Free Rory by Vanessa Devereaux

really did, and if you don’t
mind while I’m back in town I’d like to do this every Thursday night.”
    “You sure can and maybe we can
convince you to stay and do it for the rest of your life.”

 
    Chapter Twelve
     
    Cass knew she had to keep up some
defense while she was living under Rory’s roof or she’d give in and not want to
go back to her life in Tacoma. She could easily fall under Rory’s spell and
stay but then realize that Timber Creek wasn’t her future and break his heart
when she left. That was something she’d never do to Rory.
    She’d purchased two jewelry kits
at Emily and Me, and she didn’t know whether it was some sort of therapy for
her or not but she loved it.
    “Earrings,” said Rory picking up
one of the kits. “You really have a talent for this sort of thing.”
    “Maybe I should start a business
when I get back to Tacoma. I mean something on the side for extra money.”
    For the first time since the
accident, things were beginning to look up instead of down. Maybe it’s because
she had Rory by her side.
    “That sounds like a good idea. A
couple of people have told me to start selling my work online.”
    “You should do that. Hey, maybe
we can have our own Web site, Rory and Cass.”
    She wanted to add Malone. It
wasn’t that farfetched, after all, her name would have been Cass Malone.
    “You want anything to eat?” asked
Rory.
    She shook her head. “I’m still
full. Your mom served lemonade and the best tasting scones I’ve ever eaten and
served them with Emily’s huckleberry jam.”
    He smiled. He had three jars of
it sitting on the pantry shelf.
    “If you’re going to work on your
earrings I think I’ll do some painting before I turn in for the night.”
    ****
    Rory stepped back from the easel
and checked his progress. He hadn’t worked on anything since the call about Cass
and her accident, and now he was finding the ideal way to relax and get the
kinks out of his shoulders.   He had the
feeling that Cass now understood that nothing sexual could go on between them.
They could be best friends, family almost, but never lovers.
    The sky needed to be just a tad bluer.
He mixed the perfect color on the palette and turned when he heard the door
opening.
    “So what do you think?” she asked
pointing at her ears.
    “Best looking ones I’ve seen.”
    She hobbled into the room so he
could take a closer look.
    “And this is beautiful,” she said
leaning over to look at his work.
    Her t-shirt fell away from her
chest. She wasn’t wearing a bra. His fingers remembered every little contour of
them, the fullness and weight, the tightness of her nipples.
    He swallowed, feeling himself grown
hard again.
    “Maybe I should paint your
portrait one of these days,” he said hoping she’d stand upright and he could
forget about her gorgeous body.
    “I don’t know if I could sit
still long enough,” she said, finally standing. “Have you ever painted anyone
naked before?”
    “Them or me?” he tried to make
light of the question to take the edge away from where this might be leading.
Darn, he thought all the sexual tension was history.
    “I guess both you and the
subject.”
    She ran her finger down the side
of his face. With each little touch he grew harder and harder until sitting on
the stool was downright painful.
    She glanced down at his crotch,
obviously seeing the bulge. Cass didn’t say anything but took off her t-shirt.
Rory swallowed. She wasn’t making this easy for a man.
    His balls pulled and now his dick
twitched as she lowered her skirt and then dropped her panties and worked them
both over the cast.
    “Make love to me,” she whispered.
    “It’s not that I don’t want to
but…”
    She stopped him from saying
another word but putting her index finger over his lips. She leaned over and
kissed him.
    “I want you, and I know you want
me too.”
    Rory moved her hand away. “You
were my brother’s woman, and I’m too old for you.”
    “Ryan would