Ian Shaffer had officially stolen her heart, and there was no way she could go back to her life before she’d ever met him. The man had opened his home to her and her daughter. He wasn’t just interested in having her in his bed. Granted, that was how they’d started out, but over a brief period of time they’d grown together and meshed in such a way that had Cassie hopeful and wishing. Dare she set her sights so high and dream for things that once seemed unattainable?
“Mamamama,” Emily cried when she saw Cassie in the doorway.
Cassie stepped toward her daughter and squatted down. “Hey, sweet pea. Are you making Ian work this morning?”
Emily’s precious two-toothed grin melted her heart. When she glanced up to meet Ian’s gaze, her breath literally caught. He still clung to Emily’s fingers and he’d been hunched over so he could accommodate her height, but he just looked so at peace and happy.
“What time did she get up?”
Ian shrugged. “Maybe around seven.”
Cassie straightened. “Why didn’t you get me up?”
Scooping Emily into his arms, Ian smiled. “Because you needed to sleep, so I turned the monitor off and got her out of the crib. She’s been changed and fed—probably not how you’d do it, but it’s done nonetheless.”
Cassie was utterly speechless. The man had taken such care of her daughter all so Cassie could sleep in. He’d been watching and loving over Emily...over another man’s baby, and all without a care or second thought. And now he stood holding her as if the act were the most natural thing in the world.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he told her. Emily turned her head into Ian’s shoulder and his wide, tanned hand patted her tiny back. “I wanted to help and I knew you’d refuse if you eventhought she was awake. Besides, I kind of wanted to see how Emily and I would get along. I’m pretty sure she loves me.”
Cassie couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m sure she does love you. She knows a good thing when she sees it.”
Ian’s eyes widened, and the muscle in his jaw moved as if he were hiding his words deep within. Had she said too much? At this point, with time against them, Cassie truly believed she couldn’t hold back. She needed to be up front and honest.
“I’m not saying that to make you uncomfortable,” she informed him, crossing her arms over her chest. “But you have to know this is so much more than physical for me, Ian.”
Those dark eyes studied her a second before he nodded. “I’d be lying if I said this was all sexual for me. You and Emily...”
He shook his head as his words died on his lips. Cassie wanted him to go on, but she knew the internal battle he waged with himself and she didn’t want to push him. He’d opened up to her last night, bared his soul, and she knew what he’d shared hadn’t come easy for him.
Placing a hand on his arm, Cassie smiled. “We don’t need to define anything right now,” she assured him. “I just wanted you to know this thing between us—it matters so much to me.”
With Emily lying against one shoulder, Ian pulled Cassie to his other side and wrapped an arm around her. “Everything in my arms right now matters more to me than I ever thought possible,” he told her with a kiss to the top of her head.
Before she could completely melt into a puddle at his feet over his raw, heartfelt words, Ian’s hand slid down her side and cupped her bottom beneath his T-shirt.
“This shirt never looked this sexy on me,” he growled into her ear. “So unless you want to end up back in bed, you better go get some clothes on.”
Shivers of arousal swept through her. Would she ever get enough of him? More so, would he get enough of her?
Tipping her head back, she stared up into his eyes. Desire and, dare she say, love stared back at her. No, she didn’t think they’d get enough of each other, which meant whatever they were building wouldn’t come crumbling down when he left Virginia after the film was done shooting. But how they would manage was a whole other hurdle to jump.
Extracting herself from his side, Cassie pulled Emily from his arms. “How about we spend the day on the beach?” she suggested.
Emily’s little hand went into Cassie’s hair, and she started winding the strands around her baby fingers.
“You in a suit?” Ian’s gaze raked over her once more. “I’d never say no to that.”
With this being their last day of complete relaxation, Cassie wanted to live for the moment, this day, and not worry about what obstacles they faced tomorrow or even next week. She was completely in love with Ian. He wasn’t a rebound; he wasn’t a filler or a stepping-stone until the next chapter of her life.
Ian Shafferwasthe next chapter of her life.
Seventeen
“Ijust need someone who’s good with advertising,” Cassie muttered as she stared down at the new plans for her riding school for handicapped children.
“How about that hunky agent you’re shacking up with?”
Cassie threw a glare across the room at her sister. Tessa silently volleyed back a wicked grin.