Chapter 19
Bliss
The second Luke’s truck tore out of the Bennett driveway, the entire backyard shifted into loud, overlapping chaos beneath the glow of patio lights and drifting smoke from the grill.
Ryker paced through the grass with both hands braced on top of his head, breathing hard enough that even from ten feet away I could tell he was hanging on by threads.
Knox looked equally furious, though his rage stayed quieter, tighter, the kind that sat behind narrowed eyes and clenched jaws instead of movement.
Dad stood near the patio table staring toward the dark road Luke disappeared down with an expression I couldn’t even process because I had never seen my father look genuinely betrayed before.
Beside me, Cade stayed close enough that heat rolled steadily from his body into mine.
One hand rested low against my back, firm and grounding, and even though the entire yard felt loud and emotionally overloaded, I couldn’t stop noticing him.
The tension in his shoulders beneath the black shirt.
The scrape on his knuckles from Luke’s jaw.
The dangerous calm sitting over him now that the fight was done.
It should not have turned me on this much watching him lose his mind because another man thought he had any claim on me.
It absolutely did.
Because Luke’s anger always felt like punishment and Cade’s felt like protection. That distinction was currently doing insane things to my nervous system.
“Okay,” Knox snapped finally, cutting through everybody talking over one another. “Everybody breathe for five damn seconds.”
Ryker laughed harshly and pointed toward the driveway. “He called our sister a bitch and I have fuckin’ questions.”
“And he’s lucky Cade got to him before I did,” Dad said quietly.
The entire yard fell silent.
Holy shit.
Dad almost never raised his voice, which somehow made calm anger coming from him infinitely more terrifying. He looked around slowly at all of us before shaking his head once. “Not tonight.”
Ryker turned immediately. “Pop—”
“No.” Dad’s voice sharpened slightly. “Not tonight. Right now, everybody’s emotional and pissed off, and Bennett men are reckless enough without adding gasoline to this.
” He exhaled slowly through his nose before finally looking at me.
“Bug looks overwhelmed, and I’m not turning tonight into something worse. ”
The second every pair of eyes landed on me again, my stomach tightened.
Cade’s hand slid more firmly against my back, thumb brushing once over my spine before he shifted subtly closer beside me like he physically couldn’t stop himself from shielding me now.
The movement sent another wave of heat spiraling low through my stomach.
This was becoming a problem.
Knox rubbed a hand over his mouth before nodding once. “Tomorrow then. Everybody cools off first.”
“Tomorrow evening,” Emma agreed quickly. “When nobody’s trying to commit felonies.”
“That feels directed at me,” Ryker muttered.
“It absolutely is.”
Despite everything, a small laugh escaped me.
Cade’s hand tightened briefly against my back when he heard it.
My body reacted instantly to every tiny thing he did now, and it was honestly getting uncomfortable.
Dad sighed heavily and looked toward the grill automatically. “I’ll barbecue tomorrow, and we can discuss whatever is going on or went on like civilized Michiganites and not neanderthals.”
All of us answered in varying degrees of no, making it very clear he was not getting near the grill again.
Dad blinked. “Seriously?”
“You almost lit the umbrella on fire,” Knox deadpanned.
“That was the bullshit wind.”
“That was propane too high, and honestly, Pop, who puts an umbrella over a grill? That’s arson-adjacent, and you know better,” Ryker corrected.
“Pizza then, for hell’s sake. You kids are ungrateful.”
“Daniel, can I not be grouped in with ungrateful? I was on board with fire-hazard brisket,” Cade added dryly.
Dad narrowed his eyes at all of us. “You people could learn a thing or two from Mercer.”
“He’s still new to Bennett barbecue trauma, guys. He doesn’t know better,” I said, and Cade turned, eyeing me up and down.
“Pip, I don’t know if you’re mocking me or defending me.”
“I would never mock you,” I said deadpan.
He laughed. “You’re a shit.”
I blew him a kiss and mouthed thank you because the mood lightened and the tension loosened just enough for everybody to breathe again.
Cade had been watching me almost the entire time. Every few seconds, his eyes flicked toward my face like he was checking my reactions without making a big deal out of it.
Luke used to watch me too, but with Luke it always felt like surveillance.
With Cade, it felt like awareness. Protective. And I loved the difference.
Dad finally walked toward me then, stopping close enough to squeeze my shoulder once before looking between Cade and me carefully. “Go home tonight,” he said gently. “Tomorrow we figure things out.”
“I’m okay,” I started automatically.
Dad gave me a look every Bennett child on earth recognized instantly as the don’t bullshit me, kid look.
“I know you are,” he said softly. “That’s not what I said.”
Emotion climbed unexpectedly into my chest, but before it could turn into something bigger, Cade’s hand slid from my back around my waist and squeezed once like he knew exactly where my brain was trying to go.
“We’ll see everybody tomorrow,” Cade said calmly.
We.
The word hit harder than it should have.
So did the fact nobody argued when he guided me toward his truck afterward.
The air outside had turned colder now that the adrenaline from the fight was settling, but Cade still radiated heat beside me while he opened my door and waited until I climbed in before shutting it gently behind me.
The second he got behind the wheel again, the silence between us changed completely.
Every inch of him felt wound too tight beneath his skin. One hand gripped the steering wheel while the other rested against his thigh, fingers flexing every so often like he physically needed somewhere to put the leftover aggression still tearing through him.
Streetlights moved across his face in sharp pieces while we drove through quiet neighborhoods and empty intersections, and the entire time all I could think about was the way he looked standing over Luke in the gravel.
Protective and completely unafraid.
Luke had tried to intimidate him, and instead Cade looked like he enjoyed finally seeing the mask drop.
The Range Rover suddenly turned into an empty church parking lot three blocks later.
Before I could even ask what he was doing, Cade parked crooked across two spaces, shoved it into park, and climbed out.
My pulse jumped instantly.
A second later, my door opened and he stood there staring down at me with dark eyes and flushed knuckles while cold air rushed inside the cab.
“Come here, Pip.”
His voice sounded wrecked. Not soft or angry.
Overloaded.
I climbed out shakily and barely got both feet onto the pavement before Cade grabbed my waist and pulled me into him hard enough that my breath left in a sharp rush.
Then his mouth crashed into mine.
Holy fuck.
The kiss hit like all the adrenaline and rage and tension from the last six hours finally detonated at once.
Cade kissed me rough and deep while one hand tangled into my hair and the other slid hard over my hip and ass like he needed physical proof I was standing here with him instead of back in that house with Luke.
A broken sound escaped me into his mouth when he pressed me backward against the truck.
Cade groaned low against my lips in response, and the noise shot straight through my bloodstream.
“I have been out of my mind since the minute that fucker stepped out the back door with his eyes on you,” he said roughly, gripping my jaw to angle my mouth up. “I couldn’t stand watching him look at you.”
His mouth fell on mine again as he controlled the angle with his hand against my jaw, sucking my bottom lip between his teeth and tongue until my chest tightened instantly.
“I know,” I whispered against his mouth. “I’m sorry.”
Cade pulled back just enough to look at me, both hands sliding beneath my thighs before lifting me effortlessly until I was pinned to the car.
“Don’t apologize for him.”
The words landed hard enough to make my stomach flip.
My legs wrapped around his waist automatically while his forehead dropped briefly against mine, and both of us breathed too hard in the middle of the empty parking lot.
The pressure of him against me nearly melted my brain completely. He was as worked up as I was, and instead of scaring me, it made heat spread through my body so fast it almost embarrassed me.
Cade noticed the exact second it happened too. His mouth twitched slightly before he kissed me slower this time, dragging his lips against mine while his grip flexed possessively against my thighs.
“I know enough now,” he said quietly against my mouth.
“I know he’s the ex you told me about. I know he’s the reason you react to things the way you do.
I know he thinks you belong to him.” His jaw tightened slightly before he exhaled through his nose.
“And all I want to do is strip you down and touch every inch of your body and smother the memory of him out.”
A nervous laugh escaped me before I could stop it, my mind picturing his hands and mouth all over me.
Cade’s eyes flicked back to mine immediately, some of the darkness easing for half a second when he heard it.
“Fuck, you like that, don’t you?” he asked, pressing harder against me so I felt it between my thighs.
My eyes rolled back and I arched against him. “Yes.”
“Yeah, you do,” he agreed before licking a path up my neck.
“You punching him had me molten hot.”
He cupped one breast in his giant hand and ground his erection against me.
“He had it coming.”
“He absolutely had it coming.”
That earned a real grin from him finally, quick and dangerous and unfairly attractive before he kissed me again hard enough to steal my breath all over. One hand skimmed my body, the other tangled in my hair as we made out in the dark.
When he finally pulled back, his thumb brushed slowly beneath my jaw while his eyes searched my face with a focus intense enough to make my stomach twist.
“But you and I are gonna talk about this when we cool off,” he said more quietly. “Because there’s more there, and I know it.”
I swallowed hard before nodding.
Not because I wanted to talk about it, but because there was no chance of me taking it to the grave the way I had fought so hard to do. It was time, and I knew it.
I already trusted him enough to know he wouldn’t force it out of me tonight, and that meant I had tonight to be worshipped and wanted by the incredible man between my thighs currently moving against me in a way that had the blood thrumming under my skin.
Cade’s hands flexed once against my thighs before his mouth curved slowly against mine again.
“Right now though,” he said, nose brushing lightly against mine while his voice dropped lower, “right now, my only goal is getting you in my bed so I can finish what I started this morning.”
My breath hitched instantly, followed by a squeal when he pinched my nipple while his mouth licked along my chest.
Cade groaned like hearing that reaction from me loosened something primal inside him.
When he kissed me again beneath the empty parking lot lights, all heat and possession, I realized that tomorrow, this night with Cade would become the last memory of this version of me.
Tomorrow, my secrets would stop being shadows and become my reality.
Tomorrow, my life would change forever, so tonight, I let myself choose this reckless, wild version of me I had always wanted but never been able to keep.
Tonight, I was untouchable.
Tonight, I was his.