A Moment of Privacy

…

Cassie was in the process of closing up her shop for the night when she heard the bell on the door ring. She glanced over and saw Sam walking toward her.

"Hey," he greeted her.

"Hi, there," Cassie replied happily. "Good timing, I'm just about ready to go."

"Great." He had walked over from his office, and they were going out for a late dinner in her car. When he reached her, he said, "But first, I have a question that I need the answer to as soon as possible."

Cassie raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Ask it."

Sam stepped closer to her and rested his hands on her waist. "Did you think about me today as much as I thought about you?"

Cassie smiled at the question as butterflies started fluttering in her stomach, a regular feeling when she was around him. "That's your urgent question?" she asked.

Sam nodded. "It is."

"That's what you need to know right now?"

"Yes, please."

"Uhh, okay," Cassie replied with an amused expression. "Well, I don't know. I guess I'd have to know how much you thought about me so I could compare it."

"That's fair," Sam replied with a nod, and then he pondered for a moment. "I thought about you once."

Cassie narrowed her eyes at that, clearly surprised by the response. "Oh. Well, I thought about you a little more than that."

"Wait, I wasn't done," he continued. "I thought about you once, but it was for a solid ten hours straight, give or take an hour or two."

A smile appeared on Cassie's lips and she let out a little laugh. "Wow. That's…uh…"

"A lot," Sam finished with a smile and a nod. "It's a lot, I know."

"I have to adjust my answer then," Cassie said. "I think that might be slightly more than I thought about you. But only slightly."

"Okay, good to know," Sam said. He reached down to her hand and raised it up to look at her engagement ring. "This ring looks so good on you."

Cassie smiled at the ring and then at him. "I love it so much." He'd only given it to her two weeks prior, but it felt like it had been a part of her forever.

Sam ran his finger over the ring. "It's unique and beautiful… it's perfect for you."

"Is that your way of saying that I'm unique?" Cassie asked.

"And beautiful," Sam confirmed. "Don't forget beautiful."

Cassie smiled. "You're one of a kind yourself," she said, and then added, "And handsome. Don't forget handsome."

Sam smiled and leaned in to kiss her, and then he shook his head slightly. "I can't wait until I get to call you my wife."

Cassie smiled. "I can't wait until I get to call you my husband."

Sam groaned contently. "Mmm, I love the sound of that. Say it again."

Cassie grinned at him and calmly said, "You're going to be my husband, and I'm going to be your wife."

"God, that sounds amazing," he said, and with a loving smile, added, "You are amazing."

"Ditto." Cassie nodded toward the door. "Are you ready to head to dinner?"

Sam shook his head. "Not yet," he replied, and he leaned in for another kiss.

As Cassie kissed him back, he deepened the kiss, brushing his tongue gently against hers. She moaned softly and rested her hands on his chest, lightly squeezing the fabric of his shirt. Sam began caressing the back of her, starting at her upper back before his hands headed downward.

After a few moments, Cassie pulled back from him with a gentle smile. "Sam," she said softly. "We should go." She rubbed his arms lightly as she stepped back from him.

Sam took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. "You're right, sorry."

"No apology necessary," she assured him.

They'd both gotten a little more amorous since they'd gotten engaged, more demonstrative of their affection for each other. Even Grace had noticed it and pointed it out. There were more kisses, more touching, more flirtation. It was like the engagement had further fueled their already intense desires for each other.

And most of the time, it wasn't an issue… the heated impromptu make-out sessions were fun when they were alone. But occasionally when Cassie could sense people were nearby, she'd stop them a little sooner than she wanted. Like right now, when they were getting a little too intense in front of her store's front window. Cassie preferred for some things to remain private, and Sam understood that.

Sam leaned his forehead against hers. "Thanks for keeping me in check."

Cassie smiled. "You're welcome," she said, and kissed him on the cheek. "Let's go to dinner." She grabbed her coat and purse, locked up the shop, and they headed to the restaurant.

…

Sam sat across from her at dinner, completely enamored by her like he usually was. She spoke so intelligently, positively, calmly – she was the only person he'd ever met who was a pleasure to be around one hundred percent of the time. There wasn't one negative thing he could say about Cassie Nightingale.

Well, except that, as of late, it was sometimes impossible for him to be around her without having erotic thoughts. He'd be looking at her, listening to her, and his heart would start racing, his cock would start reacting. He often imagined grabbing her, kissing her, making love to her against whatever the nearest surface was. Sometimes he flirtingly told her what he was imagining, other times he kept it to himself.

Likewise, Cassie regularly felt the tingling sensations of arousal looking at him or thinking about what she wanted to do with him. Most of their date nights ended with an unfulfilled longing to feel his body against hers. She had never physically craved another person as much as she craved him. It was kind of a new territory for her, to want someone they way she wanted him.

There wasn't much they could do about those constant mutual desires, though. They typically weren't in a situation where they could act on them. They were always surrounded by family or Grey House guests, and juggling work and home responsibilities. They tried to jump on any opportunities for privacy that came their way, but they didn't pop up as often as they'd both like.

…

Dinner was nice, and the drive home was even nicer. Sometimes the car ride home was the only time they'd get to be completely alone together, which was why they typically tried to go out in one car instead of meeting somewhere. It gave them a few minutes of complete privacy.

They were in Cassie's car and she was driving, and his hand was resting on her leg at the hem of her skirt. They stole glances and smiles at each other as they drove toward Grey House, and after she parked the car in front of the house, she glanced over at him.

Sam's fingers were moving gently against her leg. "I don't want to move it yet," he said about his hand.

Cassie smiled. "And I don't want you to move it yet," she told him, and then she placed her hand on top of his and moved it up her thigh, adding, "Well, I want you to move it up, but not away."

Sam smiled at her. "You're driving me crazy, you know that?"

Cassie undid her seatbelt and leaned over to kiss him, gently running her hand along his cheek. "I apologize," she whispered.

"You're forgiven," he replied.

"Thank you," Cassie replied with a smile. She gave him another soft kiss, and then leaned back against her seat.

Sam caressed her leg for a moment, and then looked at her. "So, I have a question, and I'll be fine with whatever answer you have." Cassie looked at him expectantly, and he had a small smile on his face as he asked, "How long are we going to avoid our bedrooms to pretend for our kids' sakes that we haven't already slept together?"

Cassie wrinkled her nose as she shook her head slightly. "I don't know. And I wouldn't say we're pretending it hasn't happened, we're just avoiding it becoming a topic at all."

This rule was in place well before they were engaged to prevent the kids from being uncomfortable. They didn't want Grace to see Sam going in or out of Cassie's bedroom, and likewise, didn't want Nick to see Cassie going in or out of Sam's.

That made their bedrooms off limits unless the kids were out of the house for an extended period of time, which meant nearly all of Cassie and Sam's dates didn't end as they wished they would. There had been a handful of times when they'd taken advantage of the kids being at school, but meeting up during the day wasn't exactly convenient with their work schedules.

"Are you still okay with it?" Cassie asked.

"I'm okay with whatever you want to do, Cassie, you know that," he told her sincerely.

"Well, I'd rather it be what we want to do and not just what I want to do," she calmly told him. "I thought you felt the same way, that you didn't want Nick or Grace to be put in an uncomfortable situation."

Sam nodded. "No, I do feel the same, I do," he assured her.

"But?" she prompted him.

A sly smile appeared on Sam's face as he shrugged. "But… sometimes I hate not being able to take you upstairs at the end of the night to show you how badly I want you."

Cassie smirked and nodded understandingly. "I know. Me, too."

"I know we talked about being patient and waiting for those moments of privacy to come along, and I'm totally fine with that," Sam said. "But like I've said before, sometimes being patient seems to be harder for me than it is for you."

"I know. But remember, that doesn't mean I don't want the privacy just as much as you."

Sam nodded. "I will take solace in the fact that we're both struggling not to throw ourselves at each other."

Cassie smiled. "What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do."

Sam smiled. "Yes, I think Aristotle would be proud of our restraint." He nodded toward the house. "Do you want to go in and have some tea? We can practice our restraint inside the house."

Cassie started to reply, but then stopped herself and glanced at the house for a moment. Her eyes moved from section to section, downstairs, upstairs, left side, right side.

Finally, she glanced at him and calmly replied, "Soon."

She started the car, drove around to the side of the house, and hit the garage door opener. As she waited for the garage door to rise, she glanced over at Sam who was looking at her curiously. He didn't say anything, he was just waiting to see what she was doing.

Cassie pulled the car into the garage, parked it, and turned off the engine. She hit the button to shut the garage door, and didn't say anything until it had finally closed all the way.

Once it did, and they were sitting in the parked car within the garage, she looked over at him. "There's no one in the house near the garage door," Cassie told him. "No one near the kitchen. Everyone's upstairs."

Sam glanced toward the door that led into Grey House, and then back at her. "So… what you're saying is… no one can hear us in here?"

"That's right."

As Sam began to understand what her intentions were, he needed a moment to get past the state of surprise he was in. "Okay, wait a minute, let me get this straight," he said, smiling at her. "Even though you were hesitant about us doing something risky in my garage not that long ago, you're initiating something in yours?"

Cassie smiled. "Yes. Well, in the car, specifically." She shrugged as she nonchalantly added, "We don't have to if you don't want to. I'm sure another moment of privacy will come along… eventually."

Sam smirked at her teasing tone of voice, like she was coyly trying to persuade him. But he needed no persuading.

"Oh, no, I want to," he quickly assured her. "I definitely want to, I'm just surprised. Pleasantly surprised, obviously."

"Good." Cassie nodded toward him. "You can put your hand back," she said, glancing down at her leg.

Sam smiled and returned his hand to her leg.

Cassie cocked her head to the side. "I think you can do better than that."

Sam moved his hand slightly up her thigh, underneath the hem of her skirt, and leaned in to kiss her. She kissed him back passionately, and there was a feeling of relief to unleash the lust and desire for him that had been building up for days.

"I've been thinking about you all day," he muttered against her lips.

"So I've heard," Cassie murmured back in between kisses. "What did you think about?"

Sam pulled back from her lips to look into her eyes. "Your smile, your laugh, your voice," he replied. "Kissing you, touching you, talking to you… everything." He ran his fingers through her hair. "You're always on my mind."

Cassie smiled. "Same here."

He shifted his body in his seat to face toward her a little more comfortably. "Can you put your seat back?" he asked.

Cassie reached for the lever on the side of her seat and reclined it so she was almost lying flat. Sam reached toward her and ran his hand along the outside of her shirt and then slipped it up the front of it. His hand moved over her stomach, his fingertips grazing her skin in the gentlest of ways.

Cassie had one of her hands tucked behind her neck, and the other arm was outstretched toward him to rest her hand on his shoulder. Her fingers were stroking his hair and neck as his hand explored under her shirt. He moved it up to her chest and squeezed one bra-covered breast before moving to the other.

Cassie hummed softly as his fingers slipped beneath her bra. He diligently moved back and forth between her breasts, showing them equal attention. When one was caressed or tweaked or squeezed, he repeated the ministration on the other one.

The setup in the car wasn't exactly comfortable - they were each in their own seat, separated by the middle console. But Sam didn't care… he was getting to touch her, to make her feel good, and that's all he wanted.

When Sam pulled his hand from her shirt, he moved it to her leg and slid it up the front of her skirt. He began caressing her thighs, and Cassie reached down with both hands to pull her skirt upwards. It bunched around her waist, revealing her black panties, and he felt his cock twitch at the sight.

"Jesus," he muttered, staring intensely at the lacy fabric like it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. "You're so sexy."

Cassie watched his hand between her legs as he began to trace his fingers along the outer edges of her panties. Just that simple contact sent her arousal spiraling inside of her, and it intensified when his fingers began to drag back and forth against the thin fabric covering her center.

"Oh, Sam," she breathed out his name in between soft moans. He stroked her through the fabric for a few moments before his hand slipped into her panties, and his palm pressed directly against her. "Oh, yes," she moaned louder, bucking gently against his hand.

His fingers began moving against her folds, stroking her, teasing her. It had been ten long days since he'd touched her like this, and her body was already trembling. Ten days. She'd never kept count for any other man, but no other man had this strong of an effect on her body. She needed him. She needed more.

Cassie locked her gaze with his, and Sam could see her eyes filled with desire, dripping with need. "Sam… please…" she whimpered.

He wouldn't dare deny her desperate plea, and Sam slid his finger into her, evoking Cassie's louder moan of pleasure.

Sam let his finger delicately explore her before moving to her clit, and she moaned her approval as he circled his finger against it.

"I've been waiting to do this for ten days," Sam told her. "Ten days of wanting to touch you like this."

Cassie smiled up at him with a surprised look. "You've kept count." She paused for a beat. "Me, too."

Sam smiled back at her. "Seems like we have a mutual fondness for quality intimate time together."

"That's a good thing for an engaged couple to be mutually fond of," Cassie remarked.

Sam nodded. "Definitely is."

Cassie reached her hand toward his head and aimlessly stroked his hair while he alternated between rubbing her clit and gently thrusting his finger into her. He knew he didn't have time or space to give her the full Radford treatment that he wanted to give her, but he would make this abbreviated version just as exciting for her.

His hand expertly spent a few minutes pleasuring her, making her moan and squirm, and it was just as arousing to hear as it was to see. When he finally committed to taking her all the way, he began moving his finger in a firm, steady motion against her clit.

Sam was staring into her eyes that were glazed over with pleasure. "I want you to come, Cassie," he said softly. "Let me see you come."

His words made her body throb even more. "Oh, God," Cassie panted as she felt her orgasm unraveling. "Oh, God, Sam." She rocked against his hand until she felt that explosion, that amazing climactic eruption inside of her, and her moans filled the car as her body quivered in the driver's seat.

A satisfied Cassie was panting for breath as Sam slowly pulled his hand away from her body. He leaned down to kiss her, and then smiled against her lips. "I get to do that for the rest of my life," he boasted.

Cassie smiled. "Lucky for me."

"And me," he replied with a smile.

Cassie sat up in her seat, glanced toward the back seat, and then nodded toward him. "You have room for me over there or should we move to the back?"

"I think we can make it work up here." Sam pushed down his pants and boxers, then moved the seat all the way back for more leg room before he reclined it a little.

Cassie slid off her underwear, and then with his help, maneuvered herself over to his side. She climbed on top of him, kneeling over his lap in the passenger seat. Her hands rested against his shoulders for balance, and his hands began roaming her body.

Sam kissed her and then smiled through it. "You know, this position felt a little less cramped as a teenager."

"Oh, so, this is what your teenage life was like, huh?" Cassie teasingly replied.

"Uh, I plead the fifth on that one," Sam replied, and they shared a smile. "But we might have some muscle soreness tomorrow."

Cassie kissed him softly. "I have an herbal remedy for that," she muttered against his lips.

"Okay, good," he muttered back.

He ran his fingers through her hair, cradled her neck with his hand, and pulled her into a deep kiss. There was a passionate hunger on both sides as they kissed, an intense physical and emotional desire that was only further enhanced by the thrill of their location. As risky as scenarios like this could be, there was always an underlying excitement to them.

Sam's hands wandered up the back of her skirt to caress her ass, and he pulled his lips from hers. "Cassie," he said softly. "I want you."

"I can tell," she replied, and then placed a gentle kiss to his lips. "I want you, too."

Cassie shifted her body slightly upward as Sam gripped his cock and guided it toward her opening. She lowered herself, groaning as she took him inside of her, and settled back down against his lap.

Cassie closed her eyes, exhaled a few deep breaths, and focused on how incredible it felt to be connected with him again. Similarly, Sam was savoring the feeling of her surrounding him, and the sensations of pleasure that their initial connection was already sending through his entire body.

Cassie opened her eyes as she started slowly rocking her body against his, and she fell into a steady rhythm on top of him. The soft, breathy moans that were escaping her throat every few seconds were matched by Sam's groans of pleasure.

Sam pressed kisses against her neck, finishing each with some gentle suction before he moved to the next spot. She was moving on top of him and he was meeting her motions, his hands gripping her hips under her skirt.

They were taking their time, trying to enjoy every second of this elusive privacy they rarely got. Eventually, the pace picked up as they both searched for that final push to send them over the edge.

Cassie reached it first, shuddering on top of him as her climax engulfed her in pleasure. Her head was close to his ear when she came, and he knew he wouldn't soon forget the powerful sounds of her beautiful, sexy moans.

Sam held her body tightly to his, and after a few deep upward thrusts, he released inside of her with a husky groan of pleasure, a sound she soon wouldn't forget.

They stayed still for a few moments, Cassie's tired body resting against his in the passenger seat. They panted for breath, muttered satisfied words of praise to each other about how good it felt, and allowed their racing hearts to return to normal beating patterns.

When Cassie finally lifted her head to look at him, she lightly brushed her lips against his. "I can't wait for us to share a bedroom," she whispered.

Sam smiled. "You and me both." He kissed her and then added, "We might not get any sleep."

"I'm okay with that," Cassie declared with a smile, and they shared a deep kiss. Then she pushed herself up off of him and maneuvered her body back to the driver's seat. She leaned back against it with a tired but content sigh.

Sam pulled up his boxers and pants, and then turned his head to look at her. Cassie was looking back at him, and he smiled at her. "You know, you never cease to surprise me," he told her.

Cassie smiled. "I still don't know if that's a good thing when you say it, or if I should apologize for constantly surprising the man who doesn't like surprises."

Sam offered his hand toward her. "It's always a good thing," he assured her.

Cassie laced her fingers through his. "Good." They sat back against their seats, staring at each other, smiling, stroking each other's hands in silence until Cassie said, "You know, I think we may need to revisit the bedroom rule. It might not be realistic to continue with it until we're married."

Surprised, Sam raised an eyebrow. "Really? Are you sure?"

Cassie nodded and squeezed his hand. "Give me some time to talk to Grace about things first."

Sam was excited to hear that, but he didn't want her doing this for his sake. "I'm fine with waiting it out, Cassie," he told her. "I don't want you to change things if you're not ready to."

"I am ready," she assured him. "But I just want to talk to Grace about it first. After all, you're going to be moving in when we're married, so maybe it would be good for her to get used to that ahead of time."

A grin slowly appeared on Sam's face, and he shook his head in disbelief. "Cassie Nightingale, are you suggesting that there might be some pre-marital sleepovers in our near future?"

Cassie laughed. "Well, I don't know how near, but yes, that's what I'm saying, Dr. Radford."

Sam smiled. "Well, that's something to look forward to," he said, and then he repeated the phrase she'd said a few seconds ago. "When we're married… I love the sound of that."

Cassie smiled. "Something else to look forward to."

"I can't wait," he replied, and with a loving squeeze of her hand, he added, "I love you."

Cassie smiled and leaned in to kiss him. "I love you."

…