Free Sweet Deception (Truth) by Grace Henderson

cooked."
"It's just one of my many talents. If you're lucky I'll show you some others too." His voice was deep and husky and sent my pulse racing.
"I'll look forward to it. I'll text you after work. Have a good evening Blake."
"You too, sweetheart." Oh, sweetheart. My stomach did a little flip.

"Cassie, I hope you are nearly ready! They will be here soon." Gran shouted up the stairs. I glanced at the time to see I only had ten minutes left. I let out a little yelp and pulled out a sundress from the wardrobe that was pretty but not too formal. I wanted to look nice but not so nice that I gave him the wrong impression. A brief thought crossed my mind that maybe Blake was still seeing other people? We weren’t exclusive. It was only one date after all. What if he was going and having sex with other girls? I thought about his hands on the girls at the bar and how they had been throwing themselves at him. My stomach knotted and I felt like I was going to throw up. A few breaths were needed to calm myself. It was stupid because I had no claim on him but those thoughts just made me dizzy after Dan. I gathered my hair up into a messy ponytail that looked like I hadn't tried too hard and left the safety of my room.

I paused just before the stairs as the doorbell rang and I was out of time. I watched closely but hidden out of view as Gran answered and greeted her friend with a hug and kiss on the cheek ushering her inside, another figure following closely behind. They both came in through the foyer and I could see them a lot clearer. James was very tall, towering over the two short older women, he was well built too as my eyes trailed up over his muscular chest that was wrapped in a tight blue shirt and landed on his handsome face. He could have easily stepped straight off the cover of a magazine. His blonde hair was short, and his smile was cheeky and boyish, it made him seem younger. My stomach fluttered and guilt washed over me as I thought about Blake.

My eyes must have been burning through James for a good minute before he seemed to realise and look up. My heart was pounding. He just caught me staring. Gran saw his head rise and followed his eyes to land on me. She smirked knowingly and before I could duck away she raised her voice.
"Oh there you are darling, I was just about to come and get you. Our visitors have arrived. You look beautiful."
As I made my way down the stairs I was silently cursing that I had been so stupid as to let him see me. Now he was going to think I was interested when I wasn't. Was I? I held out my hand as the manners my parents instilled in me took over and I introduced myself.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Cassandra." His reply was in a low baritone that echoed off the walls of the hallway, and his smile grew wider, eyes shimmering as he took the hand I offered in his firm grip. He held on to it for just a few seconds longer than necessary and let his hand brush mine as it fell away. Gran chuckled and signalled to everyone to follow her. The table was set in the formal dining room that we only ate in on special occasions.
James walked round to my side to hold my chair out for me before sliding into the seat opposite. Our grandmothers were next to us facing each other too. The whole set up was awkward but luckily they started the conversation so I didn't have to think that much. Not that I would have been capable of it anyway. His presence was as strong and all male as Blake's and left me slightly intimidated.
"James owns his own interior design company, don't you? It's very successful too isn't it?" Gran probed, wanting to show him off to me. He smiled. "Yes we do okay, have some pretty big clients. I've just had to take on a load of extra staff to meet the demand actually."
"And you own your own house?" She prompted.
"Yes it's just down the road. It needed quite a bit of work but I'm getting there."
    His eyes were on me constantly, trying to gauge any reactions to his answers but I tried to