A New Cuddler in Town
. . .
Ellie
Cade’s lips lingered for a long moment, soft and steady against my skin. I would’ve enjoyed it, but I was too busy fuming as he slowly pulled back.
My frown deepened, brows drawing together.
“What the heck was that?” I demanded.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “A kiss.”
My mouth opened and closed as his words sank in, then I spluttered.
“No, it wasn’t. That was—That was—” I was too angry to speak properly, and the frustration mounted until I stomped my foot against the floor. “You kissed my forehead, not my lips!”
His thumb traced my jawline distractingly. “You’re drunk, Ellie. I’m not kissing you when you can barely stand.”
“But that’s not fair.” I scowled, crossing my arms. “You tricked me!”
His brow rose. “It got your mind off being sick, didn’t it?”
Trapped between him and the bathroom vanity, I batted his hand away before covering my face with both hands. “This is so embarrassing. I thought you actually wanted to kiss me. Oh my god, kill me now.”
He was close enough that I could feel his chest vibrate with a chuckle. “Who said I didn’t want to?”
My stomach had no business fluttering at the smooth way he’d said that. “But—But—Agh!”
The wine really wasn’t doing my speech any favors.
Ducking under his arm, I stumbled to the door and wrenched it open. The bones in my legs might’ve been replaced by Jell-O, but I still wobbled a few steps before pitching to the side—saved by Cade grabbing my arm to hold me steady.
“Stop helping me!” I snapped, shrugging out of his grip with a glare. “I’m mad at you.”
His answering grin was infuriating. “I didn’t think you were capable of holding a grudge, Darling.”
“Well, you were wrong.” I huffed. “I can hold a grudge when it comes to stuff like this. You can’t tell a girl you’re going to kiss her and then not follow through. It’s just cruel.”
Amusement danced in Cade’s eyes, and he lowered his voice. “Oh, I’ll be following through.”
My brain temporarily shut off, and I gulped. Any anger fizzled away. “Oh.”
The glint in his eyes brightened. “Yeah. Oh.”
I quickly averted my gaze to the rest of the cabin, spotting Whiskey sitting at the open balcony doors. A gentle—and much-appreciated—breeze drifted inside and kissed my warm cheeks like a cooling balm.
Cade must’ve opened the doors to cool down the room when he brought Whiskey out, and that did funny things to my stomach.
“I need my pajamas,” I said, blurting the first thing I could think of that didn’t involve how grateful and embarrassed I was that he was taking care of me. Or that he planned to kiss me later.
Cade took it in stride and grabbed his navy blue college T-shirt from the closet. I didn’t think anything of it until he bunched the fabric up around the neck hole and went to put it over my head.
“Whoa!” I jerked back, swatting at him. “What are you doing?”
I almost fell backward, but Cade grabbed my elbow again. He righted me before forcing the shirt over my head. “You’ll be more comfortable sleeping in this.”
I blinked. He cared about me being comfortable?
Feeling silly for fighting it now, I let him adjust the shirt until it was the right way around my neck. But when he reached for one of my dress straps, I balked. “Close your eyes!”
With a sigh, Cade dutifully shut his eyes. I drunkenly worked on sliding my arms free of the dress and into the shirtsleeves, but Cade did most of the work.
He was surprisingly efficient without being able to see.
I didn’t have a bra thanks to the backless dress, but I kept my panties on because even drunk me knew it was a bad idea to get naked in front of Cade right now.
His shirt was soft and cozy, and I never wanted to take it off.
Once it covered everything from my collarbone to midthigh, I fiddled with the hem and cleared my throat. “Okay. I’m decent.”
Cade opened his eyes, and a low groan immediately escaped him. “This was a mistake.”
His voice came out all gravelly, and I swallowed, feeling fluttery. “It was?”
His gaze slid lower to where goose bumps formed on my thighs, making my toes curl. “You look way too good in my clothes. Get under those covers before I forget why taking advantage of you is a bad idea.”
Tamping down a shiver, I climbed across the bed to my side, and Cade disappeared into the closet to change.
After popping my pillow chocolate into my mouth and moaning in happiness, I slid under the covers and got situated.
The worst of the dizziness had passed, but it felt impossible to get comfortable.
Giving up, I flopped over to face Whiskey and the open window.
Not long after, Cade climbed into bed behind me. There wasn’t any hesitation before he banded an arm around my waist and tugged me backward. “Here. Let me do the cuddling tonight.”
Chewing on my lip, I fought a smile. “That sounds nice.”
It wasn’t until Cade pulled me flush against his front that I frowned. He was warmer than usual. Much warmer. I reached back to investigate, blindly fumbling until my fingers met his shoulder.
… His bare, shirtless shoulder.
I swallowed and forced my hand to retreat.
“You’re breaking the Cuddle Code,” I whispered.
He squeezed my waist. “I think we’re past that code, but I can take my shirt back if you’d like.”
My eyes bugged out, because then I’d be left in just a slip of underwear. “No, no. That’s okay.”
“Good. Go to sleep.”
I snapped my eyes shut, but my brain was too overloaded to sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about how nice his arms felt. Or how fun it was to be the little spoon.
Or how good my chocolate tasted.
“Cade?” I asked into the silence.
“Yeah?”
I paused before asking, “Are you going to give me your chocolate again tonight?”
His chest rumbled with a soft laugh. “You probably shouldn’t eat sweets right now.”
“Right. Of course,” I agreed, wetting my lips and wisely not mentioning I’d already eaten my own pillow chocolate. “But… I guess I could save it for tomorrow. Only if you don’t want it, though.”
He laughed harder. “If I say you can have it, will you go to sleep?”
“Yes,” I answered immediately. “Definitely.”
Cade pulled me even closer, until his lips were dangerously close to my ear. “You can have all my chocolates, Darling. Now go to sleep.”
My chest grew all warm and fuzzy at the simple promise, and I smiled into the darkness. Lying in his arms wasn’t only nice because he was as warm as an oven. I felt safe, too.
With a sigh, I bit my lip. “Can I just say one more thing?”
“Only one,” he murmured with a grin clear in his voice.
“You’re really good at this. Cuddling, I mean. If you ever want to go professional, I’m sure Sunshine Cuddle Services would have a spot for you.”
An even longer pause passed before he tightened his grip. “There’s only one person I’m interested in cuddling, and she’s already in my arms.”
My heart tried to explode out of my chest, and I swallowed. “Oh.”
That was it. The big moment they talk about in the movies.
The one where your body feels weightless and your heart threatens to burst and you suck in a freshly vomit-free breath because the previously anticuddling guy you’d made an ill-advised deal with just held your hair back while you puked up your guts, promised you all his chocolates, and confessed you were the only one he wants to cuddle with.
Game over.
Pack it up and go home, folks.
I’d officially fallen for Cade-freaking-Westbrook.