched on his baby cereal for the first ten minutes of the ride and then quickly fallen asleep. His little snores and whimpers were the only noise coming from the back of the truck.

"No, make sure they do a final walk through before you call the inspector, okay? And don't touch anything on my desk, Trey. I can never find anything once you've touched it." With that, he bid his foreman goodbye and tossed his phone in the center console. He still wore a half smile so I knew everything was okay on his end, but I still felt bad.

"You sure they're gonna survive without you?"

He laughed and I swore the sound practically traveled down my spine.

"They'll be fine, sweetheart. Trey's just being a pain in my ass. Daniel promised to keep an eye on him." From what I'd heard, Trey was a bit of a trouble maker when it came to any kind of formal paperwork. I also got the hint that his long time friend didn't like me.

"If you're sure. I feel bad springing a spur of the moment trip on you. You didn't have to say-"

A warm hand settled on top of mine and it caused me to freeze. He'd taken to brushing against me lightly, and it seemed to turn me into a pile of goo. In addition, I'd had to put all of my self control on the line when Ward would try to cross the boundaries of friends into something more. Something about Ward relaxed me to a dangerous point.

"I wanted to come with you guys and I'm lookin' forward to meetin' your dad." My nerves kicked in when he said this. I was nervous for Ward to meet Daddy. Not because I thought Dad would dislike him, but because I knew he'd see how much I liked Ward. And thinking about exactly how much I liked Ward sent a spear of fear through my belly.

I hadn't wanted to get close to anyone when I'd moved to Red Mire, but it was impossible not to with a man like Ward. My attraction was more than physical with him and it terrified me. I hadn't been enough to keep my own husband happy, I definitely couldn't keep a man like Ward from straying. So, I tried to keep our relationship strictly platonic which was easier said than done. Ward made my gut twist in knots and my thighs clench in anticipation. He made me want to try to trust again, but I couldn't do that to myself or Walker. It was much simpler to draw a line between the two of us and hope neither of us crossed it.

And the closer we got to the lake house, the more I was starting to wonder how smart my choice to invite him along was. If he got on with my family like I suspected he would, my attraction would only increase and resisting would be nearly impossible. Donnie, who I'd learned was Ward's cousin-in-law, had been encouraging me to jump in and "taste every delicious inch of that sexy cowboy body." My best friend was a dirty minded man who gave me full on instructions on how to seduce my favorite neighbor (after Delish! had closed, of course. It wouldn't do well for the bakery if the church biddies heard him describe how he had reduced Jack to tears in bed a few nights before. Though I would love to see their faces if they did.)

"Is it this one, princess?" His drawl interrupted my mental musings and with a quick glance up I nodded. Vehicles lined the driveway and I knew it was a mix of day guests and weekenders for Daddy's shindig. I smiled as we pulled into the drive up until my eyes landed on a car I had seen every day for the last five and a half years.

Dalton and Carrie were here, too.