“I thought this was casual, Cade.” She pulled on a bra. She used to be able to go without one, but since she’d lost her job she’d given up on things like exercise and eating properly, and it seemed to all go to her boobs. Even if she did get her old clothes out of storage, she wouldn’t fit into them. She grabbed a flannel shirt. She used to wear designer everything. She used to be somebody. Now she just pissed men off.
“It isn’t casual for Jesse.” He frowned. “And I don’t know what it is for me. I need some time to figure it out. I’ll be real honest. I never planned on settling down. I still don’t know if I like the idea.”
Harsh words but honest. She wondered if this was brought on by the revelation that she was in a little trouble. Maybe he didn’t like the idea that she was the kind of person other people hated, sometimes on sight. “Well, I was just surprised you were still here this morning. I kind of thought you would leave.”
He sighed. “I tried to.”
Honesty sucked. It was kind of a kick in the gut. “Well, no one’s stopping you, Cade. The door is that way.”
His face screwed up in the sweetest grimace. “Yeah, your mom and Naomi are out there. The first time I tried to leave, they caught me in all my glory. Your mom isn’t really big on well-hung dudes, it seems.”
She felt every inch of her skin go up in flames. “My mother is out there?”
“Yeah. She wasn’t real happy with me, but then I made her breakfast and Jesse threatened to kidnap both of you after he found out about the whole heart thing, so now I think she thinks I’m the reasonable one.”
Her fists clenched at her sides. “You came back in here and fucked me while my mom sat in the other room listening in?”
Cade seemed to finally realize he was in trouble. “Baby, your mom knew we fucked. And I don’t think she’s listening in, although she probably heard because you make a ton of noise. And damn you’re so fucking cute when you blush.” He sat up. “Gemma, don’t look like that. I love the noises you make. They’re hot.”
Tears threatened. They hadn’t even bothered to tell her. No, they’d come in with a plan. She could see that now. What she’d thought had been passion had been a careful dialogue meant to trick her into saying she was Jesse’s woman so when she lied about nothing being wrong they could trap her. She was done. She needed to breathe. She thought briefly about climbing out the window, but it was awfully small. She needed to take a long walk and cool off and figure out how to deal with this crap. It felt like every man in her life had betrayed her this morning.
“Gemma, don’t you walk out of this house.” Cade moved fast. He was reaching for his pants as she opened the door.
Sure enough, her mother and Naomi were sitting at the small kitchen table. Her mom looked up and smiled. Naomi gave her a big thumbs-up, but Gemma didn’t want to talk or hear about how hot her two rat fink bastards were. She wanted to get away.
There was a brisk knock on the door. That was what she needed, more company, more people to see what an idiot she’d been.
“Gemma, honey, what’s wrong?” her mom asked.
Naomi stood up. “Don’t be embarrassed. We didn’t hear that much and what we did hear sounded pretty damn good. I know I’m jealous.”
Well then they obviously hadn’t heard the fact that this morning’s lovemaking—fucking—session had been one long power play. She threw open the door, ready to blow right past whoever stood on the other side.
She stopped. Patrick stood there dressed in what he would likely call casual chic. Perfectly pressed slacks. Flawless dress shirt. Thousand-dollar shoes. A pair of designer aviator sunglasses covered his eyes, but he slid them off as he looked at her.
“Gemma? Holy crap. What happened to you?” Patrick asked, his voice a shocked gasp.
The bedroom door opened and Cade sort of fell through it. He was trying to get into his jeans, but he tripped as he hit the doorway. “Gemma. Gemma Wells! You do not walk outside this cabin. I swear to god I will spank your ass, and I don’t have Jesse’s practice with it so it will probably hurt like hell.”
The shower shut off. Any minute Jesse would walk out and she would be surrounded by men who she should never have slept with. She took the easiest way out. She grabbed Patrick’s hand and hurried down the steps. She immediately saw the rental car in her driveway. A Lexus. Naturally.
“Let’s go.”
Patrick beeped the car. “Where are we going?”
“Anywhere but here. Now get a move on or you’re going to have to deal with two very angry men.”
Patrick slid into the driver’s seat. Gemma buckled her belt. She couldn’t miss the smooth smile of satisfaction that crossed Patrick’s face. He winked her way. “Looks like you’re in trouble again, babe. Lucky for you, I’m here.”
She watched in the rearview mirror as Jesse and Cade charged out of the cabin. Jesse only had a towel wrapped around his waist. She was worried, for a moment, that he would just start running, but both men stared at the car, scowls on their faces.
Gemma took a deep breath as Patrick turned back toward town and wondered if she hadn’t just made a terrible mistake.
Chapter Eleven
“So, do you want to explain to me what you’re doing in this crap hole?” Patrick asked, pushing the plastic menu away.
The better question was why she was sitting with her ex-fiancé when there were two half-naked men at home. Angry men, she mentally corrected. Really angry. Probably done-with-her men. That was what was waiting for her. She took a long breath, banishing the tears that threatened to fall. She wasn’t going to cry around Patrick.
“My mom grew up here.” She looked down at the menu and wondered what the special was. Sushi. Thank god. The way Hal prepped, she might actually die from eating it.
Patrick sat back, giving her a high-voltage smile. “I forgot about that. It’s easy, you know. You’re so intelligent that it’s hard to believe you came from such humble roots. God, I drove into town, if you can call it that, and wondered how bad it’d gotten that you’d end up here.”
She put the menu down. Like being from the city meant a person had brains. She’d met more incredibly intelligent people here in Bliss than she’d ever known in New York. “It’s a nice town. I came here to be with my mom who is recovering from cancer.”
“And the guy climbing out of the bedroom?” Patrick’s eyebrow arched.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but his name is Cade.”
“You’re seeing someone?”
Gemma leaned forward, ready to dispense with the bullshit. “Why are you here, Patrick?”
God, it was supposed to be her wedding day. She should be getting ready to walk down the aisle to meet her picture-perfect groom and start her well-planned life.
“I made a mistake, Gemma. I knew it the minute you walked out.”
“Well, it’s six months later so you couldn’t have been too sure.”
“Babe, you have to understand. It was all over the papers. The partners were horrified. I couldn’t just go back to you. I had to think about how it would look. I had to play a long game.”
He couldn’t just go back to her? As if she would have had him. She looked up at the clock. Straight-up noon. She’d forced Patrick to drive around for what felt like forever before she settled on hiding out at Stella’s. Maybe she should have driven into Creede, but she was half hoping they would come after her. What was she doing?
She should call Jesse. No. She wasn’t going to call Jesse. This was what happened when she acted on emotion. She should have sat down and made a decision matrix and decided what to do from there. But no, she’d run on pure fear and now she’d probably wrecked everything.