Free Desired in December (Spring River Valley Book 12) by Clarice Wynter Page B

frightened her with its intensity, but it thrilled him. All or nothing was the easiest choice in the world for him right now and one he’d be happy to make the same way every day for the rest of his life.
    Everything was perfectly clear now, and he saw exactly what his future needed to be when he looked into her eyes. She was his Cassie, unique, exotic, perfectly beautiful, strong and independent , and willing to give all of herself to something she believed in.
    And she was finally his.
    They fell onto her bed, a tangle of limbs and half-removed clothing. He stripped off his T-shirt and flung it to the floor then set to work on the fly of her jeans. He growled in frustration as she writhed beneath him, and the tight buttons eluded his anxious grasp. “Hold still, I can’t get this open!”
    “Bite it off!” she ordered, bucking her hips.
    He laughed as he tried to still her movements. “It’s a brass rivet, I’ll break a tooth.”
    She growled back, and tore at the fly with fingers much more nimble than his. Next she wiggled out of the tight-fitting denim, setting him aflame as she revealed her body to him.
    There was just not going to be time to finesse this, he decided, diving upon her. He had to have her now, fast and hard, all or nothing, and then later, when he could control the wanting that had been bottled up for so long, he’d take his time with her and remind her of all the sweet, sexy things they used to do to each other.
    “ Uh-oh.” She froze suddenly, just as James set his sights on the lacy edge of her pink panties.
    He stopped, poised to continue at her slightest encouragement. “What?”
    “Condoms. I don’t know where— Oh, wait, I do know where they are.”
    “Thank God.”
    She pushed him aside and scrambled off the bed to rummage in the top drawer of her bureau. A second later she produced what appeared to be a light blue polka-dotted condom, its wrapper attached to a crepe paper streamer.
    “Wow,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Didn’t know you were into the kink.”
    “Sorry, it’s left over from a bachelorette party I catered back in March. You think it’s still good?”
    He wanted to say it was good enough, but the gentleman in him protested. “I can run to Krest’s and grab a new box.”
    “Krest’s closed. The nearest drug store is National over on Route 12.” Cassie eyed the party favor, and after a moment’s hesitation, she shrugged. “This will do, for now.”
    “Thank God.” He held out his arms , and she fell into them.
    When she looked up at him, the question in her eyes gave him pause. “James, just to be clear…”
    “What?”
    “You’re home. Forever. You’re here and you’re mine and you’re not going anywhere.”
    Grinning, he snatched the condom from her hand and rolled her over, pinning her beneath him. “Just to be clear, Sassy Cassie Hall, yes. I’m home and I’m yours For. Ever.”
     

Chapter Eleven
     
     
    The Sunday morning sunshine turned the streaks of lighter blond in James’s hair to brilliant gold, and Cassie found herself staring, transfixed, unable to believe this magnificent man had spent the night in her bed in the flesh, and not just in her fevered dreams.
    She blushed at the thought that her fantasies of this impossible reunion paled in comparison to reality. In some ways, their lovemaking had been comfortable and familiar, something right that had been missing from her life for so long, and in other ways it had been like being with someone new. He was broader in places, more narrow in others, gentler as though he was afraid he might hurt her, and more demanding, like he’d learned a few things , and she didn’t want to think about whom he might have learned from. He was hers now, hers again, and there would never be anyone else. There would never need to be.
    She decided she had to slip out of bed quietly to avoid waking him and demanding a repeat performance of everything they’d done last night. As she