Chapter Eleven
CADE
"Cade, you’re here," her mother exclaimed when I got out of the car. "Let me take a look at you. It’s been so long."
"Nice to see you again, Mrs. Porter." I gently shook her hand. Meredith watched with warm eyes. "And you, Meredith."
I looked directly at her and instantly realized this wasn't my best idea. Being with her around her parents was going to be torture. I needed to kiss and touch and devour her. What the hell had I been thinking?
Mr. Porter walked out of the house too. "Son, it's good to see you. I’ve been reading up on Whitley Industries. You’ve done well. Your brothers too."
"We’re doing our best."
"Well, it’s nice of you to come help us," Mrs. Porter said, now looking eagerly at Meredith. "I can't believe you convinced this young man to spend his Sunday evening helping us unpack and move things around."
"He offered," Meredith said in her trademark sexy voice.
I wanted to pin her against that wall and kiss her for the whole city to see.
Damn it. Rein it in, Cade. There's a time and place for that, and it's not here.
"Hm," Mrs. Porter said. "Come on inside the house. We already made some good headway.”
"You’ve sold your old house?" I asked. I only vaguely remembered it, but I did know it was much bigger than this. This was a bungalow.
"Yes. We had to downsize," Mrs. Porter said, and I instantly realized she didn't want to talk about it. She turned to Meredith. "Our girl here was very kind and helped us find our footing."
"Of course, Mom. Now come on. Let's get to unpacking the rest of the things or we'll never be done."
As Mr. and Mrs. Porter went deeper inside the room, Mrs. Porter said, "We can work on the boxes in the living room. You two can work on the ones in the kitchen."
Yes! Fuck yes! I'd take some time alone with Meredith anywhere, even just in the next room.
"You look fantastic and well rested," I told Meredith as soon as we stepped into the kitchen.
She turned around, sucking in her breath. "No flirting while we're here."
"I wasn't flirting."
"Tell that to my lady bits."
I swallowed hard. "Well, fuck me, Meredith."
She covered her mouth with one hand. "I'm so sorry. I don't even know why I said that. You have a very strange effect on me."
I was relieved to know I wasn't the only one who was acting out of sorts lately.
"On one condition," I said. She bit her lower lip, running a hand through her hair. I looked at her mouth, and she licked her lips. I took a step closer and felt her suck in a breath as if she was bracing herself for me. "I want to kiss you."
"Cade," she murmured.
"I've been fantasizing about you the whole weekend, Meredith. I barely talked myself out of getting in the car and just showing up at your hotel."
"Oh God, I wanted that so much. When I saw the package from you, I'd hoped you’d stop by too.”
That was all I needed. I leaned in, kissing her the next moment. I’d been starved for this woman. She tasted like apples and mint, and I couldn’t get enough of her. I first pulled her upper lip into my mouth, then the lower one before exploring her deeply, holding her close to me.
Her soft body melted against me, and she put her hands on my shoulders, sighing against my mouth. She was fierce, but one kiss was all it took for her to turn soft in my arms and open up for me.
She made a small sound in her throat, a moan. I couldn't stop at one kiss. I needed to find out what other sounds I could get out of her and all the ways in which I could bring her pleasure.
"Oh, I couldn't believe it when Jeannie told me."
Shit.
MEREDITH
The sound of Mom's voice sliced through the air. I took a step back, and so did Cade. We both turned to face Mom, who was smiling from ear to ear. She put her hands together, clasping her fingers.
"You know, at the last book club meeting, she said you kids might be into something, and I honestly thought it was just wishful thinking on her part. I can't believe it's true. My baby girl and Cade."
I was so stunned, I didn't know what to say.
This is karma coming for you, Meredith. I made fun of Cade for indulging Jeannie, but now I could see what he meant.
Looking at Mom's expression, I didn't want to wipe away that smile.
Besides, what exactly could I tell her? "No, Cade and I aren't in a relationship.
We're just shamelessly kissing in your kitchen." That wouldn’t go over well, and it wasn’t a good look on either of us.
I was sure she saw the flush on my face.
"Mom," I said calmly. Oh Lord, how to approach this?
"No, no, you two carry on. I didn't want to disturb. I just wanted to say that the boxes in the corner belong in the living room."
"I'll move them right now," Cade said, looking every bit as uncomfortable as I felt.
Mom stared at him with a dreamy expression. "In high school, I really wanted to shake you a couple times for not noticing my baby girl."
Oh God. Ground, please swallow me. The last thing I needed was for him to know I had a crush on him.
"She was waiting for you to ask her to prom, and it didn’t even cross your mind," she continued.
Yep, that's it. I need to get her out of here. My heart was beating out of my chest.
Cade hung his head. "Ma'am, I can't say I'm proud of a lot of things I did in high school, but I've matured a lot since then."
Mom laughed. "That you have, young man. Meredith, your dad and I will be in the living room, not listening to a thing."
"I'm so sorry about that," I said as soon as Mom was out of the room.
"About what? Your mom catching us and you not denying anything, just like I didn’t with Grandmother? Or that I found out your secret?"
“Ummm… all of the above.” I was hoping to distract him from the last part.
“Tell me about that crush. You’ve been holding out on me.”
I swallowed hard. "It was nothing," I said, trying to wave it away. “Just a high school crush.”
"Meredith." He stepped closer to me, putting his fingers under my chin and tilting my head up. "I was a blind moron. I didn't know any better, but now I do."
I bit my lip, holding my breath. I loved every word coming out of his mouth. And yet the part of me that had crushed on him all those years ago was alive and well. My poor heart had hurt for him once before. I couldn't put it in the same position.
His eyes were fixed on mine. I nodded. I wasn't even sure what I was agreeing to, but I was powerless to fight it—at least right now.
He seemed to know there was something on my mind, though. "Tell me what you're afraid of."
I shook my head. "Not now."
"Later, then." His voice was strong, like it wouldn't allow an argument. And though I liked to verbally spar with him, I couldn't deny that I also liked it when he unleashed that alpha voice on me. It definitely made my knees weak and set my panties on fire.
I nodded again and stepped back. "Okay."
"And I'm not going to come anywhere near you again while we're in your parents' house."
"Why not?" I asked, miffed.
"Because I can't seem to keep my hands or mouth off you. Being caught once by your mother is enough."
"Oh yeah, I agree," I said.
Wits, hello? Where did I lose you? Thank God Cade has some left.
"How rough of a time are your parents having?” he asked.
“Enough that they had to downsize. Selling the old house crushed them. They’d hoped to rent it out instead, but there were no takers.
So my brother-in-law and I flipped that house and sold it.
My sister also helped in the early months of her pregnancy.
Most of my savings went into it, but it was worth it.
They used most of the money they got for the house to pay the debts they still had from the store. ”
Cade looked straight at me as we opened one of the boxes that revealed plates and cutlery. "You're a great person, Meredith."
"They're my parents. Of course I’ll help them," I replied.
"Anyway, that's why I'm going to spend the better part of next week here, helping them unpack and put together the furniture.
It's a good thing they have the bed, otherwise they couldn't even sleep here, and getting the kitchen situated is important too. "
"No moving company?" he asked.
I shook my head. "It's just us. Maybe my sister's husband, but he’s been working overtime.”
“I’ll help.”
"No. No, come on,” I protested, shocked. “You don't have to do that. There's a lot of work yet to do."
"Precisely."
I swallowed hard, totally speechless. "Thanks. But just so you know, if you change your mind, it's also okay."
"I don't make promises I can't keep, Meredith."
I jolted. "That's not what I meant. But this is exhausting work."
He stepped closer to me. "Which is exactly why I want to help."
He pressed his thumb to the corner of my mouth before drawing it over my lips. On instinct, I pushed my tongue out, licking his thumb.
"Fuck," he murmured, taking a step back.
"Oh, that's right. Now I understand why you said you’re not coming near me. Shall we make it more official? Set a number of feet between us?"
He laughed. "That doesn't sound half bad."
It turned out we didn't have to, though, because my parents decided we should start assembling the dresser after all. They were excellent chaperones.
I couldn't believe Cade offered to help us put together the furniture. It was frustrating work, and he was the CEO of a big company; he certainly had better things to do with his time than doing this manual labor with me and my family.
Mom and I assembled the smaller pieces of the dresser while Dad and Cade did more of the muscle work.
It gave me the opportunity to fully focus on Cade, as Mom and Dad were busy at their tasks and probably wouldn’t notice.
He was wearing a shirt underneath the sweater he'd taken off when he arrived at the house.
Who wore a dress shirt on weekends? Then again, when that’s what you wore day in, day out, it probably became like a second skin.
I totally approved of his dress code. He looked mouthwatering, every single part of him—his tight ass, bulging biceps, that six-pack I thought I saw whenever he stretched and his shirt rode up.
It was late at night, almost midnight, by the time Mom practically shooed the two of us out of the house. The second we were outside on her porch, Cade came closer to me. Even though it was cold as all get-out, my body temperature skyrocketed the second he touched my lips with his fingers.
"Meredith…”
“I'm sorry this took so long tonight. Do you want to go to my place and order some takeout?" I asked. My parents had already ordered pizza for us all earlier, so I was certain neither of us was hungry, but I wanted an excuse to be with him.
"No." He said the word slowly and deliberately, as if he was trying to feel the weight of it on his tongue.
"No?" I was stricken. Had my parents already scared him away? Or had I?
"I realized one thing tonight, Meredith: I can't be close to you and not devour you."
"Yeah," I murmured. It felt great to be wanted so desperately by him.
"But then it got me thinking about some things your mother and my grandmother said, and I want to start this right."
I blinked. "What do you mean?"
"No rushing into things. No midnight quickie—not that it would be quick."
I laughed. "Right. So then, what great proposition do you have?"
"Tonight, I'm going to drive behind you to make sure you get home safe."
"Cade," I said. "Come on, I live, like, ten minutes away. Nothing's going to happen to me."
"I want to make sure you're safe. I'll drive behind you. I will definitely not get out of the car to walk you to your door, because I’d end up kissing you against it and taking you inside and having my way with you the whole night."
"But that sounds great."
"Taking it slow, remember?"
Stepping back, he took my hand and kissed it.
Is this real? Did this absolute god of a man just say all those romantic things to me?
His eyes shone in the dark. The intensity in them made me shiver.
I knew he was right. If we went to my house, that was exactly what would happen.
We would be all over each other, though, oddly, I didn't mind.
But there was some part of me that was afraid to let myself go, and by tomorrow morning, my defenses were going to go right back up again.
Cade did a great job tearing them down and getting beyond my insecurities. And that frightened me.
He walked me to my car, opening the door as I slipped in. He kept his promise and drove behind me, watching me until I entered my building. The second I was alone in my home, exhaustion slammed into me.
After showering, I went to bed, typing a quick message to Cade.
Meredith: I’m home. I just took a shower and forgot to text before.
He answered a couple minutes later while I tossed and turned in my bed.
Cade: I'm getting in my shower now.
I sat up a bit straighter, adrenaline coursing through me even though I was tired.
Meredith: A cold shower?
Cade: Hell yes.
Oh my God. He’d somehow found the self-restraint to only drive me to my door and not come inside. Cade Whitely was a total gentleman.
Meredith: Thank you for this evening.
Cade: My pleasure.
I shimmied on the mattress, settling down again and getting ready to fall asleep.
Meredith: All right then. Have fun in the shower.
Cade: Good night, beautiful.
I placed the phone on my nightstand, turning onto one side and smiling in the dark.
I was pining for my childhood crush all over again. But the difference? It wasn’t unrequited this time.