Chapter 6
[Ford]
“Well, that was intense.”
Everything vibrant and flirtatious about Cadence vanishes in a flash at both the sudden presence and then abrupt absence of her father.
“It’s nothing,” she mutters, turning toward the man on the other side of the kitchen island. “Bartender, shot of tequila please.”
I turn as my brother Judd’s brows lift and, from behind his thick rimmed glasses, his eyes flick to mine.
Unfortunately, he’d been present to this shameful debasing of Cadence by her own father.
I don’t think Cadence even noticed Judd, but thinking she needs a drink, she’s fully conscious of him now.
“Actually, make it two. I don’t want my left hand to be jealous of my right.”
Sweet Jesus, who is this woman?
Judd continues to stare at her. “I’m not the—”
He cuts off when I reach across the large countertop and pick up the tequila bottle from the array of alcohol.
While Sebastian doesn’t drink, he wasn’t opposed, or offended, that the rest of the family does.
He actually encouraged celebrating this occasion, and I was starting to think I’d need liquid reinforcement to make it through this entire wedding weekend.
“Two,” I warn Cadence, pouring a sliver of the Mexican devil into two separate disposable cups. “That’s your limit tonight.”
“Okay, Dad.” The sarcasm in her voice is almost as rich as her old man’s had been. I could make a comment that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. However, Cadence doesn’t look anything like the man who just publicly insulted her, in front of me, a stranger no less, and a future family member.
Instead, I’d like to take her over my knee for that sassy mouth and see how she pleasantly responds to the punishment.
As for a man like her father, it would be a cold day in hell before I called someone like him family.
Glancing at Judd, I take in his pristine suit and neatly parted hair.
He’s an accountant, like Enya. A little stiff.
A little nerdy. He’d been quiet as a kid, keeping to himself as much as he could.
Of all of us, losing our mother seemed to affect him the most. Not that losing her was any less tragic for the rest of my siblings, but the younger set—myself, Sebastian, and Vale, being four, two and newly born—don’t have much recollection of our mother.
I’ve been told Judd was especially close to our mom.
Watching him lack confidence and cower from our father, I’d often imagine our mom protected him from our dad.
I’d also been told that once upon a time, our parents loved each other deeply, and my father wasn’t the evil man he’d become after her death.
Without mom present, it was evident what our father thought of Judd. Weak. A geek. A loser.
I’d disagreed with his assessment of Judd when we were kids. He was as lost as the rest of us, but I didn’t have a way to stand up to my old man other than step out of his way, and prove I was the opposite of everything he said about me.
No one will want a scrawny kid from nowhere on a major league team.
Even if our father was dead before I could show him what I’d become, his words motivated me to prove him wrong.
I blanch, suddenly remembering my family doesn’t know of the situation between Felicity and me, although her absence sends a strong message. I might have told Cadence’s father I was separated but that isn’t even half of it.
Turning back to Cadence, I watch as she picks up both cups, taps them together and then shoots each one back. She slams the plastic containers to the countertop in unison while her mouth puckers from the biting alcohol. Without any prompting, Judd is already extending a lime wedge in her direction.
“Thank you, kind sir,” Cadence chokes, struggling to fight the burn and accept the fruit offering. She sucks hard at the juicy inside, squeezing the bright green flesh between her lips, and causing a drop of juice to trickle down her chin.
Damn, if I don’t want to lap it off that angular edge.
The relief of finding out we didn’t sleep together took hold and was instantly followed by deep regret.
However, I wasn’t mentally where I needed to be yet to dip into another woman.
While I’d been certain I wouldn’t be interested in any woman anytime soon, there was something about Cadence that had me questioning everything. My sanity. My desire. My life goals.
She was hot, I’ll give her that. In a purple dress that hugged every curve of her body, leaving not much to the imagination as it outlined her hips and clung to her legs, I was suddenly sorry I didn’t remember more about last night. Did she undress before me? Did she sleep naked beside me?
“Did you sleep with me last night?”
Cadence’s mouth falls open, dropping the lime she held between her lips and awkwardly catching it in her hand before the fruit hits her cleavage.
From the opposite side of the island, Judd coughs once. “I think I’m going to—” He points toward nowhere in particular and turns on his heels, heading away from the island.
Slowly, Cadence’s blue eyes narrow. “I thought we already clarified that point.” Gone is the flirtatious tension, in which she strung me along for a hot minute, thinking we’d had sex.
“Yeah, but you stayed the night, didn’t you?” Something lingers in my memory. A warm body pressed up against mine. She hadn’t dumped me in a motel room and deserted me. She’d stayed.
“Would it matter?” The question is laced with a razor-sharp edge, or maybe a shield of protection. She wants to appear untouchable.
“You’re not answering my question and after leading me on, making me think we fucked, the least you can do is answer the question.”
We glare at one another.
“Well, songbird?” I finally demand, reminding us both that some moments from last night were not forgotten.
“Fine. I stayed, okay?”
I tilt my head, curious, confused. “Why?” If we didn’t have sex, why would she remain in the motel room with me?
“You were really drunk, and I was . . . worried.”
Beer before liquor, never sicker. “And do you often worry about drunk strangers you just met and sleep with them in seedy motel rooms?”
Cadence’s gaze narrows again. If her eyes had the power to shoot darts at me, my face would be a bull’s eye and she’d hit the mark every time.
My accusation sounds vaguely like her father. What did he mean she was jealous of Enya and why would he suggest Cadence wants to get pregnant?
“Once you told me your name, we weren’t strangers,” Cadence clarifies.
I’m surprised I told her who I was. Maybe I told her because she was the only person in the bar who didn’t know me. I must have asked her name, but her status didn’t click in my brain.
“Baseball fan?” I arch a brow, aware of my own popularity in the sport.
“Hardly.” She snorts. “And clearly you aren’t a country music buff.”
“I never said that.”
Cadence glares at me. If I was a fan, I apparently hadn’t shown it. Then again, I hardly remembered my own name last night and that was the point of doing shots with a woman I thought was a stranger in a bar. Dangerous game I’d been playing, though.
“Besides,” Cadence interjects, “you looked like you needed someone to save you.”
“I don’t need saving,” I counter.
“Yeah, but there was a woman in the bar last night who acted like she wanted to handle you, and I didn’t think you’d want that. Or need it.” Cadence purses her lips and tilts her head. “Maybe I misread the situation, though.”
No. No, I’m certain she read it correctly. I wasn’t interested in sleeping with someone random, especially after adding infidelity to the list of infractions against Felicity.
“What do you mean there was a woman who acted like she wanted to handle me?” I don’t remember another woman in the bar.
“Oh, come on,” Cadence drones as if I’m oblivious.
Like a lightning strike, I realize I might have only been concentrating on one woman. The same woman I can’t seem to drag my eyes away from now.
“You can’t be that clueless.” Cadence’s gaze rolls over my body, taking in my tailored suit and tall height, lingering on my face when she finishes. “You’re fucking hot as sin and give off this edgy vibe which just draws women to you, like a fast ball to a catcher’s mitt.”
“Nice analogy,” I mock. “And I do not.” I might have had my share of women before Felicity but once I put a ring on my finger, I never looked at anyone else.
Didn’t notice them. Didn’t notice them noticing me.
I’d been faithful to a fault because that’s what my vows required, and I believed we were forever.
I belonged to Felicity. She’s the one who misread the memo.
“Pfft.” Cadence snorts and reaches for the tequila bottle, but I’m quick to snatch it upward and tuck it to my chest.
“Hot as sin, huh?”
“And don’t you know it, darlin’.”
Maybe. Still, the compliment is nice to hear. I don’t remember the last time Felicity said something nice to me. My mouth slowly crooks. I might not have had sex with Cadence, but she would have been good for the ego if I had.
As I refuse to set down the tequila bottle, Cadence’s shoulders slowly lower and she turns back toward the countertop.
Placing her hands on the surface, she glances down at them, and I notice how slender and fine they look.
Delicate even. She plays the piano and guitar.
This information came from my girls and their love of the country superstar.
“Why’d you do it?” Her voice drops, quiet and soft. Gone is the sugary sweetness. In its place is a vulnerability I hadn’t expected and don’t understand.
“Do what?”
Cadence turns her head, keeping her hands braced on the countertop. “Why’d you tell my dad we were working on getting pregnant?”
Because he was an asshole talking to his daughter like he was. “I was joking, but I’m sorry if that ruined your reputation.”
Cadence snorts and turns her attention back to her fingers, splaying them out against the polished counter. Slowly, her fingers start to move, like she’s playing the piano. Like a tune has come to her head. I’m reminded of her swaying before the jukebox in Randy’s last night.
“What reputation?” A shield barricades the vulnerability in her question.
“America’s darling,” I tease, hoping to lessen the tension slowly swirling around her.
She lets out another dismissive exhale that doesn’t settle well with me, and I watch as her fingers continue to tap against the counter in a steady pattern.
“Daddy, Zelle won’t let me have another cupcake!”
With Winnie’s whining voice, I turn toward her.
A stern looking Zelle follows closely on her heels.
Behind both girls is Halle Reynold’s teenage daughter, Violet, who has become self-appointed keeper of my girls.
The slim redhead with long legs and a wide smile looks exactly how I remember her mother when Halle was in high school and dating my older brother, Knox.
As high school sweethearts, they recently reconnected and love struck a second time for them.
“Actually, I didn’t think it was a good idea,” Violet interjects, hiking June higher on her hip, protecting Zelle’s older sister authority while gently chiding Winnie. “Three should probably be the limit until we get you some dinner.”
Fuck. I’m being a negligent father. The entire family was waiting on the arrival of the bridal party before eating.
Stone didn’t want anyone touching the buffet before they returned from the rehearsal at Enya and Sebastian’s place.
As the grill master, he planned to do the honors although Enya had the rest of the meal catered.
Sebastian made all the desserts, thus the cupcakes, and a set of lemon baby-bundt cakes specifically for Enya.
“Violet’s right, baby. Let’s get some dinner.
” I reach forward for June who tucks herself tighter into Violet’s side, ducking her head into the teen’s shoulder.
My youngest misses her mother and tells me at every turn by clinging to other women and glaring at me with those wisdom-filled eyes. You’re fucking up, Pops.
“So, you’re a dad?”
Cadence’s question has me giving her my attention once more while Winnie wraps her arm around my left leg, and I place a hand on her head.
“These are my girls. Zelle.” I nod at my oldest. “Winnie.” I stroke my hand over her hair. “And June.”
“Me bug.” June corrects with her thumb in her mouth. My older brother Knox started calling her June Bug, and now my daughter wants to be named after a beetle.
“Girls, this is Cadence.”
“She is not,” Zelle argues, like she doesn’t see the woman she fangirled over only yesterday morning. “Cadence has blonde hair.”
Cadence arches a brow but Winnie whines again. “Daddy, I need dinner so I can have another cupcake.”
I glance at June and catch her staring at Cadence. And Cadence can’t seem to take her eyes off my youngest. Slowly the singer’s smile returns. She almost transforms in front of me again, back to the performer. The flirt. The superstar.
But I’m curious about the woman who took care of me last night.
The one who thought I needed taking care of, and then took it upon herself to do so.
I hadn’t answered her question about her father. I don’t know why I wrapped my arm around her or leaned in to kiss her temple. I just didn’t like how he spoke to her. He could fuck off.
“June,” Cadence whispers. “What a beautiful name.” Then she blinks. “Well, June, how do you feel about hot dogs? I bet there is one somewhere around here with your name on it.”
June’s eyes widen and she lifts her head from Violet’s shoulder.
She kicks her legs signaling she wants to be set down and Violet accommodates.
Then Cadence is holding out her hand and June easily takes it, spiking that fear I have that she’ll wander off with any woman as a replacement for the one who abandoned her.
Cadence leads June toward the dining room where the buffet is set up, and for a ridiculous moment, I wonder what it would be like if Cadence was actually June’s mother.
She’d probably do a better job caring for my girls than Felicity ever has.