Even if I could have argued without humiliating myself, I wouldn’t have. I pushed past him, ignoring my coworkers. Some were lobbing “Chatterbox” at me while others were almost complimentary. I heard at least one “Dopey’s got a mean right hook” on my way out.
My vision was blurred by rage, so I didn’t see the blonde until I bumped into her.
The soft swells of her breasts pressed my chest. My hands instinctively curled around her small shoulders. I blinked, focusing on the bluest blue eyes and the lushest, pink lips mere inches from my own.
Tasha
I had just exited the ladies’ room when I smacked into a wall. But it wasn’t a wall. It was Cade. And he was seething. His fists were balled at his sides, his eyes unseeing at first. The moment he touched me, his features softened. The transformation was astounding.
His eyebrows returned to their neutral stations, his mouth parted gently, and his thumbs brushed over my shoulders in silent apology.
“Hi.”
No response.
“Are you all right?” I scanned his clothes—polo, work pants, boots. No apron. Nothing was out of place, but something was wrong. Then I spotted his bloody knuckles. “Oh my God!”
Careful of his damaged hand, I grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the ladies’ room.
“No.”
Once he resisted, moving him became impossible. There was no way to budge him when he dug his heels in—physically or mentally. Go figure.
I tried another tactic. “There’s no one in there. And you look like you need a minute. Let me clean you up.”
He glanced over at a couple I guessed to be around our age. I didn’t recognize them, but he seemed to. The next thing I knew, Cade was dragging me into the ladies’ room.
It was a onesie. When we were both in, I locked the door. Oak & Sage was a super-fancy restaurant, so there was no paper towel dispenser. Instead a basket filled with plush, white cotton towels sat on the back of the sink. That was unfortunate for whomever was responsible for the restaurant’s laundry.
“What happened?” I wet one of the towels with cold water as I talked. “Did you hit something?” Upon closer examination in better light, it was apparent that the blood on his hand wasn’t his. I dabbed his knuckles gently. “Well, I hope you didn’t hit someone.”
I heard a grunt and looked up to find his mouth lifted into a smirk.
“You hit someone?”
He shrugged.
“Cade. You can’t do that. You need this job and you need…” I stopped midsentence when he snatched the towel out of my hand and finished cleaning his knuckles with twice my force and half my patience. “If you’re upset or angry, you should deal with it in a healthy way.”
He slid a glare my way before tossing the towel into the basket in the corner of the bathroom. Then he turned to me and folded his arms over his chest. My eyes accidentally skated over his ample biceps. Even in an unflattering black polo shirt, he was achingly attractive.
“Like wuh-what?”
“Try counting down from ten,” I said, as if his question hadn’t been rhetorical. He advanced toward me. “Slowing your breathing helps.” Another step. “Have you tried meditation?” The word “meditation” left my lips in a whisper, since Cade was standing almost nose to nose with me. I tried backing up again, but there was nowhere to go. My butt bumped the door.
“Or?” His voice was a soft rumble, and in an instant, I remembered how cocky he used to be. That night he’d hit on me, he’d been a complete ass. But this version of Cade wasn’t quite as cocky. More calmly confident and a touch dangerous. Neither of which were a turnoff.
His lips hovered over mine, his piney, earthy scent swirling around me. I tipped my chin up when his breath brushed over my lips, my heart hammering my chest as my eyes closed.
Before his lips could touch mine, the handle on the door jiggled, followed by a sharp knock. “Anyone in there?”
I pushed off the door, swiping my brow and wondering if I’d gone temporarily insane. “We should go. Are you okay?”
One side of his mouth tipped up as he gave me a head-to-toe sweep. “Are you?”
I was too flummoxed to answer. He unlocked the door and opened it to find an older woman in a pale pink pantsuit at the threshold. At first she appeared slightly inconvenienced, but then she registered Cade and me, and her expression shifted to positively scandalized.
“We thought this was the kitchen,” I blurted out.
Cade grinned over his shoulder. Dimple and all. Not gonna lie, my knees went a little gooey.
“K-kitchen?” he asked with a chuckle as he led me away from the bathroom.
“Shut up.” I shook my hand from his. “I have to go. Glad you’re okay.”
I rushed past him and said a quick goodbye to Rena, promising to explain later. Even though I wasn’t sure I could explain why I’d almost kissed Caden Wilson in Oak & Sage’s ladies’ room, I vowed to do my best.
Cade
Devlin drove me home from work, which was better than Paul picking me up. It wasn’t like I could’ve asked Tasha for a ride. By the time I walked to the bar, she was bolting out the front door, her blond hair billowing in her wake.
When she’d suggested ways to relax, the only one that came to mind was kissing her. That would relax me. So close. I could still smell the slightly fruity fragrance of her bubblegum pink lip gloss.
After she’d gone, I ventured back into the kitchen, despite Devlin trying to send me home. He’d pulled on an apron and was sweating over the flat-top grill in Hamilton’s place. His frown had conveyed that I shouldn’t have been there, but I ignored it and pulled my own apron over my head. I’d finished my shift. He’d lived with it.
My formerly silver tongue that had been my biggest and best asset was at present my worst enemy. Unable to make a convincing case in my defense, my only option was to stay silent and look mean.
“I get it,” Dev said, turning on the windshield wipers when it started to rain. “Hamilton is a dick.”
I grunted my agreement.
“He’s also my only grill guy. If he quits, I’m screwed, man. Unless you want to be trained on grill.” His eyes flicked to mine before returning to the road.
I didn’t have to answer. He knew my answer. I wasn’t looking to build a career at Oak & Sage.
“I can’t give you special treatment.”
I didn’t want special treatment but telling him so would involve a lot of complicated words, so instead I went with, “Got it.”
He parked his SUV in the Wilson driveway, in front of the garage. “I’ll talk to the guys.”
“D-don’t.” I leveled him with my most severe glare. The last thing I needed was my big, bad brother asking everybody to stop picking on me. Kill me now.
“Fine. But do me a favor and communicate without using your fists. Do it again Cade, and I swear, you’re fired. I don’t care whose fault it is. Running a restaurant is a lot harder than it looks.”
Feeling every bit of the little brother I was, I climbed out of the car and slammed the door. Which admittedly was a childish reaction. I understood how, between the two of us, Devlin saw himself as the adult. He was living with his girlfriend, I was over my dad’s garage. He was running a restaurant, I was bussing tables at that restaurant. He was raking in money, I was…not.