I woke up the next day to the sound of birds chirping out the window with my face pressed against Casey's naked chest. As I listened to his deep breaths, feeling his chest cave and expand on rhythm, I couldn't help but feel like this was my own cultivated paradise. I felt so good that it didn't feel like it could be real.
I wouldn't even move from my spot in fear that if I stirred even just a little, everything could disappear from in front of me. I hardly even took a breath until I felt Casey stir below me, his finger tips starting to gently run up and down along my spine.
"Good morning," he muttered in a husky, tired voice that made me melt.
"Morning," I breathed out. "Sleep okay?"
"Amazing."
His stomach rumbled against my ear. "I didn't pack anything for breakfast," I realized out loud. I packed the pajamas as a precautionary step, but I didn't actually think we'd spend the night. There were some granola bars packed in the small pocket of my book bag, but I didn't have the strength to leave Casey's arms.
Now that I finally had him, I was sure that I'd never be able to pull myself away again. I wanted to curl into his embrace, and mold myself to him forever. His skin was so warm and I could hear the beat of his heart on a rhythm that was quickly becoming my very favorite song.
He shifted underneath of me until his lips were situated by my ear and muttered, "I'm sure I can find something to eat."
My entire body scorched so hot it was almost painful, starting low in my belly and creeping up my chest to my face. "Where did you learn to talk like that?" I admonished him as if the sexual innuendo was unwelcome, when it was precisely the opposite. Still, it felt so strange to hear Casey say things like that when I still kind of saw him as such an innocent, clueless guy.
He started to laugh against my cheek, continuing to run his fingers up and down along my spine, tracing every freckle with his thumb. "You really thought I was such an angel back then, huh?"
"Yes, I did," I agreed with him. "Because you were. A sweet, naive little angel"
"No, I wasn't." He laughed again. "I just never said anything in front of you. If you would have known all the things that ran through my head when you wore those white shorts, you wouldn't think I was so innocent."
Too curious not to ask, I scooted myself up so that we were facing each other. "What's running through your head now?"
I watched as his eyes went darker and my mouth went wet just before he leaned forward to kiss me. It was cut way too short almost immediately when my phone started to ring on the nightstand beside us. I groaned into his mouth, not wanting to pull away but also worried that it might be the rental company. I hadn't looked at a clock yet, so we might have slept over our checkout time.
"Why is Jay calling you?" Casey noticed the name on my phone before I did.
I ignored the call and sat it back down on the table. I could call him back later. "It's nothing," I assured him, not wanting to fill him in on everything just yet. We were still in our perfect bubble in the trees and I wasn't ready for it to pop yet.
But the stubbornly curious look on Casey's face made it clear that it was already popped and this wasn't something he'd be letting go of.
I fell onto my back on the mattress beside him and blurted it out. "He's trying to buy out the story."
"What?" His entire body jerked.
"He's worried that if it got out, it would affect his re-election," I added. "Which, he's probably right about. I told him it's Shiloh's decision to move forward or not."
"Does Silas know about the article?"
"Well, Jay knows, so I'm assuming Silas does too. Let's not talk about this right now, I don't want to ruin the rest of our time here," I complained, but Casey still looked too concerned to let it go.
"It's so fucked up that they're trying to silence Shiloh, after all that man has put her through. Has put all of us through," Casey mumbled under his breath. "I hope she doesn't take the bribe."
"Really? I didn't think you cared so much." I peered up at him, clutching the blanket to my naked chest as I ran my fingers through my hair. My hairbrush was in my bag across the room and I still wasn't willing to get out of bed yet.
"I don't know," he said with a sigh. "I want the whole world to hate him as much as I do, but I also don't want to get dragged into the public story. It's a double edged sword. And what about you? This story would be huge for your career, aren't you worried about losing that?"
"I lost the story the second I saw you again," I admitted to him. "I probably should have never taken it in the first place."
Casey frowned in confusion, clearly not understanding. "What do you mean?"
"Being in love with the source's half-brother is a pretty gigantic bias. Not to mention that you are also one Silas's secret children," I reminded him with a light blush starting to creep onto my cheeks. "And the second I saw you at that restaurant, I knew I still was. If Shiloh decides to move forward with the story, I'll have to hand it over to my editor and she'll deal with it."
His face softened for a minute until he started to look guilty. "This was such a big opportunity for you."
"I don't need it," I promised him in an attempt to get that guilty look off of his face. "Kim is already starting to give me higher profile articles, I'm doing alright without it. Besides, what could you have done to change things? You did everything you could have done to make me fall out of love with you, and I still hung on like a spider monkey."
Casey effortlessly reached around my hips and pulled me toward him. "You know that's not what I was trying to do."
"I know," I said as I toppled over top of him and then situated my knees so that I was straddling his hips. "I'm just saying, I love you and there's nothing you can do about it, so stop looking so guilty."
That seemed to ease the rest of his anxiety because it quickly melted out of his face when he heard me tell him that I loved him.
"Finally," he teased me with a light smile before he pulled me toward him until his lips could reach my own.
---
I had no idea how Natalie was going to react in person to everything that had happened. Her texting attitude seemed much more optimistic than I was expecting when I told her about the first date, and then the second.
When she showed up at the coffee shop, only stopping to pick up her peppermint mocha latte on her way to the table, she was smiling. This immediately relieved me, as I knew she wouldn't be smiling at me if she was disappointed in my inability to say no to Casey.
"You're glowing," she commented as she nibbled on her blueberry scone. "So, the second date went well then?"
I couldn't even get a word out without blushing about how the date went. "It was perfect," I told her, thinking about the movies we watched together in between breaks when he'd carry me to the bed that was only across the room from the couch. And then that morning when we woke up together and spent some time in bed before we had to pack up.
A smile twitched on her face. "I'm happy for you."
"Are you really?" I asked her skeptically. "You've been anti-Casey this entire time."
"I'm still skeptical, don't get me wrong," she said quickly. "But you're a grown woman and you can do whatever you want. Clearly, he makes you happy. But I swear to every god in the universe that if he so much as takes too long to text you back, he will have hell to pay."
Understandably, it would take a while for Casey to completely win Natalie over, but I was sure he was up to the challenge. She would come around eventually.
"Maybe we should all do something together?" I asked hopefully, thinking that maybe if I forced them into the same space enough times, she'd realize how great he really is.
Her face twisted with displeasure at the thought.
"Or not," I added quickly before she could reject the idea herself. If I forced it too early before she was ready, things would definitely not go well. It would be that awkward happy hour all over again. "We can wait, I don't want to rush anything."
"You don't want to rush anything," she repeated with a scoff of disbelief. "You told him that you love him, but you're not rushing into anything?"
"It took me ten years," I reminded her with a stupidly giddy laugh just as a text pinged on my phone and Shiloh's name popped up.
"Uh oh. Perfect love bubble popped already?" Natalie wondered when she saw the look on my face as I picked up the phone to read the message.
"Not Casey related. Well, not technically. It's Shiloh, she wants to meet to go over Jay's offer."
"What offer? You talked to Jay?"
"There is so much I need to catch you up on," I realized. With planning the treehouse date and dealing with this Jay crap, I hadn't had time to fill her in on everything going on. This coffee date wasn't going to be nearly enough time to get her caught up. I gave her the quickest possible recap and watched her face contort into something angry.
"I hope she takes him to the cleaners," she said with her arms crossed over her chest. "Honestly, what a piece of shit. Really makes you think about all the scummy shit politicians get up to right under our noses. It's disgusting."
"I almost feel bad for Jay, he really doesn't seem as bad as his father. And Micah likes him, so that has to count for something. And now he's stuck cleaning up after his terrible dad or his own future is at stake."
I responded to Shiloh just as a text from Casey popped up. Without reading it, I put my phone back on the table. With how busy I was lately and not getting to see Natalie that much, I needed to be present with her when I got the chance. Which meant no giggling at my phone and responding as quickly as possible when I got a message from Casey.
"Is this what you were like in high school?" Natalie wondered after the slightest little grin must have twitched on my lips. "It's adorable, but in a nauseating kind of way."
"I was so much worse in high school," I promised her with a sheepish little smile. "You would have hated me."
"Are you worried about Rebecca?" she asked me with a curious eye. "They were together for four years and engaged, she's not just going to go away."
"It's not like they have kids or a house together or anything," I said with a shrug. "I don't think she'll be that much of a problem."
Of course I didn't know that for sure, but he hadn't mentioned talking to her in a while. He would have told me if she reached out, wouldn't he? I wasn't giving Rebecca much thought but the way Natalie was looking at me made me think that maybe I was being too naïve by thinking that she might just disappear now that they were broken up. I'd have to bring it up to Casey eventually, but not right now. Not when we still lived in our love bubble where nothing could go wrong.