Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Cade
I watched and waited for Missy to deny what I had felt the moment her lips had touched mine last night. For her to exclaim that it was all in my head, nothing more.
Her eyes locked with mine and I watched, holding my breath, as she shook her head slightly.
It was as if that was the thing I’d been waiting for my entire life.
My lips covered hers again as I nudged her back under the cover so we were out of the rain.
Then I spun her, sliding her back up against her closed door.
She tasted as sweet as I had always imagined. Felt softer than I’d dreamed.
Her breath hitched against my mouth, and it did something to me, something low and deep that almost knocked me off kilter.
I let my hands slide to her hips, pulling her closer, needing to feel every inch of her body pressed against me.
When her fingers curled into my wet hair, I almost laughed out loud in pure relief. She wanted this. She wanted me.
“Missy,” I murmured against her lips, not sure if I was warning her or begging her not to stop.
“Cade,” she whispered back, that soft voice tilting something in my chest dangerously off-balance.
I kissed her again, slow, then deeper, letting years of held-back wanting finally slip free. She opened for me like she’d been waiting just as long, and hell, I was gone. Completely gone.
A crack of thunder made her jump, and I tightened my arms around her, lowering my forehead to hers. Rain hammered the porch roof and the wind blew cold mist against our legs, but her warmth had me burning up.
“Unlock the door,” I said quietly, brushing my thumb over her bottom lip. “Before one of us catches pneumonia out here.”
Her eyes were hazy, soft, and trusting in a way that nearly undid me. She fumbled for her keys, her hands shaking slightly. God, was that because of me? I smiled despite the storm raging around us.
The second the lock clicked, my phone blared.
Of fucking course it did.
Missy blinked at me, still breathless, while I stared down at the screen like it had personally offended me.
Mrs. Meyers.
The name tightened my gut. Her mother was on an oxygen machine that was keeping her alive. I’d replaced a few faulty breakers for her a while back and knew that I couldn’t ignore the call.
“Damn it,” I muttered, dragging a hand over my face before answering. “Mrs. Meyers, what’s wrong?”
Her frantic explanation had me straightening immediately. Fuse out. No lights. Oxygen machine running on battery backup.
“I’m on my way,” I promised.
I hung up and looked at Missy. She had rain dripping off her hair, and her lips were pink and swollen from mine. My chest squeezed hard.
I wanted to pull her inside and spend the entire night warming us up. Slowly. Instead, I held back a groan.
“It’s an emergency,” I said gently, brushing a knuckle across her cheek. “Mrs. Meyer’s mother is on an oxygen machine and her power is out. I have to go.”
“I know,” she whispered. “Go.”
I bent down and kissed her again, just a featherlight brush, but enough to feel that pull again, strong and terrifying and so right. “We’re not done,” I murmured. “Later… we’re going to talk about this.” I touched her chin lightly. “But for now, go to bed.”
She nodded, but she watched me like letting me leave took a lot of effort.
I forced myself down the steps, jogging through the rain toward the truck. The cab door slammed shut, muting the storm, but nothing muted the pounding in my chest.
What the hell had just happened?
As I pulled onto the road, my wipers dragging across the glass, clearing the pelting rain, my mind circled the only thing that mattered.
Missy. In my arms. Her mouth on mine. Her hands on me like she’d wanted it just as badly.
I’d finally crossed that line. The line I’d drawn for myself years ago because I couldn’t risk losing her. Because if anything went wrong, if she woke up tomorrow and regretted it or realized I wasn’t worth the risk, then I’d lose the one person I couldn’t imagine my life without.
The rain thickened, blurring the houses as I sped across town.
What if I’d ruined everything?
What if she pulled back?
What if I lost her?
My grip tightened on the steering wheel. No. I couldn’t go back now, not after tasting what it could be like, what we could be. I’d always loved her in my own quiet way. Tonight just ripped the quiet part right out of me.
But the fear was there too, sitting heavy in my chest.
Because wanting Missy wasn’t new.
Admitting I couldn’t live without her?
That was.
For the next few days, every time I pushed open the bakery door hoping to catch even a glimpse of her, she was gone.
No doubt somewhere in the back. Busy with orders or with deliveries.
Anything and everything except standing at the counter smiling at me like she had the night I’d kissed her senseless.
Was she was avoiding me?
That possibility sat heavy in my chest every time I left the place with a paper bag of pastries or sandwiches for my crew.
I threw myself into work. My crew was working hard on the new subdivision out at the edge of town that we’d finally broken ground on last fall.
There were half a dozen new homes currently under construction and more coming soon. So I threw myself into the mix and did what I loved.
But every hammer strike in footings or framing was a reminder of how her lips had felt.
Every saw cut whispered, Idiot, you should’ve talked to her already.
With every nail I sank into fresh lumber, I asked myself, What if you ruined everything?
By Thursday, sleep was a rumor. I’d checked my phone more times than I’d ever admit. I was too afraid to be the first one to text.
That afternoon, I got a call from East Haven Resort.
A fuse panel in the east wing was giving them trouble again, a hum and flicker that told me moisture had gotten where it didn’t belong. And of course it had to be the resort. The most expensive, pristine, polished place in the entire county. A damn postcard for the rich and bored.
Just the place our families would have vacationed when we were younger.
I took the ferry over to the private island the next morning.
East Haven Resort rose from the shoreline like a white colonial dream.
It had over 200 rooms, wide porches with crisp navy rocking chairs, and long sweeping lawns that spilled into a private sandy beach.
There were three pools that shimmered like jewels between manicured hedges.
Several gazebos dotted the garden paths like secret hideaways meant for wedding vows or whispered scandals.
Even the air smelled expensive: salt, sun, and whatever spa oils they pumped through the vents.
I’d been here a handful of times, usually at the request of Sarah, Crystal’s daughter.
Sarah’s name was actually Serenity, but everyone called her Sarah.
She ran the place with her husband Ben, and thank God she was one of the few townsfolk who didn’t treat blue-collar workers like invisible wallpaper.
She met me in the lobby, all polished warmth and professionalism.
“Cade! Thank goodness. The lights in the east wing have flickered three times and we have a VIP in that suite. He’s… particular.”
“Particular” was Sarah’s way of saying that if the man saw a dust mote, he’d demand a refund and write a 4,000-word manifesto about it.
“I’ll take a look,” I told her.
The issue ended up being a corroded neutral bus bar in the breaker panel—tiny, inconvenient, and absolutely something that could burn the whole damn wing down if ignored.
“I can fix it,” I told her, wiping my hands on a towel. “But I need a part that I don’t have and it is going to take a few hours to rewire the box. I’ll have to come back.”
“Oh, then I insist that you stay for a night,” Sarah said immediately. “I’ll block out a room for you.” She waved her hand. “My treat.”
I blinked. “Uh…”
“No back-and-forth ferry rides while you’re working for us. I’ll put you in one of my best guest rooms. You can have meals, amenities, whatever you need.”
“That’s not necessary,” I started.
She raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “Cade. Let me do this, please. It’s my way of saying how much we appreciate having you stick around.”
Hell. It was hard to argue with that.
“Alright,” I relented.
Maybe… maybe I could ask Missy to come out with me. It would be… something. A weekend. Space to talk. Space to breathe. Space to finish the kiss we never got the chance to finish.
Or she could say no, and I’d end up sleeping alone in a fancy room.
I took the last ferry back that evening with my head full of half-formed plans and half-spoken conversations.
By the time I pulled into town, the bakery’s front windows were dark, but I could see a light coming from the back room.
She was there. I just knew it. I could feel it in my gut. Plus, her car was still parked in the same spot it always was.
She was probably just working late or cleaning or… maybe waiting for me?
I didn’t let myself think too hard. I parked next to her car, got out, and walked to the back door. I knocked once, then tried the handle. It opened easily.
“Missy?” I called softly as I stepped inside.
The kitchen lights were on, soft and golden. The smell of sugar and cinnamon clung to the air. For a second, I smiled because it felt like her. Like home.
Then I froze, my mind refusing to accept what I was seeing.
She wasn’t alone.
Levi, her ex, had her pinned to the countertop, his arms braced tightly around her body. He was far too close to her. I saw the tension in her shoulders, saw the way she leaned away from him, not into him, like she was trying to vanish through the counter itself.
Something cold and violent ripped through my chest and, before my brain even processed it, my voice was already a low, lethal growl.
“Levi?”
His head snapped toward me as his grip moved up to her shoulders and tightened. As if he was trying to possess her. To assert his ownership.
And every part of me went still.
Deadly still.
I was ready to break something.
Or someone.
The look Levi gave me wasn’t confusion. It was recognition. And long-standing, deep-seated, petty-as-hell hatred.
“Well, well,” he sneered. “If it isn’t the carpenter prince.”
I felt my jaw tick. “Let her go.”
He didn’t acknowledge my words, just tightened his hold on her arms like he was staking a claim. I stepped toward him.
Missy tried to twist out of his grip and finally managed to step away from him. He made a move toward her but stopped when I let out a low growl.
“Back off,” I said.
Levi laughed, sharp and humorless. “Still hovering around, Cade? Still playing guard dog?” He shot Missy a sideways glance. “I told you he’d never stop. Didn’t I?”
Missy’s cheeks flushed, anger, embarrassment, and frustration all mixing together. “Levi, seriously, stop. I didn’t ask you to come here.”
“You didn’t have to,” he said, shrugging one shoulder. “I wanted to see you. To talk this through once and for all. But you ran out on me.”
“Because you were cheating on me. Whatever we had ended months ago,” she snapped. “And this”—she gestured between them—“is not happening again. No matter what you say to me.”
Good. She’d said it out loud. She meant it.
Levi’s gaze slid back to me, cold and assessing. “Of course you show up. You always do.” His lip curled. “Always glued to her side. Pathetic.”
My hands curled into fists. “Funny coming from the guy who hated that she had a best friend.”
“Oh, don’t flatter yourself,” Levi spat. “I hated you because you never knew your place.”
“And you never knew how to treat her,” I shot back.
Missy placed a palm on my chest, firm, steady, a silent Don’t escalate this. But I felt her hand trembling.
Levi saw it. And the bastard smirked.
“I’m only in town for a little while,” he said, turning his attention back to her.
“I’ll be staying at a bed and breakfast a couple blocks away.
” He paused. “The Blue Rose Bed and Breakfast.” His brows lifted pointedly.
He leaned in just an inch, too close, and Missy stiffened.
“Think about what I said. I’ll be waiting for your reply and for you to come to your senses. ”
I didn’t know what he’d said to her earlier, but I didn’t need to. The way she recoiled from him told me enough.
He gave me one last venomous look. “Always in my way, Cade.”
“Always will be,” I said calmly.
He slammed the back door behind him.
Silence fell like a heavy blanket, and Missy exhaled as if she’d been holding her breath for minutes.
She sagged against the counter, and her shoulders trembled with adrenaline or frustration, or both.
I stepped closer, but not too close. She didn’t need me to swoop in and cause her more problems. What she needed right now was a friend and, before anything else, I was determined to be just that. “Are you okay?”
She nodded once as her lips pressed together tightly. “Yeah. I just… wasn’t expecting him to show up. And I definitely wasn’t expecting him to want me back.”
“He shouldn’t have touched you,” I said, my voice low with a heat I didn’t bother hiding.
Missy swallowed hard, her eyes flicking up to mine. “I’m sorry you walked in on it.”
“I’m not,” I said. “I’m glad I was here.”
Her breath hitched just a little. “Yeah, me too,” she admitted.
The tension stayed, charged, stubborn, tangled up in everything Levi always suspected and everything I was finally starting to admit.
And one thing was clear.
I wasn’t leaving her alone tonight. Not with Levi back in town.