An Unexpected Love by Amber Riel (dar e dil novel online reading .TXT) 📕

          “You don’t have to worry about the heat. If anything, you need to worry about the water,” Brandon told Cassie.

          “Okay.”

          “But don’t worry. You’re doing fine.”

          Cassie liked having Brandon’s hand holding onto hers. She felt comfortable with him. She felt way better with him than with any other guy she had known.

          “Okay. Now we can stop stirring,” Brandon said, backing away from Cassie.

          Cassie took the cooking spoon out of the pot and laid it on the counter then she removed the glove off of her hand and placed it next to the spoon. She turned to face Brandon.

          “Is there anything you would like to do?” he asked.

          “Not that I can think of,” Cassie said after a minute of thinking. “Why?”

          “I just wanted to know.”

          “Oh.”

          Brandon remembered how she had mentioned that she didn’t have a date for the prom and an idea popped into his head.

          Minutes later, Cassie stirred the noodles then turned to face Brandon when she had finished. “How do I know if they’re done?”

          Brandon smiled and grabbed on a fork. “Okay. This is the last time, I’m going to do something for you… I swear.” He walked over and managed to get a noodle on the fork then moved toward the sink. He turned the water on and let the water cool off the noodle. After he turned off the water, he turned to face Cassie. “Do you want to try?”

          Cassie didn’t know whether or not to say yes.

          “If it’s chewy, then it still needs to boil, but if it’s soft then it’s done.”

          “Okay.”

          Brandon handed the fork to Cassie and Cassie tasted the noodle. She couldn’t decide if it was done or not.

          “So?”

          “I don’t know… you need to try one.”

          Brandon let out a small laugh. “Okay.” He grabbed another fork and repeated what he had done earlier for Cassie. He tasted the noodle. “They’re done.”

          The noodles and chicken were ready for the alfredo sauce. Brandon picked up the jar and decided to show Cassie how strong he was. “Okay. This is the last and final thing that I’m going to do for you because I don’t think that you’re strong enough to open this jar.”

          “Oh really?”

          “Yeah.” Brandon tried to open the jar but was having a hard time. “I can get it… hold on.”

          “Are you strong enough to open that jar?” Cassie asked.

          “Yeah… man, it’s on there tight.”

          “Can I try?” Cassie asked, holding out her hands.

          “Yeah…” Brandon handed the jar over to her. “But there’s no way that you’re going to get it open… I mean it was hard for me to open….”

          Cassie opened the jar without any problems. She held the jar and lid to where Brandon could see them.

          “Now that’s… I loosened it for you,” he said, staring at her.

          “Hmmm… right.” Cassie turned around and poured the sauce over the noodles and chicken. When she was done, she opened the oven and placed the pan inside and closed the door. “What do I set the time to?”

          “Two minutes.”

          “What?” Cassie asked. She knew that wasn’t the correct time.

          “I mean two hours.”

          “Okay.” Cassie had set the time then turned to face Brandon. “Now what?”

          “Now we wait. Want to watch television?”

          “Sure.”

          They left the kitchen and walked into the living room.

Brandon and Cassie sat on opposite sides of the table whilst they ate. Brandon was fighting himself in his head. He didn’t know if he should tell Cassie that he was in love with her and considering turning himself in right then or if he should wait.

          “I did some karaoke today.” Cassie smiled. “I was board and I wanted to do something to keep me busy.”

          “Oh… really?”

          “Yeah… I like to act out the song… whether it’s sad or silly. It’s fun.”

          Brandon laughed. “It sounds like fun. Maybe we should do karaoke some time then. I could use a good laugh.”

          Cassie’s smile grew.

          A couple of days later, Brandon had gotten off of work and decided to go one of the well-known stores in the mall. He climbed out of his truck and headed toward the doors.

          Jennie worked the cash register in the store. She tried to look for something to keep herself occupied since it was a slow day. She found a magazine to read whilst waiting for customers.

          “Excuse me,” a man began to asked, clearing his throat to get the girl’s attention.

          She looked up at Brandon. “How may I help you, sit?” she asked, trying not to sound rude but that was how the words came out.

          “Do you have any cheap, leftover prom dresses?” he asked.

          Jennie’s eyes grew wide. She thought the man was cute but quickly changed her mind. The wrong idea had popped into her head. “Um… wouldn’t you rather a tuxedo instead? I mean it’s… you’re a….”

          Brandon laughed. “It’s not for me. It’s for my girlfriend,” he answered.

          “Oh…” Jennie sighed with relief. “I’m sorry… I have a bad habit of jumping to conclusions.”

          “Well, she doesn’t know. I’m actually surprising her….”

          “Aww… but why a prom dress? School’s over and you look kind of old to be bringing her to prom.”

          “It’s a long story. I just felt like doing something nice for her and I’m going to tell her that I love her.”

          “Aww… that’s so sweet.” She had no clue that the girl Brandon had mentioned was Cassie.

          Cassie watched a few shows on the television whilst waiting for Brandon to get home. She was anxious to see him. She had to let him know how much she was in love with him and that she cared about him. “Where is he?” she asked Buck as if the dog could answer. “He should be here by now. What’s talking him so long?”

          Buck looked at Cassie. His head was titled and one ear was up whilst the other was down. He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

          “I’m so board. Please hurry home, Brandon,” she whispered, a little worried.

          She heard the door open and jumped off of the couch.

          Brandon had just walked into the house when Cassie appeared out of nowhere and gave him a hug. He was surprised but he wrapped his arms around her in return. “Hi, Cassie,” he told her with a smile. “What’s got you so excited?”

          “I’m glad to see you. That’s all.”

          They broke out of the hug. Brandon closed the door and turned to face Cassie. He held the bag with the dress but still wanted it to be a surprise until after they ate. “Cassie, can you go write down some choices of take out or whatever? I don’t care what you write down but I need to get into the shower okay?”

          “Okay.” Cassie noticed the bag in Brandon’s hand. “What’s that?”

          Brandon looked down at the bag. “That’s a bag.”

          Cassie laughed a little. “I can see that… what’s in the bag?”

          “It’s a surprise… you’ll find out later. Okay?”

          “Okay.” Cassie went back into the living room whilst Brandon walked upstairs.

Cassie searched all over the place until she found a pen and note pad. She flipped through the pad until she came to a blank page and began writing. “I wonder what he’s planning?” she asked herself.

          When she finished, she took the pad and carried it into the living room. She sat on the couch and watched the television whilst she waited for Brandon. She had suspicions that he was trying to do something for her; something nice and sweet. Cassie closed her eyes and smiled, imagining she was at the beach, sitting on a blanket next to Brandon, and they watched the sunset. This time she didn’t. She knew that the only man she wanted to be with was Brandon. Another thought popped into her head which made her flies open. “Oh crap… how am I going to tell Jennie and Melinda?” she asked herself.

          There was no way that her two best friends would approve of her dating Brandon after he had kidnapped her.

          Brandon walked into the living room, wearing blue jeans and a white tank top. His hair was damp and part of his bangs slightly fell in front of his face.

          Cassie loved what she saw. She thought that he looked hotter with his damp hair and loved the outfit choice on him.

          “So what are we having for dinner?” he asked.

          It took Cassie a minute, before she could answer. Her mind had to process the question. “Oh… I’m sorry… um… Here,” she said, handing him the note pad. If she had said anything else, she would have sounded like a moron.

          Brandon looked at the list then to Cassie. “Tacos sound good.”

          “Okay… tacos then.”

          “Okay… tacos… I’ll be back,” he told her when he started to leave.

          “Okay.”

          Thirty minutes later, Cassie heard Brandon’s car pull in and she waited for him to walk back inside.

          “I’m back,” Brandon told her whilst walking into the room with a bag of hot tacos.

          Cassie stood up and followed him into the dining room and they sat down. Brandon passed out the food then they both began eating.

After they finished eating, Brandon stood up. He held the back of his chair and looked at Cassie. “There’s a surprise upstairs that I want you to try on and I’ll get you in….” He took a moment to look at his watch. “Forty… forty-five minutes.” He locked eyes with Cassie and smiled.