Loving Cassie

The One

Ward

I watched from across the room as Cassie talked to Dave, her head falling back as she laughed. It was a glorious sight, especially after the events earlier in the day. I couldn't seem to look away. I was supposed to be helping Luke, a cousin-in-law, fill water balloons for the kids but every few minutes I would look up at her and accidentally pop the flimsy rubber balloon in my hand. I was currently oh for seven as I picked up the last of the pile I'd been given.

"You're terrible at this," Luke's gruff voice commented beside me and I couldn't help but laugh. Yeah, I was terrible at it, and I thanked God I hadn't gone into the balloon business. I would probably have to sell myself on the nearest corner, if so.

"I know. At least you got most of yours or I'd be dealin' with some awfully irked little people." He chuckled at that and shrugged as he tied the balloon with nimble fingers before he tossed it in his overflowing tub. Luke was a good guy and we surprisingly had a bit in common, one of them being that when our women asked something of us, it was damn hard to turn them down. Cassie and Isabella had cornered us as we were sneaking out to the lake to fish and batted their eerily similar dark eye lashes -- they wanted us to fill two hundred water balloons for the dozen or so children that littered the yard. We'd already had fishing poles in our hands, but we didn't say no. We'd dutifully handed over our poles and now here we were.

"I have hopes that they'll let us sneak off soon, Irv said they stocked the lake a little under four years ago and it's filled with bass." My inner fisherman was fan-girling at the moment. It was like I'd met the fish equivalent to Luke Bryan. I'd known that the fishing might be good once we'd rolled up to a lake house surrounded by lush green trees, but I had no idea how good it could be. It was just starting to get dark and I knew that soon they'd be out soon. Luke and I finished off our buckets at roughly the same time and were about to make our way to the water when we were stopped with another task. Luke's groan of disappointment mirrored mine but we did ask asked. In the end we didn't get to fish.

*

Someone was tapping me on my cheek. Groggily, I opened one of my eyes to figure out whose finger I was going to take a chunk out of. The barely there stream of light coming through the window alerted me of the time, which was probably barely after five.

Walker.

I groaned softly and rolled his way. "What're you doin' little man?" My throat was dry and hoarse, but Walker didn't care, instead he began to babble lightly and I only caught a few words. Something about Mama, baby and water. I was still learning the art of Walker talk, but was slowly getting better. I studied him as he chattered away, watching his chubby cheeks move with his words and his little hands move. His blonde hair stuck up everywhere and his blue eyes were a brilliant crystal against the darkness. A thought struck me. How'd he get out of his crib?

"Well, it's about time you realize he didn't just Houdini it out of his crib. " My head jerked in Cassie's direction. I hadn't noticed her propped up on her bed. Her dark hair was plaited in a neat braid and covered in a familiar baseball cap. Underneath the brim her face was clear and bright and she wore a fresh pair of clothes. She practically glowed underneath the soft beams of sunlight. Her whiskey eyes danced with mischief and I badly wanted to close the space between us. Cassie was an irresistible treasure for me.

"Ard! Water wif Mama!" Walker chirped cheekily stealing all the attention once again. His chubby cheeks were now bright red and the excitement was contagious. I wasn't sure what he was talking about just yet, but I knew it had to be good to get him this excited. Cassie let Walker and me play for a few minutes and while I should've been cautious of him getting too loud with laughter, I was enjoying myself too much to stop.

*

Our last few hours at the lake house with Cassie's family ended up being some of my favorite of the entire weekend, only beat out by the memory of her lush lips against mine. Walker, the little trouble maker that had waken me up early this morning, was now crashed out against my chest as I reeled in my line for the final time. We had spent the entire morning and early afternoon fishing with Isabella, Luke and their eighteen month old daughter Lina. While I wasn't sure how to work around two attention demanding infants, it turned out to be surprisingly easy. Walker and Lina would go between babbling and playing together on their shared playtime mat to demanding attention. Luke, who had caught a few channel cat, was tossing the last of his stink bait into the make-shift trash can we'd brought with us. We were both satisfied with the fish we'd caught, and I was glad I didn't have to use the smelly bait he'd brought from home. While the women were off cooing over Lina we had made plans to try to get together sometime next month. A double date, he'd called it.

And I was damn determined for it to be just that, a date.

Cassie

"Well, he kissed you?" Isa asked excitedly, smiling devilishly at me as she nursed Lina under the shade of a lush tree. We'd been sitting away from the guys for a while now enjoying a little girl talk and I was enjoying it wholly. Isabella and I had been pretty close growing up considering that we were really the only female cousins in the family. Now that we were older we really appreciated one another. Sitting together, we talked about everything under the sun, from little Lina and her rocky pregnancy, Isa and Luke's wedding, and now Isa wanted to know about my kiss with Ward.

As selfish as it was, a part of me didn't want to share that memory. Sure, this was girl talk and she'd shared far more intimate details of hers and Luke's lives together, but something about kissing Ward felt like more. Being around Ward felt like more. Seeing him with Walker, my family -- simply watching him interact with those that I loved was the most satisfying thing in the world.

The last few days here had been great, I actually felt like a part of the family again. With Dalton, family time was awkward and eventually, he refused to come with me to see them. It didn't matter if was for a holiday or not. With Ward, it seemed like he was really trying to get to know those that I loved, he wanted to be around them as much as I did. It was wonderful. I couldn't say this weekend had gone well, but it was better than I'd thought. Well, with the exception of Dalton losing his mind and nearly harming my child. He was damn lucky that people were more concerned about Walker than about exacting some form of revenge. But, if he thought that he wasn't going to hear from me, he was mistaken. It was a matter for another time.

"It was," I began, trying to find the right words. Amazing? Breathtaking? Mind-numbing? "The best kiss I've ever had." Because that was the only thing that sounded right, that felt right. I could practically feel Isabella's excitement bubbling off of her after I responded and I knew it was coming, the question I'd been asking myself repeatedly since last night.

"If he asks you out, are you going to say yes?"