Chapter 3 Caden #2
She was hot enough back then, but the fuller curves made her that much sexier. And harder to look away from, as I’d had to struggle not to stare all night.
The air between us still had a familiar crackle, and I was finding it harder to ignore it.
Grabbing the back of her neck and tasting those pursed lips was such a visceral temptation, I felt my fingertips tingle with the impulse, even though I knew damn well it was a bad idea.
It had been a bad idea back then too, but we’d been too young and stupid to care.
“Sure, I can go first if it makes it easier,” I said.
“Yes, please,” she said, the corner of her mouth twitching. “I’ll judge if it’s a true horror story or not.”
“It won’t be hard,” I scoffed. “Marie and I were married for about five years. We both worked long hours—or, at least, I did. I found out her idea of overtime was having affairs after she clocked out for the day.”
Sabrina’s brows jumped.
“Affairs?” she asked slowly, emphasizing the s. “How many?”
“More than I probably want to tally up.” I coughed out a laugh. “Three that I know about, a few more I’m suspicious of. And I had no fucking idea. I was that into my job and myself that I didn’t realize what she was doing.”
I left out the part about how it had all hit when my mother had first become sick, but I didn’t like talking about that, even to Sabrina. What Marie had done was a gut punch when I was already down on the floor, and maybe that’s why it felt so hard to get back up.
“Shit, Caden,” she said, shaking her head. “I am so sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”
I shrugged. No one deserved that, but it had been going on for so long, I almost couldn’t blame her for doing it. It had been too easy.
“If I hadn’t caught her one very terrible day, it would probably still be happening. It’s hard not to blame myself for being an idiot.”
“You are not an idiot. You trusted the person you married. Which is what you’re supposed to do—although now, I don’t trust anyone.”
“Is that enough of a horror story?” I tried to joke. “I showed you mine, so you have to show me yours, which I bet isn’t as bad.”
“Don’t assume,” she said, laughing to herself.
“I was cheated on too. For long enough that when I found out, my husband and his girlfriend had a six-month-old baby together already. Austin worked a lot of hours too and traveled for business.” She leaned back against the bench.
“Gone enough to cultivate a whole other life.”
“I’m sorry, Sab.” I reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “You didn’t fucking deserve that.”
A slow smile crossed her lips as she scooted forward on the seat, draping her hand over our joined ones.
“You didn’t fucking deserve that either. You were always one of the good ones. A pain in the ass sometimes, but definitely a good one.”
At almost thirty-nine, I knew a smile from a woman shouldn’t have made my stomach flip or trigger a rush of warmth through my chest. But Sabrina had always been different. So different that I couldn’t confess how I felt to her or anyone else.
After all this time, it was even hard to admit it to myself, because I still couldn’t do anything with it.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to sweet-talk me, Tirado.” I quirked a brow, drifting my thumb back and forth over her wrist.
We locked gazes as if we were under a spell. A spell brought on by mutual raw rejection and memories of the easy satisfaction we used to find in each other.
Satisfaction that I shouldn’t have craved so damn badly.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Williams,” she said with a playful scowl on her lips.
The lips I could still feel drifting down my chest and wrapping around my cock.
A little satisfaction wouldn’t hurt anyone, right? Just two old friends getting reacquainted, regardless if it would mean a whole lot more to one of the friends.
I was considering it hard enough to frighten me a little.
What was the big deal if we did? Really? I was the one who’d screwed things up by catching feelings, but she didn’t know that, and that was a long time ago.
Granted, I’d been so into her tonight that I hadn’t moved more than a few inches away from her, but I wasn’t that kid again. I could handle myself this time.
I was sure of it. Or mostly sure. Like, maybe seventy-five percent sure. Three-quarters certain that I could handle being with Sabrina without becoming a love-sick idiot again.
If we gave in, I was an adult now and could manage to keep it purely physical this time. We’d be consenting, unattached adults, free to do whatever we wanted.
“Oh, hey. Caden, right?”
Our heads whipped to what appeared to be a total stranger standing next to our table.
“Yeah, hey,” I said, searching his face as I tried to remember who he was. He looked sort of familiar, but his name eluded me, especially since all my brain cells and the blood south of my waist were focused on the woman sitting across from me.
“Dale. We ran track together. You and your tall friend, Jake?”
“Jesse,” Sabrina answered him, biting her bottom lip as if she were holding back a laugh, but I wasn’t laughing.
I was turned on and pissed off that Dale from track couldn’t tell that he may have been interrupting something.
What that something was, I wasn’t sure, but I had wanted to find out.
“Hi, Dale. Good to see you,” I lied. “Hope you enjoyed the reunion.”
He lifted a shoulder.
“It was fine, pushing it a little by having it in the same place as our prom. Especially since everyone I talked to tonight is divorced like me.”
“That’s exactly what I said,” Sabrina agreed and started to slip her hand away, quirking a brow when I tightened my grip.
“This is nice,” Dale said, looking between us. “You guys ending up together. I saw your friend leave with that soccer player he was with back in school. I guess you were the lucky ones.”
The sad smile on his face brought on a twinge of guilt for wanting to shoo him away. It had been a long time since I’d considered myself a lucky one. The only time in recent memory that I’d come close to feeling that way was when I’d spotted Sabrina tonight.
“Oh.” Sabrina’s brow crinkled as she glanced over at me. “We aren’t…”
“Thank you,” I said, bringing Sabrina’s hand to my lips and pressing a light kiss to her wrist. “We like to think so.”
Her face twisted in confusion, but if I wasn’t mistaken, I spotted some heat in her eyes.
“I remember when they caught you both under the bleachers,” he said, snickering as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I thought Peter Hastings was going to kill you that day.”
I snuck a smile to Sabrina as I recalled that day with surprising clarity. She’d broken up with Peter after she’d found him making out with a cheerleader, and he’d found her with me a week later.
How I’d managed to get through high school with my nose and jaw intact was a lucky mystery.
“All’s well in love and war, right? Good to see you, Dale. Hope you find some luck, too.”
Sabrina pulled her hands away after Dale shifted to leave.
“What was that?”
“Oh, come on. I figured why not have a little fun, and look at the hope we gave the poor guy.”
“Hope?” She narrowed her eyes before her gaze drifted back to the bar. “I feel for him, though. Toni is getting married next month, and it’s my first big family event since Austin and I split up.”
My jaw dropped. “Your niece is getting married? That’s impossible. She’s just a little kid.”
“She’s actually twenty-five. She grew up smart and beautiful, and I’m so happy for her. But I’d rather get a root canal than go to this wedding.” She cupped her forehead. “My sister keeps asking if I’ve changed my mind about bringing a plus-one after I’ve told her no a million times.”
“I could be your plus-one,” I blurted out before I realized it.
Her head shot up as she studied me.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Why not? I loved your little niece. I mean, your sister was a little…” I trailed off.
“Abrasive, overbearing, annoying. Yes, and she’s still all those things. Why would you want to subject yourself to that?”
To get more time with you.
“And,” she went on before I could answer, “I don’t want to bring someone just to bring someone. My family acts like I’m the only one who’s ever been divorced, and bringing a friend as a date would only make it worse.”
She shut her eyes and let out a long exhale.
“I wanted to show them I’m fine on my own, but they look at it as more pathetic than empowering.” She dragged her hand through her hair. “If it were anyone but Toni, I’d be planning a stomach virus right now.”
“What if we had fun with it?” I leaned forward and cracked a wide grin. “Pretend we’re together.”
Sabrina’s eyes shot open.
“How much did you have to drink tonight?”
“I’m serious. Look how well we just did.” I jutted my chin to where Dale was still at the bar. “Gets them off your back for a night, pisses your sister off, and we always had a good time together, right?”
“We did,” she said with a slow nod before a chuckle fell from her lips. “You really want to do this? Make up a story about being together and then keep up with it all night?”
“Why not? How hard would it be? We met again at our high school reunion, sparks flew, and now, we’re together.” I shrugged. “We don’t need a lot of details.”
“I’ll think about it,” she said, laughing as her pretty gaze met mine. “You’re still crazy.”
“Don’t pretend like you didn’t miss me.”
“I did,” she said, faster than I expected her to. “Whatever happens with the wedding or what Jesse and Emily end up doing, let’s not lose touch again, okay?”
“Okay,” I said. It was an easy promise to make since I had the feeling staying away from her would be the bigger challenge.
The bar was mostly empty by the time we agreed to call it a night.
“This was nice,” Sabrina said as she pulled up in front of my condo. “We should do this again soon. Not the reunion part, but—”
“I knew what you meant. And we’ll have to if you take me up on my offer. Get used to hanging out again so it looks natural.”
“I don’t think we’d need to rehearse anything.” She shook her head. “It was always pretty natural between us.”
“It was,” I said, my voice dipping to a husky rasp. Her hazel eyes roamed my face and landed on my mouth. She chewed on her lip, her gaze lingering on mine as a long, heavy minute passed between us.
If I kissed her now, would she let me? I’d never had to worry about reading the signs the right way because, as Sabrina noted, we were natural together.
Grabbing the back of her head and crushing my mouth against hers felt not only natural, but primal.
A visceral need that took over any kind of logic in my head.
But it was hard to decipher what was driving it. Yes, once upon a time, I’d loved Sabrina—or was pretty sure I’d thought I had. We still had the same easy chemistry and spark between us, but we were also nursing bruised egos and broken hearts.
So, as much as I wanted her mouth, I leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek instead, allowing myself to linger an extra minute. I spied a trail of goose bumps down her neck, thrill and relief rushing through me that whatever this was or why, she’d felt it too.
“Text me when you get home.” I craned my neck to her before I got out. “Now that we have each other’s numbers again. Thanks for the ride and the night out.”
“I will. And back at you, Willams.”
I laughed when she nudged my shoulder.
I’d always said I was too immature to be this old, but tonight had made me feel young again in both the best and worst possible ways.