One Touch Page 3

  "How do I look?” Liz's hands fluttered nervously, touching hair, dress, tugging gently on her veil.

  "Like a princess.” Cass smiled, moving around behind Liz to straighten her veil. She leaned over her to speak softly in her ear, a fond chuckle in her voice. “Don't worry, Rob will think you're even more gorgeous than he does already."

  As much as Cass loved her friend, occasionally she felt a twinge of jealousy when she caught the way Rob looked at Lizzy. Not that she wanted Rob—far from it. No, it was the thought of being the object of that sort of affection that she sometimes craved with a hunger that turned into a solid ache. The truth was, though, that work and motherhood left no time and little energy for romance in her life. And it was a complication she definitely didn't need and avoided like the plague. She had the odd offer for dinner or a date, but she deflected them all with an easy charm because as far as she was concerned, the benefits of any kind of entanglement weren't enough to tip the scale away from the comfortable but full life she had with her daughter.

  "Cass?” Liz caught her hand and squeezed it, pulling her aside. “I love you like a sister, sweetie. I always have. And don't worry; today will be fine. Trust me. I won't breathe a word about ... well, you know. Not even to Rob."

  Cass took a deep breath and nodded. She knew her secret was safe with Lizzy, but she couldn't stop the butterflies from filling her stomach every time she thought about seeing Jake.

  "Time to go, ladies,” broke in Rachael. “I think they're playing your tune, Liz."

  The wedding music wafted back to them on the breeze and guests were already turning to look at them in expectation.

  "Come on, sweetheart.” Mr. Reilly broke into the threesome and hugged his daughter firmly against his chest. “It's high time Rob made an honest woman out of you."

  "I'm dying to get a look at the groomsman.” Rachael turned round to Lizzy with a devilish twinkle in her eye. “You did say he's unattached, didn't you, Liz?"

  "Get going, Rach.” Lizzy shook her head in amusement. “People will start to get nervous if we wait much longer. I'll start to get nervous.” Lizzy shooed her with her hand.

  "I'm going. I'm going."

  Cass waited a few bars. She turned back to Lizzy and gave her a wink that looked more confident than she felt and stepped onto the carpet covered wooden boardwalk after Rachael. The furious thudding in her chest effectively drowned out the sound of the music, and she just hoped she was in time because she couldn't hear a damn thing.

  Her nerves twittered through her like the mad flapping of a thousand bird's wings. One quick, sweeping glance up the aisle. There he was. Looking like a damn god, even from a distance. Golden hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, broad shoulders filling out the tux, staring down the aisle and looking right at her. True to form, her legs went weak. Knowing her luck, she would fall flat on her face in front of him and everybody. Thank God they weren't wearing long dresses. She took a deep breath and took another step forward, one foot in front of the other. Left. Right. Left. It was like walking through molasses.

  * * * *

  "Here they come.” Tom, as usual, was stating the obvious.

  Jake just nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He was still recovering from his initial glimpse of Cassie. It had shaken him to the core. In the years since he had last seen her, his sweet little Cassie had grown into a beautiful woman.

  Wake up, you fool! She's not your Cassie. She could have been ... once ... For one moment in time she was, but you screwed that up royally the morning after ... He gritted his teeth, the image of her running from him, hurt tears filling those beautiful green eyes...

  Now, he watched her intently, hungrily, as she moved closer. She was like a walking wet dream. After all this time, he felt like a starving man being offered a banquet. Hungry as hell, but afraid to eat, afraid it was all just a tempting dream. His stomach clenched.

  The soft lilac fabric of her dress hugged the lushness of her body—a body he remembered running trembling hands over as if it was just yesterday. The image was imprinted on his brain. Seared into his synapses. Unshakeable. Indelible. He wondered again how he could ever have let her go that morning. 'Cause he was a damn fool, that's why.

  His eyes sharpened as she stepped nearer, devouring her. There were subtle differences ... the breasts were fuller, the hips more curvy, the legs ... oh man, the legs ... The silky fabric swished and hugged her as she moved.

  She smiled at some guests, nodded at others, as she walked up the aisle towards them. Unable to tear his eyes away, he watched her. Nailed her. Gritted his teeth and waited. Waited mostly for her to look at him. He needed to see her eyes the first time she looked at him ... see her reaction. So he'd know. But, dammit, she seemed to be deliberately looking everywhere ... anywhere else, as if she was avoiding him.

  He stared at her, as if he could force her to look at him through sheer mind control, pouring all his energy into making her look in front of her ... at him. Now, by God! Hunger for just a glance from her burned through him.

  Her head started to swing slowly around and he smiled wolfishly to himself. She must have felt the intensity of his gaze because her eyes skimmed away from the guests and then she looked directly at him.

  Holy shite!

  His body tensed and he had to lock his knees to stop from taking a step back with the impact of that one, direct hit on his senses. Everything around him went white. The world seemed to stop and in that instant, the very second their eyes locked, everything else—guests, music, the gardens—all faded away for Jake. Nothing was left but the two of them, her soul and his, tentatively touching and feeling, caressing with an almost subliminal touch that transcended the normal plane. It was familiar. Right. Perfect. And some instinctive part of him pushed and needled to recognise that touch for what it was.

  She was the one. His other half.

  He wanted to deny it.

  Tried.

  Couldn't.

  Because suddenly he felt full, replete. Whole again when he hadn't realised what was missing.

  After being emotionally numb for so long, he was now filled with a sensory overload of feelings. Recognition locked into place. The piece of his heart and soul that had been missing for the last five years ... for what seemed an endless eternity of wanting and searching and looking, slipped into the space that had been waiting, left vacant all this time.

  In that instant, he knew that some part of him deep down inside had always known. It explained his reluctance to settle down with Sandy, to truly commit to their relationship in spite of being married. The reason, too, he hadn't wanted to bring kids into the equation with her.

  The one.

  Rob's words came back to him and unexpectedly, he had never been more sure of anything in his life. He felt as though her eyes bored right through him, blazing a path through his carefully set up defences, shattering them into a thousand pieces and leaving him naked, bared.

  He wanted to shake his head in denial, but couldn't. What good would it do? With one look, she had virtually brought him to his knees.

  As she came closer, step by step, he inhaled her heady fragrance. Her scent. The one he had subconsciously tried to find a million times, every now and then catching a whiff of something close to it, only to find out it wasn't the exact one he was searching for.

  Elusive. He inhaled again, nostrils flaring. The softness of lavender and womanly musk blended subtly with the mysterious fragrance of ... God, what was that?

  It tickled his nose again and he remembered. Oh yes, there was no mistaking it. He would never forget it as long as he lived. The scent of her desire. It made him want to reach out to her. Grab her. Pull her close so he could drown in it.

  Almost without thinking, he took a step forward. One foot. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step ... Confucius from a fortune cookie. But in this he was right. He had to get closer...

  A sharp nudge in his ribs brought him back to earth, reality crashing back in aro
und him, buffeting him. After the eerie stillness of a moment ago, he felt bombarded with a thousand noises, realising, with regret, where he was ... that the place he and Cassie had been was just an illusion. He glanced in annoyance at Tom whose ill-timed elbow had shattered that moment of perfect peace with her.

  But he felt some small satisfaction. She had felt it too. He knew it. He could see it in the surprised look on her face and the way she almost stumbled.

  Instinctively, he reached for her arm to steady her. They touched ... And an electric zing sped through him, travelling like lightning along the nerve super-highway of his body. It smashed into his solar plexus, nearly driving the air from his lungs, but when it reached his chest, it was enough of a wallop to make his heart almost stop beating, settling it instead into an irregular thu-thump.

  Cassie wasn't unaffected, either. He could feel the tremble where he gripped her. That shuddering shake triggered a flash of sweet memory, throwing him back to that night. He never had forgotten his sweet little Cassie, her body shaking and trembling beneath him as moved over her—first with nerves, but later with the same desire and need that powered through him. Nor the soft yielding of her flesh and the tickle of her warm panting breath at his neck. But more than that, it was the feel of her writhing and bucking against him in the throes of the climax that was torn out of them. Hearing her scream out his name as he thrust over and over, harder and faster, her arms clenched tightly around his neck, his hard fingers gripping her hips to get deeper, further, sinking into that damn furnace of her heat, gladly burning him up ... It was so vivid. So incredibly clear. Even now. Like it was just a moment ago.

  With a rush, all the blood in his body fled south, and his eyes widened in shock at the sudden discomfort of a full, throbbing erection filling his trousers.

  Oh hell! What timing! On view to a hundred assorted friends and family and he had to go and get a raging hard-on from one simple touch. Her gasp brought him up short; she looked shocked and surprised. He tried to grin at her, to let her know it was all right, that he could feel it too, but his mouth, like the rest of his body, bar his throbbing cock, refused to work. He let go of her arm, albeit reluctantly, but his fingers still tingled from the feel, the touch of her warm skin.

  He turned to face the celebrant, attempting discreetly to ease the fullness in his pants. He hoped the ceremony was brief because he wasn't sure how long he could last before he surrendered to the need to get his hands on her again. The overwhelming urge to throw her over his shoulder like some lumbering Neanderthal intent on running off to shag her silly and claim her as his, flashed through his mind. Somehow he doubted his little sister would take to kindly to the idea of him absconding with her bridesmaid before they even got to the “I do's."

  * * * *

  The moment Cass was dreading had finally arrived. The ceremony was over, the marriage license signed, and now it was time for them to walk back down the aisle. That meant she would have to walk with Jake. Touch Jake. She groaned silently. That one searing glance earlier had shaken her, and the touch that followed had immediately beaded her nipples as if his wet tongue had grazed over them. Her lacy panties were damp with moisture. In fact, it scared the hell out of her, the way her body reacted to him.

  In the struggle to maintain her equilibrium, she had managed to resist the powerful urge to glance at him after that ... in fact, had determinedly avoided looking at him, even though she had felt the pull and the heat of his eyes on her the whole time.

  She shouldn't feel this way. It had been five years, for heaven's sake! She should be over him by now. She had thought she was, but one glance, one touch, had been enough to make her realise she had been deluding herself. Oh boy, had she ever been deluding herself! And now she was faced with the prospect of trying to get through the next few hours with him within touching distance the whole time. Shit!

  "Cassie? Yer lookin’ beautiful as always."

  Lost in her thoughts, she jumped at the soft brogue that brushed over the skin near her ear, sensitising the hairs on the back of her neck, triggering a small shiver.

  Jake had never quite lost that touch of Irish even though he had come out to Australia with his parents when he was eight. She used to melt whenever she heard that accent. Some things just didn't change.

  "Hmmm?"

  A light chuckle teased her ear. “Time for us to walk down the aisle, darlin'."

  Yeah, right. As if, she thought. Not in this lifetime, that's for sure.

  But she risked a glance beside her and saw him, all six-foot, two-inches of him leaning over her, very close, so close that she could see the minute muscle tic near his jaw. There was a dangerous, heated look in his eyes that her body reacted to instantly, sending a flood of heat through her. She felt like she was burning up. Spontaneous combustion didn't sound quite so unbelievable right now. Those killer eyes should be marked as a lethal weapon.

  He held his arm held out for her to take and she took a deep breath as she wrapped her fingers around his muscled forearm. Luckily the trip back down the aisle was short. Having Jake in such close proximity was a health hazard. Once past the gauntlet of guests, her quiet sigh of relief was curtailed though, as he leaned close to her, the heat of his breath against her ear sending a delightful shiver down her neck, ending at the hardened tips of her nipples.

  "Tonight you're all mine, Cassie. Don't forget it."

  The words came out as a soft growl and a flush went through her in spine-tingling reaction, exacerbated by the light kiss he placed on her cheek. She got his meaning all right; at least she wasn't quite so innocent anymore. She just wasn't prepared for the sound of a territorial Jake, especially with regards to her.

  "If we didn't have a reception to go to, I'd be kidnapping you right now, darlin'. You're lookin’ good enough to eat."

  If only he would stop talking ... She gritted her teeth and consciously pulled her traitorous body under control. Damn man! There was no way she would let him get the upper hand this time round. Even though the fluttering in her chest made her feel like an inexperienced teenager again, she pasted an air of calmness on her face.

  Because she wasn't a teenager—inexperienced or otherwise. Not anymore. She could do this. If the last five years had taught her anything, it was that she was strong enough to make it on her own. No man would ever throw her for a loop again. No way. She was her own woman, and she was determined to prove it to him. Starting now.

  So, it's like that, is it Jake? Think you can just turn on the old charm and I'll fall at your feet? Maybe so, maybe once, but two can play that game, she decided.

  Okay, that was probably foolish. But a part of her, that typically feminine part, wanted him to realise that she wasn't a kid any longer. Not just his baby sister's friend. No longer the innocent, the virgin. She was a woman to be reckoned with. That she hadn't spent the last five years wondering what he was doing ... wanting him ... wishing ... wishing...

  No, she could do this. It was only for tonight, anyway. After the wedding, her life could slip back into its normal routine, Jake could go on his merry way, but for tonight she wanted to be something she hadn't allowed herself to be for a long time—a desirable woman, one who could turn a man on, get him hot and bothered.

  Turnabout is fair play, Jake. Let's see how you like it...

  She paused for a moment, looking up at him with her most innocent look and absently licked her lips in anticipation. She smiled to herself when she caught his blue eyes, brighter all of a sudden, follow the moist path of her tongue. A wicked flare of power surged through her as she realised she was not the only one affected. She reached for his arm, ignoring the flutter she felt when he clasped his other hand over it to hold it there. “But you can't kidnap me, Jake. I'm all grown up now, in case you hadn't noticed.” She smiled ingenuously up at him. She could tell from the look in his eyes, the way they darkened at her words, that she was playing with fire, but she felt safe enough. What could possibly happen at a reception with all these guests ar
ound?

  * * * *

  It was the teasing smile that did it. Weak at the knees didn't even come close to the impact it had on him. He could think of a much better use for those luscious lips, though. Like closing around his cock ... Just the thought of it brought out a devilish smile of his own.

  He was pretty sure Cassie wasn't married. He had nonchalantly asked his little sister and that was about as much information as she had been prepared to give him. Seeing her now, for the life of him he couldn't understand why she wasn't taken. Were all the men around her blind and stupid?

  Just to torture himself a bit further, he leaned in close, inhaling the scent of her, wishing suddenly he hadn't. There it was again. If he didn't know better, he would swear she was as aroused as he was. God, he hoped so. She leaned ever so slightly into him as they walked, her body flush up against his side, setting off a slow burn where they touched.

  That did it! It was time to get a few things sorted out before they went any further. He spared a quick glance up ahead to see that the rest of the bridal party were waiting by the leafy grotto for the photographer to finish getting set up. Which suited his needs perfectly—what he had in mind wouldn't take long. Steering a curious Cassie behind the rose trellis, he stopped walking and turned to face her. Lifting her chin with a finger, he raised her face to his and leaned over to brush his lips over the softness of hers, tasting a light hint of mint on her breath.