Chapter 9 #3
Taking his older brother’s handouts had almost destroyed what little pride Cade had managed to salvage throughout the whole shipping fever nightmare. Emma would find out how Cade hadn’t been able to save the place without charity and his big brother’s intervention.
The ulcer he believed he’d beaten started burning a hole in his gut again.
He couldn’t be angry with Reagan for reaching out to Emma. She had no female friends, but was, instead, stuck out here with the men all day, every day. That had to wear on her. She had Eli, sure, but there were bound to be moments of loneliness.
He’d never been in love, but no way could someone else be a person’s everything.
Banking on one person for that was foolishness, anyway.
That kind of investment gave a person the kind of control one should never relinquish.
Ever. And as far as emotions went? The same rule existed to an exponential level.
He’d done it once, banking every emotional dollar he had in Eli coming home when Cade had begged him to.
His older brother had shut him down and shut him out.
He sat up, scrubbing his hands over his face. This was ridiculous, sitting here straining to catch words.
Shoving off the bed, he cursed when the frame slipped and the headboard bumped the wall with a decisive thump.
Voices next door extinguished at the sound. Time suspended as he waited for a reaction, and then someone laughed, low and sultry.
Emmaline.
Reagan was a beautiful woman in her own right, but she was no Emmaline. Particularly when the latter laughed. God save him from that sound, the way it pulled at him and made him want to do inexplicable things, the way it made him feel ten feet tall when he was responsible for it.
Why doesn’t she laugh more? Why is she usually so serious?
He laughed at himself. Pot to kettle, my man.
A soft knock at the door had him spinning around. Emma? “Yeah?” The word emerged gruff and gravelly from his tight throat.
Reagan stuck her head in. “Got a second?”
He tried to keep his disappointment disguised. “For you? Always.”
She smiled. Somehow, she realized he’d expected a different woman at his door.
Glancing at him, her smile widened. “How you doing, Cade?”
“Fine.” He waited a moment. When she didn’t move, he asked, “And you?”
Her answer came across as a tad absentminded. “I’m really good. You’re sure I’m not interrupting?”
He stepped out of the doorway and swept his arm wide, on open invitation to enter.
Instead of stepping inside, though, Reagan stayed where she was and stared at him. “I have a theory.”
“Oh-kay...” His future sister-in-law’s eyes gleamed with a mischievous light that made Cade’s hindbrain go on complete alert, his fight-or-flight instinct kicking in, and hard.
“Want to help me prove or disprove it?”
“If it’ll get you to go upstairs and get a good night’s sleep, my answer’s yes. The stress of the opening seems to be getting to you, darlin’.”
“Emma!” she shouted.
“Reagan,” he all but growled. “What are you doing?”
Emma stepped out and glanced between them, clearly confused. “Yeah?”
“Do you like Cade?”
She paled. “He’s been a decent, if slightly difficult, client.”
“Not what I asked.” One corner of Reagan’s mouth kicked up. “Do you like-him, like-him, as in would you consider going out on a date with him?”
Emma’s eyes widened as Cade choked. He was going to have to come up with one hell of a condolence card to send Eli because he was going to kill Reagan for this.
“That’s enough,” he said.
At the same moment, Emma spoke. “He asking?”
“Yeah, he is.” Reagan glanced from one to the other. “He’s taking you to Clayton to go to dinner and then dancing at Bits ’n Spurs Friday night. It’s jeans-and-boots-and-a-sexy-top kind of place.”
She paled. “I don’t dance.”
“He’s excellent. He’ll teach you.” Reagan rounded on Cade.
“Only thing you’ve got to figure out is where to go for dinner.
Eli can give you a recommendation if you can’t come up with a decent place.
Cool?” Before he could answer, she nodded.
“Good. Emma, I don’t know what you brought in the way of clothes, so shout out if you need to borrow a top.
” Then she took off up the stairs muttering about men being morons.
“I actually feel sorry for Eli,” Emma murmured, watching her go.
The sentiment caught Cade off guard. “Why?”
“She’s going to go have some very domineering sex with him, and he’ll have no idea what he did to deserve it.” She grinned. “Or how to do it again.” Shifting her gaze to meet his, she nodded. “I get the impression you just got railroaded. It’s okay if you want to cancel this now.”
He opened his mouth to do just that, but what came out was, “Be ready by six on Friday.”
Stunned at his brazen stupidity, he spun on his heel, went into his room and shut the door. Standing there, he listened for her door to close. The moment the latch clicked, the second he was truly alone, he grinned.
He had a date with the woman, the only woman, who drove him so crazy that he was beginning to think he couldn’t live without her.