Hard-Won Attraction Ch. 01

Her parents were so old-fashioned, she thought, as she dressed for the party. She wasn't a tender young school girl anymore, not by a long shot she wasn't. What she was was a very fine example of 'blooming womanhood' as her mother was so find of saying. Standing in front of her full-length mirror, clad only in tight jeans, heels, and a bra, Cadee smiled back at herself. It was a good body, she judged, her genetics blessing her with a rather tall height, attractive frame, and very curvy proportions, although she didn't see that when she looked in the mirror. What she saw were the little things, like the scars around her waist from when she had tried to roller blade behind her cousin's car when she was 12, her tanned and subtly muscular forearms from her occasional volunteer missions on her cousin's farm, her flat stomach that was very slightly rippled from her interests in keeping fit.

These things she was proud of, as she had earned them herself, and she was proud of her heritage only so far as it enabled her to do the things she wanted to do. Not that it appeared that way to her mother. Her mother's entire side of the family was "untouched" or "untainted" according to her mother's words, depending on the level of intoxication involved. Cadee had heard it all from her mother, how her mother's family tree was one of the purest lineage's in the country and how they could trace their roots back so far... Personally Cadee thought it was a bunch of crap, as their immediate family was wealthy mostly due to her father's skillful efforts into the business world before he retired a few years ago. Cadee loved it as she was able to see him more now that he wasn't at work, but she sensed that he wasn't as enchanted with being home as much as she was, as she saw him being pulled more and more into her mother's social gatherings. Much like this one, she reflected, as she continued to brood on her reflection.

"Cadee! Cadee! Oh for goodness sakes, you're not even ready! Here, why don't you let me help you out," her mother said, reaching into her wardrobe and attempting to pull out Cadee's most ruffled, fluffy dress, one that Cadee had been bribed into wearing precisely once a couple of years ago for her grandmother's funeral because, as her mother said, "it's what SHE would have wanted!" Cadee had initially rebelled, and only caved out of familial kindness and her amusement when she saw that she had actually gotten off easy in terms of dress code. Her father and brother had been like statues then entire ceremony in their ruffled shirts, high ruff collars, and coat-tails. She stifled a good chuckle at that one, mostly because she did not want her mother to take this as a sign of approval. Instead, she went into her usual method of protest.

"Mother, I'm not going to wear that old thing," she replied tiredly but firmly.

"Why not?" asked her mother. It was tiring argument, one they had had many times since she had first worn the dress against her will. Cadee prided herself that she had yet to use the same argument twice.

" This is a semi-formal meeting, a dinner meeting. Having that dress on would more likely scare off any boys that I meet as thinking I;m off-limits more than anything." she replied coolly. Although she had the utmost disdain of the fashion rules her mother lived by, she know enough of them to be able to counter her mother's most evadible thrusts.

"Hmm, good point, and we don't want that to happen, do we, pumpkin?" her mother smiled sweetly, roving off to the next item on her internal checklist. Inwardly, Cadee screamed. Just another chance for her mother to display her on the end of a stick like a piece of meat for all the boys to salivate on, she thought. Bad enough I have to do this for formal things, now I have to dress up for informal things too? Oh well, let's get this over with, she thought, pulling on a more conservative blouse to go along with her tight jeans, although she kept her high heels on, making her an intimidating presence an inch over 6 feet. Oh well, she grinned inwardly. I just hope there are no more Prince Short-boy's in the audience, and she meant that in more ways than one. The last time she had tried to take an inbred, coddled mama's boy to bed, she had ended the night satisfying herself in her own bed because prince Charming had had a little to much to imbibe that night...

As she walked down the hall to the back door, she inwardly grimaced at the though of meeting these people. At least they were her father's former business partners, and not some socialite's family that her mother was trying to introduce her to, Cadee thought. Apparently, she was the prime target for every spinster's idea for martial bliss. Not that she was going to let that happen, she was perfectly happy going to out of the way clubs and exotic bike rallies, and various other places that would have shocked her prim mother right out of her socks to even imagine her daughter there. As she thought gleefully for the thousandth time of her mother finding out about her 'indiscretions' she thought back to today's events.

It was only supposed to be a dual family get-together, as her father explained it, which was why she had agreed to be there. He had been anxious to see his old business partners and their family, although her mother had insisted on making a formal thing out of it. Still, with the promise of good food from her father, and some different guests from her mother's normal crop, Cadee had agreed to attend.

She went out into the backyard, which she was surprised to see had a rather large BBQ grill in the corner. Her father and a man she initially took to be the caterer were standing around it, laughing and talking sharing a beer. Her father never held her mother's snobbish attitudes towards anyone that worked for him, which was one of the attributes that Cadee held very high on her list of parental preferences. Three large boys that Cadee took to be the caterers' sons were wrestling around on the ground. The oldest was about Cadee's age, while the youngest was just out of adolescence. While technically the oldest one was a man, in her experience males that age were still boys and the present behavior of the male was not helping. One of them, the largest anmd whom looked like the youngest, broke off wrestling and came running full-tilt towards Cadee. The other two, seeing their brother was not with them, swiftly located him and started running towards the tow of them, but it was obvious that they would not reach them before this behemoth of a person arrived.

What happened next was so unexpected that Cadee nearly burst out laughing. The giant boy skidded to a stop a few feet away from Cadee, held out his hand and said, "Hi, my name is Ben, will you marry me?"