Loving Her (Keeping Her) Read Online Free Page A

Clytie said
with a snort.  “Ten bucks says you don’t leave tomorrow.”
    “Hey!”
    “What?”
    Cassandra narrowed her eyes
at her cousin and best friend.  “Fine.  You’re on, but you can’t egg them
on.”
    “Hah!  As if they need
it.  However, we are having a sleep over tonight.  I don’t trust them
not to make a move, and you my dear, are putty in their hands.”
    “Am not.”
    “Really?”  Her voice
was sarcastic and doubtful all at once.  Cassie looked from her to the
front porch and the temptation standing there.
    “We could watch old movies
and veg all night.”
    Clytie smiled. 
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
    They both sat there for a few
more minutes, the guys stayed on the porch, Demon with his arms crossed leaning
against the door jam.  Mac with her purse waving while Ben leaned against
the porch rails.
    “I suppose we have to go
back in now,” Clytie said.  She was looking at Demon with a worried look on her
face.
    “You think they’ll ground
us?”  Cassie asked seeing the humor in the situation.
    Clytie laughed, “They would
if they could, believe me.”  Then she got a decidedly wicked gleam in her
eye.  “We will stick together, that should cause all kinds of frustration
for everyone.  It'll be good for them.  A little lesson in patience." 
    Following along, Cassie
raised a dramatic fist in the air.  "We will strike a blow for women
everywhere against the sexy, always get what they want, hot guys of the world. 
May they never be lost to us."
    Then they burst out
laughing.

Chapter 3
    When they reached the
porch, Demon made all their dramatics and planning for nothing by simply
tucking Clytie over his overly broad shoulder and absconding with her.  He did
not seem to mind that she was shrieking and pounding him on the back.  That
left Cassandra to face Ben and Mac alone.  She stood at the bottom of the
steps.  They looked down at her from the top.
    “Going somewhere
sweetness?”  Ben asked with a definite bite to his words.
    It made Cassandra smile. 
“Apparently not.”  She looked over at Mac and his face was devoid of emotion.
    “Do you ever laugh?” she
asked him unexpectedly.
    He came down the stairs
until he was right before her and sat so that they were eye to eye. 
“Occasionally.  Why were you trying to leave?”
    “Panic.”
    He smiled a bit at her
honest and blunt answer.  Then his face reclaimed his serious cast.  “All you
have to say is no.”
    She blew out the breath she
had been holding.  Ben came down and sat beside Mac on the stairs.  She had
their complete attention.  Looking from one to the other, she shook her head at
the sheer male beauty before her.  She pushed them both over with a nudge to
each of their shoulders and sat between them to look out into the front yard.  If
she was not looking at them, she was better able to think.
    “Clearly from my behavior
today, saying no is a problem for me.  You guys are a bit out of my comfort
zone.”
    “If you think telling us
you can’t say no is going to get rid of us, you are out of your mind,” Ben said
leaning over until his lips were right below her ear.  He breathed in her scent
and nudged her shoulder with his chin.  “Fuck, you smell good.”
    She shook off the tingles
and elbowed him an inch back.  “And you have the vocabulary of a teenage
rapper.”
    He chuckled at that. 
Cassie turned to face Mac, rolling her eyes and fighting off a smile, it faded
from her face when she met Mac’s oh so serious eyes.  Her hand went to his face
to brush down his cheek.  What was it about him that made her want to comfort
him out of his sadness?  “What is it, Mac?”
    He grabbed her hand and
pulled it to his mouth for a kiss to her knuckles.  His eyes never left hers. 
“You aren’t afraid of us, so why run?”
    She bit her lip, then
released it quickly when his eyes zeroed in and heated, “There.  That look,
right there.”  She pointed to his face zealously and he