were an exotic dancer, and you’re afraid I wouldn’t like that?”
“Yeah.”
“Come here,” he said, pulling her into his lap.
“Is this close enough?”
“Barely,” he said, taking a long, appreciative look at her bare breasts. “I just want you to know, I’ve never met a woman like you before.”
“You mean, a former stripper?”
“I mean, a woman as fun, exciting, intelligent and sexy as you.”
“Aren’t you a little bothered that I used to take my clothes off for a living?”
He slid his hands up her torso and around to her backside. “I don’t give a damn. You have an amazing body, and what you’ve done with it is your own business. If you were okay with being a stripper, then I’m okay with it.”
“I guess that’s the problem. I’ve always felt a little ashamed of that part of my life.”
“Ashamed why?”
“Lots of reasons. I didn’t treat myself very well, let men treat me badly, too, made some mistakes…”
“Nobody has a perfect past. Whatever has happened to you, has made you the woman you are today, and I’m interested in that woman.”
“There’s something else,” she said before she could lose her nerve. “I turn forty next month.”
“So?” He stared blankly at her.
“I just thought you should know. Some people have been led to believe I’m slightly younger than forty,” she said casually.
“Okay.”
“And also, I’m not quite ready for that going-steady stuff. I was hoping, maybe, you’d be interested in picking up where we left off, and…”
“And just having sex?”
“Just seeing what happens.”
He gave the matter some thought. “I can live with that.”
Cass tried to speak, but her throat tightened up, and all she could do was kiss Drew. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him for all she was worth, until they both had to come up for air.
Finally she found her voice. “I’m sorry for making this so hard.”
“It’s okay, so long as you’re going to stay here and ring in the New Year with me.”
“There’s no place else I’d rather be,” she said.
He smiled his crooked smile, and Cass knew that wherever their affair took them, she wanted to go. She wanted to explore the possibilities, follow the adventure and find out if there was a chance for happily ever after.
YASMINE OPENED THE WINDOW so they could have a better view of the fireworks when the clock struck midnight. Then she turned to Alex and expelled a shaky sigh. He’d just finished pouring glasses of champagne for them, but she’d forgotten to tell him she couldn’t drink alcohol with her pain medication.
Now when she looked at him, she could see past the surface changes to the man he’d been years ago, sitting on the witness stand. He didn’t look so different, after all. And the questions remained. Could she totally forgive him, and could she really live with the reminder of her sins every day? Could she trust that he saw past her surface?
Okay, she was definitely getting ahead of herself there. Who knew if Alex would want a future with her beyond tomorrow, or next week?
In the black sky, a starburst of red lit the darkness, followed by more glittering bursts of white and blue. The bangs and whistles of the fireworks reminded Yasmine of a New Year’s Eve she’d once spent in Paris as a kid with her parents. And the thought of her parents made her wonder, for the first time, what they would think of Alex if they ever met him.
Would they like him? Would her father talk to him about rugby, and would her mother size him up and deem him acceptable? It didn’t matter to her one way or the other, but, she realized now, they would like him. He was the kind of guy parents wanted their daughters to end up with—upright, strong, intelligent, handsome….
He may have tried to give himself to the dark side in pursuing her, but even then he’d had an honorable motive.
She smiled and glanced over at Alex with a little pang of wistfulness for reasons she couldn’t put a finger on, but when his gaze met hers, she saw something unexpectedly intense there.
He wasn’t smiling, and he didn’t look at all as though he was enjoying the merriment of the holiday.
“What’s up?” Yasmine asked.
He pulled her closer and rested his hands at the small of her back. “I’m still waiting to find out if you’ll forgive me.”
She expelled a pent-up breath and took his hands in hers. “I do forgive you, and what I said earlier at the