8

Ripley's pov

After Cas told me to dress nice, I headed to Allison for help. I didn’t tell her who I was meeting but that I needed to wear something fancy for an unexpected meeting during lunch.

Which earned me more questions than I wanted to answer. But I wasn’t sure I could tell her the truth.

In the end, I told Allison it had to do with my late husband’s estate. As soon as I mentioned my dead husband, people stopped asking questions.

Maybe they were scared I would cry in public, and nobody wants a public scene. Or they felt bad for me.

Either way, Allison stopped asking questions and was a great help in finding something to wear.

Long story short, Allison took me to the lost and found, where we found the dress I was currently wearing. As long as I returned it, Allison didn’t see it as a problem that I took a long lunch break.

“You’ve been here three days, and you’ve already won over our most important guest.” She had said.

“And the grumpiest,” I joked.

Once I read the contract Cas handed me, I was glad I had lied to Allison. It looked legit, and I wasn’t sure if I should go through with this.

Ten dates, and all my problems would be solved. But it meant enduring Cas for at least ten hours, probably more.

And he was hard to deal with.

I tried to fill the awkward silence by telling Cas I hadn’t dated before because I was barely seventeen when I became pregnant and have been too busy to date since Oliver died.

I can’t afford to pay for babysitters all the time, and I can’t bring the girls with me on dates. I won’t introduce anyone I’m dating unless it’s serious.

So I’ve been avoiding going on dates.

But Cas didn’t hear any of that because his mind was clearly elsewhere.

Why invite me on a date when you have no interest in what I have to say? O, yeah, so he can get into my pants.

Was Cas really so clueless that he didn’t get that the biggest turn-on for a woman is when a man pays attention to her wants and needs? When he listens and shows, he enjoys her company. It’s all about the effort someone puts into it.

Maybe I should just date women, I thought to myself as I followed Cas’ lead and grabbed some sushi.

I’ve always fancied both, but I never got the opportunity to date a woman before. 

Then it hit me. Shit, this was spicy! My throat was burning, and I grabbed my tea. Only to realize it was too hot. So I grabbed the next best thing, chugging Cas’ scotch while he was laughing at my misery.

But it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would, because he actually had a really nice laugh. His face looked so much better when he smiled. I was used to his smirk, but this smile was actually cute.

After moving the wasabi, I waited for Cas to talk, not wanting to be the first to speak.

After five minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore. “This is my third time eating sushi."

“This week?” Cas replied.

I shook my head, “no, ever. My parents didn’t really like sushi, and it’s too expensive for me to buy.”

“Didn’t your husband take you out to dinner?”

“We had two babies; he was training to become a soldier and then sent overseas. There was barely time to sit down and relax, let alone go out.” I explained.

“Mmm,” he scoffed. “Some husband.”

While Oliver and I didn’t have the marriage you see in movies, he was always good to me. We both knew we weren’t madly in love, but we needed each other. This was a marriage of convenience. Oliver being my husband made my and the girls’ lives better.

He could have left me to deal with everything on my own, like many of our friends and family did. But instead, Oliver gave up his scholarship to the film academy and joined the military. He did everything right, and it cost him his life. 

I was forever grateful for everything Okiver had done for me and our girls.

“I would rather not discuss him anymore.” I said, trying to be tactful.

“Allowing you to not take his name. Not taking you on dates. What kind of weak ass excuse for a husband was he?”

I stood up, only to remember that this date wouldn’t count if I left.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I asked to keep my name because it was my dad’s last name. It's one of the only things I have left of him. And it’s just me and my sister, and otherwise the name would end with me.” I explained, regretting telling him something so personal. But I felt like I needed to defend myself and Oliver.

It was either explain myself or yell at Cas again. And I didn’t think yelling at him in public would be smart.

“Your dad died when you were fourteen.” Cas said, like he was simply stating a fact. How the hell did he know so much about my life?

“Are you a stalker?” I asked, wondering out loud, what could be the reason for Cas knowing all this.

“I always do a background check before I go into business with someone. And since I’ll pay you money for these dates, it was necessary to know exactly who I was getting in bed with, so to speak.” Cas said with a smirk, emphasizing the words 'in bed'.

“You know you could just ask me about my personal life. Especially since you clearly did this background check before I even agreed to this deal.”

Cas shrugged, “you’d probably lie.”

“And it would mean you’d have to listen to me for more than a few seconds…” I added.

Cas reached across the table for my hand, caressing the top of my hand. “I’d gladly listen to you scream my name for several hours.”

I pulled my hand away, “Romantic touching needs to be consensual according to the contract we both signed, and I really don’t want you to touch me.”

Cas sighed and rubbed his beard. “Tell me about your boring life, then.”

I scoffed, “no way!”

“You said you wanted me to listen. I’m fucking paying attention. Tell me whatever you think I should know.”

I bit my lip, trying not to say what was on my mind. But in the end, my annoyance won.

“I think you should know these dates will be a waste of time for you. I think you should know that I don’t get the whole appeal. You’re good-looking, but you have an awful personality. And I think you lack the maturity to have a real conversation with me. Someone like you could not survive a week in my shoes.”

Cas bawled his fist and hit the table. “You don’t know shit about me.”

“And I don’t want to find out.” I replied, loving that I made him angry. Maybe he would walk out on the date.

“Leave,” he ordered, but I stayed seated.

“No, because if I leave, I’ll be forced to start this date from scratch. But you’re free to end the date early.”

Cas squinted, his eyebrow furrowed, like he was calculating his next move.

“Fine!”

“Fine!” I repeated, thinking he was going to leave.

But he surprised me by smirking again while grabbing his phone, typing something, then scrolling through his phone.

“Are you more of an indoor or outdoor person?” he asked, catching me off guard.

“Outdoors,” I replied, feeling weirded out.

“Me too.” He said, before asking the next question.

“What pets have you had?”

“Are you trying to get information to hack my password?” I joked.

“Just answer the question." Cas sighed.

“Dogs, doves, some tame rats, hamsters, and guinea pigs. Not all at the same time, though.” I replied.

“Really?” Cas sounded surprised.

“Yeah, my parents didn’t mind having several animals in the house. As long as we helped clean the cages. My dad even had his own dwarf hamster, called Worf, because of his stripe on his little back.”

“Worf? What the fuck is that. Is he the one who chose your name too? Because Ripley is weird.

I rolled my eyes, “Worf is a character from Star Trek, and my name is from the movie, Alien. You know, one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made. Ellen Ripley is a badass, and I’m proud to be named after her.”

Cas looked at me like I was speaking another language while he looked at his phone.

“What shows have you binged lately?”

I chuckled, “a show with a character named Cas, actually. He shares your grumpy side but is a lot less evil. He’s a bit of an angel, even.”

Cas raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to explain.

“Supernatural… Don’t tell me you don’t know that TV show either.”

“I don’t have time for frivolous things like watching TV.” Cas stated.

“Shouldn’t you have more free time since you’re rich?”

Cas shook his head, “I need to make sure I keep the money I have. Besides, there are thousands people that count on me.”

“So you’re saying once you’re finished working, you don’t watch TV at all?”

“I get up at 5 every morning to hit the gym before work and then start my day at 7. I go to bed early.”

So weird. Even when I’m tired, I always try to spend some time watching my favorite shows. It calms me down and makes me forget my worries for a while.

“Maybe one of our dates should be at the movies. You’re missing out.”

Shit. That sounded like I was actually enjoying going on dates with Cas.

“I’ll be in charge of planning the dates, “ Cas said, immediately ending the semi-nice conversation we were having.

Control freak.

Cas looked back at his phone. “What would your perfect morning be like?”

“Did you seriously look up “date questions?” I didn’t know if I should laugh or roll my eyes at his move.

Cas shrugged, “so what? It worked, didn’t it?”

“Sure.” I said sounding as sarcastic as possible. “Like a charm. I really like you now, Cas. O, please, can I sleep with you?

“You’re so fucking annoying!”

“Then we fit together perfectly,” I countered. “Because you’re just as infuriating!”

Cas suddenly bent over the table and grabbed my face in his hands. “I really want to fuck that smart mouth out of you right now.”

His words shocked me, making me freeze up. What do you say back to something like that?

“Cat got your tongue?” he teased, moving even closer to me. His face now close enough to kiss me.

“No,” was all I could think to say.

Cas moved even closer, his nose touching mine.

“This counts as romantic touching.” I whispered.

“This too,” Cas said, before pressing his lips against mine.

For a second, I was lost in his touch. Okay, maybe more than a second. I hadn’t kissed someone in so long. And when I kissed Oliver, it wasn’t like this.

Cas’ beard tickled against my face, snapping me out of the moment.

I backed away and then slapped Cas hard against the cheek.