by K. M. Scott
“I think I heard something about that,” he says with a sparkle in his dark brown eyes.
“He told me about his club, so maybe he’ll show me that tonight.”
Something in Alex’s expression changes so imperceptibly it’s almost not visible, but I sense the difference in him immediately. “Maybe. I have to get going, but keep my offer in mind, okay?”
And with that, he stands from the table and gives me one last smile. “Take care, Hailey.”
“Thank you, Alex.”
As I watch him walk toward the front door, I can’t help but wonder what made his mood change so suddenly. Was it the mention of Cade’s club? Is there something he doesn’t approve of in that, or is it that he doesn’t think I’m the type of person who belongs at a place like that?
I press the piece of paper with Cade’s phone number on it against the table, smoothing the wrinkles and creases from it being in my pocket all day. My hands tremble as I hold my phone, ready to text him.
Am I ready for this? Dr. Thorpe says I am. Meadow thinks I’d be crazy if I didn’t at least give myself a chance with Cade.
Then why do I feel like a nervous wreck when I even think about seeing him tonight?
My mind whirls with what could happen, what might go wrong, what it would be like to kiss him again. Pushing all that out of my head, I smooth the paper one final time and press the numbers into my phone before beginning my text.
Hi, this is Hailey. Hope you’re having a great day. If you still want to get together tonight, I’m free.
I stare at the words, reading them over and over and wishing they sounded sexy or even fun, instead of such boring words. Of course I’m free. I’m always free. He probably knows that.
Maybe I should mention our kiss last night. But what am I going to say? Hey, thanks for kissing me? Your lips are soft? You have nice breath?
Definitely not. I’ll just leave the text as it is. He’s already met me. He must know by now I’m not exciting or sexy.
Or the type of woman who belongs in a red Jag.
I send it off, surprised that my anxiety doesn’t abate but only gets worse. He might not reply. He might have decided after last night that he’s not interested. I mean, if he was really into me, he could have come over with Alex this afternoon. Then again, maybe that’s why Alex got so uncomfortable and left so quickly right after I mentioned Cade.
God, I wish I was a red Jag kind of woman.
While I mentally spiral out of control, my phone vibrates against the tabletop. I look down to see his response to my text and smile.
Meet me at CK at eight. See you then.
Chapter Thirteen
Hailey
Absolutely sure I look like an overeager teenage girl, I get to CK ten minutes early. I’d expected traffic to be heavier, but the drive took much less time than I thought it would. I could drive around, but then I might get stuck somewhere and be late.
It’s fine. I can check my makeup in the rearview mirror since I have a few minutes.
I pull into a parking space and turn the car off before turning it back on. Looking down my body, I frown at my pink sundress. It looks so silly. I should have chosen something sexier.
That’s a ridiculous idea. I don’t own anything sexy. That’s sort of the problem, isn’t it?
“You’re going to have to get out of the car for us to have any fun.”
Spinning my head to look out my window, I see Cade standing outside smiling at me. “What? I didn’t think you’d be here so early.”
He looks incredible in jeans and a grey dress shirt. How does he do that? He’s casual but sexy at the same time.
And I’m whatever the opposite of that is.
“Are you ready to go?” he asks before opening my car door.
“I guess,” I say tentatively as I put up the window and turn off the engine. “Where are we going?”
“Are you hungry? We can get something to eat,” he suggests when I step out of the car.
“Not really, but if you are, we can.”
“I’m not, so cross eating off the list.”
I want to ask if he would want to show me his club, but I keep that idea to myself. Something about the way Alex reacted earlier hints at that being an issue of some kind.
“We could go for a ride. Then you’d be able to definitely say you’re a red Jag kind of girl. You already are, but that would make it official.”
He slams my car door shut and guides me to his car on the other side of the parking lot. So now I become a red Jag girl. Not sure how that’s going to look.
“So, other than sitting in a red Jag, what does a red Jag kind of girl have to do? I feel like I should have studied or something. Is there a handbook? Maybe that would be good for me to look at first,” I say, hoping my jokes sound as funny as they do in my head.
But Cade isn’t smiling. In fact, he looks like he’s sizing me up like animals do with their prey. Oh, God. He is an ax murderer!
Just as we reach his car, he stops and leans in to kiss me. “You don’t have to do anything but be you. Whatever that is, that’s what a red Jag girl does as long as you’re in the car. Easy, right?”
When his lips touch mine, I can’t think of anything but how good he kisses. Gorgeous, has a hot car, and an incredible kisser. God, is there anything wrong with this guy?
If so, I don’t want to know. Not right now, at least. Let whatever his flaws are come out later after I’ve enjoyed this night.
An hour later, he pulls into a parking lot and points at the white building in front of us. “What do you think of doing something other than riding around for a while?”
“Is this where you live?”
“Yeah. I figured we could hang out for a while, but if you want to go somewhere, just tell me and we’re there.”
Again, I consider mentioning his club, but since it’s only nine o’clock at night, it’s highly unlikely the place is busy yet. I may not be a club kind of girl, but I do know things don’t start happening until much later in the night.
“No, we can hang out. That’s okay. This place looks nice. Do you live on your own?”
Cade turns the car off and nods. “Yeah. Sometimes I tell people I live with Alex, but you get the truth. It’s just me.”
I want to ask why he lies about a thing like that, but he jumps out of the car before I can and then a few seconds later, he’s at my door opening it for me. Maybe he was kidding? Does he really tell other people that?
Instead, I ask what seems like a more obvious question at this moment as I crane my neck to look up at the enormous building looming in front of me. “What floor do you live on?”
Maybe that’s why he’s in such good shape. Walking up twenty flights of stairs each day would make anyone look good.
“One of the upper floors. Wait until you see the view from the balcony. It’s what makes living here all worth it,” he says like the beautiful surroundings, professional landscaping, and gorgeous building aren’t enough.
“Oh. I bet you have a lot of very successful neighbors.”
Cade shakes his head and grimaces. “Actually, I have a lot of old neighbors who complain and make up ridiculous rules at the HOA meetings. The last one I went to some lady raged on and on about someone’s Christmas wreath being a choking hazard for like a half hour. I haven’t been back since then.”
I can’t tell if he’s serious, so as we walk into the main lobby, I look at him and smile. “Really?”
He nods but returns my smile. “I wish I was joking. This building wasn’t like this when I bought the place. I figure I’m young enough to wait them out, though, so maybe in a few years it won’t be bad. Or maybe I’ll move. For now, the view from the balcony makes it all worth it.”
I look around for a stairwell, but Cade guides me toward a bank of elevators that I silently thank God for. As the doors close, I watch him press the button for the fifteenth floor, and then the elevator starts moving up.
“This is a very s
mooth elevator,” I say, suddenly nervous and needing to make small talk.
For a moment, Cade doesn’t say anything, but then he laughs. “Yeah, I guess it is. I never noticed that. I think I’m usually so preoccupied about just getting to my place that I don’t pay much attention at all to the ride.”
He likely thinks I’m the most boring person in the world to pay attention to the smoothness of the elevator ride in his building. I couldn’t argue with him if he did. So much for the ride in the Jag making me a red Jag girl. I bet the other women he brings to his home don’t comment on the smooth elevator ride up.
I feel something against my pinky and look down to see him taking my hand in his. When I look up at him, he gives me one of his all-too-sexy smiles that make me feel like my insides are melting.
“You don’t have to worry, Hailey. I’m not an ax murderer, and this is just us going to hang out. Honest.”
His touch calms me, but I still have to make a joke. “You know, I think only real ax murderers say they aren’t ax murderers. Non-ax murderers don’t say anything about not being one.”
His smile broadens, and he leans down to kiss me, taking my breath away this time as the elevator stops at the fifteenth floor. “Point taken. Now if you see any wreaths, don’t eat them, okay? I hear they’re dangerous.”
We walk down the hallway to his apartment as one thought fills my head. How is it possible this man is single?
God, I really hope he’s not an ax murderer.
He opens his front door and says, “Welcome to my world. Excuse the mess. The maid hasn’t been here this week.”
No sooner do those words leave his mouth, Cade stops and turns around to face me wearing a look so earnest I’m not sure what he’s going to say. “I don’t have a maid. That was more of a joke than anything else.”
“Oh, okay. I don’t either, so it’s not like I’m going to look down on you for having to straighten up your own mess.”
“Good. Well, come in and relax. I’ll get us something to drink. Alcohol or no?” he asks as he walks into another room.
“No alcohol, thanks.”
I quickly scan the living room he’s left me in. Open to the dining room with an actual table and chairs set that doesn’t look like it’s ever been used as anything other than a place for Cade to drop his mail, this room contains a sectional that takes up most of the space. The walls are painted a tan color that doesn’t clash with the black couch or the dark wood tables. It looks like a normal room a person would expect from a grown man.
Nothing in this room says he’s a murderer or that he has a wife stashed away and this is his place where he cheats on her.
Cade hands me a glass of sparkling water and sits down next to me with a bottle of beer. “So this is my house. I’d give you a tour, but you’re sitting in the highlight.”
“I thought the best part was the balcony and the view,” I tease and then take a drink of raspberry flavored water.
He takes the glass from me and sets it down onto the coffee table nearby, along with his beer. Grabbing me by the hand, he pulls me from the couch like a little boy eager to show someone what he’s done.
“That’s right. I forgot.”
We walk past the dining room table filled with mail, and I quickly look to see if any say Mrs. March but I don’t see any. Maybe he’s just a man with good taste in apartments who seems too perfect. That can happen, right?
Sliding the glass doors open, he steps out onto a balcony that’s much larger than I thought it would be and extends his arm like he’s offering me the view for my own. “This right here is the highlight. Forget inside. This is it. What do you think? Gorgeous, huh? It makes having to live around crazy people terrified of wreaths all worth it.”
I step forward and stop short, stunned by this view he has any time he walks out onto his balcony. Warm yellow and white lights around the bay cast shimmering reflections on the water, and the dark night sky with what seems like a million stars looks so close it’s like you can touch it if you reach out.
“This is beautiful, Cade. You must love being able to look out whenever you want and see this.”
He moves behind me and sets his chin on my shoulder. “I like how it makes you look.”
My heart races at the feel of him pressed up against the back of me. “What do I look like?” I ask in a shaky voice.
Please don’t let him be the kind of murderer who throws women off balconies.
“Your eyes got big and you looked out like you couldn’t get enough of what you’re seeing. I like that,” he says in a low voice, his warm breath drifting over the shell of my right ear.
I want to say something but my mind is blank, except for loving how he feels pressed against me. Closing my eyes, I revel in the sensation, and when he slides his arms around my waist, I don’t flinch.
And for the first time in a year, I don’t fear someone holding me in their arms.
Chapter Fourteen
Cade
Hailey doesn’t move when I gently pull her to me, and for a moment, I’m not sure what to think about that. By this time, most women are crawling up my body after seeing the view and me giving them all the signs.
Then again, she’s not like anyone I’ve ever dated before, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised she hasn’t turned around and grabbed my cock yet. It’s just that the view usually does a better job than it is now.
“So what do you want to do?” I whisper near her ear.
She smells like some soft, flowery perfume, and I take a deep breath to inhale it into me. Everything about Hailey seems soft. I like that.
“This is nice. We can stay here,” she says in a quiet voice.
I brush my lips against her skin just below her ear and feel her breath hitch. She ran away once before. Will she do it again now?
As I wait for her to respond, she turns in my hold to face me. Looking up into my eyes, she says, “So I’ve just about decided that you’re not an ax murderer and probably not married, even though that’s not one hundred percent. You have a great car, a great place here, and as far as I can tell, you’re nearly perfect. So why do you want me?”
After the shock of her words wears off, I smile. “Nearly perfect? What do I have to fix?”
“Nothing. I just didn’t want to say perfect because there’s nowhere to go after that. You haven’t answered my question, Cade.”
Now’s my chance. I can tell her I lied last night—more of an exaggeration, really—and then everything can be perfect with her. She won’t care. It’s not like Hailey is one of those women who gives a damn about what kind of job I have.
Or that I have one at all.
The problem is now she’s standing in front of me on my balcony looking so kind and understanding that I know as soon as I tell her, she’s going to lose that look she has in her eyes. That way she stares at me that says she thinks I’m pretty fucking special.
I like her thinking of me that way. It feels good for once to have someone be interested in me for me, not for my car or my condo or how much money I have. Hailey doesn’t seem to care at all about any of that.
So as much as I know I should say something to clear up the tiny misconception she may have about what I do, I can’t bring myself to say the words. Not if it means she won’t look at me like she is now.
“I want you because you’re you. It doesn’t go any deeper than that,” I say with a smile that hopefully hides that tiny lie hiding out inside me.
She twists her face into an expression of disbelief. “Because I’m me? I’m not anyone. I’m just some girl who bakes stuff for her parents’ restaurant hoping it will bring in more customers.”
“That’s enough for me. I’m just some guy who saw you looking at me through a kitchen door window and liked that.”
Hailey looks around the balcony and then fixes her focus back on me. “You have all of this. You drive that great car. You own a club of your own. I’m not exactly the kind of woman anyone would pair with you. You
know that, right?”
I inwardly cringe when she mentions the club. “Exactly what kind of woman am I supposed to be with? Who’s doing this pairing up? Because they don’t have good taste if they aren’t putting me with you.”
“Stop joking. I’m serious, Cade.”
Cradling her face, I kiss her and hope I can quell the doubts she has about us. I might not be all I claim to be, but I’m not lying when I say I like her.
“I don’t care who thinks what about us. I wanted to get to know you from the minute I met you the other day. You seem to like me, right?”
Her blue eyes open wide, and she hesitates before nodding. “Yes, I do. I just—”
I cut her off before she can think of another question about us and kiss her again. “No just. I like you and you like me. Enough said. That’s all that matters.”
In the distance, lightning flashes and she quickly spins around. “Was that lightning? I saw it in the reflection in the glass. Maybe we should go in.”
“Only if you want to,” happy to be anywhere with her.
Hailey looks back at me, her eyes wide. “I forgot. I brought you something. It’s in my bag.”
As she hurries back inside, I follow behind, curious about what she could have gotten me. “I was wondering why you brought that big bag with you. I thought maybe you were hiding an ax or something.”
She smiles at me and shakes her head. “I’m not the ax murderer here.”
Reaching into her bag, she pulls out a little white box just big enough to fit a sandwich or a piece of pie. “Here. I saved you the last one.”
I open the lid, and there, sitting in the center of the box surrounded by wax paper is a peach colored rose cupcake just as I imagined it would look when she told me all about them last night. “Thank you. I bet it’s going to taste incredible.”
“It was the last one. When Alex came to see me today, he wanted to try one of the peach cupcakes, but I had to give him a vanilla rose cupcake instead because this was my last one and I’d put it aside to give you tonight,” she says sweetly, but all I hear is Alex went to Comfort Food to see her.