Chapter 32
32
MAVERICK
I suck in a deeper breath, trying to keep my shit together. Cady is right where I want her, in my arms, and I'm deep in my fucking feelings. The overriding one? An intense sense of rightness. She belongs in my arms. We fit.
There's also a wave of relief flooding through me, knowing I can be there for her and Nan. I hate that she struggled for so long.
"I would never abandon my family, and I would never ask you to abandon yours. Never." The words come out fiercely, almost a vow. It's true. I can't imagine a relationship where you're forced to choose between people you love. What kind of an asshole would I be if I did that?
Cadence sniffs, laughing at herself as she wipes her eyes with trembling fingers. "I think I already knew that. But I'm a mess. I'm so sorry I ruined our date with all this emotional baggage."
"It's not ruined. Not even a little bit," I reassure her. I mean every word. This moment, raw and real, feels more meaningful than any polished dinner ever could. "But it might be a good idea to get out of this bedroom before things get... complicated."
Our eyes meet and a sudden wave of heat passes between us, electric and intense. Her fingers tighten on my jacket, bunching the fabric, then slowly release. I'm acutely aware of her closeness, the warmth of her body, the softness of her skin. She nods, her gaze flickering to my lips before meeting my eyes again. "That's probably a smart idea," she murmurs, her voice husky. The air feels thick with desire, making it hard to breathe. I'm torn between wanting to run out of the room so I don't rush this and yanking her to me and fucking devouring her.
Finally, she pulls back, snapping the tension between us. Keeping a hand pressed to her chest, she looks down at me, sighing, then carefully slides off the side of the bed. I meet her at the foot, and extend my hand. She takes it with a tiny smile and a not so tiny exhale.
We head back to the table, and I pull out Cadence's chair, sweeping my arm out. "Madame, please park that beautiful behind."
She snorts and settles in, and I can't resist planting a kiss on the top of her head. Then I circle around, pick up my chair, and sit. I'd do anything for another laugh, so with a dramatic flourish, I lift the lids off our plates, revealing a spread of comfort food that steams invitingly. The aroma wafts up, rich and savory, filling the air between us.
"John made it special for us," I explain. "I thought about fancier stuff, but this felt more like us. And since the last time we ate at his place, we didn't get to finish eating, I figured I owed you." Inhaling deeply, I plop the lids down on the counter. "I've eaten at restaurants with multiple Michelin stars, and I still would choose John's cooking every time. It's fun to go to those places, but there's nothing like home."
"No," she says, eyes gleaming in the candlelight. "There isn't."
She's so fucking beautiful I have to force myself to stay present. All I want to do is prop my chin in my hand and stare at her. That's a lie. I want to do a fuck of a lot more. But it's not the time. Stay the course. "Beer? Wine?"
"What kind of woman do you think I am? Beer, of course."
We fall into easy conversation after that, chatting about the minutiae of our lives. It should be boring, but with her, nothing is. "How’s Molly doing?"
Cadence's eyes light up. "She’s a miracle worker.” She purses her lips. “I planned on being picky and pushing the whole thing off, you know. I was going to go through the motions, and not hire anyone. But sitting there with Janey talking to these bright energetic kids, I felt…so old!" She laughs, tossing her head back. "And some of them were amazing. I'm not sure how she found such perfect people. Molly is a whirlwind of efficiency. Between her and the part timers, everything is covered.”
Her obvious acceptance of it is a relief. And I’m not surprised, in the least, that Cadence never planned to hire anyone, but I’m glad that she finally did. Cadence deserves to have a life outside of her rescue. "That's great. Must be a load off your shoulders."
She nods, taking a sip of beer. "It really is. I didn't realize how much I was carrying until I didn't have to do it all myself."
Her words hit me hard. I think about all the times I've pushed myself to the brink, thinking I had to handle everything alone. "I get that," I admit. "It's not easy to let others help."
Cadence gives me a look that's both understanding and challenging. "Pot, meet kettle?"
"Yep. I'm still trying to figure out how to offload some of my workload, but it's not easy."
"Where do you need to offload? Like, can you just quit your day job and let your staff handle everything? Or are you letting go of your other clients?"
"I would never leave Brash. They need me too much. I could maybe have my staff handle more of the workload, but it's hard to let go. One mistake could cost millions. And besides, it's my family business. I want to be a part of it." We built it together and I'm really fucking proud of that. And the idea of not seeing my brothers every day? No chance.
"I get that. Our jobs are very different, but I found it hard to turn over some of the work to volunteers. I always worry that they might make a mistake and underfeed one of the dogs or miss a medication. I don't want any animal hurt under my care, but mistakes do happen. Luckily, most of the mistakes at the rescue were small, and fixable."
I am not a dog person, yet every time I go there, those little suckers are cuter. I don't even mind the dog hair anymore. Not that I ever really did. A fur-covered Cadence is still fucking adorable. "Yeah, they are different, but you understand what it's like to be the boss and feel responsible for everything."
"I do," she says, studying me with soft eyes. "So it's the other people's cases you're going to cut back on."
I groan and rub the back of my neck. "It's the logical thing to do."
"But it seems like it's the more emotional side of things for you."
"I don't know. I'm pretty fucking emotional about my family. But we're all good. Yeah, we deal in the Billions, but it's not like fucking up a deal is going to change our lives that much. But my other cases feel like life and death, sometimes literally."
Cadence purses her lips, and rests her chin on her hand. "Is it…Do you like to be the one solving their problems? Is that part of it? Or do you just want to make sure that someone helps them?"
She’s way too insightful, seeing things I haven’t even admitted to myself. "I just — shit. I think I like being the one to help them. But it's more than that. The people I'm helping are in shit situations, and I like being able to help in a real way. In business the stakes are buildings, or profits, and shuffling fuck loads of money around. But forcing a landlord to fix a person's home? That feels damn good."
"It sounds like you get a lot of fulfillment from that. So do you really need to make a change?"
"I didn't think I needed to before, but other things are becoming more important to me now. I have other priorities." I hold her gaze until she realizes I'm talking about her. A rosy flush travels up her neck, and immediately all I can think about is making her flush like that again, but all over. The contrast between her rosy skin and the crisp white sheets would be incredible.
She clears her throat and idly plays with the handle of her fork. "Other priorities are good. Really good. I'm discovering I have other priorities too. But how would you really feel about giving all that up?"
"I've been thinking about starting a not-for-profit to handle those kinds of cases. A place people can go to for free support."
She makes a soft sound and scoops up a bit of potato. "Don't programs like that already exist?"
"Yeah, but they're pretty overwhelmed."
"Well if it's really important to you, then you should do it. But just saying, it's not easy to build something from the ground up. You might be trading one time-consuming thing for another."
"I would hire help. Other people can run it for me."
She gives me a look that’s encouraging, but all too knowing. "Sounds like you have it all figured out."
I do, don't I? I've run a business, and I know what it takes to be successful. Of course, I have eight other men in it with me. I also know that I can hire someone great to manage it day to day, so it's hands-off ninety-nine percent of the time. Money comes in, money goes out, hopefully less than comes in. That's business in a nutshell. At least that's how The Escape runs. But finding another Trixie won't be that hard, will it?
"Okay, so maybe it's not all figured out, but I'll get there."
"I have no doubt you will. You seem like the kind of man to put his mind to something and make it happen, no matter what."
"It's easy to make stuff happen when you have a bank account as big as mine is."
She chuckles and points a forkful of roast my way. "There is that." The little moan she makes as she chews makes me shift uncomfortably in my chair. Everything with this woman is an exercise in restraint. Eating dinner with her? Tight pants. Watching her bend over to pet a dog? Tight pants. Fucker's decided to stand up and salute her every time he senses she's near.
I can't blame him, but it means I do a lot of standing behind counters and folding my hands in front of me.
The table's hiding what's going on in my pants this time, so I lean back in my chair, swirling the beer in my bottle. "If you had all the money in the world, what would you do with the rescue?"
Cadence's eyes narrow, and she gives me a suspicious look. "Why are you asking?"
I hold up my hands, chuckling. "Whoa, easy there. It's just a thought experiment. I promise I'm not going to write a check tomorrow to pay for your dream or anything crazy like that." The day after, maybe. But I'm not going to tell her that.
She still looks skeptical. "You swear?"
"Cross my heart," I say, drawing my finger over my chest like we did when we were kids. "I'm just genuinely interested. I want to know what you'd do if there were no limits."
Cadence takes a deep breath, her eyes growing distant as she considers. "Well, if I'm dreaming big... I'd love to move the rescue outside the city. Somewhere with wide open spaces, you know?"
Not without me. The thought is instinctive, coming from deep in my gut. But I can't go to the country, can I? I don't know how to function without honking cars and a Starbucks on every corner. I'm city born and bred.
But still, if she picked up and left, could I really stay behind?
No fucking way.
"I'd have more room to rehabilitate the harder cases," she says, her voice growing animated. "Right now, I just don't have the space or time for the tough ones. But with a bigger facility, I could really focus on training them and giving them the time they need to become adoptable. I'd have staff running the day to day, and on call teams trained to pick up animals in the city."
Her face is so animated, it's clear she's thought about this, a lot. Daydreams.
Daydreams I could make a reality in minutes if she'd let me.
"We'd have separate areas for different types of dogs," she continues. "A quiet space for the anxious ones, a high-energy zone for the working breeds. Maybe even a small farm animal sanctuary for the occasional pig or goat that needs rescuing." She frowns, an adorable wrinkle appearing between her eyebrows. "I've never actually seen a pig in real life, but it can't be that hard to take care of them, can it?"
"They don't like being picked up. They scream like they're headed to slaughter."
She plants her hands on the table, frowning. "How do you know that?"
"Um…there was this one time we came across a petting zoo." What are the chances she's going to let this drop?
"Oh my god. And you were picking up animals?"
"Well, yes, but we weren't being weird or anything. Colton was sure he could pick up the donkey. Which he did. It was obvious the donkey really liked the way Colton picked him up. He was happy." Like really happy. More than a foot long happy. Why did I start telling this stupid story? Let's face it, all my stories are stupid when they involve my brothers. And alcohol.
"Does a donkey have much expression on his face."
"Well, I'm not sure. But other parts of him got really happy."
"Other parts…oh my god!" She slaps her hand over her face, choking out a laugh.
"I had the same reaction."
"What did Colton do?"
"He didn't seem that bothered, honestly. He complimented the donkey on his package. It was pretty fucking impressive."
Cadence loses it, dropping her head to the table, her whole body shaking with her laughter. I love her like this. Carefree, completely enjoying the moment. And if it takes our ridiculous stories to make her laugh, then I don't have a single problem throwing my brothers under the bus.
"Jesus, you guys are unhinged."
"But in a good way, right?"
Her eyes are shining. "In the best way."
I'll take it. Not wanting to push my luck, I steer the conversation back to Cadence, and her vision for her future. "What else would you do for the rescue?"
She sighs and props her chin on her hand. "We'd have a top-notch medical facility on-site. No more scrambling to find vets who'll work with rescue rates. And a training center where we could offer classes to the public."
"I love that idea," I interject. "It's never a bad thing to have money-making opportunities in a nonprofit setting."
"Exactly! Oh, and I'd want a retirement home for senior dogs who might not get adopted."
As she speaks, I can see it all in my mind's eye. The sprawling facility, dogs running free in fenced areas, dedicated staff working tirelessly and a big house full of dog beds, muddy footprints and gray muzzled dogs. It's a beautiful vision, and I find myself wishing I could make it a reality for her right now.
But I promised not to, and I intend to keep that promise. For now, at least.
"That sounds incredible, Cady," I say softly when she finishes. "You've really thought this through."
She blushes slightly. "Well, you know. It's nice to dream sometimes."
I reach across the table and take her hand. "Dreams are important. They give us something to work towards."
"Maybe, but sometimes dreams are just reminders of what we'll never have. I've learned to be okay with my place in the world."
"That sounds an awful lot like settling, Cadence."
"Not settling. Just being realistic."
"Cadence, say it with me. Fuck Reality. Come on, you can do it."
She groans and shakes her head, but finally, with a grin, she gives me what I'm looking for.
"Fuck reality."