"What the hell does that mean?" Anthony Mallory stormed into his son's office, furious as never before, and slammed the newspaper into his desk, leaning on clenched fists and gritting his teeth. Jason gently lifted one end of the paper and read the headline. "A millionaire finally showed the woman of his life, after years of being considered the most desirable bachelor in America". "What does it look like to you?" Jason asked coldly, leaning back.

"Have you stooped so low, son, to grab a stranger off the street and give her your name and power, just to get me out of your way?" he squeaked, his voice shaking with anger and his face yellow with hatred. "None of your business, daddy!" Jason was openly enjoying his father's anger, smirking with his arms crossed. "Interesting" his father suddenly subdued himself and stood up. "What's your little future wife going to do when she finds out who you really are?" Jason's eyes narrowed and his expression changed.

"You will stay away from my fiancee!" his voice was flat and expressionless, but Anthony knew his son. "Oh, oh, do you care about the little miss?" he chuckled darkly. "I'm warning you, stay away from Cassidy" Anthony Mallory raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Cassidy? Sweet name, now I'm even more interested" Anthony walked towards the door, followed by his son's suspicious look.

"Damn it!" he pounded on his desk as soon as his father came out. "Leila!" Jason yelled and his door instantly flew open. "Postpone all my appointments until Monday, if there's anything I'll be working from home!" he ordered and as his secretary came out, Jason picked up the paper and looked under the article about him. The picture was of him hugging Cassidy, trying to hide her with his body, but her face was visible and her engagement ring reflecting the flashes of the cameras. Cassidy had definitely done a great job at this task.

Jason tossed the newspaper into the trash, grabbed his things, and headed for the door. He had to get to Cassidy before his father, if his old man thought he was going to win this war, he was going to regret it terribly. This time, Jason wasn't going to let his father get close to his girl and ruin his plans.

Cassidy ran at the sound of boiling water coming out of the pot, her bare feet echoing in the huge kitchen. She pulled the pot off the stove and with a hiss, set it in the sink, letting the cold water cool the boiled eggs. She walked back to the kitchen island and sat in the high chair, continuing to scroll on her laptop, looking at the vacancies and sipping her coffee.

She couldn't focus though, her "date" with Jason from last night kept coming back to her head and a small smile played on her face as she re-read the same ad for the umpteenth time, playing with the glass. Her smile was followed by a big blush and grunting as she realized that because she hadn't eaten all day the wine had hit her hard and when she woke up this morning with a slight headache in her new bed and in last night's clothes she realized that Jason was probably the one who put her to bed.

But the blush was replaced by a smile again, thinking how cute Jason was and how he was listening to her. She really hadn't expected to have such a good time and his laugh was incredible and the way he held her hand. Her lips froze on the rim of the glass and she closed her eyes, imagining his big strong veined hands gently holding hers. She opened her eyes and shook her head. "What's up girl, remember it's all just a game for the cameras!" Cassidy scolded herself and put the glass down, trying to focus on her task at hand.

But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't think of anything else, so she gave up, stood up, put on her headphones and played some music, starting to make breakfast. Cassidy stood in front of the stove and looked through the many cabinets, starting to open the doors one by one as she searched for the dishes she needed. She found a pan, plates, and in one of the cupboards, forks, spoons, knives and everything else. She danced while taking out the necessary, and then with the same dance step and singing, she turned to the refrigerator and dug into it.

Jason opened the door to his apartment to be greeted by the enticing aroma of bacon and waffles. He raised an eyebrow and walked over to the kitchen, leaning against the archway, watching Cassidy dressed in shorts and a baggy t-shirt tucked slightly into her one end in her pants, with earphones in her ears, singing and dancing while she made waffles and stirred bacon in another pan. "Looks like I've come across real housewife material, a pretty and smart one at that" he thought, smiling at the faces , which Cassidy did while using the wooden spoon as a microphone, imitating the singer.

He stayed like that for a few minutes, amused at the ease with which Cassidy used his kitchen, finding it funny how her high bun bounced with her as she danced with her back to Jason. He cleared his throat, trying to get her attention, but she obviously didn't hear him, so he moved closer, glancing briefly at her laptop and the open classifieds, then stood behind her and patted her on the shoulder.

Cassidy squealed and turned around with a frightened expression, dropping the spoon and pushing the bowl of waffle mixture to the ground. She slipped on the gooey mixture and flew back to the stove, blinking in horror, only to find herself face to face with the worried expression of Jason, who held her so close to his chest that their faces were inches apart. Her hands rested on his chest and her wide blue eyes bore into his green ones as her face quickly turned several shades of red.

"Are you okay, did you hit yourself?" he demanded, but she just blinked in confusion and he reached over, removing the headphones from her head. "I asked, did you hit yourself?" Cassidy just shook her head, unable to say a word, feeling his hard body so close to hers she felt like she could make out his muscles twitching through her clothes. "God, kill me!" she thought, answering his question with a nod. 

"What, where, let me look!" he picked her up and sat her on the kitchen island as if she weighed no more than a feather, looking her over, his fingers tracing her bare thighs and calves as he looked for where she had hit herself. Cassidy nearly had a heart attack, her heart pounding so hard at his touch that she felt like if she had a window on her chest, her heart would be running around the kitchen right now screaming in delight at the burning sensation of his hands on her legs.

"J-Jason, I'm fine" she breathlessly whispered and he looked up worriedly at her flushed face, letting out a sigh of relief. "For God's sake, woman, you scared me!" he rested his hands on the counter on either side of her hips and lowered his head, resting it on her chest. Cassidy held her breath at the intimacy of the position and her hands unconsciously hung in the air, frozen in the middle of her attempt to stroke his hair soothingly.

It only took half a minute for Jason to realize what he had done and he looked up at her face in surprise. Her blue eyes looked at him startled and shy, he looked at her hands still hanging in the air, then back at her face, which expressed a mixture of surprise, shame and pleasure. Pleasure? And then it hit him, he'd felt her legs, every inch of those long, slender, silky smooth legs, checking where she'd hit.

Her beautiful face turned the color of a red kettle bottom and she tried to avoid his gaze. Jason chuckled, he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen such genuine embarrassment in any woman. He cleared his throat again and pushed himself off the counter, running his fingers through his hair. "Are you sure you didn't hit yourself?" he asked and saw her shudder before nodding, still looking everywhere but at him.

"Okay, how about we clean up this mess, then eat and go shopping?" he smiled, turning to the stove and looking at the mess that was on the floor from the waffle mix. Cassidy stared in confusion at his broad back and her eyes followed the way his body was perfectly shaped under the stretched fabric of his jacket as he reached for a stack of kitchen paper and then crouched down to begin cleaning up the mess on the floor. "Let me!" she jumped off the counter, but her feet hit the dirt and Cassidy slipped.

Her legs slipped under his and she fell onto her back on the hard floor, Jason falling on top of her, blinking in surprise that he'd been inches from her face again in less than five minutes. His hand instinctively slid under her head to protect her from the blow and his fingers dug into her soft locks, messing up her messy bun even more. Her breath came out sharply and caressed his face, making him shiver. The two locked eyes again, breathing heavily, realizing they should get up, but neither of them even moved.

Cassidy lost herself in the green depths of his eyes, feeling his breath on her lips, his body heavy on hers, one of his legs between hers and she could feel how tense Jason was from the contact of their bodies. His eyes seemed to read her soul, darkened with dilated pupils and all she could think of was "Kiss me". Her breasts rose against his and she could feel his heartbeat through the thin fabric of their clothes.