by ROCFanKat

Disclaimers & E-Mail: See Chapter 1.

•••

Saturday was a good day, in that nothing interesting happened. With no demons, friends, or brand-new lovers around, I got to sleep late and then catch up on chores, which may not sound like much unless you've been overscheduled for weeks. (I had been, and was seriously starting to think about getting an unlisted life.) I even had time to surf the Web for fun, for the first time in a while. There was a sweater on the J. Crew site that I'd had my eye on, for one thing. True, we had a J. Crew store at the mall, but where was the challenge in that?

I took the PowerBook downstairs, put a Cowboy Junkies disc in the CD player, and turned on the TV, to catch up on elective multitasking. With one eye on "Bugs Bunny and Company," I checked e-mail. The inbox was jammed, but only one mail was worth reading.

Devvy,

You are in such trouble. I woke up today with a sappy love song in my head, and I *never* get like this. I think something's wrong with me.

Something had better be wrong with you, too, if you get my drift.

Can you be here at 7?

Cassie

P.S.: I love you.

On the TV screen, Wile E. Coyote got whacked on the head with an anvil. I knew the feeling.

Cass--

Be there at 6:59.

--D

P.S.--Love you back.

"Ruining my own rep," I muttered, but sent it anyway.

Then I switched off the Mac, the CD, and the TV, and went for a walk in the rain. Didn't bother with an umbrella. I felt like getting wet.

•••

Having promised, I pulled into Cassie's drive at 6:59 sharp. The house was dark except for faint light in the downstairs windows, and the porch light was off, but I knew the way. Parcel in hand, I took the curved flagstone path to the door and rang the bell.

She opened the door right away. I couldn't really see her, silhouetted against the dim light inside, but her scent was sensational.

Then it hit me: I was nervous.

"Avon calling," I said experimentally.

"Oh, damn. I was expecting Devvy. Have you seen her? Kind of tall, kind of dark, kind of good-looking, in a Deadhead-with-credit-cards way..."

We both just stood there for a second. Now I was really, really nervous...and by her voice, so was she.

"Can I come in? It's raining."

Her answer was a kiss--one of those long ones, with a lot of spin. Eventually, I helped. We shouldn't have done that on the front step, probably, but it certainly broke the ice.

"Wow," I finally said.

"Wow yourself. Now get in here. It's raining."

I followed her into the living room, which was lighted only by a fire, and drew a sharp breath when she turned. She was wearing a silk jumpsuit in a blue that came close to the color of her eyes, unbuttoned rather far down, and a thin gold chain disappeared down the front of it just where things got interesting. Things were interesting everywhere, to be honest; the jumpsuit really followed her form. It all worked, all right. She was knockout gorgeous.

And she was mine. That wasn't possible.

Was it?

Whatever was on my face at that moment, it made her smile. Not in any of the ways I was used to, but a slow, sexy smile that made my pulse race. No one had ever looked at me like that before, not even Monica--not that she counted.

"You don't need the raincoat now," she said.

Or anything else you're wearing, her tone added.

I swallowed hard and brought the parcel out from behind my back. "If you'll take this, I'll hang it up."

"What's in it?"

"Open it and see."

She took it, and I went to the hall closet. Briefly, I considered hanging up my blazer, too. I'd put on the same thing I'd worn to work Friday, out of superstition, and felt overdressed.

But then again, Heather might have been right; maybe the first time after the first time was important. Besides, Cassie had on Date Earrings and Date Shoes, so maybe I was underdressed instead.

I started to shut the door, but got all but tackled into the closet by Cassie, who wrapped herself around me and held on.

"Does this mean you like the flowers?"

"I like the flowers," she said, as her hands began to travel.

"Cass?"

"Mmmmm?"

"We're in a closet."

"Mmmhmm."

"You don't think that's a little ironic?"

"It's a big closet," she said. "We don't ever have to come out."

•••

We weren't animals, of course; we were civilized, adult human beings who knew they had all night. Besides, the doorbell rang right then, which startled us both out of the mood. It was the delivery man from Szechuan Garden, with dinner.

So Cassie put the roses in a vase, and we had dinner out of cartons in the firelight, with a bottle of Riesling. The whole thing was familiar and oddly comforting; we'd had many dinners together over the years, some of them in this very living room. This, I could handle. My nerves slowly began to settle down, and she seemed to be more relaxed herself.

But every so often, she would smile just a little too long, or I would not-quite-accidentally touch her, and sparks flew. We were definitely not in Kansas anymore.

When we finished, Cassie handed me one of the fortune cookies. "You know what they say about fortune cookies. Whatever your fortune is, you have to add 'in bed' at the end."

"You're making that up."

"I am not. See for yourself."

I shrugged and cracked the cookie open. The paper strip inside said, "You will travel to distant lands." Without a word, I handed it to her.

She laughed. "Not like that puts any pressure on me. But maybe I'm getting off easy. Here."

I took the fortune, which read, "Your heart's desire is at hand."

"You're right. No pressure at all." I held out one hand for her crumbled cookie and dropped it into an empty carton, along with the remains of mine; neither of us ever ate the things. "So what is your heart's desire?"

"In bed?"

"Anywhere."

"Devvy, honey, don't get philosophical on me now. Let's start with bed."

Startled by the endearment, I started to say something, but she was in my arms all of a sudden, and there was nothing to do but kiss the woman.

We were just crossing the point of no return when a flash of lightning lit up the room like daylight. A split-second later, thunder shook the house. In my overheated state, I thought I saw two points of red light glittering in a dark corner, but decided not to mention it.

"Close," I remarked.

"Very close. Let's go upstairs."

"Is that safe?"

"I hope not. Come on."

•••

It might have been an hour later; it might have been two or three hours. Who knew? The thunder and lightning had built into a violent storm, which had knocked the power out at some point. What with one thing and another, we hadn't noticed. It was back on now, because the time display on Cassie's alarm clock was flashing, but it didn't much matter.

She was asleep now, sprawled all over me. With one hand, I stroked her hair, getting a half-smile from her for that. I didn't know about her, but I'd just traveled to distant lands, in bed, and was starting to think better of fortune cookies.

"I could die now," I said softly.

The blonde head on my shoulder stirred. "You'd better not. I have first right of refusal on killing you."

I laughed. Same Cassie--thank God. "Thought you were asleep."

"Just resting. Thinking."

"About what?"

"All the things we have to talk about."

A very cold chill ran through me. Not much good could come of that. She was having second thoughts. The thrill of shattering the Commandments had worn off, and now she was starting to see that we couldn't be together, given our lives and our...

She raised her head abruptly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't you dare try that line on me. It's bad enough when men do it." In what little light there was, I saw a blue flash of anger in her eyes. "Your heart just jumped, for no reason, and I want to know why."

"The talk thing," I said, reluctantly. "I know what that usually means."

"Well, it usually just means we should talk. What did you think?"

Uncomfortable, I pulled the covers closer. "I don't know. Second thoughts? I don't blame you. I just..."

To my surprise--and annoyance--she started laughing.

"Something amusing?" I asked, with a touch of ice.

"You." She bent down to kiss me. "You should know me better, Devvy. You're not getting rid of me that easily. Not after six years. Understand?"

Not really. But I smiled a little anyway.

"Good," she said, and snuggled back down.

By reflex, I stroked my fingertips down her bare side. "Do you want to talk now?"

"No. Keep doing that, will you?"

I did. She was very warm, and her softness felt good, all the curves starting to feel familiar.

"No one would believe this," she murmured. "The evil Devlin Kerry, petting someone."

"Evil?"

"Well, you can be the very devil when you want to be."

"I had private lessons." It was just a throwaway remark, but this time, I felt Cassie's heart lurch. "What's the matter?"

"I don't want to talk about her. Not right now."

"Fine by me," I said, and resumed the stroking. "Cass?"

"What?"

"Monica didn't mean a thing. I love you."

She relaxed completely, and after a while, she fell asleep.

But I lay awake for some time, wondering whether I'd just told her a lie.

•••

(c) 1999, ROCFanKat

Continued - Part 4