Pretend You Love Me Read online

  * * *

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  Copyright ©2006 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  First published in 2006, 2006

  * * *

  NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original purchaser. Making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, including without limit email, floppy disk, file transfer, paper print out, or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment.

  * * *

  CONTENTS

  Pretend You Love Me

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  About the Author

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  * * * *

  eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  2932 Ross Clark Circle, #384

  Dothan, AL 36301

  Pretend You Love Me

  Copyright (C) 2006 by Stacia Wolf

  Cover by Scott Carpenter

  ISBN: 1-59998-177-7

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: December 2006

  * * * *

  Pretend You Love Me

  * * * *

  Stacia Wolf

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  Dedication

  Too many times we let the cares of the world distract us from our goals. And far too many times we let our goals distract us from the true treasures in this life—the people we care about. This is a thank-you to the ones I love and another way for me to tell you (you know who you are) how much I appreciate you in my life.

  And to Sara, my hard-working editor—thanks for all the nudges you've given me along the way!

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  Chapter One

  "Cassie?"

  Mike. Cassandra Ariel Delistraty sighed with sultry exasperation into the phone. At the mere sound of his voice, her frustration level shot up. So close, and yet so far.

  "Mike, you should know better than to call during my dirty book hour,” she said. “Now I've lost my train of thought."

  "Cassie,” Mike's definitely masculine and oh-so-sexy voice growled. “Quit playing games."

  "Self-service is more than a game,” she admonished. “It's a serious pursuit that must be given one's full attention in order to reap its rewards.” She forced a pout into her voice. “Now you've broken the mood."

  Mike groaned. Cassie closed her eyes, imagining him in front of her, shirtless of course, those rippling muscles begging to be touched. His deep brown eyes would be narrowed into slits, and his mouth would be twisted into that endearing little scowl that she always longed to kiss away. And his hair—she'd never believed hair could be hot, but his dark brown, always unruly mess just clamored for her fingers to run through it. Yes, it was worth an orgasm all by itself.

  It's a shame I don't do a damn thing for him.

  She'd suffered from a crush on him since childhood, and felt no closer to being free from it now than she'd been then.

  I was better off in L.A. even if I was miserable.

  "Cass,” he said. “Can't you be serious for just one moment? Your mother's out of control."

  "Now there's a new one,” Cassie snorted. “And this is a problem why?"

  "Because she's dancing on my pool table!” he roared.

  Cassie bellowed out a laugh. “Well, that's different.” She could hear Mike's scowl right through the phone line as he started telling her about Lucia's disruptive behavior.

  If she were braver, she'd go to Mike and kiss that scowl right off those luscious lips, finally tasting them again after eleven years of starvation. But she knew she couldn't. Where Mike Ashford was concerned, she pleaded severe cowardice. Somehow her insides turned to mush, along with her backbone.

  Sometimes she wished she were more like her mom, who didn't let fear or societal restraints stop her from doing what she wanted. Okay, her bungee-jumping episode last year had stretched Cassie's patience, but—

  "Cass, are you coming down here or not? She's out of control.” Mike's impatience only fueled her impish nature.

  "Are you going to arrest her?"

  Mike snorted. “No, not yet."

  Not yet? Well, if it did happen, it wouldn't be the first time. Both Delistraty women felt strongly about their beliefs. Lucia had landed in jail while fighting deforestation. Cassie had wound up in jail battling the closure of a woman's shelter.

  "Then, Michael-dear, it can wait until after my dirty book hour. Honestly, I need to turn off the phone next time.” Hearing Mike's breathing accelerate, she contained a chuckle. Nice. Now if she could only do that to him in person.

  "Cassie, did it escape you that I'm a guy, and that this kind of talk might be a bit...uncomfortable?"

  Boy, I hope so, baby. “Well, I'm glad that if one of us has to be a guy, it's you. Because I tell you, besides sex, I wouldn't know what to do with a penis. Do you just let it flop to one side, or do you tuck it up somehow? I really—"

  A dial tone clamored in her ears. With a humorless smile, she hung the phone up and went back to painting her nails, another lovely evening wasted alone. One foot done, one to go. No dirty book, no self-service. Just Cassie, wondering why she found herself alone when she knew who she needed—Mike. If only to scratch this itch she'd had for him for most of her life. But he refused to oblige her.

  Because to Mike, I'm like a little sister. Cassie sighed, the movement jerking her hand. Ruby red polish glopped on the tip of one toe. She wiped it off with a cloth.

  Really, she deserved more. With a law degree, pretty face and decent body, one would think that she'd have someone in her life. But one year after her divorce from Ken Travers—the scumbag—all she could lay claim to was her recently purchased Seattle home and three rather psychotic dogs. Add her major crush on one Mike Ashford, Eagle Scout with a hero complex, formerly a Seattle firefighter and now a part owner in a trendy U District night club, and her life didn't add up to much.

  She needed to get over him, work him out of her system somehow. No way could the reality be as good as her fantasies. No, Mike Ashford would definitely disappoint her, but then at least she could move on with her life and find that elusive ‘Mr. Right.’ Maybe, just maybe, she could beat the Delistraty curse.

  Then Cassie remembered what Mike had said about her mom.

  Her crazy, always-causing-trouble mother. She made Lucille Ball seem tame. From the background sounds, she knew Mike was at his club, The Electric Wave. Since she lived only a few minutes away from there, she'd go and see what was up.

  Of course, Mike being there was a bonus.

  Cassie shook her head in disgust. That didn't matter now. What mattered was her nutcase mother. With a h
arried mutter, Cassie slipped the polish lid back on. She spread her toes wide to protect the pretty scarlet paint job and headed to her bedroom. Time to go bail her mother out of whatever trouble she'd gotten herself into.

  * * * *

  Mike fought waves of anger-laced desire as he hung up the phone. Damn Cassie. She did that on purpose. She loved to sexually tease him, like one might taunt a poor damn donkey with a carrot. But at least the donkey had a chance at the carrot. Mike didn't harbor any delusions that he'd ever get Cassie.

  "Your five minutes are up.” Ernie's plain, squarish face twisted into a scowl.

  "Ernie, cut me some slack, man. I'm trying here.” Mike raked a hand though his heat-dampened hair. Damn it, he didn't have the patience for Lucia Delistraty's antics. Or for her daughter's strange little games.

  He didn't quite understood what a ‘dirty book hour’ was, but he'd gotten a pretty good idea. Especially when his ‘friend’ below started sitting up and taking notice.

  The thought of Cassie pleasuring herself while talking to him sent a shiver of need through him. The images smacked him hard: Cassie, lit only by the flickering of scattered candles, lying supine on the bed, a paperback book gripped in one hand while the other touched and caressed and inflamed her intimate—

  Damn! He couldn't take this any more. He needed to get his mind off of Cassandra and back into the real world.

  Only the real world held very little interest for him. Since Cassie'd moved back to Seattle, she'd sent thoughts of other women flying from his mind. No, all he could think of was the provocative little barbs that she shot at him whenever they came in contact. This happened more often than his overactive libido could handle.

  A roar came from the back room and Ernie wheeled on Mike in frustration. “She's going to cause a riot back there, and somebody's going to get hurt. We need to do something—now."

  Ernie was right. Mike would be all alone trying to break it up if that hard-drinking group went overboard. Ernie, wheelchair-bound since taking a bullet on-duty three years ago, wouldn't be much back-up. He hated tossing Lucia out, though. He'd tried talking to her, but she hadn't listened. Damn. His next step would be bodily removing her. Damn it all.

  "Dad, don't be so hard on Mike. This isn't his fault.” Kendra, Ernie's daughter, set her tray down on Mike's part of the bar. With her blonde hair twisted up on her head, she didn't look twenty-one. She was definitely too young for the crush she'd developed on Mike, nine years her senior. Yesterday, she'd actually leaned into him and pursed her lips, inviting a kiss. He'd hightailed it as fast as he could, but he knew that hadn't deterred her. He'd told her before that he wasn't interested, but either she remained clueless or took his resistance as a challenge.

  He swiftly filled her order. With a swish of her hips, she headed back into the lounge. Mike kept his eyes glued to the bar, but he felt Ernie's probing gaze nonetheless.

  "We don't need trouble right now,” Ernie said. “If we're going to get that zone change, we can't have a black mark like a riot against us."

  They were close to getting a warehouse on Lake Washington rezoned for use as a second nightclub. The location would be ideal, and if a success, the second club would be a model for a chain up and down the Pacific Coast.

  Another loud cheer echoed from the pool room, and Mike gritted his teeth. If only he'd gotten hold of Cal, but Cassie's brother didn't answer his cell phone. Probably out of range deep in a jail-cell while he tried to talk some drug-ridden free-clinic client into a rehab program.

  The door whooshed open and the sound of heels on the wooden floor clacked through the thick, late-June air. Mike didn't need to look up to know that Cassie'd blown into his world again.

  No, he didn't need to look up, but he did. He couldn't help himself. Since they'd been kids together, Mike had been drawn to Cassie Delistraty like a moth to a burning, death-wielding flame. Knowing she could never be anything but bad for him still didn't stop him from being fascinated by her.

  He just didn't have to let her know how she affected him.

  He saw her feet first, in a pair of red strappy things that could break her ankles if she tripped. And she called herself a lawyer. Why couldn't she wear anything sensible?

  The sandals dragged his eyes upwards, to her shapely calves and long, drive-him-wild legs. His gaze collided with a way-too-short, way-too-tight, white leather skirt. Leather in this heat?

  And the top... Damn. His blood pressure exploded. Bright as a stop sign, it wrapped around her neck and floated down over her lush breasts, then tied about her back.

  Bare midriff, her navel peeking enticingly at him, endless legs, and those sexy, red-painted toes. These things all tore at his fragmented resolve to keep Cassie at arm's length.

  No, scratch that. Only one foot sported color. What the hell—?

  He didn't have time to pursue that mystery. A deep-heaved sigh jerked his eyes back up to her forbidden breasts, then to her sea-green eyes that sparkled with too much life and attitude. And that hair, those strawberry spirals that encircled her head like a cloud. Damn. That hair was every man's fantasy.

  That hair was his fantasy. Every night, for the last twelve years of his life.

  Her full, ruby-red lips twisted up enticingly. Yes, she definitely exuded sexy, hot and potentially willing.

  His ‘friend’ perked up just at the sight of her.

  She also represented everything he didn't want in his life. High society, flighty, unfettered, unable to commit to anything, not marriage, family or career. She reminded him too much of Sharon, his ex-wife, for him to even imagine getting involved with her.

  "Down, boy,” he muttered to himself. He'd stay behind the bar until his ‘friend’ down south settled down.

  "Cassie,” he growled, fighting a raging blood rush. “That outfit isn't appropriate for here."

  Curved brows lifted up. She popped an orange breath mint into her mouth, a habit she'd had since high school. He salivated at the thought of her orange-tinged tongue circling his.

  "Really, Mike? I'd have thought this kind of outfit is standard for a nightclub. And considering what you interrupted, then I think it's more than appropriate."

  Oh, yeah. Her dirty book hour. He felt his blood supply shifting downward, then he remembered her feet. Glancing at them, he realized what bothered him about the unpainted nails. His call must have stopped her from finishing the other foot.

  One hand holding a book and one pleasuring herself. Where did she get the third hand to paint her nails

  His mouth twitched into a smile of victory. Caught ya!

  Cassie obviously read his look. She glanced at her feet, then at him. Despite the red that crept over her face, her voice never lost its composure. “Who said I was alone?"

  The thought of someone else touching her caused him to see red. He forced himself to return her smile. “Wouldn't be self-service if you weren't alone, now would it?"

  Surprisingly, she threw her head back and a full-throated laugh erupted from her. Full of life and humor, it was more intoxicating than the outfit she wore.

  "You're right,” she said. “You caught me dead to rights.” Her smile spread across her beautiful face and right into his heart.

  "Are you two done yet?” Ernie demanded, wheeling himself up to his area of the bar that had been lowered to accommodate the chair.

  Another roar erupted from the pool room. “Yeah, we're done.” Mike nodded toward the back, his eyes clashing with Cassie's, who practically danced in place with energy. “Your mom's back there,” he said. “And if she doesn't settle down immediately, we're going to have to have her hauled in."

  Cassie laughed, another sure sign of her inability to take anything seriously. “Mike, you'd never arrest my mother!"

  "No, he wouldn't,” Ernie snapped. “But I sure would for disturbing the peace!"

  That sobered Cass up immediately. She fixed her gaze on Mike's partner, then nodded and headed toward the pool room.

  "Cassie, wait!”
Ernie called. But her long legs carried her swiftly out of hearing range. He turned to Mike. “Are you going to let her head back into that mess alone?"

  Considering his current physical state, Mike could only nod. Cursing at him, Ernie wheeled away, chasing after her.

  The noise in the back escalated. Cassie had arrived.

  Mike sighed. This night can only get worse.

  * * * *

  Chaos greeted Cassie as she entered the pool room. Her mother, a beautiful, sensual woman just a few years short of her fiftieth birthday, danced on a pool table to loud, pulsing music emanating from an oversized boom box. Her dance partner, a man perhaps five years older than Cassie, looked like he'd died and landed in heaven, the way he watched Lucia's gyrations.

  Lucia's blonde hair flew about her face as she laughed at the tall burly man clad in black jeans and a leather vest. Several other men stood watching, enjoying each jiggle of Lucia's generous breasts in a tiny halter top and the contortion of her curved hips clad in a too-short jean skirt. Okay, so it matched the length of Cassie's skirt, but still! Why couldn't she have a normal mom like everyone else?

  Lucia Delistraty would never be normal. Beautiful and headstrong, she never conformed to anyone's idea of what she should be. Not society's, and certainly never her family's.

  Just like Cassie, who, although she'd become a lawyer in the family tradition, refused to go into politics. And, just like her mother, could never sustain a relationship.

  The Delistraty women were cursed, it was said, to go from one man to the next. Over the last several generations this had held true, with broken marriages, wild flings and horrendous scandals.

  And the last two generations were no different. Lucia had never married, and Cassie's one attempt had shattered around her the day she'd walked into her husband's office and found him with another woman. His declaration later that he'd only married her for her family name still stung, making her wary any time a man showed interest in her.

  The song faded away and Lucia let out a loud war whoop. Barely breathing hard, she laughed. “Kyle, you're a wonderful dancer! I'd give you an eight; that puts you in the lead. Anyone think they can do better?"