43. HOPE
CHAPTER 43
HOPE
Y ou know things are turning serious with a guy when the playlists get combined.
To no one’s surprise, Cade’s contributions are a medley of country from real classics harkening to as far back as seventy years ago, to pop country and the latest. He seems to bob his head a little harder at Beyoncé and honestly, I can’t fault the boy’s taste.
Meanwhile, I offer an eclectic mix of Latin songs from all decades and almost all Caribbean genres. At some point I’m singing along to a reggaeton song from Chino y Nacho, a duo from my parents’ home country, and just listening to my off tune singing makes Cade grin. He can only spare me a few glances while driving through the horrible I-4 afternoon traffic.
The closer we get to the Lake Alfred venue, the less I sing though. We pull into a narrow country road lined by Florida oaks that are covered in hanging moss, shading the road and swaying with the wind, but the idyllic scene tells me we’re close. My hands close tight around the little purse in a nude color that I borrowed from Rosalina.
“Nervous?” Cade asks while turning down the volume with the controls in the steering wheel.
I take a deep breath. “I’m not in the business of lying so… yes. Very.”
“But why? You’re not alone.” He flashes those brilliant eyes of his. “We’re even matching obnoxiously.”
That was an idea from Rose too. Her words were, “I’ve always wished I had a boyfriend I could match my clothes to. Someone so obnoxiously in love with me that he doesn’t mind if I mark my territory in such an obvious way, and the other way around.”
A FaceTime call with Cade ensued after that, where we went through our wardrobes—mine included also both of my roommates’s closets—until we found the perfect matches.
I check Cade out again. He’s in a white linen button shirt that settles around his muscular body easily, not hiding any of his fitness, the top two buttons undone tastefully. At the bottom, he’s in a pair of terracotta chinos—Audrey was the one who taught those two words to me—and some frat boy boat shoes that match. His hair is perfectly combed with wax and in fact, I think he even trimmed it for this occasion, and he’s freshly shaved and smelling delicious.
Meanwhile, I have nearly the opposite ensemble. Rose had a pair of white jeans she described as obscenely tight on her, but they’re decent on me. Still form fitting, but I’m not flashing anyone. And Audrey produced this terracotta color top I’m wearing. It’s shoulderless but three-quarter sleeves, very tight—not hiding anything here—and cropped. I never in a million years would’ve chosen it from a store rack, but it’s a special occasion.
The occasion of showing my ex boyfriend and my ex friend that I’m beyond fine. That I’m hot and happy and unafraid to show it.
“It’s just…” I bite my lip as Cade turns into a dirt road with the guidance of the GPS. “I’m still not sure this is the right thing.”
“We can turn around any time,” he says with an easy shrug.
“Well, no. I would get upset if I made you drive an hour and a half back just when we’re arriving.”
And we are. Up ahead in the horizon we can see a sprawling mansion by the shore of Lake Alfred, the venue for Dawson and Amy’s engagement party. If only the sky would grow overcast so we could have an excuse to not hang out outdoors by a gorgeous lake surrounded by greenery and flowers. Alas.
“Then what’s the hesitation?”
I shift as far as my seatbelt allows me so I can look at his profile. “I barely got any sleep last night thinking about something.”
“Really?” He inspects my face. “You look perfect though, not tired at all.”
I press my lips tight. “Trust me, it’s the power of makeup. Anyway, I keep worrying about you.”
“Me?” Cade blows a raspberry. “Those people won’t heckle me any harder than Denver Riders fans will tomorrow.”
“Not that. I really don’t want you to think I’m just using you and that I don’t have any real feelings for you.”
Cade slows way down and brakes in the middle of the dirt road. I guess it’s fine, since there are no cars behind us, but I turn back to him in confusion. “So what are those very real feelings you have for me, then?”
I clamp my mouth shut. Tingly heat rises up my chest to my face. Wriggling, I sit facing the front again and fold my arms. “I’m not gonna admit shit before you do.”
“Hmm.” After a moment, he gets the car going again and mumbles, “Fair.”
The silence is way too embarrassing so I reach for the sound system and crank up the volume to how it was before. We drive maybe one more mile up to the house and find a spot to park on the grass. Cade walks around his truck in the time it takes me to get out and finagle the purse strap so that it stays firmly on my shoulder. He offers his hand and I hold onto it for dear life.
“Do you still remember pitches eight and nine?” Cade asks as we walk up to the house.
For a second I actually have no idea what he’s talking about, until I remember what feels like a year ago, when I went on my very last disastrous date and Cade fit me with a PitchCom so he and the guys could watch out over me.
A slow grin comes to my face. “Oh yeah, those were the help me pitch calls.”
Grabbing both of my hands, he turns me to face him entirely. “We’re changing them to a single one. Just whisper the words wild pitch in my ear and I’m bailing us out mid sentence if I have to.”
“Good idea.”
“And one more thing.” He tilts his head back, my attention diverting to his thick neck for a second. “How much PDA are we doing?”
“Huh?” I blink hard.
“The whole idea with the outfits was to mark territory but nothing’s more effective than a little public grabbing or kissing, or both.”
I don’t have to mull it over too hard, especially at the thrill wrapping around my heart and pumping it harder just from the idea of his hands on me.
“Both,” I declare with a boldness I’d never have thought myself capable of. “Anything that doesn’t land us in jail goes.”
A corner of his lips lifts. “All right, darlin’. Let’s go.”
Nodding, I pull him to resume the walk toward the string music. We border the massive house following arrow signs decorated in fresh flowers that must’ve cost un ojo de la cara, as my dad would say.
The backyard is a massive grassy patch right by a private harbor. A couple of tents protect food and drink tables, and a temporary dance floor has been placed on the grass before the tents. A real string quartet plays from a stage by the harbor, and people in pretty clothes mingle all around with their little champagne flutes.
Cade and I are super late because there was no way of excusing ourselves from work together without anyone suspecting anything, which is great because it means we’ll be in the presence of these people the least amount of time possible. Unfortunately, it also means that the moment we walk in, every pair of eyes turns to us.
“Show time,” whispers Cade.
“Hope!”
I almost melt in relief at the only friendly face. Kelly rushes over, pushing one of our college friends out of the way. Her arms wrap around me with the same familiarity of years of friendship, and I return the favor because she’s the one I’m genuinely glad to see.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so happy you came for your sweet, sweet revenge.” She pulls away, inspects me with a grin, and turns to Cade. “And you must be the new boyfriend.”
Cade drops my hand and for a horrible moment I fear he’s going to declare that he’s not my boyfriend. But instead, he offers that very hand to her for a shake. “Cade Starr, at your service, ma’am.”
“He ma’am-ed me,” she says to me while shaking his hand. “So nice to meet you, Cade. I’m Kelly, Hope and I went to college together.”
“Aren’t you that baseball player?” another familiar voice says and I relax because it’s Mitch. He and I may not be the besties, but I guess he’s the other friendly face in this vipers’s nest.
“That’s right.” Cade glances at me like he’s checking whether Mitch is a hostile or not. I smile a little and it puts him at ease. Freeing his hand from Kelly’s grip, he offers it to Mitch. “And you are?”
“Mitch Geller, Kelly’s husband.” Mitch does one of those tight manly macho handshakes but gives up the alpha act when he asks, “Any chance we could take a selfie at some point? The guys at work won’t believe I met you otherwise.”
“Uh, sure.”
I very openly explain to Cade, “Kelly and Mitch are the only people we can be normal with around here. Everyone else is no longer a friend.”
“Gotcha.” Cade frowns as if standing on the mound in the middle of a game.
But then he slides his arm around my waist, his hand falling perfectly on the patch of skin between my top and jeans, and he slides his thumb and index finger beneath my top to touch even more skin.
I swallow hard, trying to process how the relatively tame contact is making my entire body flare up.
The thing is, I’m very competitive. I can’t really let Cade think I’m the only one who can get affected in this relationship. Leaning against his side, I slide my hand in the back pocket of his chinos, splaying my hand as wide across his butt cheek as the confines of the pocket allow. It might not be noticeable to the trained eye, but I sure feel his body tense.
The heated look he flashes at me makes me unsure of who won this little game. But it doesn’t matter when we’re both enjoying it, huh?
Kelly’s eyes sparkle, having noticed everything. I have no interest in feeling embarrassed though, so I just offer a little shrug to her.
“Anyone want a drink?” Mitch glances at Cade and I, then at his wife. “Babe?”
“The booziest thing possible for me, babe,” Kelly responds.
“Same.” I grin.
Cade makes an attempt at freeing himself. “I can go with you.”
“No need, man.” Mitch shakes his head. “You have a very important role to play here as Hope’s arm accessory.”
Kelly nods. “That’s right.”
Cade clears his throat to tame a laugh. “Right. Then a sweet iced tea if they have it, please.”
“Right on.” Mitch takes the less disruptive approach of bordering the dance floor toward the tents at the back.
And that clears my view of the party to land squarely on the lovebirds. Amy with her short hair I know Dawson prefers—he used to nag me to chop all of mine off—and the pastel pink dress that shows enough cleavage and leg to be this side of spicy. She hangs from her fiancé’s arm and I’m amused to note that he’s matching her with a pastel pink button shirt and light grey slacks. In fact, a glance around confirms that all the decoration is done in these colors. Pink flowers, whites, and touches of silver.
Well, I guess Rose’s dreams of matching with a guy aren’t farfetched at all. Seems like this is a couple thing I had no idea about while I was with the groom-to-be.
Speaking of, he and his bride-to-be are heading over.
“Here they come,” Kelly warns in case I haven’t noticed.
Dawson’s eyes are fixed on Cade’s face. Funny enough, Amy’s are too. Like I’m fully invisible to them and they’re both just annoyed that someone who is somewhat famous is stealing their thunder.
“Hi,” Dawson says, planting himself in front of Cade. “I don’t believe we’ve met before. Do you have an invitation?”
Sighing, I say, “Of course he does. He’s my plus one and I sure got an invitation.”
Both of them jerk in surprise at my voice, and this is when I realize that the reason they hadn’t paid any attention is because they simply didn’t recognize me.
The cowboy, sharp eyes that he has, picks up on it right away and ramps the PDA just a notch. We definitely won’t get kicked out of the party for it. But him squeezing my side just a bit tighter with his hand is enough to attract notice. I bite my lips not to react at the fact that Cade freaking Starr’s hand spans almost from the bottom of my bra to the start of my hip.
“Oh. Um.” Amy shifts her eyes from my face to Cade’s, back and forth a few times. “Hope, so glad you could drop by. Is this…”
“Her boyfriend, yes.” Kelly nods, smiling placidly. “Don’t they look absolutely perfect for each other?”
Laying it a bit too thick, Kelly, but okay .
“Boyfriend?” Dawson lifts his eyebrows. “This is a new development. When did you start dating, Hope?” Something about his eyes is too shrewd, like he suspects me of doing exactly what I did. Date around until I found literally anyone I could bring here.
Cade runs his thumb back and forth, warming up my skin and reminding me that I’m not fighting this battle alone.
I fully lean into him, tucking my head against his chest. “Cade and I have known each other for a long, long time, but I guess we finally figured things out, huh?”
“A long time?” Dawson presses.
“What, three years?” Cade wonders aloud, looking down at me in earnest.
I make a sound from my throat. It’s true that as of this year, it has been three since I started working for the team. “Exactly.”
Dawson’s expression tightens and in contrast, Kelly stuffs her hand against her mouth to stop from laughing. It takes me another moment to connect the dots.
Wait, does Dawson think I might’ve cheated on him with Cade? Solely because Cade and I met while Dawson and I were still together?
Only someone who has considered something like that, or done it, would make that leap of assumption. Maybe his whole thing with Amy goes back farther than when Dawson broke up with me, and if she was entertaining something with my back-then-boyfriend they can both screw off together to another galaxy. I’ll be way too glad if this is the very last time I see them.
“Here you go, everyone.” Mitch approaches, hugging different drinks against his chest because he doesn’t have enough hands.
As we reach over to help him, Cade and I have no choice but separating for a quick moment. But he doesn’t pull away without first squeezing my side in such an intimate way that I transform into tingles personified. My skin breaks into goosebumps that I can’t hide because of the damn shoulderless top, and Amy notices right away.
“Thanks, babe.” Kelly gives her husband a peck on his lips and it strikes me that now I can do the same.
I have someone I can show affection to whenever the heck I want.
Cade offers his hand to me with a little smile that I can’t help but returning. I slide my fingers between his, deliberately trying to create as much friction between us as possible. He closes his hand around mine tight. It’s a much more family friendly form of possession, but I’m sure the same pink that is on Cade’s cheeks is on mine.
“Oh, excuse me,” he says all of a sudden, handing me his drink to rummage in his left pocket.
That’s when I remember we still have an audience. As Cade check’s the caller ID in his phone, I turn to the to-be-newlyweds and say, “Anyway, you two are made for each other and you have our congratulations.”
I mean it too, if they’re both cheaters then they’re with no one better but each other. And now I can recognize that both did me a favor by hurting me. Otherwise I’d still be hanging around them, none the wiser, and I never would’ve been in need of recruiting Cade to help get me unstuck.
“My apologies, I have to pick up this call,” Cade says to the audience with his usual politeness before leaning to me. “Come with?”
“Always.”
I don’t even pay the others any heed as Cade and I retreat as a unit, heading together toward the shore of the lake, as far from the quartet as we can. I feel laser beams trained on my back a while longer, until we stop under an oak.
“Hey, Lou,” Cade greets to the phone and retrieves his drink from me. I’m glad, because my hand was starting to get cold. “Uh huh.” He nods even though his agent can’t see him, his eyes trained on my hand as I dry it against my jeans.
Then Cade straightens. “For real?”
I widen my eyes and mouth a what?
Whatever it is, it’s good news going by the smile spreading on Cade’s face. “Thanks, man. This is great. Yeah, you deserve a raise.” He snorts. “‘Kay, I gotta go tell the news to my girlfriend.”
A pause in which my jaw drops.
Cade winks at me, making me wish I could touch the cold glass of his drink against my face. I down my champagne in one swig instead.
Finally, he clicks off the call and pockets his phone again. “What did he—” The rest of my question dies off as Cade takes my champagne glass and sets it on the dirt between some tree roots along with his glass.
“I have great news.” He grins and spreads his arms wide. “The temporary injunction against my stalker is approved, if she doesn’t contest it in fifteen days it turns permanent and I’m officially free of the weird fan.”
Gasping, I drop the silly purse where it falls and jump in his arms, crashing into his chest. “Aleluya!” I say in Spanish, wrapping my arms around his neck. “This is the best freaking news ever.”
“Right?” He curls into me, his face falling on my bare shoulder and he presses kisses against my skin. Wait, the kisses climb up my neck. His hand shifts to hold the back of my head as he arcs me back, his lips softly tracing my jaw until they find my lips.
But he doesn’t kiss me. His lips just hover over mine.
“Thank you, Hope.”
My eyes flutter open. “What for?”
“Caring about me as much as I care about you.” His smile touches my lips. “Now, shall we give them a show?”
“Give who a show? We’re all alone here,” I tease.
“Oh yeah?”
At long last, his lips crash on mine and I groan in victory. Who needs revenge when something much better, something as pure as this feeling between Cade and I comes along?
We hang out with Kelly and Mitch for one hour and some change, enough to watch the sunset over Lake Alfred together while we make plans for this year’s Friendsgiving. The four of us decide to leave together, and Kelly’s tipsy enough that she proclaims to be Team Cape—Cade and Hope— loudly on the way out.
“At least Friendsgiving won’t absolutely suck thanks to Kelly and Mitch, huh?” Cade says as he drives us back through the dirt road.
I snort. “Oh yeah, they’ll make it worth it. I also can’t wait to meet their little one. It’s a shame I missed the birth.”
“You have plenty of time to be an auntie.”
“Who would’ve thought?” I say in a light tone, watching him from the corner of my eye. “That this year I’d earn two brand new titles. Auntie and girlfriend.”
Unlike how any other guy could possibly react, Cade smiles.
“Is that okay?” he asks.
“Are you sure?” I ask pointedly. “We’ve only had like two dates and some minimal PDA.”
He shoots narrow eyes at me for a short stretch of the road. “Challenge accepted, then.” He stretches his right arm toward me and I watch as if in slow motion, only lit by the dim lights from the dashboard, as his big hand falls over my left thigh.
But that’s not all, he slides it slowly to my inner thigh, pressing firmer until his fingers are wedged between my thigh and the seat, his thumb pressing into my muscle.
“Is that boyfriendy enough?”
Oh, yes. Especially how it’s making me lose my mind.
I squeeze my thighs together and trap his hand. “Girlfriendy enough?”
Groaning, Cade shakes his head and focuses on the road more intently. “Woman, do you want me to crash this truck?”
I laugh. “Well, you started it.”
Slowly, he releases his breath. Some old country singer crones in the background and I watch as Cade relaxes against his seat again, but keeps his right hand exactly where it is.
“There’s something you have to know in case it’s not clear enough,” Cade whispers. “Do you remember that viral video your roommate put on social media? When I said that my ideal type is a woman who keeps it real?”
“Oh yeah.” I bite my lip, my pulse spiking in anticipation.
“It was you.” His words seem to echo in my head, but then he’s speaking again. “At that moment, when Mena was recording me, you ran across the field behind her and caught my attention, and those words blurted out of my mouth. I might’ve been crushing on you before I even knew it.”
“For… for real?”
“Yeah.” His hand squeezes my thigh a little more. “I also distinctly remember checking out your thighs while you ran. Sorry.”
“No apologies necessary.” I chuckle. “I’m just glad I never skip leg day.”
“But that’s not the reason why I’m wild over you,” Cade continues saying, effectively shutting me up. “You give it to me straight, the good and the bad. And when you show that you care, I have no reason to doubt it’s a lie. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.” He glances at me, his expression serious. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted, Hope.”
My breath hitches. “C—Cade…” Heat pricks behind my eyes but rather than crying, I pluck his hand between my thighs and lift it toward my lips, dropping a little kiss on his palm. “You’re more than I ever wanted,” I whisper, truthfully.
Pulling at my hand, he also brings it toward him for a little peck. “So, boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Sounds perfect.”
And I mean it, I wish this moment would last forever.
But of course it doesn’t.