Dinner was the usual Chase affair—organized chaos of arms and hands and talking in all directions. Cassie watched, amused as Penny and Ryan flirted and grew smitten with the other. She knew she’d be demanding the full story from her friend on Monday.

“You’re staying over at my place tonight, right?” Shane leaned into her and kissed her temple.

“I have to get up and out early. I haven’t done a damn bit of shopping for Thanksgiving yet. I’ll invite Penny I think.”

“Shopping for what?”

“Uh, food. I imagine you’ll be at Chase central all day. You can come over afterwards.”

“I can come to your apartment after I spend the day with my entire family eating turkey, ham and roast beef? Just stroll on in and say hey after I’ve done that?”

She drew back, looking at him. “What’s with the attitude?”

“I’ve got an attitude? Cassie, did you really think you weren’t invited to Thanksgiving at my parents’ house? And if you weren’t invited, did you really think I’d be with them and just come on over to your apartment after you ate by yourself? Is that how little you think of me and my family?”

“I didn’t want to presume.”

“Presume? And they say I’m the dumbass. My momma told me to invite you weeks ago but I assured her you knew you were invited. My manners are bad apparently. Well okay, that’s not a surprise. Anyway, you’re eating dinner with me at my parents’ house on Thanksgiving. Afterwards, we play cards and then you all sit on the porch and talk about us while we play football. It’s a tradition. You can’t buck tradition, Cassie.”

“Oh. All right then.”

He looked at her askance and then chuckled. “I wish you’d agree to everything that easily.”

“I do to all the important stuff.”

The way he looked at her made her all tingly.

“So you’re staying over then? Now that the Thanksgiving situation is all cleared up and all.”

She leaned in and put her lips to his ear. “I’ve been waiting for a while for you to take me. I feel how much you control yourself to keep from scaring me. Show me, Shane. I want it all.”

He sat very still, she wasn’t even sure if he breathed for long moments. Slowly, he turned to look her in the eye. His pupils were so wide it was hard to see the color. He turned to his family.

“Folks, Cassie and I are going to cut out early. I have a headache. We’ll see you Sunday for dinner.”

He stood and helped her up, grabbing her wrap and putting an arm around her, steering her toward the door.

“Goodnight, everyone.” She waved as they moved to leave. Everyone just looked at them, amused.

Shane didn’t say much as they drove to his house. Cassie watched the scenery pass through her window, smiling.

“What are you smiling about, darlin’?”

“I love the sound of your voice. It’s deep and masculine and so sexy. Sometimes it’s almost a growl. If you weren’t mine I’d be working to grab you every day.”

He pulled into his driveway and turned to her. “I…when you say stuff like that it does something to me. You held yourself away from me for so long and now to see you like this, saying I’m yours, it…” He took a deep breath as he shook his head, unable to find words.

“I’m sorry if I don’t say it enough. I’m smiling because my life is normal. Because I trust you. I’m smiling because I know you’re going to take me into that house and make love to me.”

“You got that right.” Leaning over, his upper body pressed her gently to the seat. Lips just above hers, his eyes stared deeply into hers. “I want you to tell me if I go too far or scare you. You have no idea how much I want to take you a dozen times a day against every conceivable surface just to know I’m the one making you feel the pleasure, just to hear the sound of you coming in my ears. But we need to go slow with this. I know that. All you need to do is tell me to stop or slow down, all right?”

Moving just a bit, her lips brushed up against his. “All right.”

Quickly, they got out of the car and went into the house. “Bedroom.”

Cassie looked back over her shoulder at him and then took the stairs with a sexy sway.

“You’re playing with fire, darlin’.”

“Mmm, good. You’ll have to make me wet to put it out.”

He chuckled and she found herself tossed on the bed, his body above hers on his hands and knees.

Lifting her hands to his chest, she worked the buttons on his shirt and exposed his chest. His heart beat reassuringly against her palm as she slid it over the hard muscle of his pectoral muscles.

Sitting back, he pulled his shirt off, tossing it to the side and moved to her again. This time he undid the tie at her hip and pulled the dress apart, exposing her body that way.

He sat there looking at her for a long time, quietly taking her in. A month ago she’d have felt embarrassed at his close perusal but he’d made her realize that he thought she was beautiful. Her scars did not matter to him. If her thighs were an issue, he hid it well and so she just let him look, loving that he wanted to.

Reaching out, he traced a fingertip along the scalloped lace of her bra, skimming just over her nipple.

“I like this. Red looks good on you with all items of clothing I see.”

The catch on the front was a black rose and he popped it with one-handed ease. Her br**sts spilled into his hands, his thumbs coming up to flick back and forth over her ni**les. Each movement of his fingers against her sent an answering pulse to her clit.