I tried not to think about it.
I was delivering drinks to a table with three guys when one of them put his hand on my ass. I cursed Romeo in my head while hurriedly putting down the drinks.
“No touching,” I said through a forced smile, pushing his hand away.
“Sweetheart, I’ve got a hard-on just lookin’ at you,” the guy said. He wasn’t drunk but was well on his way. His buddies laughed, both of them staring at my chest.
“Well, that’s just great,” I said sweetly. “I hear men your age often have trouble with that.”
His smile faded pretty quick and I headed back behind the bar.
I grabbed the coffeepot and went to refill Kade’s cup.
“Should I break his arm or just his hand?”
I glanced at him, surprised. “Neither,” I said. His face was cold and he was staring at the guy who’d put his hand on me. “It’s just part of the job. Especially when Romeo has us dress like this. You get used to it.”
“I don’t like it,” he said, swinging his gaze back to mine.
I shrugged. “It is what it is,” I said. “You didn’t tell me how your back was. What did the doctor say?”
“He said I’m fine. Don’t change the subject.”
“Fine. Then I’ll just get back to work then.” I spun away and spent the rest of the evening ignoring Kade. Well, at least I pretended to. He was a hard man to ignore, especially when I felt his gaze on me the entire time.
“So what’s with tall, dark, and gorgeous?” Tish asked as we were cleaning up. She gave a small jerk of her head toward Kade. “Wasn’t he the guy you left with that one night a few months back?”
She meant when I’d pretended to pick Kade up from the bar. It felt like forever ago, so much had happened since.
“Remember how Blane and I broke up because he accused me of sleeping with his brother?”
She nodded.
“That’s him.”
Her mouth fell open and she took another look. “Well, if you weren’t sleeping with him, you should fix that right quick.”
I avoided that one, reiterating instead, “He’s Blane’s brother.”
Tish shrugged, tugging the overflowing trash bag from the bin. “So? Stuff like that happens all the time. It’s not like you’re doing a threesome.” She grinned. “Though that sounds awesome.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her irreverent humor, though I was sure the image that flashed unbidden through my mind had me turning bright red. I glanced at Kade, who was watching us, and quickly looked away.
At last it was time to leave and I went to grab my purse from underneath the bar.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” Kade said, sliding off the stool.
I gave a curt nod, following him out the door.
“I called a company to start cleanup on your apartment,” he said as I locked the door behind us. “They moved your stuff into storage for now.”
“Thank you,” I replied. That was one less thing to worry about, though I wondered how badly my clothes reeked of smoke.
The night air was thick and humid. Sweat broke out immediately on my skin. Fishing an elastic band from my pocket, I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail as I walked beside Kade. Not even a slight breeze stirred.
“Feels like a storm coming,” I said absently, glancing up at the sky. A flash of lightning lit up the horizon.
“Not pissed at me anymore?” Kade asked.
I sighed. “I’m tired of feeling. Angry, sad, hurt, bitter, disappointed, afraid. I’m just sick of it all.” I desperately wanted a drink, something to numb the tumult and confusion inside me.
We’d reached my car and Kade’s Mercedes was right next to it, which was an apt paradigm for how I felt standing next to him. Like his elegant car, he was beautiful and drew the eye. From the wave of his inky black hair to his clear blue eyes, square jaw, lean biceps and shoulders encased in thin cotton, he looked like an expensive luxury. My lips curved in a sardonic smile at the analogy.
Kade leaned against my car, blocking the door. “What’s so funny?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Just a stray thought.”
He raised an arched brow, waiting.
I sighed, feeling stupid. “I was thinking that our cars look like us.”
Kade frowned in confusion.
“You know,” I said, waving a hand toward the Mercedes, “yours is gorgeous and perfect, and mine is cheap and forgettable.” So forgettable, he didn’t even remember making love to me. Yeah, it was for the best, but it was still a blow to my pride whenever I thought about it, which was way too often.
Now his lips twitched in a near smile even as I wished I’d just kept my mouth shut. The comparison had sounded ridiculous when I’d said it out loud.
He reached out and snagged a finger in the band of my shorts. “C’mere,” he said, tugging lightly. The roughness of his voice made my stomach tighten. I let him pull me closer until we were nearly touching.
“So you think I’m gorgeous and perfect?” he said, settling his hands on my hips.
I deliberately recalled the image of his face as he lost all control, his body inside mine. “You’re beautiful,” I blurted. Kade’s ego didn’t need stroking, but I couldn’t help it.
His smirk faded. “I wish you were as forgettable as your car.”
Kade’s eyes searched mine as though trying to read what I was hiding. My hands were clenched in fists at my sides so I wouldn’t touch him, and I was hypersensitive to every brush of his fingers against my bare skin.
“Come on,” he said, stepping away and taking my hand.
“Where are we going?” I asked, following as he led me to his car.
“There’s something I want to show you.”
“But what about my car?” I protested.
“We’ll get it tomorrow. Get in.”
I thought I should probably say no, should just get in my car and drive away, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to miss a single moment I might have with Kade, not when they were numbered.
I got in the car.
A half hour later, Kade was pulling into a deserted high school parking lot. It was a big school, one everyone in Indiana knew about. He turned off the engine and pocketed the keys.
The sultry night air hit me again when I emerged from the air-conditioned car. You could almost feel the wetness in the air, it was so thick and heavy.
Kade took my hand and we started walking. The night was moonless, the clouds obscuring the night sky, but he seemed to know where he was going, his steps sure.
We left the parking lot and walked across grass toward a gentle hill dotted with trees. A breeze had picked up and I could hear the rustle of the leaves around us. We didn’t speak, and the gradual incline combined with the humidity had me sweating after a few minutes. We eventually broke through a copse of trees and I halted in surprise.
The hill had crested, and spread out below us was the heart of the town, nestled among the trees. Lights blinked in the darkness, warm and friendly. It seemed like something out of one of those Thomas Kinkade paintings.
Kade sat on the grass, drawing me down next to him. The grass was cool and soft on the backs of my thighs. I leaned back on my elbows with a sigh.
“I used to come here when I was a kid,” he said. “It was quiet, peaceful. I could think here, and just… be.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said.
We sat like that, in companionable silence, for a while. I deliberately didn’t think about anything. I just wanted to enjoy being there, in the moment, with Kade.
“I came here when Blane told me he was joining the Navy,” Kade said. He turned on his side to face me, propping himself on one elbow to rest his head in his hand.