Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
A nnie
It’s our last day in Sunny Springs. Cade said he had a surprise for me. It’s also Valentine’s Day. This trip has been amazing. We’ve been sneaking off to have sex in all kinds of secluded places on the farm like the storage room in the barn and the saddle room in the stables. I head downstairs with a smile on my face, and I pass Daddy in the hall.
“He’s made you breakfast.” Daddy’s grin is mischievous, and I wonder what the guys have planned.
“Are you joining us?” I ask him.
“Nah, I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone.” Dad winks as Mom comes down the stairs. She’s smiling, which is a look I haven’t seen on her in years.
“Do you remember when we were young and in love?” she asks Daddy.
“I sure do,” he answers with a blissful far-off look.
The fact they were so in love and grew so far apart reminds me nothing is guaranteed in life.
“You better not leave Cade waiting,” Daddy suggests.
I smile and head to the kitchen. Cade is wearing one of Daddy’s ridiculous aprons. This one says, Mr. Good Lookin’ Is Cookin’ . A snort escapes me.
“At least you aren’t wearing the one that says Best Dad Ever .”
“Happy Valentine’s, baby.” Cade leans in and kisses me. “Take a seat.”
He has two placements set and something cooking on the stove.
He walks the pan over from the stove and places bread cut out into two red hearts on my plate. He does the same for himself.
I look at the bread confused.
“It’s Valentine’s Day French toast. You guys have Christmas French toast, now I’m adding to the tradition,” he explains, and he looks sexy as hell wearing a white T-shirt that hugs his muscles and the silly apron.
“Why are they red?” I ask because the idea of eating something red is kind of grossing me out.
“Come on, Annie. Don’t be like that. When I tried your green French toast you told me they were delicious, now have faith in the process,” he encourages.
“But they’re red,” I pout. “Don’t get me wrong, this is super romantic. I appreciate you, but they are so. . .bright.”
Cade seems to be amused from my reaction more than anything. “Okay, I asked your dad to make me a red syrup a few days ago. It wasn’t me. It’ll taste like cinnamon sugar,” he assures.
The fact that he is so thoughtful has my heart bursting at the seams, despite my inner worries about relationships.
We sit to eat and they are, in fact, delicious. Cade even has a second round.
“Thanks, Cade. This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” I say to him and lean over and kiss him.
“I’m not done.” He reaches into his pocket, which I noticed was bulging when he took off the apron to eat.
“Here I thought you were just happy to see me.” I snort.
He laughs and places a black velvet box on the table. “Open it.”
I open the box to a gold necklace with a heart charm hanging from it.
“Cade, it’s beautiful,” I say as he helps me place it around my neck. His lips connect with the side of my neck, causing goosebumps to erupt on my skin. Will it always be like this between us? Is this fire we feel destined to burn out? “I have your gift upstairs. Although, I don’t think it’s anything special. It’s hard to get something for someone who has everything they need.”
“Not everything, Annie. I want to know I have you,” he says.
My heart melts from his words, but in the back of my mind I am still hesitating.
I head up to my room to grab the gift since I didn’t know we were doing presents so early. I grab the box and head back down to the kitchen. My stomach is swimming with nerves. It’s an odd gift. I don’t know how he’ll react.
I pass him the box and nervously bite into my lip while I watch him open it.
He takes the snow globe and looks at it in wonder.
“It’s us,” I say quietly. The store where he bought my snow globe over Christmas customizes snow globes with a week’s notice. I didn’t think we would be together over the break, but it all worked out. Inside the snow globe is a red-haired girl and a raven-haired guy on skates on the pond.
“I can see that,” Cade says as his eyes fill with emotion. He turns the knob for music, and it is Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” He swallows. “Annie, this means so much to me.”
I lean in to kiss him. Our lips connect and Cade deepens the kiss but we stop there. “I have another surprise for you. This one requires us to go outside. You’ll need your skates. I’ll see you at the door in five,” he says, taking my plate and his to the sink.
“I can get it, Cade.”
“It’ll only take a second to wash. Go get yourself ready, baby.”
I leave the kitchen and head upstairs to put on a wool sweater. I check myself in the mirror and when I come back downstairs, I see Cade with Daddy’s boom box, wearing his skates.
I quickly get my skates on and we head down to the pond.
“What do you have up your sleeve, Cade?” I ask.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out. Although, I must say we seem to be on the same page because I want a redo Annie.” He places the boom box on a rock and plays Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” “Just so you know, I planned this before you got me that gift.”
My heart stutters because this man knows my heart. I laugh.
Cade extends his hand to me and we head onto the ice. “That day I wanted to kiss you so bad,” he confesses as he twirls me away from him.
“I wanted that too, but you scared the shit out of me,” I admit.
“You scare me too. I’ve never felt this way before, Annie.”
“Me either. But it scares me, Cade. I see my parents and they say they were so in love, and somewhere along the way they grew to resent each other. I never want that to be us. I would never want to hold you back from anything. You’re going to be a big NHL star. Women will be flocking to you.”
“Annie, you’re the only one I want,” he declares
“But how can you be sure? You wasted so much time staying with Scarlett out of guilt, and then we got together. Maybe you want to experience more, we’ll be graduating soon and. . .”
“Annie, I’m in love with you. I know it for certain. I’ve never bonded with another girl like I have with you, you’re my friend and my lover. I crave you all the time. I love the kindness in your heart. I know this has been a whirlwind, but I also know Scarlett wanted me to love her so badly. I could never feel that way about her, and that’s because it took me finding you to fall in love.”
Tears prick my eyes. Every word he says is perfect. I want to believe them so badly because. . . “I love you too, Cade Price, with all my heart.”
He seals his lips over mine and we kiss, we dance, and we laugh. I wasn’t going to let my reservations hang over us in this moment because this is a perfect moment. One I will remember forever. No one has ever done anything so romantic for me before. We dance through the entire CD and then we head inside to drink hot cocoa. Something has shifted between us. I want to embrace it, but I’m scared.