Chapter Seventeen
CADE
Gabe, Spencer, and Colton were already here. Only Jake and Natalie were missing.
"Meredith," Spencer exclaimed. "Good to see you."
My brother winked at me. I knew exactly what he was thinking: "You've got balls, brother, bringing her here."
He didn't know the half of it.
"Oh, Gabe. I remember you, too. Great to see you after all this time." Meredith smiled at him.
Gabe was looking at us with a shit-eating grin.
“Glad you do.” My smartass brother was checking my girl out in a way that was beginning to annoy me.
“We haven’t met, but I’ve heard a lot about you through the grapevine,” Colton said as he and Meredith shook hands.
He seemed amused. I took that as a win. In the past few years, nothing seemed to affect my oldest brother.
He'd had a one-track mind in his lab, working on what he called his "breakthrough discovery.
" He'd explained it to me once, but biology had never been my forte, so I'd only half listened.
I was good with numbers and sales, but I knew jack shit about developing medicine.
"Spencer, are you still covering up for this guy?" Meredith asked, pointing her thumb at me.
"Always."
"Hey now. None of that. I take care of myself these days," I teased.
Spencer clapped his hands once and then nodded. "Dude, your shit is becoming more complex. I’m learning from you these days, bro."
Meredith laughed. It was bizarre how at ease my brothers were around her.
We weren't used to any of us showing up at family events with a woman on our arm.
The first one who did that was Jake, and we ruthlessly mocked him.
Then again, this was different. My brothers thought Meredith and I were keeping up a ruse for grandmother's sake.
Meredith focused on Gabe again. "And you’re still getting away with everything because you're the youngest?"
Gabe laughed. My girl was giving it to them like a pro. "Oh, my older brothers usually stirred up so much shit themselves that all the focus was on them. Not my fault I got away with my shenanigans. And yet that continues to be true."
Everyone laughed at that, and a few of us contradicted and challenged him with verbal jabs.
"And the eternally brooding Colton," Meredith said with a smile. God, she was beautiful.
Colton jerked his head back. "Wait, that's a thing?" He looked around the group. "You all call me that?"
Meredith pressed her lips together, looking at me out of the corner of her eye. "Was that supposed to be a secret? I thought it was common knowledge."
"It is," I said, walking up to her and putting an arm around her shoulders.
Spencer narrowed his eyes, zeroing in on my hand. My grandparents weren't in the room, so there was no reason to pretend.
Cat’s out of the bag.
I'd be up for an interrogation later. Fine, I'd let them take a shot at me. I was fucking exhausted, as the last two days had been a marathon of meetings and reviewing documentation, trying to troubleshoot all the problems.
I acted on instinct, grabbing Meredith’s hand. I needed contact with her. I'd missed her. Did I even tell her that? I had no clue.
My grandparents joined us at that second, followed by Jake and Natalie. I hadn't even heard them come in.
"Meredith," Jake exclaimed. "Good to see you again." He shook her hand before introducing her to Natalie. "This is my fiancée, Natalie."
"It's nice to meet you, Natalie," Meredith said.
Natalie glanced at Meredith's outfit. "I love your scarf. Where did you get it?"
Meredith smiled. "I have this favorite cute little shop that always buys the most amazing collections. I'll give you the address."
"Oh, thank you, Meredith. Straight to the point. I like that."
Meredith smiled as they exchanged more info about the store.
"That's my girl," I said, noticing Grandmother looking pleased with herself.
"What's that?" I asked, pointing at the cake she was carrying to the table.
"It's coffee cake. I was in the mood for it. I know it's a bit early for a Christmas treat, but someone in this room is definitely already feeling Christmas in her heart." Grandmother winked at Meredith.
Meredith nodded. "Oh yes."
I was surprised at the warmth in her tone. She looked genuinely happy to be here.
Grandmother cut cake for everyone. "Don't overeat, okay? This is just a little treat to have with coffee."
"Grandmother, did you prepare a feast again?" I asked sharply, knowing there was more to what she was saying.
"My grandchildren are coming to dinner. Of course I'm preparing a feast. What kind of a grandmother would I be otherwise?"
"One who's ninety years old," I wanted to say, but I knew better. My brothers and I worried that our grandparents overdid it, and we were trying to encourage them to rest and relax and enjoy life. It was going spectacularly.
Jake cleared his throat. "Grandmother, I got a call from the cleaning company I hired. You told them that you no longer need their services. Why is that?"
She sighed. "Your grandfather is feeling much better now. Between the two of us, we're doing just fine. It’s good exercise for me to do a few chores."
Jake and I exchanged a glance, but Colton just shook his head.
Spencer looked at Gabe and mouthed, "Later.
" As usual, when we needed to convince Grandmother of something, it took a group effort to put our minds together and come up with arguments she couldn't refute.
We wanted to take care of them. Why was it so hard for them to let us?
They'd looked out for us our entire childhood and adulthood; it was only fair for the roles to reverse now.
But that was a conversation to be had another day.
We all ate cake without even sitting down. Grandmother brought out a carafe of coffee too. I glanced at my watch, noting it was five thirty. She always asked us over early for dinner, so that usually meant we still had most of Saturday evening to ourselves.
I had some great plans this evening, and they all involved Meredith.
After we finished the cake, my grandmother brought out fifty or so courses, it seemed like.
"You truly meant a feast," Meredith said as she gazed at everything on the table.
"The only good part about this is that they then have food for about a week, so she doesn't have to cook again," I told her.
Meredith leaned into me, saying in a soft voice for only me to hear, "I like that you worry about them and want to make sure they get help as needed."
"Not easy with Grandmother, but I am persistent," I whispered, the room having quieted as everyone was eating.
Grandmother's cooking was always perfection; every course was delicious, and the presentation, as she called it, was enticing. Usually she prepared everyone's favorites, but after a while, we got tired of the same menu, so she was changing it up a bit more now.
"Grandfather, how are you feeling?" I asked.
"I'm healthy as a horse. I don't know why the doctor keeps insisting I should watch my diet." He’d had a few scares with his heart and needed to be careful from here on out.
"How many times do we have to have this conversation, Abe?" Grandmother asked. Her voice was suddenly sharp. Obviously she was getting tired of his obstinance.
"Grandmother, Grandfather, behave," Cade cut in. "We have guests."
Grandmother looked at Meredith. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just trying to keep my husband alive, and it's a full-time job."
Spencer leaned toward Meredith on her other side. "Welcome to the family, Meredith. If someone's not fighting, you know something's off."
"Duly noted," she replied easily.
He looked at me over Meredith's head. I knew he was bursting with questions.
"By the way, Grandmother, Natalie and I want to go see a musical at the theater next week," Jake said nonchalantly. "Want to come with us?"
"Oh, I'd love to!" Grandmother exclaimed.
Thumbs-up to Jake; he did that very elegantly.
I knew Grandmother was happy to go, but if she knew we'd had an actual conversation about taking her out more often, she'd brush off our efforts, saying she didn't want to be a burden.
It was always a fine line with Jeannie Whitley. The woman was smart.
"Are you sure you want this old bag of bones to tag along?" Grandmother asked Jake.
"Jeannie!" Natalie said, sounding completely affronted. "We love spending time with you. Abe, do you want to join us too?"
"No. The doctor said I should try to avoid events that are very crowded,” Grandfather replied.
Grandmother laughed. "Now you're bringing up doctor's orders!"
I had to give it to Grandfather. He was smart as always. He'd once confided in me that even though my grandmother was a theater actress, he disliked plays and musicals. But he'd never missed any of her performances, even back when he was running Whitley Industries.
"Never make your wife feel as if what she does or what she likes is insignificant. Even if you don't understand why she loves it, support her. She will appreciate it."
I had no clue that those words had even registered in my mind, but they had. It was great advice. Then again, most of the things he said were useful.
After we finished eating, we offered to clean up the table. Grandmother protested, but Jake put his foot down. "We won't hear of it, Grandmother. The least we can do, after you cooked the whole day, is clean up."
"Oh, you boys! You get more stubborn with every year."
"That we do," I said.
"I can't believe she's fighting you about cleaning up," Meredith said as we finished bringing everything to the kitchen and loaded up the dishwasher.
"Yeah, it's an ongoing battle," I said.
"And what was that about Jake and Natalie taking her out?"
"Remember a few weeks ago when I told you I realized she might need a bit more company?"
"Yes," Meredith replied.
"Well, my brothers and I decided to take turns getting her out of the house."
Her eyes widened. "Oh my God, that's so cute! I can just imagine all of you brainstorming this."
"And now, no more talk," I said.
"Why not?"
"I’ve wanted to kiss you since I got out of the cab."
She smiled shyly, taking a step back and bumping into the kitchen counter. "Oops! Look, I'm trapped here with you."
"Exactly. With nowhere to run." I stepped closer, tilting her head up. "I've missed you."
"I missed you too."
I kissed her the next second without holding back at all.
Fuck, how I needed her. It was a need that ran deep, and I hadn't been aware of it until now.
For the first time, the past fucked-up week completely vanished from my mind.
All I could think about was Meredith: how good she tasted, how delicious she felt against me, soft and trusting.
She moaned against my mouth, and I deepened the kiss. I kept one hand on her upper back, the other on the side of her head, and deepened it even further. I was hungry for her, and the more I got, the more I wanted. I didn't want to stop—not now, not ever.
Her soft lips were inviting. The way she opened up for me, Jesus! My cock stirred in my boxers.
Get a grip on yourself, Cade.
"What do we have here?" Spencer exclaimed.
Holy shit! I'd completely forgotten where we were.
Groaning, I took a step back, glancing at Meredith before turning around. Her lips were completely red and even a bit swollen.
Spencer smirked. "So let me get this straight. Are you two still pretending or not?"