Then I realized where we were on a beach, in public, in broad daylight.
Shit!
I sat up quickly and Cade frowned, trying to pull me back down and after being unsuccessful, he sat up.
“Babe, like your mouth, like you on top of me, especially after all that. What the fuck?” he growled.
“We’re in public, Cade,” I declared, righting my shirt and darting my eyes around the beach. Thankfully there wasn’t anyone in the immediate vicinity.
“So?” He stared at me, annoyed.
“So? I thought that might be enough of a deterrent. We could get done for indecent exposure!” I blew the hair out of my face to see him smile.
“Baby, was kissing you. Wasn’t fuckin’ you, and sure as shit wasn’t going to expose any of you, that’s for my eyes only. Although you are exposing more than enough in those shorts.” His gaze narrowed, dropping to my legs.
“These shorts are the shit,” I snapped, sensitive to people criticizing my fashion choices.
“Yeah they are, your legs look amazing in those things, all I can do is imagine them wrapped around my back, and that will be what every other man will be thinking when he looks at you.” He raised his eyebrows. “Not too keen on men thinking about my woman like that.”
His woman. It hit me. He considered me his, considered us together, as he had done pretty much since the first moment we met. That was intense, too intense. Given all the information I had learned about him and the club, I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted. We had slept together once, okay more than once technically, but we had spent only one night together. A handful of amazing make out sessions, multiple orgasms, and limited conversation did not a relationship make.
I couldn’t deny this man was under my skin, there was something between us, something I couldn’t describe, but something that seemed to turn this relationship up to warp speed. With a regular guy, this would freak me out — with someone who represented a past I was trying to escape, it made me want to run for the hills.
“Gwen?” Cade asked softly, interrupting my inner monologue.
“I can’t do this,” I whispered, watching as his face hardened.
“Yes, you can, Gwen. Don’t let that prick deputy get into your head,” he said fiercely, holding me tight.
“This has nothing to do with Luke, I just can’t do this.” I gestured between us. “There’s things you don’t know about me–”
“Well then, tell me,” he interrupted roughly.
I shook my head, lifting myself off him, expecting him to hold me in place. Surprisingly, he let me go, helping me get to my feet, then grabbed my hips softly. His gray eyes pierced mine.
“I know you feel this, Gwen, this thing between us, it’s not fucking normal, but don’t run away because you’re scared.”
His gaze, the electricity sizzling between us made my resolve waver.
“I need time to think about this, can you give me that?” I conceded.
He sighed, bringing my forehead to his. “Yeah, baby.”
I had a feeling even if I had a hundred years, I wouldn’t be able to figure it out.
I was curled up on our porch reading a book, or trying to read, when it was yanked out of my hands.
“Hey! I was reading that.” I scowled at Amy, who was standing above me, one hand on my book, one on her hip.
“Oh really? Is that why you haven’t turned a page in the last half hour?”
“It’s a very engrossing page. I find that reading it a couple of times brings about a richer understanding of the complexities of the characters,” I countered.
Amy raised a brow.
I sighed. “Fine! I keep staring at the same sentence because I can’t stop thinking about Cade. Happy?” I pouted at her.
She perused me for a moment, then gripped my arms and heaved me up to stand in front of her. “No, I am not happy. I am supremely disappointed at the revelations of the other day’s events. While I completely agree with your decision, I am sad because I’ve never seen you like that with a guy, especially one that rivals Chris Hemsworth on the hotness scale. But you know what they say, the best way to get over a guy is to get under another. So let’s go!” She herded me into the house.
“Where are we going? Last time I checked there weren’t any men hiding in my closet that I could get under.” Well, as long as you didn’t count my vibrator.
“Ha ha, Gwen. You’re not going to attract any men wearing a football shirt and sweat pants, so you have to change into my black Gucci dress.”
“It’s a rugby top not football, and if I was back at home, my appreciation for the All Blacks would have the men lining up to talk to me,” I argued as she shoved me into her closet, which was equally as impressive as mine.
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t like to know what kind of men they would be, but here in America, a hot-blooded male responds to tits, ass, and leg. You’ve got those in abundance.” Her gaze flickered to my chest. “Maybe not the first one, but the other two make up for that.”
I scowled at her as she threw me her dress, but took it, pulling off my shirt.
It had been three days since my conversation with Cade on the beach. I had kept myself busy, but he kept invading my thoughts. No matter how much my rational self pointed me firmly away from him, other parts of my body, like my vagina and my heart nudged me in his direction. I almost drove out there last night, only stopping myself when I was actually in my car.
It didn’t help I’d heard the rumble of Harley’s multiple times in the past few days and had actually seen him drive past me when I was walking out of the coffee shop. Our eyes had locked for a quick second, even from a distance my thighs had quivered. It took all I had not to chase him down. Luckily, I was carrying precious cups of coffee, which were otherwise known as my sanity, so I could not relinquish them, even to chase a sexy herd of bikers down the street.
That was not normal behavior. So maybe Amy was right, maybe I did need to look at distracting myself with someone else, or at least consume huge amounts of alcohol. I wasn’t going near Luke, knowing that Rosie was into him. It would be totally against girl code, and even if she didn’t like him, my feelings for him were purely platonic, no matter how hot he was. He had called me to apologize for that day and I had assured him it wasn’t his fault. He had said nothing about Cade, thankfully, but did turn up this morning at the store with my coffee and lighthearted banter.
Like nothing had happened.
I wished I could act like that too.
A desperation for normalcy found me at Laura Maye’s bar, with Amy at my side. I had expected some country themed saloon after meeting Laura Maye, but I was pleasantly surprised. The place reminded me of a trendy place in New York. The bar ran down the middle of the room, it had a shiny chrome top with green leather stools along it. Floor to ceiling windows exposed the ocean’s breathtaking view, with classy booths running along the windows.
“You girls finally made it! And don’t you both look fine, the men in here are going to be fighting over each other to get to the pair of you.” Laura Maye appeared from behind the bar, kissing us on the cheeks like old friends.
I couldn’t help but smile at this woman’s warm and friendly nature. “It’s so nice to see you again, Laura Maye, your bar is amazing. I can’t believe we haven’t been here sooner.”