Free More of Me by Samantha Chase

Do I have that right?”
    When he said it like that, Casey realized how ridiculous it sounded. “Okay, maybe I’m being a little dramatic…”
    â€œYou think?” He gently pulled her back into his arms and began dancing again.
    â€œI’ll admit that this hasn’t been…terrible. And after tonight, we’re done. We won’t have to see each other again until the actual wedding.”
    He stopped dancing again.
    â€œWait. What?”
    â€œYou’ll need to have your answer by tomorrow. You can simply text it to me, and I will go from there with the planning. Your uncle will be coming down next week for a couple of days to go over anything else that needs to be done, and so really, after we leave here tonight, your job is done.”
    â€œAnd so…what? We can’t see each other again?”
    Casey wasn’t prepared for this line of questioning. She had secretly hoped that after his part of the planning was done, he’d be more than happy to walk away. That was what he was good at. Without showing that his question had thrown her a little off course, she simply shrugged. “I don’t see why we’d need to.”
    â€œHow about because I want to see you, dammit?” he snapped. “How about because ever since I jogged over to your house the other day, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you? Or maybe because you said that we could at least be friends, and I’d like to actually have the opportunity to hear about your life? I know that it’s Mac’s wedding that brought us back together, but that doesn’t mean that it’s all we have to talk about.”
    The song had ended and people were starting to stare. Casey felt more than a couple pairs of eyes on them. “Can we discuss this later?” she whispered.
    Ryder threw his head back in disgust, then reached for Casey’s hand and led her out the nearest door. They were out on the deck overlooking the ocean, and when he stopped, he took her by the shoulders so that she couldn’t get away. “I can apologize for the next twelve years, and it still wouldn’t be enough,” he finally said. “Even if you forgave me, I can’t forgive myself. What I did was selfish and screwed up, and I regret it. I can’t change it though. If I could, believe me, Casey, I would. All I’m asking is for a chance to get to know you again.”
    His hands on the bare skin of her arms felt nicer than they should have, and everything that he was saying was making her anger at him simply dissolve. The fact that he was being so sincere and that he truly seemed to be in as much distress over the whole thing as she was spoke volumes.
    â€œWhat do you want me to say, Ryder? I never thought I’d see you again. This is new territory for me. We were kids back then; we had no idea what we really wanted.”
    â€œThat’s not true, and you know it,” he said thickly, pulling her closer. “What we had wasn’t some teenage crush; from the first moment I saw you, I knew that you were out of my league, and yet I couldn’t stop myself from introducing myself to you and doing everything humanly possible to convince you to go out with me.”
    Casey smiled at the memory. “You were pretty persuasive.”
    â€œBecause I knew what I wanted. I knew it then and I know it now.” And then he kissed her.

Chapter 6
    Casey knew that the kiss was coming and yet didn’t want to do a thing to stop it. She was honest enough to admit—at least to herself—that this was bound to happen. She had dreamed of a time when she and Ryder would spend hours just kissing and holding one another close. But the kisses of an eighteen-year-old boy were nothing compared to that of a thirty-year-old man. And this thirty-year-old man certainly knew how to kiss.
    Ryder was slowly going insane from the feel of Casey in his arms. This was not the way he had