Hosed (Happy Cat #1)(36)

So I shrug, forcing a tight smile. “Just believe in live and let live.”

Steve’s bottom lip pushes out as he nods. “I get it. I like to do good when I can too.”

I do not roll my eyes.

But it’s hard.

Really hard.

“I’ll give you a heads-up,” he says, dropping his voice as he adds, “don’t get in too deep with my ex’s sister, okay? The Sunderwell girls are a good time until you put a ring on that crazy. Then it’s just nuts and cocoa puffs all the way down the line. Way more trouble than any pussy is worth, you feel me?”

My jaw clenches so tight something clicks near my ear as my hands curl into fists at my sides. But this snot weasel is as shitty at reading nonverbal cues as he is at keeping his marriage vows.

“Just come and go, if you get me.” He winks. “Come. And go.”

My fist is about to come and go—into his smarmy gut and back out again—when someone calls his name from the bar.

“Lance! What’s up, brother? Later, O’Dell.” Steve brushes past me, knocking my arm with his shoulder as he bolts for more socially elite company.

“Hopefully much later, you fucking asshole,” I mutter.

I’m considering texting Cassie and suggesting a change of venue—neither of us are Steve fans, after all—when a commotion at the back room catches my attention. I turn, and instantly the asshole is forgotten, and my heart feels ten years younger. I couldn’t hold back my smile if I tried.

There she is.

My Cassie.

She’s at the Ms. Pac-Man arcade game in back, spinning in a circle to take a round of high-fives from a motley mix of townspeople. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes alight with joy, her hair in twin braids that are as sexy as they are innocent, and I can’t wait to be close to her.

As close as I can get.

I’m across the bar, heading into the crowd around her before I realize I’ve moved.

“Ryan! Hey! Everything turn out okay with George?” she asks when I reach her side.

I don’t answer.

Instead, I bend and capture her lips with mine, circling my arms about her waist and pulling her in for a long, lingering kiss that stirs something deep in my chest even as it sends my cock into celebration mode.

Her hands drift up to clutch at my shoulders while she kisses me back, her tongue gliding against mine, her sweet nose brushing my cheek.

Forget a night out.

I’m taking her home. To my place.

I pull away from the kiss with a soft groan.

Cassie’s eyes are dark, her eyelids low. She licks her bottom lip and gives me an almost shy smile. “Hi,” she whispers.

“Hi.”

I’m grinning like an idiot, and I don’t care. Whispers of I knew it! and This is sooo going on InstaChat and Way to go, O’Dell! are filtering around us, but we both ignore them.

“That’s quite the congratulations for a high score in Ms. Pac-Man,” Cassie says with a sultry wink that puts a new kind of hum in my veins. One that says I’m a complete and total goner for this woman. “Or was that a pre-emptive I’m sorry kiss because you think you can do better?”

“Is that a challenge, Cassandra Sunderwell?”

“Maybe,” she says coyly. She swings her hips and grins. “And if you want to know if that’s a roll of quarters in my pocket or if I’m happy to see you, the answer to both questions is yes.”

I crack up, because she’s funny and perfect and how did I get to be the lucky guy she’s smiling at with stars in her eyes tonight? “Yeah, that’s a challenge,” I tell her, then I lean in so only she can hear me. “How about some stakes here? Winner gets breakfast in bed?”

“That’s hardly fair, since you don’t stand a chance.”

“You’re probably correct, but I don’t mind losing, since I’d still be getting breakfast with you.”

She giggles, and I reach into her pocket, where there is indeed a roll of quarters.

The music ends to a weak spatter of applause. “Thank you, Ruthie May,” Blake says into the microphone. “Next up is Olivia Moonbeam, singing ‘Call Me Maybe.’”

A few groans break out, but most of the crowd around Cassie and me breaks up and heads for the main dining area. Olivia might pick ridiculously perky songs, but she’s got an incredible voice.

“C’mon.” Cassie tugs me to face the machine. “Let’s see what you’ve got, O’Dell.”

“Other than a desperate desire to take you back to my place?” I ask.

She blushes, but she also smiles bigger. “We’ll get there. You have to woo me properly first.”

I like this flirty side of her. “You’re on.” I drop a quarter into the machine.

“And you’re off to a good start,” she tells me while she loops an arm around my waist and leans her head on my arm.

A camera flashes and clicks, and I suddenly realize it isn’t the first time I’ve heard that sound. There were a decent number of clicks snapping away while I was kissing Cassie hello.

I drop my hands from the game controllers and turn to her. “I’m sorry. The gossip—I didn’t think—I just wanted to kiss you. But there are probably pictures and I’m guessing they’ll be on InstaChat before we leave here tonight.”